NOVEL WEB Chapter 2: Dating April
Robin threw open the curtains and opened the windows to let some fresh air into the apartment. He took a long breath and smiled. He loved that scent: the scent of an utter absence of pollution. The only sounds that could be heard were the birds in the distance. The casual apocalypse life really agreed with Robin.
The apartment was a little cleaner than it had been just a few days earlier. Robin had finally done the dishes, though hadn’t had the energy to put them away yet. His clothes had gone through the wash even if they were just sitting and collecting wrinkles, now. Robin could almost be proud of how much housework he’d done.
“Not much in the way of food, still,” he lamented, staring at the almost-empty pantry.
Oh, he was still talking to himself. That hadn’t changed.
His stomach growled and Robin sighed. The date with April was tonight and he’d barely eaten anything in several days. He’d probably barely be able to stand except that he’d been sleeping most of the day anyway. Perhaps it was too much to ask that April would treat him to dinner tonight.
Stuffing his face with the last remaining stale crackers, Robin returned to his room. He’d already laid out his remaining good clothes on the bed. Khaki pants and a polo shirt. It made his nose crinkle to look at. The outfit was just so… masculine. Logically, he should feel handsome with it on, but he’d always hated it. If only there was something else to wear, but men’s clothes were so drab and unpleasant.
Robin threw the outfit on, as well as some sneakers. No need to be too formal, right? He whistled to himself the best that he could on his way down the stairs. In truth, he was just blowing air, but Robin was in such a good mood that it really didn’t bother him.
It was going to be a bit of a walk to the park. On the way, Robin occasionally nodded at the passing zombies, who only seemed to partially notice him. That was fine. He didn’t want to chat. There was too much on his—
What was that? Sitting there, on the side of the road. It was an electric motorcycle. Robin got closer. The key was still in the ignition.
“There’s no way,” Robin muttered. He turned the key and the bike roared to life. “Oh, sweet!”
Thanks to the bike, Robin was at the park much earlier than he thought he’d be. He parked the bike in an empty parking spot and left the keys in. Who was going to steal it? Besides himself?
It had been a long while since Robin had been to the park. The grass had overgrown quite a bit. It was very quiet. Downright peaceful. Robin felt about as close to nature as he ever really wanted to be.
He was sitting on a bench covered in bird droppings when he saw April approaching. She waved and started to jog, then tripped and fell, cursing silently as she hit the ground. Robin sprang to his feet and ran over to help her up.
“Thanks,” she said, “but I’m not hurt, really.”
She looked gorgeous. Her blue dress wasn’t as clean now that she’d fallen, but it was still nice. She’d put little bows in her hair that matched the dress. As April dusted herself off, Robin felt his gut churning. It was like he was jealous of her appearance or something. Probably or something. Robin knew this feeling well; he’d often felt this way in school around pretty girls.
“It’s nice to see you,” he said, trying to ignore it.
“Yeah, I’m really glad you came,” April replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve been looking forward to this for days.”
Robin admitted, “I’m a little nervous.”
“Yeah, I haven’t been on a date in a while, either.” She looked around. “We’re already in a park. Do you want to go for a walk?”
After a moment, Robin nodded.
April took his hand and a jolt ran up Robin’s arm. He turned away to hide the blush in his cheeks as April took the lead. She continued to talk and he nodded along, still stunned that he was actually here, on a date, with a girl.
“Oh, there’s a squirrel,” April said, pointing.
“…It’s a zombie,” Robin noted, blinking just to make sure that he was really seeing what he thought he was. Indeed, it was a squirrel with green fur and little stitches covering its body. “April, where does the stitching come from?”
April scratched her chin for a bit before replying, “You know, I never really thought about it. Just a thing that happens when you’re a zombie, I guess.”
“That feels illogical,” Robin admitted.
“Any more so than this situation already was?”
Robin thought about it for a while before admitting, “I guess not.”
They continued to walk, April occasionally tripping over her own feet or adjusting her outfit slightly. Robin did his best to ignore the pain in his stomach. Hopefully, April couldn’t hear its protests.
“What… What is it like?” he asked. “Being a zombie?”
“You want to find out?” April asked. Robin shuddered and shook his head. “You sure? Well, it took a little getting used to. Looking in the mirror was a shock for a while. But it’s nice not having to think about food, or health, or all those other choke holds that we had to keep up with.”
Her expression grew distant as she continued, “Everyone is really chill, now. Nobody has to do anything in particular just because we don’t need an economy anymore. You just do what you want and take what you want and it’s not like we’re short on time or anything so you can just make what you want if it isn’t easy to get your hands on.”
“It sounds a lot better than trying to join the survivalists,” Robin admitted. “There’s nothing else to listen to on the radio, but all they talk about is tending to crops or learning how to use guns and getting up at the crack of dawn and… It’s just exhausting to think about. Honestly, I do kind of wish I could live among zombies without having to worry about starving.”
They had reached the edge of the park. Across the street from them was a row of old buildings with their windows boarded up. April stopped walking.
“You can join us,” she said. “Literally all it would take is a little nibble to turn you into a zombie yourself.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s…” He closed his eyes and looked away. “I’m scared. What if I don’t recognize myself?”
“It’s a chance to be the person you really want to be,” April assured him. “Sure, it’s scary to think about, but can you even picture being a human in forty years? Is that the future you want? The longer you wait, the more you’ll regret not committing to it sooner. Trust me, as someone who wishes she’d embraced who she was sooner.”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” Robin muttered.
“Alright. Hey, do you want to explore that abandoned theater a bit?” She pointed at a movie theater across the street. “Might be something interesting.”
Robin nodded and followed her across the road. The first thing they did was walk along the walls looking for some light switches. April found them first and the overhead lights hummed to life. The place clearly hadn’t been swept in months and furniture was scattered and overturned.
