#anna shepherd

Focusing on her surroundings with increasing incredulity, Anna swore she saw fingers boxing her in, and as she struggled to sit more upright, she was made aware of the fact that she was sitting on the palm of a gigantic hand. 

Why am I—

Sitting up in an instant, looking around her in a bleary, sleepy panic, Anna managed to get to her hands and knees. The hand beneath her was soft, and as she knelt, her heart rate slowly beginning to climb, she looked to where the hand connected to a wrist, her wide eyes tracking up an arm clad in a familiar-looking sweater before settling on something that made that confusion fade. 

—Oh. Right.  

John’s huge face blocked the rest of her view, and when her eyes settled on him, he bared his teeth in what looked like an attempt at a smile. His head tilted slightly to the left. A soft little snort escaped him, and gently, Anna felt herself being raised up to his face with a slow, jerky motion. She didn’t bother trying to grapple one of his fingers for balance, she simply stared up at his big brown eyes in a mixture of intimidation and confusion. 

He didn’t say a word. To his credit, Anna didn’t really think he could say much, but it was still so genuinely unnerving to watch him give a slow, weighted sort of blink. A low huff escaped his throat, causing Anna’s ribcage to vibrate with the sound. 

Right. This is a thing, now. 

Skin prickling, Anna shifted her weight and turned her attention to the rest of the room.  There was an awkwardness that clung to her, heavy on her shoulders as she scrutinized their surroundings. They were still in the base, from what she could tell. The walls were riddled with holes, bits of the walls chipped off and broken in places. John’s back was pressed up against the closest wall⁠—

He’s sitting and he’s still enormous. 

⁠—and as she carefully craned her neck to see around his head, she could see other scattered bits of rubble decorating the floor near him. wall. It was cold, she was noticing, but not nearly as cold as last night. John’s uneven breaths had warmed her some, anyway. Gooseflesh was rising along her arms, and as she switched her gaze from one object on the ground to the other, avoiding looking at John with as much determination as she could muster. 

What was she supposed to say to him? The events of the day prior were still fresh in her mind, rolling and crashing like tidal waves. She was only a few inches tall, he was a hulking zombie, he’d eaten her⁠—

Her stomach growled. 

Gaze snapping to meet his, Anna carefully, exaggeratedly wrapped her arms around herself and tried to find her voice. 

“Do⁠—uh⁠—do you know where I can get something to eat?” She asked, unable to keep from flinching a little away when he shifted his hand. “I haven’t had anything since yesterday afternoon…” 

She swore his eyes widened a tad. His brow furrowed, and for a moment, he truly looked like he had before everything had gone straight to hell. His head tilted to the left, a soft little grumble of sound escaping him. His eyes drifted, that lucid look not faltering as his lips twitched, incoherent mumblings filling the air with low, steady vibrations. 

Anna exhaled. 

Talking to himself.

Nothing’s changed at all. 

With her headache and dizziness fading away after so much time spent asleep, Anna was finally able to take in everything that had happened, processing it without having to work around the pains of a headache. 

I’m stuck like this… 

She had to be at three inches tall, at the most. Her cane was still with her, still sturdy and as brightly coloured as ever. It was there if she needed protection, though, at three fucking inches tall… how could she fight off anything? She hadn’t even managed to stop her best friend from swallowing her alive—

Anna grit her teeth. Exhaled through her nose. Chanced a glance at the still wandering gaze of the zombie holding her.

John hasn’t hurt me.

Hasn’t even tried.

Those thoughts made her relax a fraction, but try as she might to cling to them, her mind was more than happy to throw a new set of images across the space behind her eyes.

John’s eyes locked onto her form. His lips began to curl back in a snarl, showing off a dizzying array of teeth—

Anna gave a violent jolt and sucked in a breath through her teeth. She wasn’t going to think about that. 

John wouldn’t hurt me. 

He would never forgive himself if he did.

