Only time I eat here (David and Lenora)

Little Chef.

Little Chef was the most over priced motorway and a-road service station eatery in the world. He wasn't even joking about that! And to top it off, the stuff they served there hadn't even been all that nice to start with.

But you know what? When you had been travelling for a day straight, swapping driving duties between two people, little chef was a godsend.

Especially when you didn't have to pay any money!

Pulling up with the van next to the very abandoned petrol station, David hummed a little bit before nodding towards the little chef, tapping a light dozing Lenora on the arm to point at it,

"You want to stock up on supplies of food and drinks from there?" he suggested with a little chuckle, "At least we have our own fridge in here to keep it for longer..."

He hummed a little bit and frowned but eventually turned the engine off,

"And we need to suck these pumps dry for anything we can too... apparently this thing is a gas guzzler."

Lenora was tired.

That was the only thing that she could sum herself up as being.

After they had escaped the Army Barracks at Oxford she had been driving for a good 8 hours straight, then she had swapped with David who had driven for another long stint and that had been the way that the trip had gone so far. They were only a day or so into their drive but they were in fact most of the way to Scotland already, non stop driving was the way to go.

Although the B roads were significantly longer they were also easier to go around if there happened to be a road blockage you could normally just drive into the field next to the road until the block had cleared and then rejoin the road again.

Opening her eyes quickly and drawing out her pistol slightly from under her arms, Lenora relaxed when she saw it was only David and not one of those freaks. George was still nice and safe sleeping in his wrapped up blankets on her lap.

"Alright, I'll go and get the food, you can go and fill up the petrol. I'll leave baby Dragon in the back so we can both have both hands free in case there are some of those things lurking about here. I don't think there is but...better to be safe than sorry right?" she asked with a small smile on her lips.

Moving into the back of the van, Lenora laid George down on one of the benches, tucked him in and handed him the toy that she had taken from his crib back at the palace.

Outside it was around evening time, which was good, it meant that they would be able to find somewhere nice and quiet to hole up when it hit evening and they would have food and water to last them the night as well. It was still light so that she could see things clearly, if one of those things was near she wouldn't miss it.

"Be careful. Okay?" she asked David with a soft smile on her lips, giving his arm a gentle squeeze.

Setting off at a brisque pace towards the Little Chef, Lenora ran a hand through her hair and limbered up her arms. She had taken a nightstick from the riot van, and had that along with her pistol in case things got too close for comfort. Gently she eased open the door and looked around inside, there didn't seem to be anyone here.

In the background she could hear the faint clicking of one of those things moving around however.

"Come out come out, wherever you are." she hummed

Slamming the nightstick down on a nearby table, Lenora waited, and low and behold the infected came out after her, slamming the baton hard into it's face, Lenora saw it crumple to the ground and she batted it hard, bringing it down over and over again until the face was nothing but a crumpled mess of bone and pink tissue.

David hummed a little bit as he watched Lenora make sure that Dragon was all settled into his den before doing anything else. He smiled a little bit despite himself as he watched her. Her maternal instincts seemed to have awoken with the child and he had to admit it was something he enjoyed seeing. The little squirt was happy and it seemed to give Lenora something else than their actual situation to focus on.

When she squeezed his arm and told him to be careful he returned the favour with a soft smile,

"I was about to say the same thing." he told her with a small smirk, "You're the one with the hardest job; I'm just filling up the van and making sure it doesn't explode. Or topple over."

Getting out of the van, David locked the door behind him and dragged the hose out as far as it would go before pulling on the handle and hoping for the best. And it actually worked! Chuckling a little bit, he kept going, filling up the truck before he disconnected some gas cans from the outside and inside to fill them all up as well, for when they were too far from a petrol station to refuel that way.

Or if they were bone dry.

As he finished up he glanced through the door of the dinner, looking around,

"Well now isn't this a lovely little place?" he asked with a grin, "The staff been giving you any hostility?"

