The sun would be setting soon, in a couple hours that is. Aj was starting to get restless. He ended up falling asleep thirty minutes in, but when he woke up two hours later he wanted to stretch and walk around, not stay seated in the car.

In an attempt to distract the boy, Kenny tossed a granola bar to him. Staring blankly at the bar in his hands he tossed the idea of saving it for later, however the grumble coming from his stomach said otherwise.

Ripping the wrapper open he spilt it in half. Aj decided it was best to eat some now, and the rest later. This however didn't go un-noticed by the older man. Looks like this apocalypse took a bigger toll on the kid than he thought it did.

there was a time when he was younger, he wouldn't have hesitated to devour the entire food given to him. The older he'd gotten the more he realized food would have to be saved, in order to make it last.

Keeping his poker face on, Kenny continued to drive as if he had witnessed nothing. He wondered how long they'd be able to drive for. The gas was sure to run out some time.

The more they drove, the more the sun was racing to set. Welcoming the night to take over in the sky.

Deciding now was the best time as any to pull over, Kenny slowly stepped on the brakes. The car coming to a stop near a small flower field.

"can I step outside for a bit!" Aj quickly asked, his whole body was practically bouncing the seat.

"Sure kiddo, how about we step out together."

Aj nodded ecstatically. The moment Aj's feet landed on the floor he took off twards the flower field, in order to admire the flowers.

His small hands cupped one of the flower buds. His thumbs tracing over the red petals.

Seeing the little interaction made Kenny want to do the same. His much larger hands cupped a different flower. His rough finger pad traced over every little line on the pink petal. Removing one of his hands, it slid down grabbing lightly at the stem.

"hey, Aj want me to teach you how to make flower crowns"

Aj looked up from the flower he was looking at "What are flower crowns?" he shifted his body so it was facing him.

"they're like hats made out of flowers. Clem used to make them all the time when you were little. She's the one who taught me" he explained the best he could.

"I wanna learn!" he ran over to him

With a smile, he began plucking a bunch of flowers. Aj copying his movements. Making sure his movements were slow enough for Aj to understand he began weaving the steams together.

For a moment Kenny was afraid he'd forgotten how to make them, but it all came back to him. Just like riding a bike. Aj struggled at first, but getting a few tips form Kenny his flowers soon took the form of a crown.

with a big smile he held up his finished crown. "Grandpa Ken! I did it! Look I did it!"

"you sure did kiddo" he placed the crown he had made on his head.

Aj had to stand in order to reach the older mans head. His hands pulled off the hat he wore daily, and instead placed the crown he had made on the others head.

"thank you, it's lovely" he smiled "we should rest for the night. Feel free to sleep in since we have a working car, I'm the only one who has to be awake."

"okay" he replied plainly. The two made their way back to where they parked the car, the moon lighting up the way.

When morning finally came, Kenny started up the car. Aj still soundless asleep behind him. It wasn't till around noon when the boy finally awoke.

the peaceful silence that Kenny had been enjoying was broken by him spinning the revolver, then clicking it in place.

"thats not a toy" he reminded in order to get him to stop.

"but I'm bored"

"then do something"

"but there's nothing I can do in this stupid car" he whined

"you could, I don't know read" he handed him a book

Aj looked at the book with an even more bored expression. He knew he shouldn't have complained. His reading was no where near perfect, yet Kenny never failed to encourage him. Saying how one day he'd read better than him.

Spotting what looked like a train station, Kenny pulled over. "Lets see what we can find" he told the boy who was still focused on reading despite hating it.

"alright" he said way too happy. It was probably because he'd get a small break from reading.

The first thing kenny did when he stepped onto the dirt path was stretch. It's been many years since he last drove a car for so many hours.

Opening the truck of the car to grab his old, raggy backpack felt almost like a chore. There was no point in putting it back there, it's not like they had many things with them.

Seeing that his car survived this long Kenny didn't hesitate to slam the the truck shut. In the process he scared Aj.