But… that was the John she remembered. This one was a zombie— not to mention, she was absolutely minuscule in comparison. He’d already eaten her once— like she was nothing— and maybe he’d enjoyed her taste enough that he’d snap her up again, and that’d be the end—

Anna shook her head as if to clear those intrusive memories away John lightly patted her on the head. His clumsy fingers began to pet her, the gentle motion catching her off guard.

“Agh!” Her cheeks flushed red. Acting on impulse, she moved to swat his fingers away, unable to keep from giving him a crooked smile despite her annoyance. 

His own face mirrored her lopsided grin, and as she listened, she could hear harsh, huffing wheezes rattling from his chest. They were almost like little barks of noise. 

What—

He snorted.

—laughing at me. 

Crossing her arms, moving to sit more in the middle of his palm, Anna looked up at him with faint traces of a smile still on her lips. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up now. Just wait until I’m back to normal. Then I’ll kick your ass for that.” 

His brow crinkled as she gave a soft sigh. “So… What’d you figure out while you were in la-la land, then? Something about the food situation I hope.” John tapped his nose and stood up, a little too fast for Anna. She scrambled to grip onto a finger, suddenly glad she wasn’t dizzy. The rushing sensation had turned her insides into water, and with only a second to regain her composure, her eyes darted back to John, though—

No.

She was being lifted to John’s mouth. Anna’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Her memory came alive again, and as she stumbled back on his palm, falling flat on her backside, all she could see were the images flashing through her mind.

That hand— that monstrous, discoloured hand riddled with bluish veins— was inches from her, and the distance was closing.

“N-NO!” Anna all but screeched as she was mere inches away from his partially open mouth, hands flying up to cover her eyes. This was it. He’d gotten tired of her, and now he was going to—

Anna felt herself being moved away. 

Daring to lower her hands, she looked up to see John’s face, shrouded with confusion and concern. A low rumble shook through her. 

She sagged in relief, the breath she’d been holding pulling from her in a sharp rush.

“Shit… umm… maybe don’t do that? I’m more than fine here.” Anna gave a nervous laugh, patting his hand in emphasis. 

John cocked his head like a dog, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. “Safe…” he murmured, moving her a little closer once again.

Anna scooted back near-instantly, her words coming out in a mess of tangled syllables. “Y-yeah I know it’s safe, but we should be looking for food for me, not food for you. You— Y-You get what I’m saying, right?”

The silence that followed made Anna’s ears ring. It was almost like he hadn’t heard her at all. His eyes were hopelessly vacant. The noises he was making had stopped altogether.

“...right?” She tried again.

John blinked. Unsteadily, as if just figuring out how to properly move, he gave a slow, jerky little nod. 

His brow furrowed once more, and as Anna watched, he began to growl under his breath, looking more irritated with himself than anything. His lips twitched, uncertain little syllables falling from them for a moment, before dissolving back into short, confused little grumbles.

After a few moments of low rumbling, Anna felt herself being lowered toward the floor. It was gentler than the motions of him standing up, less jerky, too, as he carefully lowered his hand to the concrete and rumbled again. 

“I—“ she tried, though, before she could say a word, his hand abruptly tilted to the side, all but dumping her off the side of it with a squeak. Her cane fell off first, and Anna followed soon after, landing on her side with a soft thud.

The concrete was cold under her body, though, Anna was quick to stand and watch as John backed up a few paces, and began a very confusing game of charades.

His motions were quick and jerky, and Anna could only stare in confusion as he stood back at his full height and swung a hand downward. 

What…

Following where he’d pointed with her brow furrowed, Anna glanced at the concrete beneath her. 

“...the floor?” She guessed.

John growled in response. When she looked up, he shook his head slowly and jerkily before pointing again, more in her direction. 

“The… s’it these rocks here, or— or walkin’? Where we came from?” He could’ve been pointing behind her, though, everything seemed deserted, and not to mention, it was huge, big enough that she could easily miss some detail that he was trying to show her— 

Big enough that you could go missing or get stepped on or snatched up by something that isn’t your friend, did you think of that?

