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She raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
“Like …” I thought for a second. “… like a princess. You’ll get eaten fast.” I slowed my pace and made my way to the top without leaving her behind.
“Pardon me? I’m not a princess. I’m a queen,” she declared. “Don’t you look down on me, boy. Zombies are slow walkers. I know how to fight them, at least theoretically. I can also catwalk the shit out of them.” She paused, planting one hand on her hip and thrusting it out to the side, tossing her ponytail at the same time. “I may be frazzled right at this moment, but I could do this for hours if I have to.” She flashed me the challenging grin I’d fallen for before she started hiking again. “Just watch and learn.”
“Zombies can run now, small bean. If you don’t start exercising soon, they’ll catch up to you.”
“But did you know that zombies eat brains? That means they’ll most likely just run past me and head straight to you because you have all the brains, Mr. Genius.”
“It doesn’t mean they’ll ignore you. It’s not like you don’t have a brain. You do,” I expressed. “You just don’t use it sometimes.”
She gasped, seemingly taking offense.
Knowing I went too far, I bit my lip tightly and balled my fists. If only I could pummel myself down and force my knees to the ground.
Alas, I couldn’t get myself to say sorry. I wasn’t very good at convincing people how much I cared about them.
“Whatever!” she snapped. “Since they’re scientifically stupid, they would want to be on your level, not mine. Which means I have more chances of surviving,” she explained, and a delicate sneeze followed. It scared a passing squirrel away.
I spun around, digging my fingers into my palms as I watched her wipe her damp skin with a yellow handkerchief.
Breathing carefully, I gathered the backbone to ask, “You okay? Should I carry you?”
“I’m fantastic,” she said, her breaths heavy and labored.
“You look like you’re dying.”
“I can still hike!” Aera huffed past me with more sweat running down her neck. “You brought me here,” she panted, “so, you can walk at my pace.”
With my eyes closed, I sniffed the scent of coconut floating in the air. Aera’s hair had always smelled strongly of it.
“Rule Number One.” She snapped me out of my daydream, her tone imperious. “You stay behind me. Rule Number Two, behave. Rule Number Three, if you see a cliff, back away and don’t even think about it. You understand that, right? No thinking about it.”
“No thinking of what?” I asked, treading behind her.
“Your flannel shirt …” She glanced back toward me. “Take it off.”
I arched an eyebrow at her back, hoping she wouldn’t look back and see my smirk. “Good Lord. That sounded like an invitation to more than hiking.”
“It’s because your fashion sense these past few days is so dated!” she retorted. “It’s like you ran out of clothes in your wardrobe.”
Technically, I did.
“Are you sure it’s not because you’re having dirty thoughts about my precious body?” I teased her anyway.
“Absolutely not,” she hissed, her gaze averting from mine, though I did notice with some satisfaction a blush rising to her cheeks.
“Oh-ho, are you sure?” I nudged her arm, simpering with an eyebrow raise. “Then why would you order me to strip in the middle of the woods like I’m your teenage gigolo?”
“What’s the big deal anyway? You’re fit, and you have a nice athletic build. Whatever you have underneath, you’re supposed to display it, not hide it,” she rambled on.
“Oh my dear ego-boosting friend, would you like to take it off for me?” I asked her daringly.
Aera pursed her lips, the redness creeping further up her cheeks.
“Where did you say we were going? Are we lost?” she babbled, picking up her pace. “I should be eating breakfast, but here I am, giving you childish rules.”
“Oh, come on, don’t leave me hanging, small bean.”
