Rom-Com Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 28: The Legend of Kevin the Thirsty

Chapter 28: The Legend of Kevin the Thirsty

We were cruising down the highway, the jeep bouncing over the occasional crack in the road, the world outside eerily quiet except for the hum of the engine.

The sun hung low in the sky, its golden rays filtering through the dust-coated windshield.

Elliot, sitting in the front with the wind whipping through his hair, suddenly grinned. "You know what? I want to ride a jet."

A pause.

I blinked. Clara and Alex exchanged glances.

Max, gripping the wheel, let out a short laugh.

"A jet?" I raised an eyebrow. "Elliot, really? I don’t think that’s feasible. We’re just kids."

Max snorted. "Hey, I’m older than you guys."

"Yeah, yeah, Max uncle, we get it," I teased.

I grinned as Max groaned at the "uncle" comment, while Elliot just smirked, clearly unbothered.

I glanced at him, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat.

I quickly looked away, unsure of what that meant. Was it just the adrenaline, or something more? I shook the thought away, focusing back on the conversation.

"Alright, since Elliot wants to ride a jet and defy all logic, what about the rest of you?" I asked, turning to Alex and Clara in the backseat.

Alex leaned back, her hair whipping in the wind as she stared at the sky through the open roof. "I wanna go scuba diving. Like, deep in the ocean, where you can see shipwrecks and weird sea creatures."

Clara shuddered. "Nope. Absolutely not. Have you seen the things that live down there? Pass."

"Okay, Miss Scared of the Ocean," I teased. "What’s on your bucket list, then?"

Clara tapped her chin thoughtfully before snapping her fingers. "I want to go to Japan. Eat real ramen, visit shrines, maybe even see cherry blossoms."

I snorted. "That’s only possible if Japan survived this zombie apocalypse."

Clara rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. Obviously, this is assuming we make it through all this alive."

"That’s actually doable," Max said, nodding. "Way more realistic than, I don’t know, flying a jet." He shot a look at Elliot.

Elliot shrugged. "Hey, if you don’t dream big, what’s the point?"

I laughed. "Okay, okay, what about you, Max? Since you’re our wise, ancient elder, what’s something you want to do before you die?"

Max rolled his eyes but played along. "I want to go skydiving. Jump out of a plane, feel the rush, and see the world from above."

Clara gasped. "How is that any better than Elliot’s jet idea?! Both involve being way too high in the sky."

"It’s very different," Max defended. "Skydiving is controlled. Jets? Not so much."

"You guys are insane," Clara muttered, shaking her head.

I grinned. "Alright, since I asked all of you, I guess it’s my turn." I tapped my fingers on my knee, thinking. "I want to go on a long road trip. No plans, no schedules, just driving wherever we feel like and seeing where we end up."

Alex nodded approvingly. "That actually sounds amazing."

"Yeah," Clara agreed. "As long as we’re not diving into the ocean or falling from the sky, I’m in."

Elliot smirked. "We could ride a jet during the road trip, you know."

Max groaned. "Let it go, man."

Laughter filled the jeep as we continued down the road, the sun dipping lower on the horizon. We might have been just kids with wild dreams, but in that moment, anything felt possible.

Max smirked. "I just want to keep my jeep running forever."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you do."

Just as we were about to keep going, Max suddenly let out a yelp and slammed on the brakes.

The jeep screeched to a stop, and we all lurched forward, nearly eating the dashboard.

Elliot cursed, rubbing his head. "MAX, WHAT THE HELL?"

"I ALMOST DIED OF HEAD TRAUMA!" I shouted, clutching my seatbelt.

Max, completely unbothered by our near-death experience, pointed at the road ahead. "Guys, there’s a zombie lying in the middle of the road. Someone move him. I don’t want to tumble over him and risk hurting my poor jeep’s engine."

Clara groaned. "Seriously? You nearly killed us because of one corpse?"

Max crossed his arms. "Hey, car parts aren’t exactly easy to find anymore!"

Alex sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Fine. I’ll do it."

Elliot clapped her on the shoulder. "That’s the spirit. Go bond with the undead."

Alex rolled her eyes but stepped out of the jeep, walking cautiously toward the body. She nudged it with her boot. No movement. She crouched down, grabbing the thing by the arms.

