TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 322: Step Right Up, Atlanta! Luke's Here to Tell Your Fortune! (Patreon)

"How are they already making out?"

Claire's eyelid twitched.

She'd already been keeping an eye on them, worried the two might get carried away while drinking and end up going at it.

And the moment that thought crossed her mind, there they were, kissing.

And the woman had made the first move!

Tch!

Shameless!

She'd already told Jill that Luke had women in his life, yet she was still throwing herself at him?

"Ahem!"

Claire cleared her throat, reminding them that there was still another living person in the room.

"Mmm..."

Jill's eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Then she pushed Luke against the wall and turned her back toward Claire.

"Cough! Cough, cough!!"

Claire raised her voice.

Even Rebecca frowned, rolled over, and went right back to sleep.

Luke's hand slid from Jill's shoulder down to her lower back, then slipped into her jeans.

Claire's eyes widened in fury.

"Cough, cough!! Cough, cough, cough, cough!!"

Claire was practically coughing up blood, but Luke and Jill acted as though they couldn't hear a thing.

Claire clenched her fists, ran over to Rebecca, and gave her a shove.

"Rebecca, say something! Do something about them! They're completely out of control!"

Rebecca was jolted awake.

She raised her head and saw the two shadowy figures by the window, apparently helping each other conduct thorough physical examinations.

"Oh, come on. You woke me up over something this minor? Didn't you ever barge into an office back then?"

Rebecca had long since stopped caring.

This was nothing.

She'd even walked in on one of her best friends sneaking a taste of something good before.

Men and women had their desires. Why make such a big deal out of it?

"But they're not showing us any respect at all!" Claire complained bitterly.

Rebecca pulled some cotton from her medical kit, stuffed it into her ears, then handed Claire another wad.

"Be good and stop making a fuss. Go to sleep. We've got work tomorrow... uh, I mean, we've got to get up early and kill walkers."

Using the sample case as a pillow, Rebecca went back to sleep.

Claire had no choice but to return to her original spot and stuff the cotton into her ears.

But she couldn't fall asleep at all.

She kept sneaking glances over without meaning to.

That Luke...

He didn't know the first thing about being gentle with a woman!

What Claire didn't know was that Jill actually liked it that way.

At least, judging from Jill's reactions, that was certainly how it felt to Luke.

She really was a warrior goddess...

...

Nothing else happened that night.

While the pheromones remained effective, the supermarket became one of the safest shelters imaginable in the middle of the walker horde.

Luke and Jill barely slept.

Even after they were done, they simply wrapped themselves in their clothes and talked.

Jill had only been looking for a hookup.

She wasn't asking for anything emotionally.

It wasn't as though she needed that either.

Luke, meanwhile, was simply fulfilling a dream.

Claire was the opposite.

She spent the entire night awake, dark circles under her eyes, getting angrier and angrier the more she thought about it.

She didn't even know what she was angry about.

In the end, she only managed to fall asleep when dawn arrived.

"The sun still rises like always!"

Luke gave a long stretch.

Jill had been leaning against him and was jostled by the movement, a lingering afterglow still visible on her face.

"That drink wasn't bad. I think our two sides should be able to reach an agreement. When you visit the city-state, we can have a proper drink together," Jill said.

She knew Luke had barely gotten started and hadn't really had his fill.

Neither had she.

It really had been the right time, but the wrong place.

"Sure, but let's skip the alcohol," Luke said, shaking his head.

Jill sat up.

The sunlight over Atlanta wasn't particularly bright. The whole city remained gloomy and dim.

But when the light filtered through the window and fell across Jill, it still cast the outline of her curves onto the floor.

Rebecca had been awake for a while already, staring at the two silhouettes on the wall.

Luke was one thing.

But how did that woman have that much energy too?

Only after the two of them had gotten dressed did Rebecca pretend she'd just woken up.

She stretched, finding that most of her stamina had recovered.

"Ahem! You two forgot something!"

Rebecca suddenly spotted an object on the floor and reluctantly cleared her throat to remind them.

Jill looked down.

Her hand shot out like lightning.

She balled the thing up and tossed it straight out the window.

"Was throwing it away really necessary?" Luke asked.

Jill glared at him.

"I could've kept it if you hadn't used it like a rag last night..."

