World War Z

[Zihark Faroda]

Ricard cleared the cabinets as much as he could, grabbing canned food, bags of chips, granola bars and the like, boxes of cereal, and other such ready to eat items, as well as some other non-perishables that they could make with the right ingrediants and time. He then went looking through the drawers, grabbing a manual can opener, some metal forks, spoons and knives, and a couple small pots and pans that he could attach to the backpacks. Ashley's scream soon caught his attention and ricard looked up, seeing 4 zombies closing in on Ashley. "s**t, where the hell did they all come from!" he cursed as he ran for the backdoor.

In his rush Ricard left behind his own metal pole, but he still had the tools hooked into his belt loops. Ashley had already managed to take down one zombie, but another had closed in and was about to grab her. Ricard pulled the hatchet out from behind him and firmly planted it in the zombies skull, it's body collapsing dead immediately. Two down, and two to go. Ricard took aim at one of the remaining zombies and tossed the hatchet at it, and missed the zombie completely. "Well," he said trying to play it off, "I'm not going to do that again." Ricard then took hold of the crowbar and rushed after the zombie he missed earlier. It lunged at him, but that only provided Ricard with an easier shot at its head. The crowbar came down with a crunch, and another zombie was down for the count.  

[Nikki Faroda]

Ashley was gratefully Ricard had taken down one and as he missed the next, she couldn't help but laugh. While she was laughing the last zombie caught her arm and she took the end of the pole and jamed it into his mouth as far down as she could. The zombie released her hand, made a trouble noise and Ashley hit the ground holding her ears. The pole had magnified the sound right to her head. The pole had broken the spindle cord and the zombie was died.  

[Zihark Faroda]

Satisfied with his kill, Ricard turned around to see Ashley on the ground holding her ears and the last zombie lying dead by her feet. "Ashley!" he yelled as he ran over to her, dropping to his knees beside her. "Are you alright?"  

[Nikki Faroda]

She was shaking bad and wouldn't let go of her ears. Ashley felt warmth and looked up slowly. When she saw who it was she released her ear and plunged into his chest, wrapping her arms around him and holding him as tightly as she could while crying into him and saying in a low muffled voice, "They hurt, my ear would stop hurts."  

[Zihark Faroda]

Ricard was taken aback by the sudden arms wrapping around him, though he was beginning to grow quite accustomed to it. He wrapped his arms around her and brought his head down toward hers. "It's alright," he said softly to her, "you'll be fine. Come on, we better get inside before any others that may be lurking around show up."  

[Nikki Faroda]

Ashley slowly stood up, but she only released one of his sides. She used the other one to help her balance considering her equilibrium has thrown off by the zombie. She never wanted to leave his side and if it were up to her she never would. After they got inside Ashley looked up at him and sat down in a nearby chair, "Do me a favor, will you bring my bike inside?" Harley ran out of the laundry room with an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel's in her month and put it in Ricard's hand.  

[Zihark Faroda]

Ricard looked down at the bottle of Jack in his hand quite confused. "Um, thanks," he said to Harley, "good girl." Not quite sure what to do with it at the moment, he placed it down on the table next to Ashley. "And sure, no problem," he said to Ashley before heading back outside. The bike was right outside the door, but before he grabbed it he walked over to where the hatchet had landed and picked it up. He could now see another zombie slowly shambling it's way into the backyard, but Ricard had more than enough time. He went and grabbed the bike, along with pulling Ashley's metal pole out of the dead zombie next to it, and brought them inside, closing and locking the back door behind him. He put down the kickstand of the bike and then brought the pole, the hatchet, and the crowbar over to the sink so he could clean them off. "Just take it easy for a couple minutes while I clean these off," he called over his shoulder as he grabbed a rag and began cleaning off the blood and guts underneath the water from the kicthen faucet.  

[Nikki Faroda]

"Yes sir" Ashley said as she petted Harley. "Thank you for getting my bike, she's all fixed up now. Do you know how to drive a motorcycle?" She knew only a little on the matter herself. So if he knew how to she wanted him to drive and she wanted to hold on tight while he drove. She grabbed the radio and monkeyed with it for a minute or so.  

