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Husk had a dark smile on his face as he crouched on their rooftop. He set his sights on his target far into the distance, giddiness slips into his dead heart.
Venturing outside their little cabin into the zombie infested world was just a little bit nerve racking, but hey, it gave him something to do in the meanwhile until Christmas. Plus, it was nice to leave for a bit instead of sitting a top the roof looking at all the places he couldn’t go. He jumped down and began to make his way throughout tall grass.
He knew exactly where he meant to go. As much as he liked being out and about like the old days, he wasn’t planning on hanging around out here for long. Husk kept his steps quick, the air cold as it swirled about in his decaying chest. There was an even smaller shack by the way side. Hopefully he’d find something there for Beans, if not, there should be another house to check. It was a mansion actually. He had a mental map of the large grassy area that surrounded their home, luckily there weren’t many hills around so he could roughly have his home always in his sights. The sea was near too. It’d be hard for him to get lost. Hmm the sea… Now that he thought about it, maybe he could find something pretty near the shore of the beach too! So many options and the day had just started and hey, if he couldn’t find anything at least he’d have fun. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hear an earful from Beans when he got back. Eh, he could handle himself.
He approached the little rundown building and lightly plastered himself on the broken down side wall of the shack. When he heard the telltale groaning and shambling steps of zombies he peeked from the wall. They hadn’t spotting him but they smelled mighty fine. Maybe he should have ate this morning but he was too excited to enact his plan. Oh well. Husk swiped drool from his face with the back of his arm. He should be able to control himself till he got home. He laid eyes on the inside of the shack. Good, there wasn’t any inside. Unfortunately with how broken down the place was and how close they were to the building, he might catch their attention if he made too much noise. Well, at least they were blind. He would have to make sure to be careful. If he made a mistake, he could attract the others in the area he worked hard to quietly pass by. Well, here goes.
He tiptoed over the broken wall and began his search.
Hmm now that he thought about it, it was going to take some time to look through all this junk without a sound. Well lucky for Husk, he started early.
He went back and forth between keeping tabs on the zombies and carefully looking under debris, wooden planks and dust. It seemed the shack used to be a two story but it’d all but fallen and caved in now. He wasn’t having finding much of anything useful with all the junk here, through he did see a bunch of bugs. Beans would probably yell at Husk if he brought him bugs for Christmas. There was a lot of trash too. It was almost amazing how long all this junk stayed around after everything that happened in the world. But it wasn’t going to be much of use to them. Even with its stubborn tenacity to stick around after an apocalypse.
Husk avoided floor boards that seemed liable to creek and at the end of a hall, he spotted a room. He didn’t want to take his eyes off the zombies that were around but this room would probably be where something valuable would be. From what he could see the room wasn’t as damaged as the rest of the house. He chuckled in spite of himself. A pirate like him trying so hard to find something useful to give to someone else.
As he came up to the room, he was pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn’t a door to deal with squeaky noises. Well there was a door but it was open hanging off its last hinges. He entered the dark silent room and found it to be sort of a bedroom with a single desk and dresser. It seemed this was the only place in the building with four walls intact. There wasn’t much to look around at and search in to. He’d be able to make this quick.
He walked to the bed first to search. Husk pulled back tattered sheets and dusted blankets. The fabric felt rough in his hands but found nothing but a stained broken springy mattress. The amount of dust that flew through the room was very telling that it hadn’t been disturbed in forever. The morning sun began to stream in the room, aiding his search. He knelt down to take a look under the bed frame and winced. Pain poked his eye when something shined in his face and he went to grab for it. A familiar twinge sound of metal followed with the object.
Aw hell yeah!! Jack pot!! Husk had found a metal bat under the bed. This would be perfect for Beans! Who in the world would just leave this here?! Sure, he understood Bean’s the wooden bat with nails steelo but he’d totally upgrade with this. He even contemplated just going back home with such a prize. Well, he figured he may as well stay out and check the other locations to see if he struck gold again.
He looked around the room some more, inside draws and shelves. The bat in his hand had caught his eye again and hey that had to be…. It totally was!! The butt handle of the bat was gold. He giggled a bit in glee. The thought of keeping the bat for himself crossed his mind, but no he supposed the day was still young maybe there was something else he could keep for himself. In the room he did find a few interesting books but besides that he was ready to head to the mansion. He walked back the hall and heard the usual noises of the zombies. Nothing out of place, he jumped the wall again then held the bat over his shoulder and ran to the tall building towards the north.
As he did when he went to the small shack, he made sure to watch his back and the area surrounding him. If he ended up in a pinch he could use this wicked bat, he could clean the blood off later.
As the mansion drew closer in his sights, he squinted towards it before looking around and spotted a tree. He climbed and hopped up to get a higher view of the building.
