His eyes skimmed over her body as she threw her shirt off, looking back at him and giving him a reassuring smile. Damn, she was good! Clyde's mouth lifted in the corner in a devilish smile as he pulled off his shirt as well. His muscled form eased past her as he turned the water on and tested the water, the light streams from the shower already washing some of the grime from his fingertips. "Whatever you say, Miss," he said and stood back, pulling off his ripped jeans to reveal his boxers. His clothes needed to be washed as well, but a shower seemed like Heaven in a time like this, especially with Jade. He waited until she was in first, climbing in behind her. Both naked. And both apparently nervous...
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Jade felt a lump in her throat as she took her own jeans off. She was about to get in the shower with someone she only met yesterday, and it was making her head spin to even think about what she was doing. Once she got in the shower, she ducked her head under the stream of water to wet her hair. Being short, it didn't take long to get it soaked. The water was warm, but her face felt like she'd dipped her head in lava. This was the post-apocalyptic world, she didn't have time to be embarrassed about sharing water. She was sure Clyde was just as anxious as she was. Still, she got to get an eyeful. Her eyes wandered over his body through her eyelashes, trying hard to be discreet.
After she finished her good look, she looked around for shampoo and soap, finding some on the shelf, almost full bottles. She took one of shampoo, and the other of body gel, and she handed him the latter. "Here, we'll switch after we're done with these." She said, smiling nervously. It was clear she was trying not to act so awkward about it, despite the fact it definitely was. Anyone would think they were a marrie couple, or at least very very intimate.
Jade opened the bottle and poured a generous amount of the stuff on her head, before then rubbing it into her hair. For a moment, she just forgot the fact she was sharing a shower with a new friend, and enjoyed the bliss that was the amazing, clean feeling as she massaged the soap into her hair. The suds were dark fron all the dirt as they ran down her arms and shoulder, and she when she washed it off, her hair was clean, along with the majority of her face, which she started to scrub with water next.
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Clyde followed in after her, his eyes skimming over her body as the water cascaded down every curve. He blushed furiously as he watched her reach around for the shampoo and soap, handing him one as she began to wash her hair. The water was dark and murky with dirt from their bodies, but it was the best sensation, to finally be clean, he had ever experienced. Her hair was clean, and he could fully see her face now. God, was she beautiful! When he was done washing his body, and her her hair, they switched, edging past each other so as not to touch, but failed miserably. He could feel his body get excited and turned away from her, plunging his entire head and face into the stream from the shower head. How embarrassing!
He washed his hair and smiled to her. "This feels so good to be clean," he said and edged past her again, quickly climbing out and grabbing the nearest towel, wrapping it around his waist. Clyde picked up his clothes and looked over the dirty mess as he waited for Jade, deciding they should be washed, too. But how?
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The minutes that went by felt more like hours, and with the heat and steam from the shower was getting her wound up. She washed the rest of her face and body and turned the water off. She shook off some of the dripping water from her hair and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed another towel hanging next to Clyde"s, and covered herself up. Not that she had to worry about being indecent around him anymore; she'd shared the shower with him for goodness sake! She tried to calm her nerves down, telling herself it was over now, and the most embarrassing part was over. She deliberately kept her eyes away from any 'secretive' parts of his body, but she allowed herself to look at his face. His wet hair dripping down his face, his bare chest... Oh God, his muscles! She cleared her throat and nodded in reply to him. "Oh, yeah!" She said, smiling awkwardly. "I can't remember the last shower I took. It won't be long until we get grunged up again." She joked, tying the towel around herself.
"Let's see if there's any clothes left in the closets in the bedrooms." She suggested, picking up her clothes as well. "We'll have to find some way to scrub some of the dirt out of these." She one_handedly opened the door, feeling the cold air against her wet skin. She shivered lightly, moving quickly through the hallway to get to the main bedroom. It was a shame, the bed was made, the room was clean and tidy, the person or people who lived here wouldn't be able to ever come back to their nice home again. But then again, if it wasn't for this place, they'd still be neck deep in zombies and dirt. Not the scenario she wanted to be in if she didn't need to.
