After showing Billy his room and taking quick baths to clean themselves and their clothes, the duo sat back in the living room.
Sasuke eventually agreed with Billy to share the apartment, partly because both knew it would be boring as hell and partly because Billy wanted to ease Sasuke's worry from his side.
It's rare to find surviving people two months after the outbreak and even more rare to find strong and good-hearted ones.
Well, good, as long as you don't get on their bad side.
Thus, Billy figured it would be best to stick together for better chances of surviving.
"Where the hell did you find such a good piece?" Billy, who finished his plate, spoke, drinking from a cheap wine Sasuke gave him, saying he found it in one of the apartments.
"At their place, I took a look around after finishing business and found it lying on a table in one of the rooms. Those two even got silencers. No ammo though; they probably used all of it. But it's a fucking Colt M19. Look..."
Sasuke explained while expertly assembling one after he thoroughly cleaned the two similar-looking guns, which made Billy aware that the man isn't only an expert at swords but also guns.
Sasuke then presented him the gun.
The now shimmering stainless steel silver Colt had a clear mark on its slider reading.{Silverballer} with another small logo-like sign below it. {T.W.D}
"Cool, right?" Sasuke smiled happily, and he spoe, seeing the look on Billy's face.
The man looked as if a naked model was in front of him, yet she didn't even glance at his side before sitting on the lap of—know what? Doesn't matter. Anyway...
"Don't look at me like this, man. I'm planning to have those twin babies as my guns in this fucked-up world. There's no ammo for now, but I will find some eventually. However," pausing, he reached for his backpack and retrieved a Smith & Wesson revolver and tossed it to him.
"I got 9 rounds for that. Use it for now until we find something better for you. Just stop giving me that look, man."
"What a damn shame, thanks though," and now Billy turned to take care of his new weapon. Still salty.
It was then a soft knock sounded from the entrance door, followed by Katniss's voice announcing her presence.
"Should I hide to give you two a little private time?"
"Nah, keep having your time with that dusted piece. I don't really have a thing for voyeurism."
"Whatever, take your chance, boy; she doesn't seem that bad."
"Sure." Leaving the old man, he went to open the door.
"Hey." "Evening, hey there, princess."
"Hi, Sasuke," Ciri smiled, looking slightly scared of the darkness around them.
"I was planning to go check on you two after taking care of something, but yeah, come in."
"Mhm." The two walked inside and immediately noticed the stains of blood on the place even though Sasuke did some cleaning and there was no more of the smell of stench.
"Well, we meet again, ladies. I'm off to my room." Billy waved a greeting before taking his gun and glass of wine and withdrawing to one of the rooms.
"I thought he was in another apartment."
"I invited him; I thought it would be better than sitting in the silence alone. You had dinner?"
"Yeah, thanks to you, I made a few rice cakes. Here's your part. Um...the other plate is for the unknown Mr. I brought it so you can give it to him; we'll wait for you since he is here."
"Well, you didn't have to, but thanks. Be back in a minute. Treat the place as your own."
With that, Sasuke put his plate aside before taking Billy's portion and knocking on his room.
"Butcher, open up, it's me."
"Yeah, yeah, a sec." Soon his grinning face appeared.
"Well? need a love advice?"
"From Katniss." Sasuke ignored that, giving him the plate.
"Oi boy, ya sure it isn't poisoned?" Even though he said it, Billy still took it and brought a piece to his mouth uncaringly.
He knows a ruthless murderer when he sees one, and the girl wasn't one.
"Needs a little spicing, but perfect otherwise. A beauty who can cook and throw a punch—what more do you need?"
"Thanks for being my lab rat. See ya later" Katniss? Beautiful, yes. Caring, yes. And reliable.
But he really couldn't think about anything romantic.
Not now after just two nights in this world without even figuring out the way forward.
"Guess you knew how to cook in the end," he said to her, sitting beside Ciri.
"Of course, I did since I was young."
"Hmm, yeah, tastes good. Here, Ciri, enjoy this." Sasuke Passed the plate that still holds half of the cakes to Ciri, who was stealing glances at it.
She took it shyly after Katniss nodded to her when he told her that they just finished their dinner.
"So, I came to apologize." Katniss's words confused him.