Another growl from John shook her out of her thoughts and caused her to look up at him. As much as his features were deadened, Anna could see irritation flashing across his face as he pointed again, giving a low, unsteady growl and shake of his head

“An…” he tried, the suddenness of the broken word catching Anna off guard. He pointed again, nearly tripping as he pointed downward once again. His eyes met her own. 

It clicked. 

“Anna?” Feeling a little ridiculous saying her own name, she pointed at herself and drew her shoulders up. “Me?” 

For a moment, she thought he’d growl again. He blinked, his expression changing slowly, but surely. A crooked smile fell across his lips, and Anna felt an odd, light sort of flutter in her chest when he nodded. 

“Right,” she breathed, dropping her hands. Picking up the cane at her side, leaning on it a tad, Anna couldn’t stop a smile at how enthusiastic he looked. 

A happy little grumble shook from him, and as he grinned down at her, more a snarl that curled up at the edges, she huffed out a laugh. 

“Congratulations, I know my own name.” She grumbled, unable to keep up the annoyed facade due to the fact that her lip seemed deadset on curling upward. “Good thing you told me, otherwise I never would’a—“

“Safe,” John interrupted, and before Anna could say another word, he gave a deep, throaty growl that made her blood turn to ice. Images flashed through her mind before she could try to fight them off, a small, shaky breath escaping her. Her grip on the cane tightened.  

If anything, he was growling louder by the second, an awful, grating noise that rose above the panicked rushing of blood in her ears. It was barely human— hardly a noise she could ever picture him making— but it was escaping his throat regardless as he shuffled closer and closer to his potential meal— 

“Safe,” John’s voice came again, and as Anna looked up, she could see that his brow was furrowed and those brown eyes she knew so well seemed almost guilty. Another growl shook through him, though, it was more subdued this time. It sounded exaggerated. More emphasis on it to a point where it sounded more like an over the top gurgle. 

“Safe…” Anna echoed, watching as John nodded, then growled again. 

Safe and then a growl?

Anna just stared, the confusion on her face obvious despite the height difference. “What… what does that even mean? That⁠— John, that’s not a word⁠—”

“Safe!” John insisted, punctuating the word with an over the top growl. His eyes seemed to be pleading with her, and Anna backed up slightly as he bent over, grumbling under his breath. His eyes drifted across her little frame, his lips twitching slightly as though he was trying to speak. 

Anna’s mind was racing. 

Safe… grrr?

It didn’t make sense. Why would he growl at her? She could tell he was getting frustrated⁠— she was too. 

 What is he⁠—

“Oh!” Anna’s face lit up and she looked up at John. 

“Safer?” She tried. 

The noise from John was loud enough to make her ears ring. An excited, near purr of a rumble made Anna feel like she was vibrating, and that crooked grin decorating his face made a matching one settle on her lips. 

“Okay, okay, so I’m safer… where?” She asked, watching as John straightened himself out. 

It only took him a moment to give the next instruction. Swinging a hand to his middle, John pointed at his stomach. Anna got the idea immediately.

“I’m safer in your…” She trailed off, swallowing nervously before trying again, “in… in there?” She intoned, pointing at his middle as well as she could manage. “In… your stomach?” 

John nodded a final time, kneeling down completely with a suddenness that made Anna flinch. 

She backed up as his hands came to rest in front of her, not too far off the ground and palm up. His eyes were focused on her, that crooked, familiar grin still sitting on his face. His head tilted to the side, a small, curious little noise escaping him.

Anna gripped her cane tighter. “Listen,” she started, not breaking eye-contact, “I know with the zombies out there it’s… it’s not safe, even when I’m my normal size, but maybe hold off on doing…” She winced. 

Say it. 

She couldn’t. 

Pointing again at his middle, Anna tried to make sure he understood her point. “...that… until there are some zombies in sight, sound good?” 

Keeping her distance by a few inches, she watched closely as John looked down. His fingers twitched in place, the movement stiff and jerky, before he met her eyes and gave a slight nod. 

Anna exhaled. 

Oh thank god. 

Now if we can avoid any zombies for the rest of time itself, that’ll be great.