She looked through the closets, finding that before everything happened, there must've been a couple living here. Relieved, she picked out some underwear and some comfy clothes that looked like they'd fit. They needed to be easy to run in, as well as moving around to hit zombies. "There's some clothes in here!" She called, starting to quickly dress herself. The clean clothes felt like a godsend on her clean skin. Never would she underestimate that feeling again!
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He tosses his clothes into the shower after they left, figuring he would wash them later as Jade called out that there were clothes in the other room. Apparently, this place had belonged to a young couple, and were miraculously the same size as the two companions that inhabited the place now. The mans clothes were a little tight on him, but they fit and were clean, and he didn't mind showing off his muscles to this beautiful woman. Especially after seeing her naked in the shower, oh boy! He had surprised himself by not jumping her while they were in there, but it was the gentlemanly thing to do, considering they'd just met and were trying to survive. Any other situation, they would've been gasping for air.
Clyde strode into the kitchen after dressing and saw that the female had taken out anything and everything edible, probably taking note of what they had. There was quite a bit, compared to what he'd been eating lately, but there wasn't enough to last both of them a long time. They wouldn't be able to stay here long that was for sure! This saddened the fireman, but a smile spread on his lips as he found a can of spaghetti noodles in tomato sauce; the little lunch type thing you'd make for children. "I haven't had these in years! I wonder if the stove works," he said and flicked the switch, watching as the element turned red hot with the heat. "It's like someone is helping us through this rough time. Jade, want some...spaghetti?"
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Jade finished dressing shortly after Clyde, following him out into the kitchen and allowing him to look through the many cans and boxes she had pulled out from the cabinets. They wouldn't be able to stay here for very long with the amount of food, but it would at least keep them fed for a short time while they were out there. It was so scary to think one day there might be no food left, no water, no means of survival at all. Water and food had never been so precious.
She snapped out of her grim thoughts at the light hearted question of whether she wanted spaghetti. She smiled and nodded her head, though she couldn't remember finding any sticks of spaghetti while looking through the cupboards. "Sure." She said. "You're right, I hope whoever it is will carry on doing it. It feels good to be looked after for a change." Being on the run from those zombies took its toll eventually. She wanted a decent night sleep and some good food to keep her energy up and she'd be reeling to go.
Jade sat down in the living room on the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest and relaxing in the softness of the cushions. Sitting on the floor wasn't a great deal of fun, not as much as a nice soft sofa. Her mind wandered off back to the 'what if's, and she put her hands over her face in bemusement. Food wouldn't keep coming to them like it had now, what would they do if they ended up starving? She let out an anxious groan, ruffling her short hair. "I hope everything turns out okay soon, I'm already sick of having to fight for my life." She sighed.
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After heating up the can of fake pasta and serving it in two clean bowls, he sat on the couch next to Jade and rested his head back for a moment, nodding in agreement with her. "As long as you don't get actually sick, we should be okay," he said and dunked his fork into the red sauce. "Speaking of people getting sick, do you know how all this started? I mean, we've discussed where we were when it happened, but how? Is it a disease? Is it magic? Some ancient voodoo or some s**t?"
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"Oh God, without any medicine around we'd soon be dropping like flies if we got sick." Jade said. "We'd better look around every pharmacy we see around here." She smiled down at her bowl of kiddies spaghetti, starting to eat. She tried to be dainty about it at first, but the stuff tasted so good, she couldn't help but start to wolf it down. Courtesy? Come on, she hadn't eaten a proper meal in a long while!
She stopped eating as he carried on speaking, asking her if she had any idea how this whole thing started.
