Almost Easy (Janxx)

*Jinxx's POV*
Jake and I ended up eating pretzels and drinking some weird Mexican soda near the mall water fountain. We didn't really say much to each other, just a few random tibits about what was happening around us.
After a few more moments of silence, I looked at him and held his free hand. He looked back at me, smirking and kissed me. It was a soft peck, really quick and innocent, but it made me so happy. I kissed back and gave his hand a slight squeeze.
"I love you," he said quietly.
"I love you too," I replied. I tossed my wrapper in the trash can next to us and dusted off my hands. "So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know, honestly," he answered. "It's my first time actually having freedom to be...human. And it's been so long since we could behave in a civilized way."

I nodded in agreement. Since the apocalypse, everything had been knocked out of proportion and everything confused me. I didn t trust people as much, I was always paranoid and I was always making plans to counteract plans. Maybe I was insane. Maybe we all were.
"Let's just walk around to see what's up," he decided. "I'm bored and I think that pretzel ruined my digestion system."
I smirked and stood up, stretching my arms. "Alright, Jake, it's all you," I said. "Direct me."
He grabbed my hand and wheeled me off to a few tents where people were selling things. We didn't really buy anything. We just goofed around. Jake traded a key from the farm for a necklace and gave it to me.
"Oh, thanks," I said. "You didn't have to..."
"Maybe I wanted to," he replied in a sultry voice. He fastened it for me and kissed my neck softly. He always did things that should have been innocent but were really dirty. It was kind of hot.
We didn't get any odd stares for our public affection. Another great thing about the apocalypse. Almost everybody abandoned their religious views to struggle to survive. So Jake and I could be together and free from everyone's opinions.
I heard loud electronic music and followed the source, Jake at my heels. There was a small crowd of people gathered around the center of the food court. I peered over people's shoulders to see what they were watching. I'm not that short (I'm like '5"10) but there were so many people crowding the area. As soon as I got a good view, I could see a young girl, probably 15, dancing. She was tall, lanky and pale. She wore a grey dress without any shoes or tights. I tried to ignore how that was dangerous if she were being chased by the dead. Her hair was bright red and curled, littered with silver sequins and glitter.
"Oh wow, she's really good," Jake said.
I nodded in agreement and continued to watch. Her movements were quick and elegant but somehow she made them seem so simple and it was almost like she was made of water. When the song ended, the crowd cheered and disbanded. She curtsied and began adjusting her outfit when an older man walked up to her and grabbed her arm.
"Ow!" she yelped. "You're hurting me!"
"I expect you to be working, not doing some innapropiate dance," he hissed.
"It's not at all sexual," she retorted. "It's just ballet. Calm down. I'll be right there. I'm still on break."
He slapped her and pushed her to the ground. I cringed and Jake made a face of distaste. "Well, use your break for something useful!" he snapped.
The girl held her face and stood up shakily. "I'm sorry," she muttered.
Before the man could say anything else, there was a loud blood-curdling scream and people started running. The man pushed the girl back down and ran away as well. Jake and I turned to see a horde of zombies running from the other side of the food court.
On instinct, I ran to the girl and helped her stand. Lifting her over my shoulder, I carried her to the nearest place of safety, which was Forever 21. Jake slammed the door to the shop behind him and looked at me, eyes asking a million questions. I put the girl down on one of the tables and she stared at me, confused. I noticed the bruise forming on her cheek.
"Does it hurt?" I asked. "Well, how bad is it is what I meant to ask."
"Not that bad. Happens all the time," she replied. She rubbed her face. "Thanks. I'm Aurora, but you can call me Arrie."
"I'm Jinxx," I replied.
"Jake," Jake said. "I'm Jake."
"What was that about?" I asked.
"Oh...that. My dad is a mortician. Well, technically, I'm the mortician. He doesn't do any work. He just trained me when I was like six and then told me to figure it out when the apocalypse started" She smoothed her dress back out. "He doesn't like when I dance while on breaks and he abuses me a lot. But I never thought he'd publicize it and then run off to leave me for the dead." I made a face of shock. Arrie shrugged. "But that's family, right?"
"No, that's just..." Jake shook his head. "That's just fucked up. That isn't a family at all."
"Speaking of that, where's everybody else?" I asked.
*Andy's POV*
We ran to the nearest store and found CC and Ashley already inside, guns aimed at us. When they realized it was just me, Juliet, and Scythia. "Oh god, you're okay," Ashley said. He hugged all of us tightly.
"Yeah."
"Wait, where's Jinxx and Jake?" CC asked. He checked Scythia for wounds. See, the smaller people are, the easier infection spreads and the more violent they are. After realizing that she was fine, he looked at me worriedly.
"I'll give them a call" Juliet replied. She dialed them and asked, "Where are you? You didn't get got, right?"
Scythia leaned over to the phone and said, " Please be okay, Jinxx. You too Jake. I love you guys."
"You heard the kid. You're in Forever 21?" She smirked and covered the phone, laughing.
"Okay, we'll be there." She hung up and said, "Okay. We're going to Forever 21."
CC snortedand said, "Cookie Cutters 'R Us."
I smirked at that because it was hilarious.

Notes