“I wonder if there’s any films left here that we can watch,” April said while Robin eyed the empty concession counter. “Come on. Let’s go look.”
The first booth they checked out was empty. So was the second one. By the time they got to the third, Robin was feeling the slightest bit faint. He leaned up against the doorway and closed his eyes while April rummaged through the room.
“Found something!” she cried, holding up a reel tin. “Looks like… Honey Season? Do you know what that is?”
“I think I saw commercials for that. It’s a romance movie, right?”
“Oh that’s perfect for a date night, then. You like romance?”
“I don’t hate them.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
April fumbled with the projector a little bit, trying to get the first reel on. She dropped it more than once. Robin came over to help her. With his hand-eye coordination and her understanding of electronics, they were able to get the projector loaded and turned on.
“Pull up a chair, then,” April said, sitting down and staring out the little window to the empty theater below.
Watching a movie again was a surreal experience. Robin had never worked in a theater, so he wasn’t at all used to seeing one from this angle. Not to mention: it was always strange when you knew that people in a movie were dead, doubly so now that Robin knew most of them were probably zombies.
When they got to the end of one reel, Robin and April got up and changed to the second reel. The movie was fine, but it wasn’t the most engaging. Robin couldn’t help but shut his eyes and lean back in his chair. He was so hungry. It was criminal not having snacks while watching a movie in the theater.
“You okay?” April asked.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, forcing his eyes open. “I’m having a lot of fun.”
April smiled softly, causing Robin’s heart to flutter. This was actually happening. He was really on a date. For as weird as the specifics of the situation were, he was actually on a date with someone.
When the movie finished, Robin yawned and stretched. April, beside him, chuckled. He shot her a dark glare, but blushed.
“Did you enjoy it?” April asked, shutting down the projector.
He shrugged and replied, “It was fine. What time is it?”
“Let’s go find out.”
They stepped outside to discover that night had fallen. Streetlights were on but the city as a whole was dark enough that Robin could see a blanket of stars across the sky. It was nothing short of beautiful.
“I’m surprised at how well the infrastructure is holding up,” Robin admitted as they started walking back to the park. “You’d think power and water would be the first to go in the zombie apocalypse.”
“Well, from what I understand: we don’t have the manpower to keep everything running, but we can keep essentials working well enough. You should probably still be using a filter for your drinking water, though. We mostly just use water for cleaning, so purity is, like, a grade B priority.”
“Uh… Yeah, don’t worry. I always use a filter,” Robin replied, scratching the back of his neck.
They found their way back to Robin’s bike. Was it really his? What if someone decided to take it for themselves like he had? Did he really mind? It’s not like he couldn’t find another. And he could probably just write his name on it if he ended up liking it enough to keep for himself.
“Would you mind dropping me off?” April asked, tapping gently on the bike. “Also, get yourself a helmet for this thing.”
Robin flung a leg over the bike and said, “Hop on.”
April climbed onto the bike and leaned up against Robin. He could feel heat rising in his cheeks and tried to focus just on starting the bike. They took to the streets and April directed Robin where to go. She led him toward the edge of the city, where high-rise apartments gave way to little houses, finally stopping in front of a nondescript one.
“Come on in,” April said, hopping off the bike.
The front door was unlocked—the door was unlocked!—and she just led him right inside. Robin wasn’t sure what to expect, and it was amazing to see how clean it was. The living room was very tidy. There was no TV, but a bookshelf of board games occupied a wall. A thin blanket had been thrown over the back of the couch. A small palm tree was sitting on one corner.
“Go ahead and sit,” April said. “I’ll get us some wine.”
Robin sat down on the couch and rested his hands on his knees. Nobody had ever invited him into their house after a date before. This was new territory. He was feeling a little on edge. What if he messed this up?
April returned and handed him a glass of red wine, promising, “It’s sweet, don’t worry.”
Robin took a sip as she sat down next to him. Was this sweet? Is this what wine drinkers thought sweet tasted like? The thought was chased away as April scooted much closer to him. She took a long drink and smiled at him.
“You comfortable?” she asked. “You’re being a little quiet.”
“I’m… I’m actually comfortable, yeah,” Robin admitted, relaxing a little and sinking into the couch. Something about her just put him at ease. April was really good with people. “Thanks for this. I really enjoyed going out with you.”
“The night’s not entirely over, now, is it?” April asked, leaning in even closer. “I really like having you here. My home feels more… lively, with someone else around.”
Robin turned to try and hide the blush rising in his cheeks.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, pulling at his collar a little. “Is it a little warm in here or something?”
“I think you raise the temperature a bit wherever you go,” April replied, battering her eyelashes, “and not just because you’re warm-blooded and all that.”
She leaned in even closer and her wine glass tipped, spilling a little on Robin’s clothes.
“Oh, sorry!” April cried, looking mortified. She placed her glass on the coffee table and stood up, announcing, “I’ll get a towel.”
Robin couldn’t help but breathe a little easier and sat down his own glass. She was coming onto him hard. He was shaking a little from nerves. Was he really considering sleeping with her? A zombie? That certainly would have meant a different thing before the apocalypse had actually happened. And he really liked her. And she seemed to really like him.
“Again, I’m so sorry,” April said again once she’d returned, pressing a towelette into Robin’s clothes. “I really didn’t mean to.”
“April, it’s okay, I promise,” Robin replied, reaching out a shaky hand to place on top of hers.
April stared at his hand on hers for a moment before looking up at Robin. A long pause stretched between them. Robin’s face was burning. What was he doing? Was he sure about this?
He took a deep breath and leaned forward, closing his eyes. His heart was hammering in his chest, telling him that this was all a mistake. Then he felt a pair of cold, soft lips pressing back against him.