There were a few zombies lurking around but from what he could see, the building was empty. It looked like the east side of the building was the least crowded, looks like that’s where he was headed! He made his way down the tree and gave the crowd of zombies a wide berth sprinting to the east wall. This mansion was apparently pretty well built, not well built enough for husk not to find a way inside though! He’d found a hole with cracks all around it above the foundation, just wide enough for him to fit it! He wedged his body inside and hit the floor carpet. As per usual with an abandoned building, dust kicked up around his body.
He looked around as he picked himself up and began to walk around. It was so different form their own home, so huge and unpredictable much harder to protect too. They’d seen this building when trying to find shelter but decided not to move in for that very reason. Husk made sure to stay as equally quiet inside the mansion as outside. He wouldn’t at all be surprised if a zombie had somehow snuck in this huge house. He wasn’t going to explore the entire mansion, he’d miss the holiday if he did. He’ll just check out a few rooms and make his way to the ocean. If he was being truthful he couldn’t wait to ditch this creepy ass place and see his beloved ocean again. He steeping into a open concept room Husk tilted his head back to look at all pretty paintings. The room was walls were made of glass. It was strange but quite gorgeous as with the sun light up the room and works of art. He could see a few of them shambling outside.
He was surprised the room stayed intact all this time. He spotted an oil painting with two children hugging in a corn field. That made him giggle. Heh, maybe he’ll mess with Beans and give em a hug along with his gift.
He would have totally looted this place at his prime. His smirked and considered coming back to this place later on, maybe he’d bring Beans with this cool new bat. He wondered if there was a safe around here somewhere. Not that it’d do him any good with the literal apocalypse. It was always nice to have fists full of cash and gold. He left the room to walk further down the hall looking into the windows of rooms. A large library room caught his eyes as he carefully open the door. The ceiling in here was high, with books lining the walls. The atmosphere was strangely…. Pleasant. That’s says a lot considering the rest of the house.
Whoever owned this house had some surprisingly good taste in books, most of everything here was of the fiction fantasy genre. Husk perused through a few of the books that he could reach and saw a dragon on one of the front covers. Reading over the summary he decided to slip a few volumes in his bag. Ehehe Happy Holidays to Husk!
The room also had a study corner. He dragged his fingers on the musty surface. It would have been nice to have something like this in their own home. Currently he wasn’t really trying to look for anything, it was just nice to have the change in pace of aura. It made him procrastinate leaving in favor reading more books before exiting the room.
He went further her down the hall and found a living space. He thought the color palate was some sort of red grey and gold. It was hard to see in here. Most of the furniture was toppled and anything expensive was broken or gone in the shattered display case. Old soot and ash covered the large fireplace. Ripped moldy curtain covered the tall windows. Eerie emptiness sat heavy in the room…
Well time to go!
Compared to how he felt when he found the bat, Husk was fairly indifferent to what he found here in the mansion as far as presents. He made his way back east wall where the hole was. He walked down the hall, he read with a book in hand. Jeez, this main character was already getting on hi-
Husks head snapped up.
Oh… Aw shit!! A zombie!! It was quiet, almost silent. Why hadn’t he noticed it in here before? It began to rush him, finally making egregious sounds of growling that filled the corridor, failing its arms in its attack. Husk bared his forearm to its foaming mouth. He tried to knock it off balance but he was so startled by its sudden appearance he lost his own footing and fell with it.
Hunger abruptly overwhelmed Husk in the scuffle and instead of beating the monster down. He grabbed it, his hold turning to iron, breaking and ripping the fickle rotted flesh. His drooling maw opened and bit it down hard before turning his head away to rip apart and tear into its body for a feast.
Husk had lost himself in eating barely taking breathes between swallows, desperate to ease his animal need. He came back to his senses only when he was finished.
He slowly stood, looking down at the mess. The gnawing hunger he’d ignored all but gone now satisfaction seeped into his body as he muttered, “So much for the Holiday Feast.”
He stretched and cracked his neck. The ache in his body fading, he looked to the exit he was previously bared from. He sighed softly Beans better be grateful, he want to a lot of trouble for these presents. He lamented at the ruined book on the ground ripped and blood settling into the soft pages. Eh, the main character was pissing him off anyway. He had other books to read.
One more place now.
Husk squeezed himself out of the hole he came in from and was glad dust and stale air weren’t in his nostrils anymore. The smell of grass surrounded him as he ran to the ocean. When he left the mansion he relaxed as the oppressive nature around him from the large house left. The sun was already beginning to go down, he had to hurry on to the shore! When he made it to the beach he did a dramatic jump from the grass into the sand. The cool grain felt nice in between his toes, there wasn’t much around. He supposed zombies didn’t like salty air? Well more room for him. The sun had dipper even lower in the sky in the time it took to get to the beach but Husk didn’t mind at all. In fact it looked stunning, so much so that it was nostalgic.