Hesitantly, breaking eye contact to focus on moving forward, Anna carefully stepped toward his hands, already anticipating the grab she knew he was readying himself to make. His fingers twitched. His hands shifted a little closer to her, though… they stopped. 

She frowned. She could practically feel him on her already, his hand more than close enough that it bumped up against her side. 

Stepping away momentarily, Anna mirrored John’s cocked head. “Uh, what’s wrong?”

His hand bumped against her again. A soft noise burbled up from his throat and he leaned a little closer, splaying his fingers momentarily. The grumbling noise was gentle, but firm in a way, more a prompt than anything. 

What does he⁠—

One of his fingers bumped up against her again.

Oh.

Anna blinked, looking up John as she finally got the message. She shivered a little bit, being grabbed and moved around was one thing, but walking onto the hands of a giant⁠— best friend or not⁠—was a bit nerve-wracking.

Still, she tried to push her fears away as she carefully walked towards and climbed onto John’s hand, trying not to focus on the action itself. She had to hop up a bit, and ended up stumbling, falling flat on her front onto the surface of his palm. She swore she heard slight huffs of a laugh from above her, and as she tried to get up, she grumbled:

“Maybe if you lowered your giant zombie hand a bit more, I wouldn’t have fallen.” She tried to sound irritated, though, she couldn’t keep herself from chuckling under her breath. Crookedly, she smiled up at John, though she was hit with an unexpected pang of some feeling she couldn’t quite explain, seeing him roll his eyes with that dorky smile she remembered so well.

After a moment, John slowly stood up, bringing his other hand up to keep Anna from falling. She grabbed onto his fingers near-instantly, and although he stood up slowly, the feeling of being moved upward made her feel like she was in an unsteady elevator. Everything lurched, herself included, as he straightened out. The hands bracing her were quick to move, however, and Anna found herself stumbling so her back was braced against his chest. 

Slumping into a sitting position, Anna stretched her legs out on the surface beneath her and allowed her head to loll back onto the soft fabric of his sweater. When he began to move, his hands swayed along in time with his footsteps, causing Anna to grip her cane tightly for reassurance.

Where’s he going?

She tried to sit up straighter for a moment, though, quickly gave up.

What did it matter where he was going? He probably knew the area better than she did, seeing as she didn’t know it at all, not to mention, the hordes of undead wouldn’t try to snack on him as far as she knew. 

Still...

“Hey, John,” She asked, tapping his palm to get his attention and craning her neck back to look him in the eye. A low rumble shook through her chest, loud enough to make her core feel like it was buzzing. “Please be careful,” she murmured, then, realizing how dark her tone had gotten, she tried to add a lighthearted: “It’d suck if you got bit again and turned into even more of a zombie.” 

He gave a soft huff in response. 

Leaning back once more, Anna carefully pressed her head against his chest, listening to the very, very slow thudding of his heart and his soft, slightly ragged breathing. It was almost comforting, in a way. Those were human noises, noises something dead couldn’t make, and she could feel her own heart slowing a tad to a point where it almost matched. Her thoughts then trailed to a spot lower than his heart. A spot she’d visited. 

I can’t believe that I was actually in there and that it’s safe, as safe as you can be inside a zombie, anyway.

She curled up a little on herself, wanting to block out the huge outside world, wanting to ignore those little fears and just pretend that she was just hanging out with a normal-sized human John. That would be nice. That would be so much better than being a few inches tall. That would mean the apocalypse hadn’t happened⁠— that he was his normal, goofy, human self.

But he’s not… he’s a zombie, a zombie who…

She couldn’t help but grimace a tad.

Who wants to eat me. 

Maybe his mind isn’t back all the way yet, but don’t worry.

The packets from the lab had held the formula for a cure. A makeshift cure, sure, but one that could work. 

Snuggling up a little more against the faint warmth emanating from John, Anna gave a soft sigh.

I’m getting you back.

...

“It’s okay, we’re definitely getting her back, right?” Steph’s feet were beginning to hurt and she was beginning to doubt her own words. 

