Chapter 76 - Lunch

He noticed she was looking out of the window. After they cooled her down, she didn't have any other nightmares and slept peacefully. Mark was worried if she would have another nightmare and wouldn't get sleep, but seeing she slept well he exhaled in relief. She and Kevin were his number one priority. 

He looked at her through the mirror and asked, "Are you feeling hungry, Suzie?" Suzie nodded and held her stomach, which grumbled. 

He looked at David and received a nod from him. He looked around once again and couldn't find a proper place to stop the jeep and eat. As he looked around, he saw a tree in the distance right next to the road. 

He slowly drove towards the tree and stopped the car under the tree's shade once they arrived. He looked out of the window and found it was a nice spot to have lunch and got down. David noticed this and got down. Both went to the back and opened the trunk. 

David took out the mini-solar oven he brought in the supermarket Mark saved him from. Mark took out the bag of food he had and closed the trunk. They went near the tree and set the solar oven up and after a while; it started working. 

David took out some frozen food from the bag and cooked up some easy food to eat. Mark went to Suzie as David cooked and said, "Wait for a few minutes." Suzie nodded from inside. 

"Did you sleep well?" making Suzie nod once again. Rei exhaled and looked at David as he already finished heating up food for one person. Mark took the plastic cup from him and brought it near Suzie so she could eat. 

"Here take this and eat. You need to get some food inside you." keeping it in front of her. Suzie didn't move. She looked at the small disposable plate and food on it and then stared at Mark. Mark understood and slowly took a piece and brought it near her mouth. 

"Here. Eat like this." and Suzie opened her mouth and ate it. "Good, now you try." handing over the plate to her. Suzie took the plate and slowly ate her food. Mark exhaled in relief as he saw this. 

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. He saw David with two more plates in his hands and took one from him. Both of them leaned on the jeep and slowly ate their portion of lunch. 

"How long till Evergreen city if we go at this speed?" asked David as he swallowed his food. 

"Probably two days. The roads have too many cars on them. We can only slowly make our way through the cars." There were too many cars on the highway. Some zombies were roaming around between the cars. 

These people must have tried to escape the city but failed in the end as the virus caught up. He took another piece into his mouth and closed his eyes. But as he swallowed it, he heard groaning from the distance. 

His eyes shot open, and he looked around. He knows it is zombies and that they are near. But he found no zombies. He closed and tried to hear it once again. This time it was louder, and he panicked more. He couldn't see them. There was a bad feeling in his heart and he quickly turned towards David and said, "Let's go from here. Zombies are coming." 

He quickly stuffed the food inside him and went for the oven and the food bag. He noticed David still staring at him and urged him, "Quickly there are zombies coming." and went to keep them in the trunk. 

David increased his speed and Mark kept the bag and the oven in the trunk before closing it and making his way to the driver's seat. David already sat in his seat and was looking at Mark. Mark ignored his gaze and started the jeep. 

He slowly drove ahead and David asked again, "Where are the zombies, Mark?" 

Mark looked out of the window and saw a few zombies under the tree they were just eating. He got back in and motioned backward for David. David looked back and saw the zombies, and his eyes went wide. 

"How do you know there were zombies?" he sat back in his seat.

Mark shrugged and said, "I heard them coming. That's why I said zombies." he looked at Suzie. Suzie was already done with her food and her plate was beside her. 

He rolled down her window and said, "Throw your plate out." and she picked up her plate and dropped it out of the window. He closed the window once again and sat back correctly. 

"But how come I didn't hear anything?" asked David from his side. Mark didn't reply and only shrugged in response. He just heard it when he was eating. What more could he say. David didn't ask again and simply looked out of the window. 

Mark continued to drive, and slowly the sun was going down. He looked around for a place to stay for the night. Even though he had tents, he preferred home or any sort of housing structure to stay for the night. Sleeping out was too risky, especially when he knew zombies were more active at night. 

After going further they spotted a small petrol bunk which also had a house attached to it behind. He drove up to it and pulled out his gun. There were 2 zombies outside, probably workers based on their clothes. He quickly took care of them and got down from his jeep. David also got down with his gun in his hand.

The sky was already orange as the sun was going down. He looked at Suzie and opened the door. Suzie got down, and he said, "Stay behind me." and made their way inside the shop in the petrol bunk. The house was behind the small shop.