There wasn't much to look at. Other than broken down train tracks, and the shabby looking building.

There was a stray walker who snarled at them, it's yellow, rotten teeth opening and closing them, as if it'd be able to take a chunk out of them from that far away.

Just like turning on airplane mode his rusted crowbar was already in hand. Moving closer to it he let his hand swing towards its skull.

One last groan came from the walker before it fell on the floor like any regular corpse that's not a walker.

"Stay close, but you can still walk around" Kenny began walking around the building to see if he could find anything worth taking.

The only thing that Caught his eyes was a large skull, he didn't have a use for it so he left it where he found it.

When he got to the side of the run down building Aj was looking hard at a tire swing. A look of pure curiosity plastered on his face.

"Grandpa, what's this?" He asked when he heard him walking towards him.

Kenny cracked a smile, his eye looking at the neglected tire swing. "It's a tire swing" sensing his follow up question he opened his mouth again "kids used to swing in it for fun. I used to push my son duck on it for hours, he didn't like it when I stopped"

Aj hummed, pushing the swing just a bit. Hearing a creak coming from the rope, Kenny knew that of this swing would ever be used again it'd need a change of rope.

"I'm going to see if we can go inside" he patted Aj's hair.

The stairs creaked as he walked to the faded red door.  His hand tried to turn the handle only for it not budge. 'Locked' he thought pulling out his crowbar.

Using his crowbar he pried the door open. When the door swing, Aj appeared next to him.

"What do we do inside a new place?" He asked him

"listen for monster, then we, uh..." he bit his lip

"You got this buddy" he encouraged

"We...um, f-find a way out?" He smiled nervously.

"Relax buddy, you got it" Kenny smiled and walked inside the growls of the dead immediately reaching his ears, however his eyes quickly spotted the two walkers tied to chairs.

Turning his attention away from them he observed the room. Aj seeing that Kenny wasn't worried about the walkers allowed himself to relax.

"Check the door" Aj nodded and tried to open it however it was locked

"Locked" he stated simply

He hummed and looked at the ticket booth window "you could probably crawl through that if necessary"

Aj looked at the ticket booth, then looked back at him "d-do I have too?"

"Let's finish looking around before deciding, okay?"

He nodded, then began looking around for anything useful. Aj's small hands grabbed onto one of the jars.

His little footsteps got louder as he walked over to Kenny who was busy reading a note on the floor in front of the walkers

"What's it say?"

Kenny glanced up at him before reading the note "Please leave us alone, this is what we wanted" his eyes looked over at the bottle next to the note.

Placing the paper down he grabbed the bottle "poison. Looks like they wanted to leave the world together." Kenny squeezed his eyes shut. Katjaa wanted to leave this world with their son.

"Whatcha got there buddy?" Aj held up the jar so he could grab it.

"Beans" a smile made its way onto the older man's face "good eye buddy"

"Now it's time to crawl through the booth" Aj seemed to dislike the idea since the keys were literally on front of them.

"Shouldn't we kill the monster? They aren't people."

"They weren't always walkers, and as people they asked to be left alone." After Kenny's explanation, Aj seemed more willing to go through the booth.

Helping him up, Aj crawled through. A second later the door unlocked.

"Seem like this place was a good shelter"

Aj looked up at him with a light in his eyes "can we stay here, nobody's here. No one's ever anywhere"

With a sigh Kenny looked down "there may not be a lot of us left however there's still are people and those who are left aren't always the nicest. That's why we move around a lot." Aj seems to deflate. His eyes light up again when he caught  the sight of bullets that he took the liberty to grab.

"Remember the rule?" Aj stood silently thinking

"Sav-"

"S-save the last bullet for myself"

Standing back up, Kenny went to check the cans of food. A frown tugged at his lips "spoiled" he toss the can

"Fuck!" He cursed making Kenny laugh "you said it buddy"

"Shit, fuck!" He cursed again

"Take it easy" he chuckled.

"Look!" He pointed at the can that had rolled over to the mattress.

