Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: First Drink
Once Zane, Elena, and Olivia had their equipment packed, and their rucks on their backs, they were ready to head out. Normally carry such large backpacks would be a cumbersome affair. But because their strength and dexterity stats were raised, it was far less burdensome for the three of them, then it would be for some normal humans.

In all honesty, Zane wanted a vehicle to make use of, as it would make their journeys easier, or at least that would be the case if not for one glaring issue. The streets were full of wrecked and abandoned cars. Which had no doubt been left behind by survivors during the initial chaos.

This made it extremely difficult to navigate with your typical car or truck. Perhaps only motorcycles could freely traverse the roads in their current state. Or at least not without some serious difficulty. Regardless, this was not an option, as they had been so quick to abandon the high school campus after what went down there that Zane and the others did not even think about stealing one of the many cars still stuck in the parking lot.

It took some time for the trio to travel from the relative safety of the suburbs into the deeper parts of the city. Parts which mind you were full of potential hostiles. Whether that be the tens of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of undead that stalked the streets.

Or the small communities of living beings which had a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. Zane could only be thankful that until now they had not had any serious trouble, at least not since escaping from the high school.

Another thing to note was that Zane, and the others lived in a relatively small city. With only three to four hundred thousand people living in the metropolitan area. If they lived in one of America’s larger cities, their odds of surviving for as long as they had would have been virtually zero.

Speaking of odds of survival, while Zane and the others were looting a local gas station for some much needed supplies, they found something interesting. There were a few 42 oz bottles of malt liquor stuck in the far end of the refrigerated section.

Zane immediately reached for these bottles, shocking both Elen and Olivia when he opened one up and began to drink it on the spot. Olivi, formerly being Zane’s homeroom teacher, felt the need to scold him for drinking alcohol while still being under age. Forgetting that such rules no longer applied to any of them.

“Zane! You can’t drink, you’re only eighteen!”

Zane raised his brow as he continued to chug the eight percent alcoholic beverage. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem the least bit affected as he drank half the bottle in the span of a few seconds, which was roughly the same amount of alcohol as four light beers.

This was not because of his unique skill, like Elena and Olivia immediately expected, but rather because Zane had a serious alcohol problem, despite only being eighteen years old. After all, before the apocalypse began, there was plenty of alcohol in his house, and his mother had left it entirely unguarded.

In order to cope with his lot in life, Zane turned to alcohol, drugs, and tobacco years ago. No matter how much of his mother’s beer, whiskey, and cigarettes that he stole, they would always find themselves replaced before he ever ran out.

But something was different this time around. Zane’s body was no longer craving the delicious beverage, one which was excellent at sedating the mind. Instead, he stopped shortly after having enough to enjoy the taste.

Ultimately consuming around half the bottle, before storing the rest of it in his ruck. Where Zane then narrowed his gaze at Olivia and scoffed. Reminding her that it was the apocalypse, and that he could quite literally do whatever he wanted, and without fear of the law.

“Olivia… Look around you…. Do you really think that something as stupid as the legal drinking age should remotely be our concern right now?”

Elena seemed against the idea at first, but judging by the fact that she never had tasted alcohol before, she really wanted to give it a try. Especially since it was the end of the world, and she never knew how long it would be before she met a horrific end. Thus, with an almost sheepish expression on her face, the crimson haired beauty reached out her hand, and meekly asked for a drink.

“Zane… Hand it here…”

Zane nodded his head and handed the bottle he had just opened to Elena. After all, he did not want to open another sealed bottle, considering it would be able to last longer without being exposed to the elements. And thus Elena opened up the lid and took a long gulp of the beverage.

Not realizing that beer was a taste that most did not enjoy their first time drinking it, Elena’s eyes opened wide in shock at the acquired taste, as she struggled not to spit it out. After all, as much as she might despise the taste, at least for now, she knew it was a precious liquid, and in a survival situation, one should never waste such a thing.

Thus, Elena forced herself to swallow the beer, no matter how much she hated the taste. Where her cheeks became slightly rosy afterward. She then handed the bottle back to Zane and was quick to comment on how much she hated it.

“From now on, I am not drinking alcohol unless we have nothing else to quench our thirst…”

Elena then struggled to prevent herself from gagging. The sight of which caused Zane to shake his head, almost in pity at the girl, while mocking her for her lack of ability to drink.

“Fucking lightweight…”

Zane then took another swig from the bottle, where he then tightened the lid before placing it back in his ruck. Elena, however, looked at Zane with a curious gaze. He had no idea what she was thinking, but in her own mind, Elena realized she and Zane had just shared what was known by some as an “indirect kiss” and that made her deeply embarrassed.

As for Zane, he had never heard of such a concept before, nor would he give a shit if Elena outright told him, instead he was satisfied with their looting session,and immediately raised his rifle back into his hands, which was previously slung across his chest, all while issuing the order to move out.

“Alright… We should probably get going…. We may have cleared out the path to this gas station, but with the current state of the city, there is no telling how long it will be before we get swarmed… Besides, these blood crystals won’t loot themselves…”

With that said, the trio began to journey deeper into the city, using their small squad melee tactics to successfully clear the streets of any Walkers they came across. While narrowly avoiding several dangerous encounters with higher tier undead.