13 Chapter 13 (1/2)

”Come on... Let's go” Gillian says as she begins to walk, ”Let's get this over and done with... I want to go home” Gillian adds after a few steps, turning back, facing Frank. He could see her scared and uncomfortable.

”Don't worry, we will find out what has happened to this place and after that, I will find and kill whatever son of a bitch did this, okay?” Frank tells Gillian, reassuring her.

He walks closer to her, placing his right hand on her right shoulder.

Gillian looks up at him, as he looks down at her, he could see her eyes becoming watery, as her lips slightly quivered.

She takes a slight step towards him, she could not help but wrap her arms around him, as she embraced him, breaking down into tears.

”I am scared” she mutters quietly, sobbing.

Frank was pleasantly surprised by the hug and after a second or two, he wrapped his arms around her.

”Don't cry, okay?” Frank tells her softly, as he begins to slowly pull back and away from her.

He raised his hands to her head, slowly and softly, he began to tilt her head up till their eyes met again.

He could see a tear running down her left cheek and with his thumb, he rubbed it away.

”We are gonna find who this fucker is, he would regret messing with us, yes?” he tells her softly, leaning in towards her.

Gillian does not say a word, but she does give him a slight nod and a small smile.

”Okay,” he tells her, smiling, ”let's go” he adds after a few moments, as they both begin to walk towards the gate of the hotel. Frank in the front, while Gillian is following him.

They both exit onto the street, turning left, heading towards the police station. Debris is everywhere.

”Look at all the smoke... it is still there...” Frank comments as he looks forward while they walk up the street.

”At least it is thinner now” Gillian adds as she catches up to Frank.

”Yeah...” Frank says, looking around him, before looking back at the rising column.

The street is scattered with zombie corpses and stained with blood.

They soon enter the thin cloud of smoke. They can see clearer compared to yesterday, but this just revealed more dead bodies, lying on the ground, pale as snow.

”These people...” Gillian begins, looking around at the corpses lying on the ground. ”They did not deserve to die this way” she adds, feeling upset.

”Yeah... I know” Frank says after a few moments, turning his head, facing Gillian for a second before turning back, facing forward.

They continue walking through the cloud of smoke, from step to step, second to second, the cloud would become thicker before becoming thin.

Very soon, they reach the ruins and debris of the nightclub that collapsed last night.

”Look... the nightclub” Frank mutters, as they walk into the debris, watching their steps.

”I cannot believe that you made it out of that mess alive,” Gillian begins, ”... but I am happy that you did,” she adds after a few moments, turning her head to her right, looking at Frank's face, Frank turns his head, facing her face. He could not help but give her a small, friendly grin.

”Yeah, me too,” he adds after a moment of silence.

The continue walking through the debris as the smoke.

Frank looks forward, looking at the path to see where they are heading, before turning his head back, looking at Gillian, Gillian looks back at him.

He smiles whilst looking into her eyes, he looks down at her right hand and begins to move to his left, getting closer to Gillian.

He stops getting closer when he felt their hands touch.

Gillian looks down at her right hand before looking back up at him, and with a smile, she wraps her hand into his as they walk up the street filled with debris and blood draining corpses.

She intertwines her finger with his as they softly rock their hands forward and back. Their steps become synced up.

From time to time, they look forward, before looking at each other, before looking back at the path.

”So...” Frank begins, looking up.

”Yes?” Gillian asks, giving him a quick glimpse.

”I just...” he begins talking but gets interrupted by a growl behind them.

”What the...” Frank says, letting go of Gillian's hand as he turns around to the direction that the growl came from.

”Zombies...” he mutters.

Gillian stands behind him, fully cautious. She begins to look around.

”Take this...” Frank says as he hands something over to Gillian.

”Have you ever used a gun... pistol more precisely?” he asks her.

”Yes, yes I have,” she answers, ”many times” she adds.

Frank feels relieved as he turns around, facing where the growls came from.

”Okay... when we see them is when we begin to shoot” he whispers to her, ”that is because they might not be heading towards us and if we shoot, we might blow our cover,” he explains to her briefly.

”Okay,” she answers him, nodding at the same time.

They both look around them, searching for a place to hide.

”There!” Gillian whispers, pointing towards a broken down car, surrounded by more debris, this will lessen the chances of their cover being blown.

They both sneak over to the car and quickly hide behind it.

Gillian crawls to the edge to peak out and see if any zombie is incoming, she suddenly freezes. Not because she saw a zombie, but because she saw the headless, dead body that she saw last night. Her blood runs cold as her stomach turns. She closes her eyes as she crawls back to Frank.

”Is everything okay?” he asks her.

”Yeah, no zombies are in sight,” she answers him.

”You seem... panicked, are you okay?” he asks her.

She looks at him, biting her lower lip as she looks at her hand for a quick second.

She looks up at him and after a few moments she gives him a reassuring smile before answering with a simple ”yes”.

”Okay,” he answers, looking into her eyes before turning around and crawling to watch through a small opening for any zombies.

”Can you see anything?” she asks him.

”No, nothing for now,” he answers, continuing on looking through the small opening.

Gillian turns around, facing away from Frank, she crawls back to the edge of the car and cautiously looks if any zombies are incoming.

She looks around and suddenly, a zombie comes into her sight, Gillian quietly crawls back to Frank.

”I see one,” she tells him.

”Okay... we just have to wait now,” he tells her, sitting back.