The two had been walking through the halls for what felt like days, checking every room and fighting way too many zombies for their liking. Steph was sore all over, and she was almost certain Nick was feeling the same way, due to the fact that the little sarcastic quips he’d been tossing her way had grown few and far between. They walked in uneasy silence, and with every step they took, Steph could feel a weight settling on her shoulders. 

No Anna.  

“Well,” Nick’s voice cut through her thoughts, “considering we’re almost at the end of the section, she’s obviously gonna be here. Probably just locked herself in a room.” There was confidence in his words, along with truth. 

They hadn’t even seen a candy cane, flashlight beam, or even fresh blood, which meant she’d vanished from sight, locked herself away, or... 

Steph sank her teeth into her lip. She didn’t want to consider it, but it was possible that Anna’s broken, battered body was somewhere further up the hall. Every time they passed a piece of rubble, Steph found herself pleading that Anna’s lifeless form wasn’t slumped behind it, and as much as Nick had tried to convince her he wasn’t worried, she’d caught him doing the same thing. 

Walking in a tense sort of silence, both of them clutching their weapons as readily as they could, Steph caught sight of a partially open door. She’d just opened her mouth to tell Nick, though, when she turned her head⁠—

Already, Nick was opening the door the rest of the way and peering inside, motioning for her to follow. 

They were dead quiet as they cautiously dipped into the new room. It was dark inside, and Steph was quick to flick on her flashlight, nearly jumping out of her skin when the light was reflected back at her. 

What⁠—

“Calm down,” Nick huffed at her, “it’s only a bunch of vials.” 

Sure enough, he was right. Both of them straightened up a tad as they moved into the new space, the steady beam from Steph’s light illuminating more and more of their surroundings. They were surrounded by shelves upon shelves of glass vials. It looked like a crackpot laboratory, and as Steph swung her flashlight this way and that, she was made acutely aware of the fact that it was almost maze-like in design. 

Trying to get rid of her unease, Steph trailed a hand across the dusty vials, squinting in an attempt to read the scrawled labels. “Hey, your dad was a big ol’ military man, right? Did he happen to tell you what any of this might be?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shrug. “He wasn’t supposed to talk to me about much of anything that goes on the base normally,” he paced the shelves, moving just out of Steph’s line of sight and around to the next row, “so I don’t really think he would have mentioned it to m⁠—” He stopped short.

Shit. 

Steph raised the wrench she’d pilfered from the base defensively, getting ready to face whatever Nick had spotted, though⁠—

“Steph, I think I found something.”

Rounding the corner cautiously, trying not to let panic take over, Steph quietly stepped to Nick’s side. His arm came up, blocking her from stepping forward. 

Steph frowned. “What’re you doing?” 

“Look at the shelf.” He motioned toward the shelf before him, though, he didn’t drop his arm. 

“Hey, tallass, I can’t fucking see. What about it?” Standing on tiptoe, swatting at Nick’s arm, Steph tried to swing her light to see what he’d spotted. 

At first, she didn’t see much of anything. It just looked like another shelf, though, as she stepped a tad closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nick, she could see some details she’d missed. Bits of broken glass were littered across the floor, and they were scattered in a murky looking puddle. Liquid was dripping down the shelf, the different colours mingling in the steadily growing pool on the floor. 

“What… what the fuck?” Steph intoned, watching as Nick carefully stepped over the puddle, looking at the glass shards. 

“This happened recently,” he murmured, lowering his voice. “Everything’s still wet, and look⁠—” he gestured to some of the half-shattered vials still holding their shape on the floor. “⁠—they’re still leaking.”

Steph nodded. Hope flickered to life in her chest. “So it was either a tipsy zombie bumping into this one specific shelf, or…” She broke into a shocked laugh. She couldn’t help it.

“Or it was Anna,” Nick finished, “and since there’s no blood, I’d say she’s alive.” 

Although his tone was somewhat flat, Steph could see the beginnings of a grin forming on his face. “Okay! Let’s go get her then! I mean, where else could she have gone, right? She⁠— She’s probably close, we⁠— we can catch up!” 

