Jane never did notice this before. Before, she moved from town to town, no destination in mind but survival. With that, she saw zombies, killed them, moved on. Her groups at the time barely lived very long due to their stupid strageties, so she was usually on the move. However, this was the first town she stayed inside of this long, and this was the first group that survived the longest. Well, likely because they were zombies, so they weren't targeted like she was.

That was the thing, though. After a few days, she wasn't being targeted.

All zombies were somewhat coherent, and that was a fact she discovered after her longer stay here. Some of them Ben and Sans could talk down, but after most of them witnessed the raw strength Jane had murdering a bunch of zombies, they all started to back off.

Now, it almost reminded her of the world before the apocalypse. Of course, without the corpses littering every street, the constant smell of death, and the crashed cars everywhere. Not the knife, though. She always carried a knife before the world descended down into chaos.

However, whenever she went onto the streets now, zombies didn't attack her. They all recognized her from before and steered clear. Even the zombies that hadn't witnessed her murder sprees heard from others.

At first, whenever she entered the streets, there was two responses. A few zombies that were stupid to attack her did while the others fled. After a little bit, she seemed to weed out the stupid zombies, resulting in the other zombies ducking into whatever building was nearby. However, they grew used to Jane's presence, and instead remained distant, but outside, whenever she roamed the streets.

Now, it felt almost normal again. Granted, normal was never going to be achieved after what just happened, but there was a mutual understanding between the zombies and Jane. Don't attack anyone from her group, and she wouldn't brutally murder them. So, the zombies shuffled on by her, some even waving and saying hello to them.

It was odd, but something she was glad happened. Now she didn't have to go killing every twenty seconds, it was a nice break. If anything, she was more concerned for finding other survivors. Survivors were dangerous to her zombie friends, both of which she'd grown rather fond of.

Sans and Ben weren't stupid, which was nice. Sure, they were zombies, but she'd rather have zombies on her team then some brain dead survivors who shot at anything that moved, then wondered why they ran out of bullets.

They weren't just smart, which was a nice touch. No, they were rather fun to be around. At first, Jane thought she was going to hate Ben, but he was actually a blast. His little comments and jokes were always fun, and his talent with video games went unmatched. He beat both Jane and Sans every single game.

Sans was frankly a joy to be around. His puns were amazing, and he seemed to spout them out at increased rates, like he was learning all of the puns he used to use before.

Their memories weren't going to be coming back anytime soon, it seemed, but they were discovering themselves. They learned more of what they liked, what they didn't like, what they were and weren't good at. Sans apparently was good at dodging things. Really good. Ben tried to fling some food at him, but Sans dodged every piece without much effort.

Oh, and he was adorable. Seriously adorable.

He was so small and cute, seriously! Not to mention he leaned into her whenever she pet his skull? How he made a zombie seem cute was beyond her, but maybe it was the fact he was the only datable person. All other survivors weren't a choice, she'd rather eat a knife then trust any of them again. And she knew zombies were coherent now, so she knew that she wouldn't be taking advantage of Sans. He was an adult, just like her, just a little bit... undead.

Though, Jane wasn't sure if she was open to dating again. Sitting on the couch, listening to Ben and Sans argue about how much sauce to add, she peeled off her fingerless gloves on her right hand, twisting the old ring she wore around her pale skin. It's been so long. Years, really.

There had been someone before. A woman, a strong woman, whom she loved dearly. She's had her time to mourn, and she's since moved on.

But was she even ready?

Jane took a glance back, watching Sans and Ben poor the noodles into the pot. Dragging an oven in here by far was the worst part of upgrading the building. Not only did they have to find a good truck, they had to load the oven into the truck then learn how to make it work again. Either way, they had an oven now for food, which was nice.

But Jane wasn't sure how she felt about Sans. Sure, he was adorable, stupidly adorable, and they've been teammates for a good few weeks now, almost a month, but that didn't excuse if he really was good for her. She didn't mind protecting him, heck, she liked the idea of Sans being dependent on her for her strength. He didn't depend entirely on her, either, only for protection. None of them were excellent cooks, but the two zombies picked up around their base in exchange for Jane's defense. She violently killed anything that even slightly threatened their group, and they cleaned up and made dinners wearing gloves. Jane liked that exchange, as did Sans and Ben.

Sans was cute, yeah. Everyone knew that. But he didn't remember his past, nor did Jane even know if Sans liked her. She wasn't madly in love with him, which was good, as they had only met a month ago. Did he even like her back, or was he even interested in her?

And...

Below the ring she could see marks. Small injection marks. Jane sighed, slipping the black material back over her wrist.

She couldn't drag down someone like him.

After all, she's the reason he's a zombie, isn't she?

~~~~~~

"Why'd you guys make spaghetti?" Jane asked, twirling the noodles on her fork.

'I dunno. I just saw the noodles and felt like I should make it. It was nice.' Sans wrote.

"Do you like spaghetti?"

'Not really. I don't know why I felt like I should make it, I just did.'

Jane sighed, looking down guiltily at her bowl. Before, she never felt guilty. She hated people, a lot of people, and an event that put her in her natural habitat and killed off the people she hated was a blessing. But Sans was a victim of it, and so was Ben. Everyone they cared about before was gone. They were still figuring out who they were.

The next time she sees those f*ckers, she'll kill them this time. She should have killed them before, and zombies wouldn't have existed. She had the opportunity.

Mercy her a*s. When she offered mercy, it always went downhill. Not again.

"I'm not feeling really hungry," Jane sighed, pushing away the food.

'Is it bad?' Sans wrote.

"No, no, it's fine." Jane crossed her arms, watching Ben play on the xbox. "Like I said, I'm just not hungry."

'You look sad.'

"I'm not."

Sans didn't take that for an answer, crawling over and poking her cheek. 'How can I make you happy? Do you want a hug?'

"No, Sans it's fine."

Sans, being the considerate little zombie he was, didn't listen to her answer. Instead, he plopped against her front and gave her a hug, resting his head on her shoulder as he patted her back, making soft gurgling noises. Darn it. He was being cute again.

"You're too nice," Jane muttered, patting the top of his skull, but returning the hug nevertheless.

Unable to write out what he was saying, Sans only continued to make his zombie grunts, rubbing her back to cheer her up. Jane accepted the hug, trailing patterns across his pale skull with her black fingernails. Ben, not paying attention to them, clicked away at his video game. It was a good night.

When she went to sleep that night, she dreamt of her dreams. Riding a motorcycle under the stars along an empty road, wind flowing through her hair.

But this time, Sans was sitting behind her, arms wrapped around her waist, enjoying the night sky just as she was.