"Huh" he went over and over the mattress to the side. Underneath was a trap door. Gripping the handle he pulled it open with ease.

"That's a lot of stuff" Aj said in amazement. Dozen of food jars were inside.

"Jackpot, we can survive for weeks with this" he grinned however it was gone as quickly as it came as a grenade came rolling down.

Kenny's pupils dilated "it's rigged!" He shouted, slamming it down. Concerned about Aj he jumped towards him and cradled him with his body in order to shield him.

Even with the blast contained the room was a mess. Kenny's ears ringed  as he got up. Luckily for them the blast wasn't that strong however growls came from all around.

Lookin outside a herd of walkers could been seen headed towards them. "Time to go!" He shouted and ran towards the door.

The door almost broke in half from how powerful he kicked it. The moment they got outside Aj cursed at the sight.

"Stick to the side, you'll be my eyes" Aj nodded and ran off.

Clutching his crowbar he raised it and swung it at the first walker, making sure not to stop he swung it in the opposite direction, taking out another walker.

When he looked up Aj was on top of a walker, using a plank of wood to keep himself safe. Raising his foot he stomped its head "car, now!"

Aj didn't hesitate to run to the car. Walkers tried to grab them in their way over however it wasn't till they reached the car that one had almost caught Kenny.

The walker clung to the door, his arms trying to grab him. Not being able to reach his weapons he used the keys to kill it, however it was too small and it made off with them when he failed to secure his grip once he kicked the door.

Not wanting another walker doing the same he slammed the door shut, slamming one of the walkers fingers with the now closed door.

Multiple walkers surrounded the car. Their disfigured, rotten arms banged at the window. He then proceeded to Shift the gears and put down the e brake.

The car slowly stumbled forward, however not even a second later the back window broke. Aj quickly crawled into the passenger seat to get away from the walker.

Once in the passenger side he handed key the emergency knife. Kenny's hand immediately grabbed it just in time to the kill the walker that had broken the passenger side window.

Aj signed in relief however, as the walker fell out of the car however he screamed when the walker from the back crawled forward and gripped onto Kenny's face.

Aj immediately pulled out his knife in order to save him. The walker slumped back, but it was very much alive. Kenny snarled and finished it off.

The car still moving foward went face first into a tree, trapping a walker between the car, and tree.

Kenny's vision went blurry for a few seconds from then impact, but thanks to the adrenaline coursing though his body he shook it off.

"Grandpa ken! The keys!"  He pointed at the trapped walker.

Not being able to find his crowbar, he pulled his leg out. His feet stomped against the windshield till it shattered.
Not bothering about the wounds he could get from the glass he crawled towards the walker.

Blood spewed out of the walkers eye as he yanked the key out. "Buckle up!" He shouted toward Aj as he crawled back in and attempted to start the car.

When the familiar roar of the engine could be heard he quickly buckled up.
Kenny switched the gears in order to back up. Stepping on the pedal the car zoomed backwards only to crash against something making them jerk forward.

The moment he shifted gears again a walker broke through his window. Panicked he stepped on the gas, his hands keeping the walkers face away.

Aj pulled out his gun. The barrel pointed the the walker. He got ready to shoot, however before he could pull the trigger he screamed as the car flipped over.

Even though the walker attacking him was gone they were now tumbling down the hill. Their bodies got forced in all directions, glass flew everywhere.

When he came too they were hanging upside down.  A worse ringing in his ears, vision was blurred.

During all this chaos he saw walkers being taken out by arrows. Blinking multiple times in hopes of staying awake he saw Aj being pulled out of the car

"D-don't....g..ive...him back..." was the only thing he managed to say before he passed out.

❤︎ E N D  O F ❤︎
❤︎ C H A P T E R ❤︎
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❤︎ W O R D  C O U N T ❤︎

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❤︎ N O T E ❤︎
This honestly took forever to write Hope you have a wonderful day or night

❤︎ ꪶꪮꪜꫀ ꪖsꫝ ❤︎
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