Chapter Text
Aunty Adelheid was the warmest smile you can get out of your life; especially since she can be like a second mother to you during your lifetime.
Duck remembered her very well the day he arrived with his parents to see her in Tennessee. A week before this hell came around to rear it’s ugly head at him and other families unfortunate to witness...
He remembers when he still had his pet Labrador Franklin around at her house.
“Catch!” Duck threw a frisbee into the tall grass which his dog Franklin managed to catch in his teeth before running back towards him. Duck threw the frisbee again, watching as Franklin sprinted into the field chasing after it.
The dog managed to capture it in his teeth before returning the object over to the boy. Duck laughed as Franklin leapt up and licked his face, covering him with saliva with leftover bacon grease.
Franklin bounced around him, his tail wagging excitedly, Duck smiled ruffling his fur on his head before hurling the plastic toy into the air again, the dog looked at it before sprinting after it.
”Kenny?” His aunt called. Duck turned around to see his aunt sitting on the porch stairway with a sewing kit. She looked alot like his mother, save for the less aged appearance and no baby fat on her cheeks; but like his mother, she carried the same tender nature, but younger. “ Yes aunty?”
She smiled at him warmly. “Are your parents doing alright?”
He blinked at her, that kind of question never been asked or answered before. “What do you mean?”
Adelheid looked down briefly before staring into his eyes. “Do you love both of your parents, Kenny?”
Duck stared at her face with certainty. “Yes.”
The truth in his voice brought her concern to closure. It hasn’t been that she didn’t like or hated his parents, but Duck knows that she’s just as worried as him whenever his dad was drunk or upset about life in general whenever something goes wrong. Of course, it also concerned his mother as well, but his aunt was her younger sister; which justifies her being more worried.
Adelheid leaned forward to look him in the eyes again. “Kenny, can I tell you something?”
Duck nodded fervently, and leaned forward for her to whisper in his ear. That’s when he forgot about Franklin coming back from behind, because the moment he heard the brushing of wheat behind him, he fell forward. His head being the first to hit the ground.
Duck jolted awake when his head hit the dashboard, waking Coraline as well. Nate snorted a chuckle at this as the boy rubbed his head gingerly, all the while glancing at the infant seated with him, still holding his hand.
”Rise and frickin’ shine kiddos! ‘Bout time ya both woke up.” Duck stared blankly, causing the man to just snicker to himself. “Alright, alright, jokes aside. I think we oughta find a place soon. It’s gettin’ dark out.”
Duck hasn’t noticed how dim it really was outside until that statement was made. Seeing the umbrage amongst the foliage of the trees and bushes they pass, the sun was really going behind them as it grew into nightfall with the evening already getting darker by the minute.
”How long-“ Duck yawned before finishing, “was I?”
Nate glanced sideways. “Ya been out for so long, I’d thought ya deserved the rest since however long ya been awake before us.”
“Us?”
”Before ya crossed me.”
”Oh.” That was all he said in realization.
”Like for 2 hours maybe.”
He didn’t say anything else after that. Not like he wanted to talk to him. Especially not after what he did. Duck thought.
Right now all he wanted to do was get Coraline and himself out of this vehicle and far away from Nate, but that will have to wait until they got to Savannah.
His eyes aimlessly roamed the darkening asphalt in the road until Nate suddenly pushed the gas pedal. Duck looked at him startled, “w-wha, what’re you doing?”
Without taking his eyes off, Nate grinned. “Time for some roadkill! WOOHOO!!!”
“NOT AGAIN!”
The truck vibrated once more before the road suddenly lit up with bright illumination from the overhead lights atop the roof.
And in time to showcase an entire road filled with zombies.
“HOLY SHIT!” Duck swore, making Nate’s own eyes widen. The man just cackled right after, following the truck bombarding the dead head-on with his steeled bumper. Limbs and blood splattered on the windshield. Duck gripped the bottom of his seat as tight as he can as Nate took a sharp left turn nearly causing Duck to hit his head on Nate's window.
The next street over still had walkers but they slowly dwindled as they continued forward eventually reaching a clearing into an intersection. It wasn’t long until they passed by a forested area that barely shown any houses in sight.
The truck drove on until Nate slammed the brakes. Duck jolted nearly out of his seat. “Wha-“ Nate covered his mouth. Duck’s eyes caught his and saw what he was looking a worn sign at the entrance, itself being dusty and padded with dried and muddy patches of blood and dirt all over asphalt. Trash covered most of the ground on the sidewalk. The name stood out amongst the filth: Eagle Creek Mobile Home Community.
Huh, how original. Thought Nate.
The trailer park didn’t seem that bad save a few houses that looked ransacked and burnt to the ground or with cars and trucks run through them. There were at least a few dozen trailers worth looking into for shelter still so it wouldn’t hurt to look for a change.
Parking in front of the manager’s station building, Nate twisted off the ignition to the pickup truck. He looked at Duck.
"What do you say, should we check these out?" Nate asked. Duck still held to his seat while Coraline was clapping her hands happily and giggling; apparently he was the only one who didn’t enjoy the ride.
"C’mon kid, even the baby had fun." Nate chuckles.