Relief washed over her in a heavy wave. “Jesus, I’ve got some shit to say to her. She better have a great excuse as to why she just up and left.”

Nick nodded, gripping his bat tightly. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I’ve got a few choice words.”

The two began to make their way to the exit across the room, spirits considerably raised. 

“Absolutely,” Steph replied, “for starters, a good ‘what the fuck’ is in order.”

Nick gave a soft laugh, leading the way out with his bat at the ready. “For sure.” 

As the two entered the hallway once again, the pair of them both felt considerably lighter. Anna was alive. 

...

“How far is this place even… it’s like you’re taking every wrong turn…” Anna grumbled, moving from her previous position to peer out of John’s hands, only to see a dark, narrow looking hallway. The walls seemed to box John in as he carefully moved forward through the darkness. It didn’t look all that familiar to her. 

Shifting again, trying not to think of how little space her hands took up on his, Anna squinted in the dark. “What, are you going through the walls?” She questioned, earning a soft huff and a jerky little nod from above her. 

“Well, shit. Guess that explains where all the light went the past ten minutes… Are we at least close?” Her stomach was starting to hurt. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. Being back in Little Haven had really taken away her appetite, but now, the stress of the days spent without eating was finally catching up with her. 

John gave another nod and Anna moved back to her previous position before the drafty air of the area got to her. It was cold enough to make her skin prickle, though, as she settled back down against John’s chest, she could feel warmth seeping back into her bones. 

“Guess you know your way around here, huh?” She murmured, more to herself than John as she leaned further against the faint warmth he provided. She swayed along in time to his footsteps, and when he didn’t answer, she sighed and continued. 

“Must’ve been here for a while, huh? Guess you remember a lot from just… wandering around all day… every day…”

Wandering around for a lot of days, if she had to guess. He wasn’t exactly a fast walker. His gait was shambling and more a limp than a true walk, the motion causing her to pitch a little bit with each of his steps. It must’ve taken him a couple of days to have gotten himself all the way from the old mall to the military base, and although it didn’t seem like he was really hurt… 

Anna drew herself inward a little bit and sighed heavily. “Limping pretty bad, too…” 

The rocking of his steps stopped short. A concerned rumble made her ribcage vibrate, and without warning, Anna felt herself being lifted. Shifting, moving to sit on her knees, Anna didn’t move as she was lifted up to meet John’s eyes. 

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that it still looked like him— still was him. Those big brown eyes were so human, so full of unvoiced concern that it made her heart twist. 

“Sorry,” she mumbled, looking down at the hand below her, “I’m just a bit disappointed in myself, that’s all.”

A confused grumble pulled from his throat. 

 Dipping her head, Anna dug her fingers into her palms. “I couldn’t save you back then… a-and then…” her breaths were coming shakily. Her vision blurred, though, she knew she couldn’t blame the concussion.

 “You were just stuck wandering some useless town ‘til you died again.” Her voice was getting louder. It wobbled unsteadily. Raising a fist, she swatted irritably at her eyes. “And the first thing I do when we finally see each other again is make myself completely fucking useless and—“

A growl from John cut her off. Looking up, she watched him shake his head. 

She managed a bitter laugh. “What’re you talking about? I’m like, two inches tall, can’t kill zombies, can’t walk to find food, and I can’t even keep myself warm. How can anyone be useful like this?” 

They can’t. 

A voice in her head pointed out. 

Which is why you’re so useless now.

John’s troubled expression shifted. Anna bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, the confusion in his gaze more than enough to make her dig her teeth in deeper. 

I’m just making things harder for him.

He probably doesn’t understand.

John pointed to himself, the suddenness of the action catching Anna off guard. 

Sniffing, crossing her arms, she looked up at him. “What, you’re saying I helped you?” She asked, incredulous. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be a zombie, and if I wasn’t stupid, I wouldn’t have gotten small and need you to take care of me!” 

Sitting back down, Anna brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them for good measure. Tucking her head down, she tried her best to ignore the sting of tears burning her eyes. It was a familiar feeling. 