"I'm not really sure." She said. "The movies always make it out to be some kind of virus that came from nowhere. Maybe that's how it came around." She shrugged her shoulders. "If it passes on to other people when we're bitten, maybe it's some kind of parasite in the blood stream." the thought of being bit by one of those things made her shiver from head to toe. "We're gonna have to look out for each other a lot of the time. We'll be inseparable." She grinned. That wasn't such a bad thing. She looked forward to it, in fact. Maybe some good did come out of all of this.
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He nodded in agreement with her mention of going to every pharmacy. What would happen if one of them got sick? The other would be alone. Again. He didn't want to go through that, and he didn't want Jade to go through that. Sure, they'd only just met, but he felt like they were destined to meet and that they'd known each other forever. Especially considering they'd slept together and showered together. Thinking of sleeping together, "So it'd probably be safer to sleep in the bedroom. Did you wanna take watch shifts or just sleep together so we're both refreshed in the morning?" There was still at least four or five hours until it got dark, considering they'd had run to the apartment building only a few hours before.
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Jade ate some more of her food in silence, taking in everything they had to talk about. She turned her head and watched him as he asked about what they would do when it came to nightfall. "Well, we do want to get a lot of sleep." She said. "I don't think we'll be able to have the luxury of sleeping in a comfortable bed very often nowadays." She wriggled slightly on the sofa, kicking her legs up underneath her. She put down her bowl momentarily, and smoothed out her new outfit. "I think we should be okay since we're not on the ground floor. Those things are pretty dumb, I doubt they could climb a ladder and get very far." She shrugged her shoulders, seeming to stare off in front of her while she was deep in thought.
"Then again, I could just be getting more relaxed while I'm here and I could be letting my guard down." It was hard knowing what to do, but she could just picture it as night fell, and they'd both resort to sleeping in the bed together. Sure, they'd slept on the floor before, but a bed was different. Her mind wandered to other options, and she sharply inhaled, her eyes glancing towards the hallway to the bedroom. The tension was definitely there, but a time like this definitely wasn't the time to be dwelling on things like that. She picked up her bowl and finished the rest, swearing under her breath as she chewed. Pull yourself together, Jade, she thought over and over again. "So, um, what's the.. er, the plan after we get out of here?" She asked, desperately trying to change the subject, for her own good rather than his.
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He smiled and watched her fidget nervously. Obviously, her mind strayed to the same idea he had about the bed. But, again, this was no time for such things. Or was it? They were after all alone, and who knew the next time they'd come across members of the opposite sex. But they were still civilized and that dictated that they shouldn't jump into bed right away. Well, for now anyways. "A bed is a luxury these days, so we'll both sleep in the bed at the same time, but we have to stay close together in case something should happen," he added and gave her a reassuring smile.
Clyde scratched the back of his head as he thought about what to do after. He was a quick thinker; he had to be when he was on duty as a fireman way back when. But now, he couldn't think so well. He hadn't thought past getting to safety, and here they were with a roof over their heads, food, water, heat, a bed, and away from those creatures that threatened their existences. What more could they want? He knew it wouldn't last though, so where to after? "Well, we move on. Once we're done here, find another safe haven. Survive. That's all we can do. Probably find a hospital, I guess, there's probably some unused medicine there we can get."
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The reassuring smile Clyde gave Jade was enough to feel relaxed, and then some. She felt like some kind of silly school girl with a crush! I'm a grown woman, damn it, she thought angrily to herself. She nodded her head to his suggestion. She definitely wasn't going to complain about sharing a nice comfortable bed with Clyde. "Before we leave, we should find every container around this house and fill them with water to take with us. We both have our backpacks, so we should be able to carry quite a lot of the stuff we've got." She continued to look like she was thinking hard, agreeing with him when it came to finding a hospital being a good idea. "I've got plenty of pins in my bag I can pick some locks with. It's better than breaking glass and causing attention, anyway." It felt kind of dirty of her to need to break into hospital cabinets, but they needed to do what they needed to do!
