Jack and Red stack next to the front door as Jack shoves plugs into his ears. Red removes her hood, revealing dark hair and an Asian complexion. She turns back to Wolf as he passes nervous glances between the two of them. “Keep up or get left behind,” she whispers. She turns back to Jack without waiting for a reply. Having removed her hood, she pulls her brunette braid over her shoulder, revealing the handle of a katana sheathed along her spine. Wolf fixates on its handle as he contemplates how she pulled that off all this time without a wardrobe malfunction. Did she have that every time?

  She looks intently at Jack as she uses hand signals for a countdown. On go, she yanks the door open, flooding the darkened room with sunlight. Several corpses are in the doorway and fall inward at the sudden removal of the door they were leaning against. Jack charges forward, his axe handle held out across his body. He shoves into the collapsing mass of rotting flesh, heaving it in the opposite direction as the smell of rotting things assaults his nose.

  The force of his departure, lifts four of the undead from their feet, leaving behind arms and legs as the weak skin does little to keep those sockets together. Undead figures spin away on each side as Jack plows through like a truck through a crowd. He shoves those on his hood, and they sail away like rag dolls as if the truck had just slammed on the brakes.

  Red opens fire, alternating shots to cut down corpses encroaching along the sides.

  Jack sweeps the butt of his axe handle around like a haymaker, collapsing a face and causing the transferred momentum to cause two other figures to fold around the first. The following zombie has the butt of the handle thrust into its face, the next has the sharpened wedge come over and down into their forehead.

  Red’s steps follow close behind, pivoting to shoot from Jack’s flank, his axe falling only to have a covering shot fired over his dropped shoulder.

  Wolf flinches at the sound of the shots and keeps ducking as more ring out. He drops to all fours and follows awkwardly as he maintains a grip on the stun-gun. He frantically looks about as more undead continue to converge on them from behind. Wolf growls and bares his fangs. When the undead seem indifferent to his growls, his aggressive posture is betrayed by a whimper that he cannot control, causing him to hurry closer to the other two.

  A slide locks back on one of Red’s pistols. She jettisons the magazine, then kicks it. It tumbles towards a zombie’s face, then lodges in the fleshless space of its cheek. The empty magazine barely elicits an effect, but a full magazine slides home and the slide is released before it takes another step. The following impact has a more welcome effect as the zombie falls away, the in-cheek magazine flinging loose again. She replaces her other magazine in as much time as they continue fighting their way down the drive and off the property.

  The three pass out into the road, then look back to see the zombie ADD kick in as they lose interest and start meandering in another direction. Red checks her magazines before tucking her pistols back into the holsters under her cape and at the small of her back.

  Jack wipes various unknown bodily substances from his axe as he appraises Red. “How’s your ammo looking?”

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  “Five rounds, then I’ll have to start getting more up close and personal.”

  Jack nods gravely as Wolf looks back towards the zombies, then down at the stun-gun in his hand, having forgotten that he had it.

  “You sure were a lot of help back there,” Red says.

  Wolf turns to her, suddenly realizing she’s talking to him. “Those were zombies back there. Zombies. Real zombies.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Look, we’re not running a kennel here. You’re going to need to pull your own weight, or you can get lost.”

  “Give him a bit of time,” Jack says. “He’s freaking out for a good reason. This is a lot to take in even when it’s not the crash course version he’s getting now.”

  “We can’t afford to waste time on him. If he’s not going to fight or help me get stronger, then he’s dead weight. This is already an uphill battle, and the grade is only going to continue getting steeper.”

  “I seriously doubt your grandmother is that determined to make you dead.”

  “Grandmother,” Wolf says. “Yes, grandmother. I ate Red’s grandmother.”

  Red snorts. “While that’s a delightful thought, if either of us had access to the Grandmother I know… I wouldn’t have left behind anything worth eating.”

  Wolf’s mind fractures. He opens his mouth multiple times as if to say something, but closes it each time. “You were using me, even allowed me to eat someone, knowing I meant to eat you too… and you allowed all of that to happen, just so you could train somehow?” Wolf shakes his head as he tries to comprehend.

  “If you don’t think you can catch me, you’re not going to even try. You’re only motivated when you think you can win, and I needed you motivated. But why do you even care? Do you feel remorse for her or something?”

  “No,” he snaps. “That’s not the point.”

  “So what is the point, then? I’m assuming you have one. Nah, just forget it—it doesn’t matter because we need to keep moving before she sends more after us.” Red turns to walk away.

  Wolf’s ears lie flat and his lip curls to expose his fangs. He takes a step towards Red and her cloak flares. It falls away, leaving Wolf to suddenly stare across the top of her pistol. Their eyes meet, each seeing the other’s beyond the pistol’s steel sights and Wolf’s posture immediately becomes submissive, averting his gaze as soon as their eyes come in contact.

  “If you feel the need to establish a pecking order, be my guest. But you’ll save yourself a shit load of healing and emotional scarring if you use this opportunity to read between the lines on who’s Alpha here. I mean, you are a sly wolf, right? How about using some of that cunning to really buckle down on this conundrum, because I’d hate to ruin your chances of being a rug someday.”

  Red glares at his down turned head a moment longer, then tucks the pistol away again and sets off down the road.

  Wolf suddenly shakes his head as Jack pulls his hand away. “Don’t pet me,” Wolf grumbles.

  “Just trying to cheer you up,” Jack replies, as the axe lies over his shoulder. His flannel shirt really gives off a woodsman vibe, but the Mr. Olympia style body shaping the clothing does not imply his life was spent in the wilderness.

  “Is she always that cold?”

  Jack shakes his head. “No. Other times she gets angry.”

  Wolf’s eyes grow larger. “That wasn’t anger?”

  “Nah, I think that was more like impatience.”

  “Impatience? What the fuck kind of range are you using for emotions?” Wolf raises his fingers to count them off. “There’s angry, sad, happy—wait, does she even have a happy?”

  Jack shrugs and walks along the road. “Probably, but I doubt we’ll see it before taking out her grandmother.” Jack turns and begins walking backwards. “You can come if you want, but it’s ultimately up to you. We’re working on putting a stop to all these zombies and random attacks. But I need to catch up, so think about it.”

  Wolf watches as Jack jogs away. “What the hell have I gotten mixed up in?” He tosses the stun-gun back towards the zombies, then runs to catch up.