He got to walking along the beach looking into the sand for anything that jumped out at him and kept an eye on his surroundings. Just in case a zombie decided to meander over. The sound of the waves covered him though so if any did, it wouldn’t be any fault of his own. The sun was warm here, for some reason, he almost felt closer to the sun here. He didn’t mind the weather since it was so cold but right now, it felt like it was acknowledged within his body.
There weren’t many things alive on the beach right now in the cold, but there were a few hearty crabs that made homes burrowing in the sand. Old abandoned shells that were broken and out grown. Husk started getting used to the smell of the ocean again, something that used to be so commonplace for him now became something of nostalgia. He supposed he was just glad to get to live somewhat what near the water. He glanced back in the direction of the cabin and squinted at tiny lights coming from it.
He wondered what Beans was up to right now.
He hoped he hadn’t gone out for whatever reason. It’d be lame to get back to an empty house and have to wait for him to come back, even worse, having to go back out to look for Beans. He bent down to pick up a wet smooth rock and skipped it, well tried to... The best he ever could get out of these things was a max of 2 hops before it skittered and crashed on the surface to fall below. He kept picking them up and trying to skip them. When he mindlessly picked one up that had a different feel to it he looked down and examined it. Huh, interesting, it was heavier than the others. It was still a smooth rock but it had a bunch of scattered speckles of different colors in it. He smiled as he held it up to the sun taking it in.
“Time to head back.”
He shoved the pretty rock in with the rest of his findings and started running towards tiny lights.
He crouched under their window sill and peeked into the tattered window he smiled when he spotted Beans. He didn’t have to go out on a while goose chase. He stuffed the bat best he could into the bag and hid it behind his back before opening the door.
At the sound, Beans whipped his head over to Husk he seemed to sag, sighing.
“Jeez, where were you? You were trying to get out of the chores weren’t you?”
He gulped, it was one time and he wouldn’t let him live it down.
“Hey cut me some slack. I always cook.”
He hummed and slowly looked to Husk’s arm behind his back, then up to his face raising a brow in question.
“So? Where’d y-”
“Happy Holidays!!”
He pulled his spoils for Beans out from behind him and plopped them on their kitchen table. Now Both Beans eye brows raised with wide eyes. He blinked sinking back in his chair leaning back to grab a bag off the floor behind his chair.
He held the bag out to Husk witch an outstretched arm, he rested his chin in his hand.
“Happy Holidays.”
He muttered from behind his mask looking off to the side.
“Oh!!”
He took the bag from Bens, taking a seat across from him.
“You got me something too!”
“Somethings. You’re not outshining me…”
Beans eyes caught the hilt of the bat and a grin grew on Husk’s face.
“Go on, open it!”
He blinked down at the metal and gold before reaching in for the handle and slid it out of the makeshift bag.
“Wow…”
Beans seemed genuinely taken a back, much like Husk was when he’d found it.
“This is… kind of amazing.”
“Right?! Theres more!”
Beans hummed in amusement as opened the bag wider to find the spines of books. He read them over.
“Right?! I have pretty amazing taste.”
Beans looked up at him from behind the book. He set it down looking at Husk, waiting.
“Oh yeah! I guess its my turn.”
The bag in front of him was actually quite bulky with whatever was inside and very heavy! He dragged it closer to him with dramatic grunt.
“Man, what’s in here??”
He held the bag open and was bombarded with shimmers of light. He reached in felt hard material and pulling out stunning rocks, pearls and more. Pink purple gold green red. All manner of beautiful precious gemstones and metals.
They were so stunning. It was as if they made their light all on their own.
“This… this is gold dude!!”
Even as he said it, he almost couldn’t believe it was regular gold. What with how ethereal they looked in his hands.
Beans simply nodded.
“I know.”
He rested his cheek in the palm of his hand.
“I made sure not to get the sharp ones. You’re already bandage ridden, being a zombie and all.”
Upon closer inspection, he hadn’t noticed before just happy Beans liked his presents, Beans had dirt and dead grass littered in his clothes and face. At the show of such appreciation and thought in his gift, Husk started tearing up.
“Beeeeaanss…”
Before Beans could roll his eyes, Husk threw himself over him in a hug.
He didn’t struggle as much as he usually did. Husk had a soppy smile in their embrace.
“Thanks!”
He sighed and nodded. Husk assumed that meant he was thankful for his gift too.
Husk was surprised at how proud he felt at Beans reaction. He mostly thought his adventure would be a fun activity for the holidays but he found, he liked this part too.
“Are you hungry?”
Husk was so full at the mention of food he gagged.
“Nope!”