"You don't need any kinds of daily meds, right?" She asked. "There must be plenty of people who couldn't get to the pills they needed in time." She frowned. "There'll probably be a lot of zombies in there too. I mean, people die in hospitals all the time." She swallowed hard. It was just like being in the middle of a horror movie. As she'd watched them before she'd always had an answer to everything, what they should do, where they should go. However, as it actually was happening now? Not so great. She wasn't so sure what to do anymore.
Jade shook her head, exhaling deeply, trying to get the bad thoughts out of her head. "I think we should relax for now, though." She said truthfully. "Take some time to unwind." She leaned back into the couch. "What was it like being a fireman? Rescuing people, putting out fires. I bet it was so rewarding." She said curiously, looking back his way again.
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He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly when she mentioned lockpicking, but there was a slender smile. "How do you even know how to pick a lock? Were you a burglar before this?" he chuckled and ran a hand through his, now, clean hair. "No meds, just air. I'm assuming you don't, otherwise we'd be heading there right now." The thought of there being hundreds of zombies in the hospital actually frightened him. Not so much for himself, but for Jade. When this had all gone down, he figured he would be alone, but now he's found a partner. And neither of them seemed to know what they were doing really. Sure, he saw a zombie movie once, but that was never really his type of movie.
Then, she relaxed back on the couch, and he did the same. Putting his feet up onto the coffee table in front of him he rested his head back and thought back to when he was working. "It was rewarding, but also very dangerous and people still died," he said, his voice trailing off ever so slightly at the last word. Everyone was basically dead now. What about their families? "What happened to your family? I can't believe we haven't thought about going to get them!"
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Jade couldn't help but snicker at the thought. "Do I really seem the stealing type?" She asked jokingly. Technically, well, she was stealing when it came down to it. At least she was now. But she had no choice! It didn't make her a bad person, right? "You probably don't approve, being a fireman. Maybe I'm badder than I make out to be." She winked playfully, laughing under her breath. "It's something I just picked up through family. My grandfather always used to teach me things like that in case of emergencies. Makes me think he predicted this coming." She played with her fingers, looking around the cozy living room. It being an apartment, it was quite small, but definitely enough for two people to share. "Teaching me how to pick locks, swim, climb, stuff like that." It had turned out useful after all.
Her smile faltered as he mentioned how dangerous it was being a fireman, and she lightly nodded in solemn understanding. "My family? Man, I don't even know." She sighed. "They could all be one of those things now." She felt her voice crack and her bottom lip quivered as she spoke. "I miss them so much. I'd do anything to know they were okay." It pulled at her heartstrings to think about her family, but she could only take so much. "I told you when we first met that they live all the way into the country. I went out to get help and see if there was something people were doing to help, but by the time I actually came back the place was quarantined. I never came back." Her thoughts came back to the night they talked about it, and she recalled him speaking about how he had a sister, and several nephews or nieces along with a brother in law. She frowned deeply, her heart sinking in her chest to recall it. "We've both been through some s**t, huh? I'm glad we have each other." Her frown twitched into a smile.
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"What a little devil you are," he said jokingly, despite the fact he thought her skills would come in handy these days. And then the thought of her swimming. Bathing suit. No, bikini. All wet... Clyde visibly shook his head and chuckled at the thought, not realizing he had done so. Then, her family. They had discussed it beforehand, but from then he hadn't thought of finding anyone. He had found someone already! Jade. All her zombie queen glory. He nodded at her question, looking at his fingers nervously picking at the nails. Why did things have to be so awkward now? They couldn't afford to have feelings for each other, really. One of them goes down, they both go down. But, it's survival of the fittest isn't it? He glanced up at her and pursed his lips in thought, his mouth going crooked for a moment.
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Jade laughed at his reply, her mood instantly sparking back up, but raised her eyebrows at him shaking his head and laughing to himself. "Did I say something funny?" She asked curiously, picking up her bowl to go and put it away, but then as she glanced back at Clyde, he looked anxious, looking down and fiddling with his hands. A genuine look of concern covered her fact, and she only glanced the other direction as he looked to her, watching him just through the corner of her eye. A lot had happened since they met. They were closer. Hell, they even showered together. The tension was definitely there, but now wasn't supposed to be the time to act on things like that. There were much more important things.