[Zihark Faroda]

"Heh, only from what I've seen in movies and tv shows," Ricard laughed as he turned off the faucet and started drying the weapons now. "I could always give it the old college try though, as the saying goes." Once he was finished drying, he slipped the crowbar back through his belt loop, took the screwdrivers from his pocket and placed them in his backpack, and then took the hatchet and hammer over to the table next to Ashley. "Well we both have the metal poles, but you should also carry one of these with you as well. Take one and I'll put the other in the backpack."  

[Nikki Faroda]

"Please do and i'll take the hatchet" Ashley said reaching for the hatchet and taking it from him. She then stood up and put it through her belt. "So you should probably practice driving Flame before we leave." She held the keys off for him to grab.  

[Zihark Faroda]

After Ashley took the hatchet Ricard walked back over to the counter and stored the hammer away in his backpack, along with the bottle of Jack Daniels he grabbed from the table as well. "Flame?" Ricard asked trying to stifle his amusement at it all. "You actually named the thing? In any case, practicing probably wouldn't be a good idea even though it should be. We'll need to conserve gas, and the noise will probably attract unwanted attention we do not need till we're ready to leave. There was already another zombie making its way into the backyard when I came back in, so who knows how many others are within earshot." Looking down at the almost fully stuffed backpacks before him, a thought occurred to Ricard and he turned around to look at the motorcycle, and then at Ashley. Harley down by Ashley's feet also cuaght his attention. "Um, I just thought of something, well two things actually. One, how are we both going to fit on the motorcycle while wearing backpacks, and two, what about Harley? She can't exactly ride with us."  

[Nikki Faroda]

"When you've put as much hard work, blood, sweat, and tears in to something. It's only right to name your devotion." Ashley said with a completely serious face. She knew a lot about sweat and blood. As she heard him statement her face dropped. All that time, work, and money wasted on a motorcycle she could never use. "We can't, the backpacks could be strapped on, but Harley can't ride a motorcycle and i don't have a side car." She was now looking at the floor. Why did this have to happen? MURPHEY'S LAW!!!  

[Zihark Faroda]

"I suppose," Ricard replied, trying his best not to roll his eyes. Ricard just inwardly sighed. He supposed he would never really understand naming an inanimate object, at least in any other way that wasn't a joke. Ricard looked at Ashley and saw the look of despair on her face. The realization had hit her hard. She truly cared about that motorcycle. He glanced over at the motorcycle again. He looked back at Ashley. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he didn't like that look on her face. It depressed him to see her looking so sad. He walked over to her and placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "Well, we may not be able to ride off into the sunset on this thing," he said smiling at her, "but we could still take it with us. Who knows, it might come in handy."  

[Nikki Faroda]

"No it would be extra baggage and would weigh us down. It's fine we can leave her here." Ashley couldn't stop the tear from flowing, but she could stop the sound. Ricard didn't understand and no one else would either Flame was her baby."Ya know i had to take everything off the frame cause it was all crap. I hand painted the frame and then put all brand new pieces on her. Bought them when i got paid. I did odd jobs around the neighborhood for the women well the men were at work. My aunt would chip in if she. The part store delivery women was on a first name bases with me and my aunt."  

[Zihark Faroda]

Ricard couldn't exactly argue with her. She was right. If they weren't riding it it would just be extra baggage and slow them down. He knew that fact even when he offered the idea to still take it with them. Despite that though, it was still something extremely important to her. Ricard could see that in her face and in the way she lovingly talked about. It was also still a mode of transportation and that could never really be a bad thing in a bad situation. Ricard still didn't know too much about Ashley, but he did know she had already lost too much at such a young age. He looked her straight in the eye, a grin plastered on his face. He wiped away the tears from her cheeks with the back of his hand.

"I still think it might come in handy. If it becomes too much of a burden we can always leave it behind later." Ricard wasn't 100% sure this was the best decision given the situation all around them, but it was the best decision for Ashley, and at the moment that's what mattered to him.