"Fun? YOU CALL THAT FUN?!" Duck's face was red from anger, and the sweat from his forehead was NOT helping.
"Come on kid, you’re tellin’ me that wasn’t fun?"
"THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I’M TELLING YOU!" Coraline began to whimper as Duck's frustration grew.
"HEY! Don't use that tone with me young man, or I’ll slap you to next week.”
“You ain’t my mom!”
"Look here! If ya don't stop, we’ll hafta leave again soon ‘cuz of them!”
He nodded behind him, Duck turned to see not far away two undead nearing him. Duck clutched Coraline's hand as panic coursed through him.
"Don't worry about them, they're like dinosaurs. Just stand still and you'll be fine." Nate was right, they failed to notice them as they stumbled and awkwardly bumped into each other before going separate ways.
"See? Nothin’ to worry about."
“Yeah, sure whatever.” Duck unlocked his door and began to exit the car as Nate did the same.
“Alright! Will y’all look at this place? It’s kinda like a abandoned amusement park.”
The entrance was filled with trash like empty water bottles covered in dirt to broken toys.
”You know what kid? I have a nice feeling about this place. I can bet you we’ll find some stuff here.” Nate said enthusiastically, standing akimbo as he surveyed the area.
“Are you sure? This place looks spooky.” Duck said uncertainly as he grabbed his backpack from the backseat and picked up Coraline.
Nate simply rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine, we just go find what we need and continue down the road. How’s that sound?” He grinned enthusiastically, a bit too sickeningly for Duck to be comfortable with.
"Sounds... good." Duck said, feeling uneasy. Fearing more than that at the turn of each corner a monster would pop out and eat them both, as this man whom he just met ahead gave him chills with those looks.
It took a little while to find some shelter in one of the trailers but as luck would have it, they managed to find one just to their liking (albeit more likely chosen by Nate’s pickiness at smaller trailers); a largely slate colored trailer with a slanted scrap roof for cover. Seemingly big enough for more than 2 people, which is appropriately enough for Duck as he wanted space apart from Nate for him and Coraline.
Still holding Coraline, he walked in right after Nate had opened the metal screen door and entered the trailer.
He blinked his eyes to adjustment, seeing as Nate somehow lit a few candles alight. The hatted man stood right in front of a large shelf stocked with God knows how much alcohol; bottles of tequila stood perfectly still on the front of the much larger bottles of rum, which sat next to layers upon layers of whiskey. Other brands stood on the shelf as Duck can practically feel the overcharged excitement vibrating from Nate as he looked over each and every bottle that he got his hands on.
”There’ll definitely be a party for us tonight!” Nate said gleefully, probably more to himself than he was talking to Duck.
“Yeah... maybe.” Duck said, “if only we had...”
He paused when he saw the kitchen, long cabinets with a decent sized fridge. Walking over to one of the cabinets, he opened the longest one and quickly sidestepped as a broom and mop handle fell. He shook his head.
“That would be the cleaning closet.” Nate spoke from behind, sounding amused at Duck’s mistake; having opened the one farthest from the others in the kitchen.
“I know.” Duck mumbled. Nate passed to open the one next to the fridge, finding stacked containers of canned goods, packed ramen, and other preservatives. “Nice. Check that one over there.”
Duck did so, opening the cabinet on the other side of the counter. He gasped when his eyes caught sight of a box with his favorite treat: Twinkies.
Looking over his shoulder to see that Nate had opened one of the packed ramen noodles; Duck quietly grabbed the box and pulled it towards him. To his dismay however the box felt light, implying that it must have less or is on empty. Turning it over confirmed his suspicions (and his heartbreak); no Twinkies were inside.
”That’s a shame.” He dropped the box to see Nate standing behind him. “Could’ve had that for dessert, yanno?”
Nodding his head gingerly, Duck returned to looking throughout the cabinet. Nate went back to cooking supper.
“I don’t think there’s anything else in here.” Duck said while he closed the cabinet and heading to the next one.
“Just keep looking around kid, I’m sure there something else in here.”
Duck opened the cabinet and found a empty water bottle along with a batch of bread that was way past its expiration date.
Duck closed the cabinet in disgust as he went over to the last cabinet and found two packs of root beer, sprite, and cola sodas stacked together, along with several party-sized bags of each chip brand. To add to his luck, he found unopened jars of jam, dip and other sauces and dressings to go with the essentials; looked like Nate wasn’t lying. Apparently somebody was gonna have a party before hell was raised.
He fist pumped. “Yes!”
“What?” He jumped. “Nothing.”
Nate grinned at him, “I know I only met ya in a day, but hey,” he chuckled. “Don’t go thinking ya can’t share whatever you find with your buddies, eh?”
Duck shook his head quickly. “I didn’t think that-“
“I didn’t say ya did.” He inputted, before adding. “Just don’t go thinking that when you do.” Saying that, Nate turned back to putting ramen in a pot, using water from... wherever the water was from. Hopefully it is clean water. Duck thought sullenly, mulling over Nate’s previous statement. He actually didn’t think about it until Nate said it himself, take whatever without telling him so he can get away with it. He actually wished he’d think that before even doing it.
Stupid brain. He thought miserably. I’m slow.
He has a lot to remember and learn.