Chapter 5 - Hero Worship

Zoe woke up, feeling as though there was something important she was forgetting.  She ran through of mental list of tasks before it dawned on her.

 It was her birthday today!

***

Oh no, Mr. Clarence, keep walking!  You had your shot at all that Zoe-happiness and you never called or wrote!  She is happily married to Craig now!

 You missed your chance, buddy!

***

"Happy birthday, hon," Craig said as soon as he saw her.

Zoe wasn't sure if she was happy or not.  She'd seen firsthand the damage elder non-cognaizance could be! She was terrified of an elderly stage of declining mental acuity.

The Life Elixir caught her eye.  Could it work?
 

"Why don't you go play outside for awhile?" Zoe suggested to Yoshi, who was busying making all the opposing chess pieces fall in love and get married.

"Really? Am I done for the day?" she asked excitedly. 

"Yes, go on outside and play."

Yoshi didn't need to be asked twice.

 With great trepidation and unease, Zoe stood in front of the large Life Elixir dispenser.  What's the worst that could happen? she wondered fatalistically.  Either way, she was still getting older! 

She quickly downed the drink.

ZOINGA! The effect the elixir had on her was immediate and nothing short of astounding! Not only did Zoe feel like she had gained valuable days back to her life, but she was bursting with energy. 

For the first time in ages, she actually went outside and played ball with her daughter, reveling in the fresh air and activity.

The construction on the upper floor felt like it would last forever.  (AN: I added the Middle of Nowhere Legacy restriction to Architecture stage just for fun.  So I'm only adding 2 items a day for building.  It's been fun working my way around the rooms with paint and the upstairs construction.)

 Apparently a side effect of the Life Elixir is feeling amorous!

Yoshi thought her parents were so gross when they started acting lovey dovey like this.

Zoe told Yoshi she could have a sleepover in the livingroom.  "Won't that be great fun?" she asked, distractedly while kissing up Craig's arm.

 Adults are weird, Yoshi thought as her parents giggled as they ran into the bedroom.

A livingroom sleepover wasn't any fun at all, Yoshi pouted right before she fell asleep on the couch.  

Craig called softly. "Wake up sweetie, almost time for Midnight Picnic," he said, pulling out the ingredients.  

"Why do I always have to leave sleep on the couch when you guys start kissing?" Yoshi innocently asked.

Craig almost choked on his cereal.

"I'll explain when you're older," Zoe said quickly. 

 Definitely some sort of aphrodisiac in the elixir.  Zoe hasn't been this amorous their entire marriage!

 Finally, on Craig's day off, the family headed back to the soup kitchen for some community time. 

 Like usual, Craig went straight back to the back to work on canning.

 Zoe passed the time chatting with the other adults gathered at the base.

 And Yoshi snuck off into the barracks to bounce on the beds.

<<< NO!     YOSHI!    BEHIND YOU!>>>

After waiting a short time for the little girl to acknowledge her, the Zombie grew bored and wandered away.

It found a room full of tasty looking brains.

 As the Zombie lunged, everyone ran outside to safety.

 <<<WHAT ABOUT THE LITTLE GIRL?!>>>

Zoe looked around.  "Did you see a little girl in there?" she asked.

Brandi shrugged. "I can't remember."

"Has anyone seen my daughter, Yoshi?"

Instead of making sure the Zombie didn't eat Yoshi's brains, Zoe hung out on the porch with the other adults, trying to decide the best course of action.

Craig is oblivious.

 They're still fighting. 

"Don't go in there," Zoe warned her old friend Brandon.  "There's a Zombie attack in progress."

"Oh no!"

"There's a little girl hiding in the kitchen," she added.  "But we think Zombies can't attack children. No one has ever seen it happen."

"Oh good, so she should be safe," Brandon sighed with relief.

Brandi looked around the group. "Maybe one of us should go in to make sure," she suggested.

They drew straws and the blond man stepped inside.

Thanks to a tip from Brandon, Zoe ran into the barracks and hugged Yoshi tightly.  "I'm so glad you're safe!" she said, sobbing.

"Why wouldn't I have been, Mommy?" Yoshi asked, wiping the kiss off her cheek.

 FINALLY, Armand fended off the red-headed Zombie and made her say owie.

 News about the Zombie attack spread fast.  It was all everyone was talking about.

 Since Craig was still busy in the back, Zoe made sandwiches for all the townsfolk that lingered. 

When Zoe came back to tell him it was time to leave, Craig had just finished earning 2 cooking skills from all his canning. 

Since Yoshi went right inside and fell asleep, Zoe and Craig enjoyed a little alone time on the couch,

 Then in the bathroom,

 Then finally kicked Yoshi out of the room.

Adults are so weird!

 Midnight Picnic was becoming something of a routine in this household.

 "If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?" Craig asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I wish we could eat whenever we wanted to," Yoshi replied earnestly.  "I don't like it when my stomach gets hungry."

Not for the first time, Craig wished he could somehow ease the culinary restrictions that existed in the world.  It broke his heart that his little girl had to sustain herself with 1 meal a day.

"Oh, and that there were no zombies," she added quickly.

Craig nodded. "Sounds like a good wish!" he agreed whole-heartedly.

Craig continued his work on his recipe collection.  He'd gotten very good at stretching a meal because of the lack of fresh produce and refrigerated food.

"Morning!" Yoshi whispered. 

