The Chronicle

The jeep wasn't sounding too healthy but I didn't care.  I had company and we were heading somewhere.  That beat being locked up in the attic like Rapunzel.  I liked Kimbo right away and i think the feeling was mutual we sat in the back of that jeep happy as pigs in shit and for the first few hours i was swept away to some fantasy corner of my mind where the last few weeks had never happened.  It felt just like when mum and dad would take me camping in the summer.  Billy and Jen seemed lost in their own world, something that would later become a standard characteristic but which at the time did strike me as a little odd, i mean, if you just picked up a random stranger wouldn't you wanna know a lil about them or at the very least make conversation to break the ice?  Still at least they had good taste in music, if i didn't know better i'd swear they had my "Charlies compilation" CD...  Kimbo and I fell asleep as Lynyrd Skynyrds Mr Banker barely made it over the sound of the exhaust pipe.

I was sucked out of my dream by the sound of screeching tires, my arms flailing  about trying to grasp something sturdy as the Jeep bounced in the air. "Whats going on" i said as Billy "Yeeha-ed" like some crazy cowboy.  "I wish you wouldn't do tha" Jen Scolded him.  Billy didn't respond but his repentance showed in the change of his driving, we slowed down a little and he straightened up in his Seat.  "Do what?" I asked hoping to get a response this time.  "Billy likes to play chicken with those things out there" Jen replied.

"Well they may aswell serve some purpose don't you think?" Billy piped up, much to Jens disdain.  Billy started laughing as he placed his hand on her knee,  "Aww i'm sorry baby" he said through his laughter, "Come on, don't be mad" he continued.

 "Billy, someday you're gonna lose and then we'll all be in a world of shit!"  She said this as though we weren't already well and truly in a world of shit but i knew what she meant.  If the jeep broke down at an inopportune moment and lets face it, pretty much any moment these days is inopportune, but even more so in the middle of a game of chicken with a zombie, a world of shit would be an understatement.

"the tanks gonna need refilling soon" Billy changed the subject as i glanced out the window trying to get my barrings.  The Sun was high in the sky so we still had a good 5 or six hours before night fall.  "How far is this place, Grovelands" I asked.  "We're not sure" Jen replied.  "you mean you don't know where it is?" i asked failing to hide the shock and disappointment.  Jen looked at billy as if waiting for him to take over..."Well, not exactly." he finally said.  "We know it's north"  and he tapped the bulbous compass on the dashboard.  "North of What?" I asked.  "I mean how do you know we've not passed it already" I finished my question, "I just do" Billy said sounding a lil irritated.  Jen looked back at me "Billy is an ace navigator don't you know" she could hardly contain the sarcasm though the humor was not for my benefit, this was obviously something they'd argued about before.  I felt the tension rising and decided now was not the time for more questioning, angry people are dangerous, they make rash decisions and that's something we could ill afford.

I started to wonder what i'd gotten myself into, Billy and Jen were like two different personalities in one schizophrenic mind.  One moment they looked like they would get it on right there in the front seat and then next you'd think you joined the mad hatters tea party..  I was beginning to feel a lil deflated.  Kimbo nudged my hand off my lap and lay his head in it's place.  I began stroking him and trying not to let the anxiety to creep up on me again.  A few deep breaths and i was away with the fairies once again.