Useless.

Fucking useless. 

A moment later, John used his spare hand to gently pet Anna’s head, causing her to look up with red-rimmed eyes and scowl, though she didn’t try to swat him away. 

Another careful grumble pulled from John’s throat. He looked a tad frustrated as he pointed to himself again with a little more energy, then dipped his head and closed his eyes. 

Anna’s brow furrowed. 

“You’re asleep?” She asked. 

John’s free hand waggled in a so-so motion before he continued. Moving slowly, eyes open again and trained solely on her, he pointed at Anna then, made the same motion, but tapped himself and opened his eyes.

It took her a moment, but she understood. 

“You were asleep. I woke you up.” 

John gave a single nod and a little grunt of affirmation. His lips curled up at the corners again, and although Anna’s chest still ached, she managed a smile in return. She didn’t do so much as squeal in protest as he brought her to his chest in a sort of hug, purring slightly. 

She leaned into it. Her face met soft, faintly warm fabric. Taking a tiny hand, she carefully patted his chest and sighed, albeit, shakily. 

“Sorry,” she murmured, “just a bit cold and hungry, must be getting ahold of me.” 

A low noise of understanding made her smile feel a little more genuine. “Thanks, though.”

Anna embraced the comfort and gave a sigh, feeling John beginning to move again.

It was silent for the rest of the walk, Anna only hearing the slow heartbeat with equally slow breaths and the limping, shuffling noise of his feet on the ground. She kept her face pressed against his chest, his gentle grip on her shifting to practically pin her up against his front. 

Why⁠— 

He was crouching. His footsteps dragged more, and Anna could hear the sound of his sweater brushing against the walls, but soon enough, it stopped altogether. 

Anna’s stomach lurched as John stood upright and she found herself clutching one of his fingers to keep her balance. She wobbled on her feet despite the steadiness of John’s hand, peering over at the surrounding room. It was dirty, dark, and would break every health safety code violation she knew, but she recognized it near instantly. If the chipped countertop and the sink that most certainly didn’t run anymore didn’t give it away, the cupboards that hung open at odd angles did.

“A kitchen!” She exclaimed, excitement coursing through her. “Oh thank god, they’ve got to have something that hasn’t gone bad yet!” 

Still leaning over John’s fingers, Anna felt excitement swelling up through her. She barely noticed as he shifted her to one hand and began pawing through some of the open cabinets. Her gaze followed his hands as he shifted through their contents. 

It seemed to take hours. However, eventually, Anna caught sight of an unopened package and swatted John’s palm to get his attention. 

“There!”

John’s fingers closed around a packet clearly labeled MRE.

Anna couldn’t hold back a victorious: “yes!” as John placed his hand on the dirty counter for her to jump off, which she did with a crooked grin, cane in hand. She walked with an almost cocky air across the countertop, gaze shifting from the packages to the sink that looked deep enough for her to drown in. Some murky water puddled in it, easily large enough to be a swimming pool for her. It came right up to the edge, nearly spilling over the sides. 

Peering warily over the edge for a moment, Anna turned her attention to John, watching him rummage through the cupboard with a dexterity that surprised her. Sure, his movements were jerky and disjointed, and yes, his fingers did twitch a little too much as he grabbed a couple of packages and dropped them on the counter beside her, but those eyes… 

They were his without a doubt. 

“Thanks,” she told him with a crooked smile. Turning to face the packages at her side, Anna strode over to them, her excitement fading as reality once again reared its ugly head. The packages towered over her. Even the ones laying their sides were easily half her height. 

“Uhh…  how’s this going to work?” She mumbled to herself, eyes scanning over the packages. There had to be some way for her to open them… right?

Biting her lip and backing up a few paces, Anna finally decided to give it a shot. Her hands closed around the packaging, giving it a sharp tug with most of her strength to no avail. 

Shit.

She tugged harder, digging her heels into the counter’s surface. Her shoulders ached with the effort. Her grip was weak, and it only took a few seconds for her to lose her footing and fall flat on her back. 

