Billy observed their surroundings as they entered the house. The interior was decent, despite what he had imagined when Jacqueline said the elderly couple was living alone. It wasn't as perked up as his wife's house, but it wasn't in disarray considering there were only elderly people around. They must have a cleaning service that did the bare minimum."Sit," the elderly woman said as she pointed to the couch. "I'll make us some tea.""There's no need, ma'am," Billy said as he raised a hand up to stop her.Jacqueline, who had been ready to protest, shut her mouth as the elderly woman said, "Call me, granny. That's what Jackie calls me."He glanced in Jacqueline's direction and saw her sheepish smile before saying, "IF that's fine with you, grandmother."The elderly woman waved him off. "Granny. Grandmother makes me feel so old.""Of course, Granny," Billy said with a nod.While he didn't see the difference between the two words, he didn't see a reason to point it out when they were th
"Anyway," the elderly woman suddenly said. "I expect that there's a reason why you're here when the zombie apocalypse is about to start any minute now."Billy liked her no nonsense attitude, as it made things a lot simpler for them. "Yes, we came here on Jacqueline's suggestion when we discussed about where we should stay to avoid the zombie.""Well, you came to the right place," the old man said as he stood up and pointed his thumb at himself. "This is the best place to get away from that."There was a cracking sound, and the old man bent over as he put the hand on his lower back. Jacqueline was quick to run over and check up on him. While the enthusiasm was appreciated, Billy really wasn't sure about the house being the best place. He already had many concerns about how they would keep the base running with two elderly people.Something in his expression must have given away his thoughts as the elderly woman asked, "Something on your mind?""What precautions have you set up in this
"That's the last of it," the elderly man said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.There was a cracking sound, and the old man bent over as he pressed a hand on his lower back. Jacqueline rushed from her place by Billy's side to check if he was alright. Billy watched the scene for several moments before turning his attention to the elderly woman walking towards him. It looked like she had finished her part too."Is it normal for him to hurt his back so often?" Billy asked as he raised an eyebrow.She scoffed. "Strangely enough, it doesn't. Apparently, it only happens when we have visitors."Billy recalled the elderly couple saying that they didn't have any visitors except for one person. "So he somehow only hurts his back when Jacqueline is around?""It appears so," she said with a nod.Jacqueline and the old man joined them as the old man said, "You better not be talking behind my back, you old woman.""Oh, shut up, you attention seeker," the old woman said, setting off another a
It was odd how peaceful the next couple of days were. Billy always woke up ready to go through the daily routine he had established previously or to defend himself from zombies, only to realize he didn't need to do either of those things. It was such a sudden shift from the previous lives that a part of him wondered if this was a dream or the calm before the storm.The others treated this seclusion as more of a vacation than the apocalypse it was. He couldn't blame them for relaxing and being unable to take the situation seriously. Even though he had told them about the threat and they had seen the zombies themselves, it wasn't the same as living through it. None of them had to face a horde of zombies trying to kill them."Is something wrong, Billy? You don't look so good," Jacqueline asked as she looked away from the toast she was eating.Snapping his attention back onto the present, he said, "I'm fine. I'm just thinking about several things.""If you're worried about the zombies, ha
Billy left the dining room with mixed feelings. He hadn't expected that the elderly couple had mistakenly thought they were dating. He was pretty certain neither of them had done anything to make the elderly couple think they were, and Jacqueline wouldn't tell them a lie. It had taken a lot of convincing before the elderly couple were finally convinced.Well, it didn't really bother him that much. Whether or not they were in a relationship wouldn't change things. He wasn't going to get shy or embarrassed about it, unlike Jacqueline had. He supposed it was because she was much closer to the elderly couple than he was. They did treat each other like family. At least the misunderstanding was resolved.Entering the security room, he took a seat to check the cameras. He instantly saw something that caught his attention. The zombies weren't acting like their usual selves. They were slowly surrounded by the building. This wasn't something they had done before, or at least it wasn't something
"Is there a place you haven't told me about?" Billy asked as he turned to look at the elderly couple.They shook their heads as the elderly woman said, "No. We showed you everywhere.""She's right. There's no secret room in this place unless you count the security room or the secret tunnel beneath the house," he said when he noticed how the other two were looking at him. "What?"The elderly woman smacked him. "What do you mean? Did you have the construction workers add something without telling me?""Hey, watch it," he said as he tried to ward off her attacks. "What are you talking about? I thought we agreed that we wanted a tunnel to be built.""I don't remember agreeing to anything," she said, as she didn't stop hitting him."Your memory is horrible," the old man said as he started to slap her hands away.Before the conversation could devolve any further, Billy stepped in and asked, "Where is this tunnel? Would Jacqueline know about it?""She should. I mentioned it to her before." T
Billy entered the tunnel despite the elderly couple's concerns. They couldn't just leave it alone in case something was really lurking in the tunnel. His eyes peered into the darkness as he held onto his knife and short metal pole. He unfortunately couldn't bring a gun with him. It was just too dangerous to try to use it in the dark in an enclosed space.Jacqueline could be there. He didn't want to risk shooting either of them. That didn't leave him many options to choose from. His weapons couldn't be too long, or else he wouldn't be able to properly swing them in the small space. He would just leave himself wide open. On the other hand, weaposn with a small range would be problematic when moving in the dark.He really should have gone to get a flashlight, but he forged on ahead anyway. Straining his ears for any sounds, he continued walking forward. There were no sounds other than his own footsteps and breathing. However, he didn't let his guard down. A zombie could pop out of nowher
Unlike what they all feared, Jacqueline wasn't seriously injured like how it had first appeared. The blood on her forehead made the cut on her head look bigger than it actually was. The cut was smaller than his pinky finger. There were a couple scrapes, but there were no signs of any bite marks, which was what had worried Billy the most.If she had been bitten, she would have been infected and turned into a zombie. In that scenario, they would have no choice except to kill her before she killed them. He was grateful that this wasn't the case. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that she hadn't been turned. He had already experienced her transforming into a zombie and killing him in a previous life.The transformation had been so fast. It had only taken a few minutes. Even though they didn't know how long she had been in the secret tunnel, she should have transformed into a zombie way before they had arrived. Once he was done checking and fixing up her wounds, Billy took a moment