Apocalypse Life/Issue 33

Preview
"How y'doin' there, pal?"

A menacing man looks over his companion as he points his gun on the on-coming walkers in front of him. The silencer on his gun was what made him look extremely confident.

He wore a casual suit, some jewelry, and a rugged look in his face. At first glance, this man looks like a former criminal.

"Freaking great--" The other man behind him calls, swinging at the head of a walker with his red fire axe. He was dark-skinned, much taller than his friend, and had no head of hair.

The man in the suit glances at him and smirks, bringing his gun close to his chest at first then pointing it again. His friend always liked being sarcastic. Because he obviously values his marksmanship. He goes back to pointing his gun at the on-coming walkers in front of him and shoots them down with ease.

"One... two..." They went down like dominoes as the bullets whizzed through their heads and created a punching sound in his gun. This gun was his pride and joy.

The tall man was in the middle of tugging his axe out when his friend comes over to his side and shoots the remaining walkers in front of him. The suit man, pegging down the last walker, smiles, and pats his friend's back.

"Thank you, Toni," the tall man says, his tone of sarcasm unceasing. He stretches a bit and heaves the backpack on his shoulders.

"That's what I like to hear," the suit man replies, shaking his head in satisfaction. Even though he was taller, Toni still felt mightier than him. He removes the clip on his pistol and observes the visible bullet on the top of it. Give or take, there's still three or four bullets in there.

"The day'll come when you're gonna run out of bullets, dude. Then I'll be there to fend them off, like last time. When you got blood on that suit." The tall man flicks the collar of Toni's suit.

"Psh." Toni adjusts his collar and holsters his pistol on the inside of his suit; just that gesture alone screams mafioso on his part. "Once in a blue moon."

It was the time when all that "tainted" blood got on his suit, because his friend over here swung his axe too soon. If he was given time to move away from that walker then it probably wouldn't have taken three days, a half-bottle of detergent, and a risky trip to the dry-cleaners to bring this suit back to former glory.

The tall man shakes his head and smiles, looking down on Toni. If it wasn't for his height, Toni would be somebody he wouldn't mess with. But they're both fully aware who's tall and who isn't. And yet, Toni doesn't care.

The tall man was named Xavier. It's easy to mistake him for a former athlete or celebrity because of his towering height, and knack for looking prim and proper. It was easy to maintain for the most part, mostly because he didn't have to worry about the imaginary hair on the top of his head. His outfit is that of a spiffy college professor, consisting of a leather jacket, a collared shirt, and bifocals to seal everything off. He likes to look stylish, even if he's worn the same outfit since the very beginning.

They both continue to look at the distance for a few more seconds, then eventually each other. They knew what they have to do. Xavier looks at the convenience store they had just raided and walks toward it. Toni shortly follows after adjusting his suit, mostly out of sport.

They both sit on the sidewalk, almost at the same time. They've already raided the store, and found it empty. They were just waiting for something.

This feeling was all too familiar, especially for both Xavier and Toni; they'd always sit and wait, watching the sun shine, waiting for their third companion to return. They sit there, silently amongst each other for the first few minutes, until one of them engages in small talk.

"So..." Xavier starts, setting his fire axe down to his side. Toni looks at him, his expression realizing the impending subject.

"What was your body count before this?" Xavier smirks, half trying to show that this was a joke, half worried that Toni's going to answer truthfully.

Toni furrows his eyebrows and starts looking at him ridiculously. "What body count?" He reaches for the pocket of his suit and realizes his "drag box" ran out about a day ago. Instead, he looks away, off to the distance.

It felt like had no idea what Xavier was talking about. "Body count. You know. People you killed."

Xavier glances at him. "Oh, that." He stuffs his hands on the pockets of his pants. "About..."

Xavier doesn't know why he wasn't surprised anymore; he wants to believe it's the walkers, or the end of the world, but it felt like it wasn't. Maybe it was because he's already used to this man's company. Then again, he can't judge.

"About..." Toni continues to look as if he was pondering the thought. "I forget." It was something he didn't like talking about.