TW: Zombie Apocolypse!AU

Xephos reload the pistol he carried with another magazine, absentmindedly brushing a strand of matted brown hair out of his face. It had grown longer since it all started, and the lack of any sharp tool made it harder to care for the mess. He put the empty mag in his backpack, then looked into the doorway of the building he had been leaning on. It was an old quartz building, with a sign on the front that maybe one day glowed the colors of flames. It now was dull and blank, missing half of the face which was a crumpled mass around the bottom of the building. The houses in front of the large structure were now empty, with broken windows and the wood walls rotted. There were a few zombies lumbering around these buildings, but none noticed Xephos as he headed towards the entrance of the large building.

"Please don't be too many," Xephos murmured to himself as he opened the wooden door.

He stepped through the doorway and looked around the building. The opposite wall had been blown out, probably due to some poor soul attracting creepers. Or someone had tried to defend themselves stupidly with TNT.

Xephos noticed that the inside of the building had a lot of machinery. There were broken pipes laying on the floor, while the rest of the pipes were dangling helplessly through the little holes in the roof. Speaking of roof, there appeared to be many floors, all accessable by a series of larger holes in the corner of the room. How to get up them was a mystery.

Xephos took a step deeper into the factory, noticing how dark it was. He reached into his bag and brought out a torch he always kept on him, got out a flint a steel and lit the stick up. He set it on the wall while he looked around some more.

A snapping sound made him spin to the right. It was coming from a dark corner, where the light of the torch didn't fully reach. He held up the pistol in front of him and slowly walked towards the corner, mentally preparing himself for any sudden hands grabbing at him or the yellow, bloodshot eye staring at him.

What happened made him jump more than any undead figure could. A light blossomed before his eyes, revealing another man holding a torch and smiling slyly at the other.

Xephos yelped and jumped back, not expecting another, living breathing, alive man to be standing before him. The other man chuckled, a soft sound that made Xephos' heart beat. Either in fear or something else, he didn't know.

The other man had light brown hair, a shade or two lighter than Xephos', and had a matching beard and mustache. He wore a ripped orange-and-white sweatshirt, and once-white pants. He had brown eyes, holding mischief and curiousity. In one hand was the torch, in the other a pistol similar to Xephos'.

"Who are you?" Xephos asked, not lowering the pistol.

"Sjin," The man said. "And you are?"

"Xephos," Xephos said.

"Xephos," Sjin repeated. He had a sly smirk. "I would rather not have a gun pointed at my face, thanks."

Xephos lowered the pistol to his side, but not loosening his grip. He still wasn't sure if he could trust this Sjin-guy yet.

"So," Sjin said. "Are you alone? Or with a group?"

"I have a group," Xephos said cautiously.

"How many?"

"That's my business."

"Ouch. Right in my heart, Xeph," Sjin put a hand over his heart, faking hurt. "I thought we were friends."

"We just met. We're not friends. And don't call me Xeph," Xephos turned away and began to look behind pieces of rubble for anything useful.

"Why not?" Sjin said, following the other close behind, a smirk on his face.

"Because," Xephos said. He pushed a large piece of quartz out of the way. "Only my friends call me that."

"I'm your friend."

"No, you're not." Xephos turned to face his new acquaintance. His eyes widened as he saw another figure getting dangerously close to them, it's arms extended and it's mouth open, it's eyes yellow and bloodshot.

"Look out!" Xephos called, and held up his pistol while simultaneously pushing Sjin to the side. He shot once, and the zombie fell down.

"Whoa," Sjin said. "Thanks." He looked to the other man, and couldn't help notice how handsome the other was, even with all the dirt and scars that littered his face. Sjin looked down at the other's hand on his arm, and, to his surprise, felt butterflies in his stomach.

"Sjin, you okay?" Xephos' voice broke through his thoughts, and he looked up and gave a smile.

"Yeah. Thanks," Sjin smirked. "My knight in shining armor."

Xephos raised an eyebrow, then gave in and chuckled. Maybe the other wasn't so bad to be around after all....

Xephos walked over to the series of holes in the ceiling and looked up. It appeared that there might have been lights lining each, but since the power went out, it was dark as a cave. He lit another torch and held it up to the first ring in the ceiling.

"Do you think we could get up there?" Xephos asked.

"Maybe," Sjin said, and looked up the ring next to Xephos. "There could be supplies up there. But I don't think we can."

"Why are you here, anyways?" Xephos asked.

"Same as you. Looting," Sjin said. "That's what you're here for, right? Your group sent you to loot?"

"Yeah," Xephos said.

Sjin looked around, and noticed a familiar, box-like structure in the corner. "Is that a chest?" He walked over to the chest, and shined his torch above it.

"Let's open it!" He said excitedly.

They opened the chest to reveal.......Stacks of molded cookies.

"Uck!" Xephos grimaced and stepped back. "Cookies? Why are there cookies in here?"

"I think this was a factory once," Sjin said. "They used to sell cookies, by the looks of it."

"That's nasty," Xephos said. Then something shiny caught his eye. "What's that?" He began to reach down into the chest, then thinking twice, used the nose of his pistol to move the moldy cookies out of the way. Beneath it was a set of shining gold armor.

"Whoa!" Sjin exclaimed. "Good catch." He began to reach for the golden set, but Xephos slapped his hand away. "Hey! I found it, too, you know!"

"You didn't help at all! I found the armor," Xephos said.

"But I found the chest!" Sjin argued.

"But I had the idea to look through the cookies."

"You wouldn't have found the armor if I didn't see the chest," Sjin said, crossing his arms.

"...Fine," Xephos finally said. "We'll split it."

"I call chest plate!" Sjin said. "And the boots."

"Fine. I'll get the trousers and the hat," Xephos reached in and grabbed the armor, doing his best to avoid the cookies. He handed Sjin the pieces he called.

"Thanks for digging through the cookies to get them for me," Sjin batted his eyelashes and smiled.

"You jerk," Xephos relied, although he let out a smile, too.

"I should probably head back to my base," Sjin said. "My Sipsy awaits!"

"Sipsy?" Xephos asked, and for a second, he felt something sour in his chest. He denied the feeling, though, blaming it on the smell of the moldy cookies making him nauseous. He would never admit that feeling was jealousy.

"He's my best friend," Sjin said. "We got a few others in our group, too. Your group must be worried about you." He winked. "I would be."

Despite his best efforts, Xephos began to blush. "Yeah.... I should probably get back. See you again, maybe?"

"Definately," Sjin winked again, and began to leave through the hole in the back wall of the factory. Before he left, however, he turned and blew a kiss to Xephos. Then he left.

Xephos snapped himself out of the daze he fell into when the other blew the kiss, and began to walk to the same door he entered the factory with.

He looked forward to the day he met Sjin again.

Credit to purplelly on tumblr