"Hah? Why?"
"For what I did earlier, what I said..."
"Oh, yeah, about that. I'm not angry or anything. Well, not really. It's just that today's run wasn't really...quiet. and I tend to have an attitude."
"*Chuckle* Yeah, I saw that. Well, now that I'm here, can we...crash in here?" He was surprised to hear that but understood after some thought; they probably didn't want to stay in the place where they heard their grandpa suffering without being able to do anything.
And now that the building is cleared, Katniss chose his place, which...made him happy that she trusted him at least this much.
"Well, Ciri, that will be your room. Your sister will join you shortly, okay? Here," standing, he went to his backpack just for a show to retrieve a cube game from his storage seal.
And giving it to Ciri.
Katniss understood and told her sister to go to sleep and that she would be with her later.
"I wanted to ask but...didn't want you to take it wrong." "Go ahead."
"Do you want my help with, you know...your grandfather? I can put him to rest," he spoke softly, not wanting to agitate her.
"I—I'll do it; I just need some time to prepare myself. Tomorrow, I will do it tomorrow. But can you come with me?"
"Sure, I'll be there. Now go have a sleep. Oh, take this." He reached into his pocket, taking out a key and giving it to her.
"Lock it from the inside, and don't worry, I'll have you two safe as long as you are within reach. Goodnight."
"Thanks, Sasuke, for everything. Good night."
Sasuke left, taking a bottle of water from storage, and sipped slowly as the events of today replayed in his mind, reviewing everything he saw.
One of the cases stood starkly urgent.
'Let's ask him; maybe he knows something.' With that, Sasuke walked to the room Billy occupied and knocked lightly.
"Are you up, Billy?"
"Yeah, come in." Stepping inside, he saw the man sitting on the sofa watching the fading moon in the sky.
After a small greeting, Sasuke got to the point.
"I need to tell you something."
"Sure, mate, throw it," Billy partially thought the boy would ask him to move to another apartment, considering the girl and all the mess between them.
"This is the second time I've seen a weird case concerning a walker." But what he heard made Billy straighten in his seat, looking serious.
If something made this boy worried, then it isn't a small matter at all.
"And that is...?"
"Both walkers have no sign of being bitten. The first one was in this building, in one apartment on the fourth floor; I can show you tomorrow. The second, It's the woman from yesterday. She too wasn't bitten; she somehow turned after...those sons of bitches killed her while doing that."
"Are you sure?"
"90%, I still didn't witness it with my eyes, but all clues pointed to that. A bite isn't necessary for you to turn."
"Fuck!! Maybe a scratch? I saw some who turned the same after being badly clawed at."
'Well, shit, I need to be more careful.'
"I'm sure she wasn't scratched; there were traces of her being cuffed, but nothing drew blood."
"We are in a shitload of serious situations, then, so we need to be more careful and make sure none of us risk exposing their bodies to them, like their blood, saliva, and whatever."
"That's why I made sure to have a mask on me, aside from the stench issue. Anyway, I'm also not familiar with the area here, and we need to find more supplies."
"I've got a map." "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I took it from an office when I decided to leave Florida." Standing, he went to his bag and retrieved a map from it.
"So here it is, there's a bar in this street; we could find guns there. They always keep one under the counter, but there was a group of walkers nearby when I passed by it in the morning."
"Think we should give it some time to inspect tomorrow?"
"Would be good Yeah, my plan was to take meds, head back to the mall, and try to see if I can find a safe entry point. And from there, figure something out when you save my ass."
"That plan could still stand as a viable option; we fight and watch each other's back."
"What about the archer girl?"
"I don't know, man. A part of me tells me that we should have her get accustomed to fighting and surviving out there. But Ciri, we can't leave her alone here either."
"How about this: she stays here with her sister, I give her the revolver, and she secures the doors better in case anyone tries sneaking around while we are out. And once we get one of the armored vehicles the army abandoned, we can start moving, and the little girl can stay in the car, safe."
"Sounds good, but I'll ask them first if they want this; otherwise, I'll just find another way to keep them safe."
"Perfect for me. So tomorrow is the close look at the bar, then the mall?"
"Yeah, have a good night, Billy. See you tomorrow."