The Messengers of Sanctuary

30 - Zachary

It was odd to be staying somewhere after having traveled for so long. Zach, Thomas, and Kade were given a room to share between them for the duration of their stay at Silverside, the capital stronghold of Alliance.

After having a chat with David, the leader, they'd been granted special passes that would keep the guards from questioning them at any hours of the day if they had to leave the stronghold. Apparently they granted those to any sane zombie that stayed overnight, though there had only been two of those since the idea was enforced.

The passes were useful little things, especially with the huge amounts of security that every traveler and even citizen of Silverside had to go through. It was strange to Zach since Ceder's Pointe hadn't been anything like that, and before being bitten he hadn't been to any other strongholds.

Using money was also still a foreign concept to him, but he'd been twelve when the outbreak happened, so he was familiar enough with how money worked. He still remembered walking for an hour with his older brothers just to get to a gas station so they could buy candy with their minuscule allowances.

Now, that memory seemed so strange, and almost blissfully easy. He hadn't tasted chocolate in ten years. With how well things were connecting here, Zach wouldn't be surprised if that changed soon. He couldn't be the only person in the world who missed the conveniences of the old world, and Chocolate trees were on this continent.

Either way, Zach was getting hopeful by the time the Sanctuary traders arrived.

He was standing uneasily beside Kade as the man chatted happily with the traders, telling stories. Every so often he would nudge Zach and gesture to one of the various single women, giving advice on how to go about wooing one of them.

Zach was receptive to this, taking mental notes and evaluating the various blue-eyed girls, but eventually had to ask, "If you're so good with women, how come you don't have one?" he hissed it under his breath, helping to move some boxes beside the big trucks.

Kade only grinned, "Oh, I do have one, that's why I'm giving you advice instead of hoarding all this knowledge to myself!"

"What about Thomas?"

Kade rolled his eyes, "Thomas isn't ready. He's still a child at heart. Besides, he never takes my advice and always does things his own way. No point in telling him these things when he's not going to listen."

Zach was suddenly popping into that mode that all younger siblings have, even though he barely knew Kade, but Zach had done it all the time to his older brothers, who were uh...probably somewhere out there. "Oooo how'd you two meet?!"

Surprisingly, Kade winced, which only made Zach more interested. "I uh, Reya was dared to um...push me into a mud pit to get out of cleanup duty back at Sanctuary. Because someone messed up the schedule, she was put in the same duty for two weeks straight."

Zach felt his eyes widen, a huge grin splitting over his face, "Oh?! And did it work?"

Kade cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well, yeah."

Their conversation petered out after that, but the more experienced guy still elbowed him every so often, glancing meaningfully at various girls.

---

"And this is Zach! Chicory fired him on her first run down here." Kade smacked him on the back, "he's a good guy. Great taste!"

Zach was knocked off balance, barely catching himself before the friendly slap could ruin the dregs of his pride. It wasn't a very effective idea since his pride was already in tatters.