Zoe laid in bed, feeling slightly weak from exhaustion.  There were only 2 servings left and she wanted to make sure Yoshi had something to eat later in the day.  There were some sacrifices that a mother was willing to make to make sure her child was happy and healthy. She just needed to rest and drink plenty of water today.

"Daddy's still sleeping.  Why don't you play outside," she suggested quietly.

Yoshi grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom.  No lessons!

Zoe called after her "Stay in the front yard!"

Yoshi found a half-used container of bubbles.  Whenever the snow landed on a bubble, it popped.  Blowing bubbles in the snow wasn't very much fun!

Zoe's willpower apparently lasted a total of 5 minutes.  She broke down and ate one of the sandwiches, reasoning that there was still one left over for Yoshi.

Son of a... Zoe's OCD screws everything up! NOW WHAT IS YOSHI GOING TO EAT?

"Pretty good looking snowman."  Yoshi heard someone say behind her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The teenager waved. "Hey, I'm Orlando."

Yoshi tried hard to think of how her mom taught her to greet people.  She didn't remember anything else.  "Wanna play ball?" she asked abruptly.

Orlando shrugged.  "Sure, why not. I have some spare time," he told her.  Not only that, but there wasn't a lot of fun stuff to do in town.  It's not like he had anything better to do!

NO PITY FOR YOU!

Orlando kept his eyes open and spotted the Zombie while it was still far away. "Run inside," he told the little girl.

Yoshi talked about Orlando all afternoon.  At one point her mom said it sounded like she was suffering from a little big of hero worship.  Yoshi didn't think she was suffering, but she thought Orlando was her hero.  "I'm gonna marry him one day!" she announced to her mom.

Unknowingly on the brink of starvation, the girls quickly devoured 2 servings of the sandwiches Craig whipped up.

After her Mom went back to bed, Yoshi stayed up with her Dad a little bit.  "Dad? I really hate Midnight Picnics," she told him.
 

Yoshi threw the blanket she was wrapped up in when she saw Orlando passing by.  "He came back!" she whooped, running for the door.

"Hi Orlando!" she greeted him cheerfully.  "Wanna hang out?"

"Sure."

Yoshi knew the perfect spot.  She led Orlando upstairs. "This is gonna be a big room one day once Dad is finished building it.  He said I could even have my own room!" she bragged.

It worked so well before, Zoe decided to try the Life Elixir again. 

Success!

 The downside of hanging out in the loft was that it was still quite cold outside.

"YOSHI! We need to get you warm quickly!"

This was the only time Mom ever encouraged her to jump on the furniture!

Finally, her color improved, and her Mom told her to quit jumping and sent her straight to bed for a nap.

Craig think he finally managed to complete his recipe collection for the post apocalyptic world.

Somehow, without even realizing it, their sweet, good-natured & playful little girl had turned into a teenager.

 A very contrary teenager!

While at work, Craig had an epiphany.  Instead of trying to get all the canning done when he visited the soup kitchen, he could do it at home!

The volunteer director agreed and helped Craig set up a canning station in the loft space upstairs.

It was quite heavy machinery, but they were able to use a crane to get it put in place.

The only problem was that despite the wonderful cooking experience Craig gained, it could become a tad too cold!

"We need to get you warm immediately!" Zoe said worriedly when she saw her husband's blue pallor.

She pressed against him and ran her hands up and down his back.

He encouraged her to continue. "I'm still so cold!"

When her parents started giggling like that, Yoshi knew she would be sleeping on the couch.  Livingroom Sleepover! What a crock of baloney!

 "Midnight Picnic!" Craig called cheerfully as he prepped the bowls of oatmeal.

"You guys know you don't need to keep calling it the Midnight Picnic anymore. I'm old enough to know it was just a lame attempt at making me think it was fun," Yoshi told her parents, who exchanged a look between themselves.

Teenagers.  

Yoshi was up much later than her parents because she'd napped during the day.  Bored, she took up her spot by the window, watching the snow fall.  It was like a white blanket covering the scorched ground.

In the distance, she saw a figure.  She pressed her face closer to the glance, straining to see them.  Was it a Zombie?! she wondered with excitement.  The only time she'd seen one had been when Orlando had saved her.

 She gasped and then jumped from bed and hurried outside.

"Orlando!" she called, racing down the steps, then throwing herself into his arms.  Orlando looked shocked to see how much she'd grown.

 "You look cold! Do you want to come inside and warm up?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, sure! That'd be great!" he told her.  Wow, little Yoshi was looking cute!

They sat on the couch and chatted.  "Oh! Your hands are like ice!" she exclaimed when she accidentally grazed one.  "Come closer, I'll help you get warm!" 

Orlando let Yoshi pull him into her arms.  Although he was only older than her by a few short years, he was still old enough to know where all this hand holding and snuggling was going to lead.  "I should probably head home now.  I'm warm enough," he told her, standing to leave.

Impulsively, Yoshi pressed a chaste kiss against his lips.

 The young teens spent a few minutes making out before Orlando came up for air.

 "I really need to get home," he told her.  "Your dad would kill me if he woke up and found me here."

Yoshi thought Orlando was the nicest, bravest, most romantic hero in the world.  She gazed at him with her heart in her eyes.  "Good night," she whispered.

"Tomorrow," he promised, grabbing his coat and slipping out the front door.