"That's not my fault. We had to keep the noise down. Waking those two up would've been fine, but attracting walkers would've ruined everything!"

Rebecca looked thoroughly displeased.

"What do you mean waking us up would've been fine? Are the two of us not people? Answer me! Do we count as human beings or not?"

"Oh, come on. Don't get hung up on the little details!"

Luke headed downstairs.

Jill refused to stay behind.

Rebecca kept looking at her strangely, while Claire, who had been woken up by their conversation, was glaring at the two of them with dark circles under her eyes and a distinctly unfriendly expression.

Ahem.

And those two claimed they weren't interested?

Jill thought there was plenty of interest there.

So she followed Luke downstairs.

"People with good Luck are never lonely wherever they go, especially when it's time to sleep..." Luke mused.

"What are we doing?" Jill asked as she caught up.

"Scavenging supplies, obviously. Then we'll keep beating the hell out of the horde. Your foot still isn't completely healed, is it?" Luke asked.

"I'm fine."

Jill strongly insisted on accompanying him.

"This injury is nothing. It's not even as bad as the little scrape I got last night. I'm coming with you!"

Luke's mouth twitched.

"Has anyone ever told you you've got one hell of a mouth on you?"

Claire and Rebecca stayed behind at the supermarket while Luke and Jill went out to scout the area alone.

Atlanta was somewhat calmer during the day than it was at night.

But only somewhat.

The streets were still packed with wandering walkers.

Most of the troublesome mutants, however, had gone back into hiding.

"Today it's time to pump Agility. Better yet, I'll max it out too. Attack speed has to go up. Better attack speed, happier you and me!"

Luke walked along while calculating his next upgrades.

Raising Agility could only help.

There wasn't really a downside.

Still, he couldn't resist a certain mischievous thought.

Back when he'd been prioritizing stable combat power, he'd never invested much in Charisma.

If he maxed out Charisma, its effect on people went without saying.

But would it work on walkers too?

After all, who wouldn't want to enjoy a little harmless flirting with the walkers?

And if he could eventually control walkers like Murphy, then he'd basically become a walking weapon.

Then there were Spirit and Intelligence.

He hadn't had time to develop either of those yet.

They probably had plenty of uses too.

No rush.

He could work through them one at a time.

Luke drew his dragon-head knife.

Then he walked straight into the middle of the street.

Jill's eyelid suddenly twitched.

Wait.

He wasn't about to...

"Come on, come on! Step right up, Atlanta, young and old! Luke's here to tell your fortune for free! If I get it wrong, you don't pay a cent! Come on out and enjoy the show!!"

Luke's shout was so loud it nearly shattered the windows of the surrounding high-rises.

Every walker turned toward him in unison.

Jill suddenly felt that traveling alongside Luke certainly meant he could rescue her from all kinds of danger.

But then again...

Where exactly did all that danger keep coming from?

The ground began to tremble.

A massive wave of walkers was approaching.

Luke could clearly see a black line surging toward them from the far end of the street.

The horde was so dense that the cars parked along the road were being shoved aside as it advanced.

Running walkers!

And there were a lot of them!

These running walkers were even more ferocious than the ones Luke had encountered before.

They completely ignored the usual movement patterns of ordinary walkers, surging forward layer after layer like an ever-rising wave.

Jill swallowed.

"To tell you the truth, I want to run too!"

Anyone who didn't run from something like this had to be an idiot!

And yet she stubbornly remained where she was, even as sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Oh, right. Almost forgot. Here, take this!"

Luke walked over to a nearby corner.

To Jill's surprise, an AA-12 was sitting there.

Now that was a damn good weapon!

And beside the shotgun was a large amount of ammunition.

This time, it wasn't something Luke had stumbled across because of his absurd Luck.

He'd taken it out of his Storage Space.

The weapon had been retired from his own arsenal for quite some time.

At this point, Luke's entire body was practically a weapon.

Carrying a knife was mostly for appearances, just so he didn't look quite so ridiculously overpowered.

"Cover me. And give the gun back afterward. That's Commonwealth property!" Luke said.

Jill took the weapon, increasingly convinced that Luke's Luck was completely unreasonable.

Start with nothing but a knife.

Loot everything else along the way!