Then, just as she started dragging it—

"Water..."

Alex yelped and jumped back so fast she tripped over her own feet.

"WATER... please..."

We all froze.

"What the hell?" I muttered.

The zombie groaned and turned its head slightly, revealing dry, cracked lips and a pair of half-lidded, bloodshot eyes.

Elliot blinked. "Uh. That’s not a zombie."

Max snorted. "Nope. Just an idiot lying in the road."

The man groaned again, barely lifting his head. "Please... water..."

Alex, still wide-eyed from nearly having a heart attack, stood up and dusted herself off. "You’re alive?! What the hell are you doing lying in the middle of the road like a corpse?!"

The man, still sprawled out on the pavement, weakly lifted a hand. "Bad... decisions..."

I sighed and grabbed a bottle from our stash, tossing it at him. "Here. Drink before you actually become a corpse."

The guy fumbled for the bottle, unscrewed the cap with shaking fingers, and downed the whole thing in record time. After a few moments, he sighed in relief and sat up, rubbing his face.

"Okay," he said, voice still hoarse. "That was rough."

Max leaned out of the driver’s seat. "So? Mind telling us why you were doing your best ’dead body’ impression in the middle of the road?"

The man let out a sheepish chuckle. "Well... name’s Kevin. I’m a bit of a moron, see, went on a road trip without water, and, uh, my bike ran out of fuel a few miles back. Been walking for hours. Guess I passed out here."

A long silence.

Elliot blinked. "You... went on a road trip? In a zombie apocalypse?"

Kevin shrugged. "Had to clear my head, man."

Clara put a hand on her forehead. "Oh my god, he’s actually stupid."

Alex was still staring at him like she couldn’t believe this was real life. "You, so you just—why wouldn’t you bring water?!"

Kevin grinned. "Yeah, hindsight’s twenty-twenty, huh?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable."

Max laughed. "Well, at least he’s got guts."

Kevin grinned at that. "Hey, if you guys don’t mind, think I could hitch a ride? You know, since I technically saved your jeep from rolling over me?"

Elliot huffed. "Yeah, sure. Get in, genius."

Kevin hopped into the backseat, stretching his arms with a satisfied groan. "Nice. So, what were you guys talking about before nearly running me over?"

Alex gave him a deadpan look. "Our bucket lists."

Kevin’s face lit up. "Oh, cool! Mine’s riding a motorcycle across the entire country."

Clara scoffed. "You already failed at that in one trip."

Kevin waved her off. "Details, details."

As Max restarted the engine and we drove off, I leaned back against the seat, shaking my head.

This was going to be interesting.

After a few minutes of driving, Kevin suddenly piped up again. "Hey, random question, are you guys also going to the Evernight College Society?"

The jeep fell silent. Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at him.

Alex was the first to break the silence. "The what?"

Kevin blinked, looking surprised. "The Evernight College Society. You know, that secret group that’s supposed to have all the answers about... well, everything. The apocalypse, the zombies, all of it. I thought everyone knew about it."

Clara frowned. "Uh, no? What are you even talking about?"

Kevin scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking unsure. "Wait, seriously? You guys haven’t heard of it? I thought that’s where everyone was heading these days."

I exchanged a glance with Max, who looked just as confused as I felt. "Kevin, what exactly is this Evernight College Society? And why do you think we’d know about it?"

Kevin hesitated, then shrugged. "I don’t know, man. I just heard rumors. People saying it’s this place where the smartest survivors are gathering, trying to figure out how to fix all this. I thought maybe you guys were heading there too."

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a cult."

Kevin laughed nervously. "Yeah, maybe. But if it’s real, it might be worth checking out, right?"

Alex crossed her arms. "Or it might be a trap. You ever think of that?"

Kevin held up his hands. "Hey, I’m just saying what I heard. Don’t shoot the messenger."

The jeep fell silent again as we all processed this new information. The Evernight College Society. It sounded like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, but in a world overrun by zombies, who knew what was real anymore?

Finally, Max broke the silence. "Well, if it’s real, we’ll find out eventually. For now, let’s just focus on not dying, yeah?"

Everyone nodded, and the conversation drifted to other topics. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that Kevin’s question had opened a door to something much bigger, and much more dangerous, than we were ready for.