Oh, fucking hell—  

Standing, glaring at the wrapping, Anna tried to get a grasp on one of the lower corners, yanking on it as hard as she could manage. The material crinkled, taunting her. It refused to break, and try as she might to tear even a piece of it off, it stayed stuck. 

“Damn it…” She hissed under her breath, giving up for the moment. She sat on the counter, defeated, and turned her gaze to John. 

He wasn’t even trying to hide his smile. The second they made eye contact, he started giving his soft, huffing little laughs, and they only got louder, sounding more like barks when Anna scrunched up her face and glared at him. 

John was just watching her with a confused but almost entertained look on his face.

“You’re really just gonna stand there and watch me make a fool of myself?” Anna asked, a playful sort of annoyance in her voice. 

John huffed in response and rolled his eyes, giving a low, dry little groan before snatching up one of the packages. Even though his fingers were clumsy, he managed to rip it open easily enough. 

 It looked about as appetizing as you would expect dry food to look after a year. It fell on the countertop with a dull thud. 

Anna’s face fell. 

It’s a brick. 

A brick that happens to be my height. 

She stepped forward. “Ugh, screw it,” she grumbled, reaching forward and grabbing the corner of the allegedly edible brick, “if I break my teeth, I break my teeth.” 

Her hands scraped across it to no avail. It felt like a brick. It had only been sitting there for a year, but as Anna worked to get a chunk of it to break off, she couldn’t help but think it had been there for centuries. It wouldn’t have surprised her. 

Fucking hell. 

In an act of sheer frustration, she slammed her candy cane down on the corner of the edible brick. 

A shower of crumbs scattered on the countertop under her feet, most of them no bigger than her fist. Panting a little, she gingerly snatched up one of the bigger pieces and sighed. 

“Heh, that’s kinda sad, to be honest. All that work just for a crumb? You’d think for such a high-end base, they’d leave us some food that wasn’t made of concrete?” Anna stalled, suddenly not wanting to eat the food in front of her. However, as she felt a sudden hunger pang, she decided to go for it, brought it to her mouth, and bit down.

Anna cringed as the dry, old food flooded her mouth and had to force herself to swallow, nearly gagging in the process. 

It’s either this or you starve. 

Brushing crumbs off her chin, ignoring the pasty texture clinging to the inside of her cheeks, Anna brought the crumb back up to her mouth and sighed. 

Fuck it. 

Managing to force herself to take another good bite of the dry, powdery food, Anna made her way to the sink and looked down at the water there. She was almost tempted to grab her flashlight and shine it into the puddle, just to see how deep it was, but thought better of it. 

There’s no way I’m finding bottled water anytime soon, so…

Steeling herself, Anna knelt and practically threw her head into the cold water, not caring how gross it might’ve been after all this time. Her hair fell into the grimy water, but she didn’t care, too occupied with taking a few good mouthfuls of it to wash the scratchy, dry feeling out of her throat. She pulled her head back up after a few moments to see John’s concerned gaze focused on her. 

She managed a laugh.“The food was dry…” She explained as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes, snickering slightly at John. He looked so concerned, brow furrowed, head cocked slightly to the left. A little noise escaped his throat, somewhere between a grumble and a huff before he turned around and limped over to the entrance they’d come in through, sticking his head out into the open. 

Checking to see if we’re being followed. 

She realized. 

Anna gave a chuckle, leaning onto a nearby wall next to the sink. She brushed her hands against her sides, swiping off the crumbs left by the military rations before letting herself focus on what had happened. 

“I’m in a military base, in the middle of the apocalypse, hanging out with my zombie friend and eating old food while at a few inches tall.” She mumbled to herself, unable to keep her eyebrows from raising and a small, bemused smile from forming on her face. 

“What would Nick… and Steph… say…” 

Wait. 

“Oh…”

Nick and Steph.

“Oh no.”

They entered the base together.

“Oh god.”

They agreed to meet up in an hour.

“Oh fuck!” 

That was yesterday.