Zombies Vs Aliens: Respawn

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Tell me again why I have to drive?" J.D. grumbled as he once again attempted to adjust the driver's seat of the wagon to his bulk. Despite pushing the seat back as far as it would go, he continued to appear a bit squished behind the steering wheel. He tried to move the steering column up while driving but managed to drop it down further on the tops of his thighs. Poor giant, I almost felt sorry for him. I caught Fred's sneer in the rearview mirror, where he entertained Wolf Girl with a game of slap hands. The girl appeared to be over her earlier wariness of him, squealing with delight when she landed a blow, and continued to show no signs of going undead native. 

"Of the two of us, who has gone two rounds with a huge bear and won?" 

J.D. turned his frown on me. "What-what does that have to do with anything?" 

I shrugged, it was Fred. "You know you lost round one to the bear."

"He surprised me!" Fred raised his voice as he smacked Wolf Girl's fingertips. He might be stronger but the wild child was incredibly fast. Must come from a life spent honing her reflexes to catch squirrels. The thought made me shudder. "My point, big guy, is you aren't the only one who can deal with the nasties, so my turn."

"You aren't touching my guns," J.D. said, not taking his eyes off the ragged path we followed along the crater of the city. 

"Don't need your guns. I have my own tricks, thank you." Fred's retort was half way civil, which clued me into his real feelings on the matter. I put a hand on J.D.'s arm before he could respond, keeping my voice low, though I knew Fred could hear every word. 

"Drop it. Can you blame him after what happened earlier? We can switch off later." 

The soldier relaxed under my touch. For whatever reason, Fred was right. I appeared to have a knack for making the two idiots back down. Of course, this didn't mean J.D. possessed an ounce of tact. "How's Wolf Girl doing? Is she getting sick yet?"

"Did you seriously just ask that question, Private Ryan?" Fred snapped, kicking the back of the driver's seat. J.D. glared at him through the rearview mirror. 

"Call me another stupid movie name and I will send you through this windshield," he growled. 

Fred thumped his chest. "Bring it!" 

"Would you two knock it off," I yelled, causing both of them to sink down in their seats pouting, for nearly two blissful minutes of silence.

"Okay, but have you come up with a plan-"

I groaned over J.D., letting my head thud against the window. Looking at the situation from his perspective, I couldn't blame him for asking. What did he owe her, or any of us? Hell, we knew each other all of a day, but he cast his lot in with us, survived an alien fire fight and the decimation of a whole freaking city with us. Those kind of experiences made bonds form fast. I didn't know anything about J.D. beyond his death, but I trusted him, not as much as I trusted Fred, but I trusted J.D. not to fuck us over. He gave me his word he would let us deal with Wolf Girl. He just wanted to know what to expect before everything went to hell.

"Right now, I want to reach a safe spot for the night. One crisis at a time," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the drifting scenery outside. The silence of the car was broken by the metallic pings of kicked up rocks and debris knocking against the under carriage of the wagon. The alien weapon had resulted in about half a mile of surrounding neighborhoods being wiped out along with Rochester. Support beams poked up from the leveled houses, dotting the landscape like broken bones poking through skin. With the crater of the city on our left and the shredded landscape on our right, the situation looked pretty bleak.