She sighed inwardly, and then stood up, picking up Clyde's bowl as well as her own. "You know, when this is all over," She said, gesturing to the window to show the deserted streets around them. "Maybe we can have some fun, go and see a movie and go out to eat." The thought cheered her up to think about, and it made her hope even more something would happen to erase all of the damage done. "Oh, are you done with your food? I'll take it to the kitchen."
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He smiled up at her and nodded. "That would be wonderful," he said in agreement with her thought of a date. But, when would this be over? Clyde couldn't say. He nodded again and said thank you when she took his bowl away. In a different time, maybe they would've been together. In this time, it was much more difficult. Nothing was simple anymore. He stood up and stretched, extending his arms towards the ceiling, causing his shirt to rise ever so slightly to reveal a little of his muscled core. He had become much more well built since this apocalypse thing started, having had to run for his life with little to no food for days.
"You know, just for funsies, we could pretend that that was our romantic dinner and go straight for the goodnight kiss," he chuckled, watching her curiously. She had agreed to the shower, what else would she agree to? They needed the humor these days, even if it made things awkward, it would be much more welcome than fear of death.
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Jade smiled and left Clyde momentarily to go to the kitchen, putting the bowls in the sink. She didn't feel the need to have to wash them up straight away; after all, it wasn't her house to begin with. She came back in time to see him on his feet, stretching his arms up and his shirt risen just high enough for her to glance down at his muscular form. She bit on the inside of her cheek hard, attempting to look away and move to sit back down. He must've been doing it on purpose. Torturing her like that. What she'd give to just feel his muscles. It'd be a girls heaven.
"A romantic dinner of kids pasta, huh?" She asked, a coy smile on her lips. "You do know how to treat a girl." She didn't get as far as sitting down, and stood facing Clyde instead. "I suppose I have to thank you somehow for putting so much effort into it." She grinned, and she put each of her hands on either sides of his jawline, pulling him closer so she could place a short but intensely sweet kiss on his lips. She felt butterflies burst in her stomach and her heart thumped hard in her chest. God, she really hoped he was being serious about that and not just joking.
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Clyde chuckled at her joke, shrugging his shoulders. It wasn't the best thing he could do, but it was a start to their beautiful little relationship. She closed the distance between the two of them and placed her hands on his face, her palms smooth on his stubbly face. Their lips touched for a short, but sweet, moment. His hands were at his side, knowing that if he raised his arms to touch her, he'd never let go. He was the hopeless romantic like that. His heart beat wildly in his chest, constricting the air flow though his mouth or nose. He saw stars momentarily, even as Jade pulled away, and he found himself following her ever so slightly. Damn it being the apocalypse! He wanted to hold her, feel her hair in his hands, her small body pressed against his...damn sexual urges!
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As Jade pulled away, it felt as if it was magnetic attraction that she wanted to join their lips again, except this time more passionately, more to show how she felt about him, but she sadly let her hands drop from his face, and smiled at him instead. "Your stubble tickles." She told him. "But I like it. It suits you, being a big strong fireman." She was finding it hard to get her breath, her chest felt tight and she had a lump in her throat just looking at him. She told herself repeatedly to get it together. She'd kissed people before, this wasn't a big deal! The thing was, she felt she wanted to kiss him more than she wanted to for anyone else in her life.
After what felt like a long time of staring intentionally at each other, she stepped back, breaking the gaze between them by looking to the side anxiously. "I hope that was okay for a goodnight kiss." She said, playing with her fingers. All that was running through her head is how much she wanted to do it again. Push him down on the sofa with her, not hold anything back. It was the apocalypse. They could die any day, so why hold back? She breathed out sharply, trying hard to keep her cool around him.
Phoebe Majere Community Member 
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