Radioactive

"The more I learn, the less I know.."

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Harper remained in the same position for over an hour. Amaryllis finally came out of the tiny back room, and searched through the cabinets. Whoever had the RV before had mostly cleaned it out.

Matt glanced over from the passenger seat. "You do realize the low fuel light is on, right?"

Taniss glanced down in alarm, "uh, no, I wasn't paying attention."

"Obviously." Matt grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Taniss sighed, glancing in the mirror that he had faced at Harper to keep an eye on her. She was now on her knees, looking out the window, "there's an exit a few miles away. You might wanna just take it."

"Won't have much of a choice, will we?" Matt grumbled, earning himself a glare from her.

"Why are you guys arguing so much?" Amaryllis asked, opening the small fridge. She pulled out a jar of mayonnaise to examine it, cringing when she glanced at the expiration date.

Matt wasn't quite sure why, so he didn't answer, and Harper wasn't volunteering any information. They drove in silence until Taniss took the next exit. Out of curiosity, the girls clambered up to the front of the RV to watch out the windshield. They came out into a small town. Only three cars got off at the same time as them, and none of them pulled into the gas station that they stopped at. Taniss grabbed his gun and left the RV, and Matt closely followed, squeezing by Harper. He noted that she didn't make eye contact. Harper and Amaryllis sat at the booth, hardly even glancing at each other.

They'd hardly spoken at all the past few weeks, but Harper couldn't keep from asking after a while, "where are we, exactly?"

Amaryllis surprised her by answering. "Missouri. Not close enough to California."

"Are you going to talk to me now?" She asked, her eyebrows shooting up practically to her hair line.

Amaryllis only shot her a brief glance. "Maybe if you explain everything to me. If you think I'm gonna--"

"Fine, just stop." That shut her up, thankfully. Harper took a deep breath. "Scotty, I'm--" before she could finished, the RV door opened, and Matt stepped inside, running his hands through his messy hair. He tossed the gun on the passenger seat before passing out the bags of chips he'd gotten from the gas station, and shoving the other things into cabinets. Amaryllis opened her bag of chips, turning her attention to Harper again. "You're..?"

Harper glanced at Matt, who slumped back into the passenger seat and sighed, "Nothing." She finished, staring down at the table.

Amaryllis sighed, "that's what I thought." They stayed quiet until Taniss climbed back into the RV. Instead of going back to the interstate, he continued on through the town.

"Where are we going?" Matt asked through a mouthful of chips.

"I don't know about you guys, but I need a new change of clothes. Most of our stuff got left at the camp site, anyways."

Harper agreed, "thank goodness, I want to change." She admitted, tugging at her loose t-shirt. As much as she liked the Pierce The Veil t-shirt she had gotten from a concert a few months back, she got pretty tired of it. And she desperately wanted some new pants. Although her combat boots were still fine.

Amaryllis had been stuck in vans, a sweater, and some skinny jeans when they left. Most of their clothes were ripped and dirty looking.

Taniss pulled up outside of a thrift shop not too far from the interstate. They clambered out of the vehicle and wandered into the store. Taniss pushed opened the door, and they stepped inside, glancing around. It was completely empty and was surprisingly untouched. Most stores had been ransacked. "Guess people don't care much about thrift stores."

"It feels so out of place looking so clean." Amaryllis said with a sly grin.

Matt copied her grin, looking like a delighted child. "Let's trash it."

Harper and Taniss stayed rooted to the spot as the two ran forward, yanking clothes from their hangers and tossing them to the floor. Even Harper couldn't help but laugh when Matt grabbed and old ladies t-shirt and tried it on for size.

"That color doesn't look good on you." Harper told him with a laugh.

He glanced up, a bit surprised she was talking to him, and cracked a smile. He made his way to the mens section, digging through until he found a plain black v-neck and a hooded jacket. Taniss followed, finally slipping on a t-shirt and a red, plaid button up that he rolled the sleeves up on.

Harper found a fitted black tank top--figuring that she might as well wear something like that while she could--, a grey Beatles jacket, some jeans, and she even managed found some vans that were only a litle bit too big.

Amaryllis slipped on a half shirt with a wave on it--revealing both the bandage and her pierced belly-button--coral colored shorts, and kept her vans on.

Harper admired her clothing. "Won't you get kind of cold like that, though?"

Amaryllis sighed, "good point." She only shrugged and dug around for a sweater, although she didn't bother to put it on.

The boys finished trashing the guys side of the store, and continued on through the girls section. They laughed as they threw the clothes around, and the girls couldn't help but give in. They tossed clothes back and forth, diving behind racks of clothes and tables adorned with shoes.

They only came to when a bell went off, signalling that someone had walked inside. The man who had entered look surprised to see anyone else inside, and he held up his gun. "Any of you infected?"

Taniss cursed to himself as they raised their arms above their heads, "no, we're all clean."

The man look suspicious for a moment. He looked over all of them for a solid minute before he seemed to decide they were telling the truth, and he opened the door, waving someone inside.

A pregnant woman with a swollen belly, two children clutching tightly to her hands, followed him inside.

"Sorry," Taniss apologized, "we'll clear out and give your family some space. Good luck to you guys."

The man mumbled his thanks, moving further into the store with his children to find them something to wear.

Harper stop as they passed, on their way to the door. "How far along are you?"

The woman let go of her daughters hand to stop and answer her. "Seven months." She said proudly, offering her a smile.

Harper couldn't help but return it, "Congratulations."

"Mommy, come on." The little girl called, tugging her mothers hand. Harper shot her one last smile before turning to follow them out of the store.

Only Matt had waited for her, and he held the door open for her. "I feel bad for her."

"Why?" She asked, glancing up at him in confusion. "Cause she's pregnant?"

"Pregnant during a zombie apocalypse. Think about it, there are no hospitals for her to go to. That can't be fun." He opened the RV door for her, not noticing that her eyes had widened with realization. Even Taniss shot her a look as she clambered into the passenger seat and pulled her knees up to her chest, shooting him a wide eyed look.

They didn't speak until Amaryllis had fallen asleep with her head on the table, and Matt had wandered into the back bedroom for a nap.

"Why have you been making that face for the last hour?" Taniss finally asked.

"Matt pointed out to me that that poor pregnant lady can't go to a hospital."

"Ohhhh," Taniss drawled. It was obvious that he hadn't considered that. "I'm sure it won't be that bad." He definitely had no idea what to say.

She shot him a glare, "won't be that bad?"

"I mean, uh--" he tried to back pedal, but he had already shot himself in the foot. "Girls have been having babies for centuries without any medicine of any kind, I mean...how bad can it be?"

"How bad can it be?!" Harper repeated, her voice rising.

"I'm just saying!" Taniss said hurriedly, raising his free hand in the air in defense.

"No baby, no opion!" She snapped, turning away from him to rest her head against the window.

He sighed, waiting a few minutes before saying with a low chuckle, "hormones."

"NO OPINION."