Lenora sighed softly as she picked her way through the restaurant, it had a small shop area where she picked up some of those tote canvas bags so that she could put the food in there. To be honest she was just glad that electricity was still working because that would mean that the fridges were still cold so that dairy products would be okay to eat.

She loved cheese, just saying, it would make her day if she had a giant block of cheese to eat right about now. So that was what she was looking for.

Getting some of the bottled waters, she also picked up some of the energy drinks and cold coffees for the car journey. They would need it when it came to driving that was for sure what she wouldn't have given for a nice cold frappuccino while she was on her way to Scotland. At least she had these premade ones now.

"There was only one of those things in here, so I think it's mostly clear now, they would have headed for the bigger cities." she stated with a small smile "I have a whole bag full of coffee, energy drinks and bottled water. You're a strong alpha male, here you carry that one."

With a cheeky grin she handed the bag to David before going back to the shop area and looking around.

"Now...where are you." she hummed, before making a happy 'ah' when she found what it was she had been looking for, she didn't know if they would stock it or not but there they were, some rusks for the baby to suck on. Well, they were close enough, Nutri-Grain Breakfast Bars were basically glorified rusks "Some rusks for Baby Dragon."

Placing a good five packets into her bag, Lenora continued her shopping spree, picking up some of the pre-packed sandwiches that were left. Ham and cheese, plain cheese, tuna and cucumber, chicken and bacon. Just in case they wouldn't be able to make a run to another food place, or came across someone needing aid.

"If you want to check the kitchen, see if they have anything in their big walk in freezers?" she asked with a smile "I'll be there in a minute."

David had to admit that it was nice for an area to only have one diseased freak in it. He would have preferred to have had none at all but what were you gunna do huh? He smirked a little bit when she handed him the heaviest bag. Still, he didn't complain about it because he knew that she would rib him for it. But he couldn't resist smirking a little bit and adding,

"Strong alpha male huh? And what exactly happened to equality?" he teased her before blinking and laughing, "Huh... I must be tired! I'm thawing out of my professional mode... oh well, no need for it anymore is there?"

He left the diner quickly to just drop the bag of supplies off inside the van and lock it back up before humming as he re-entered the diner. At her suggestion that he check the kitchen, he nodded and took out his pistol,

"And it'll be just my luck that one of the buggers will be hiding behind all the steaks and mince and shit..."

Wandering into the kitchen, he checked that it was clear before moving to stand in front of the freezer door. Taking a breath, he held his gun at the ready. Flinging the door open, he checked every corner of the giant freezer but found no one there. Nothing but boxes upon boxes of frozen chips and frozen meats.

He picked up some of their steaks and burgers and hummed a little bit,

"I think the fridge might have a freezer built in too... if not then we'll eat meat for awhile." he said as he closed the freezer again as he left it, filling boxes with all the stuff he was gathering from the kitchen, "Hey... you eat cheese at all? They've got a fridge dedicated to the stuff."

Lenora couldn't help but giggle a little bit when David asked her what happened to equality, to be honest she could ask him the same thing! He had been protecting her and going up against the majority of those freaks since they arrived at the palace so she was sure that he was trying to protect her as she was a woman. Wasn't that the reason why women weren't allowed in the army for a long while, something like that anyway.

"Uhuh big guy just get walking." she stated with a smirk, shooing him out of the diner so he could go and drop the bag off "Make sure you don't drop it then, with your delicate feminine arms."

Looking around the rest of the shop, Lenora popped behind the till and hummed, if it wasn't there then it would be behind the serving counter of the restaurant that she was sure of. Or maybe in the staff area? If it was there she wasn't fussed about retrieving it, they had supplied already but it never hurt to have more.

Bending down and looking under the till areas Lenora grinned when she found the first aid kits and placed them in one of the tote bags. Now she had three bags full, one of sandwiches, snacks and things for George and one of medical supplies.

As she wandered into the back Lenora's eyes widened as he mentioned cheese, rushing over Lenora bounced softly on the soles of her feet;

"Oh wow." she murmured, her mouth watering "I love cheese so much...I'm going to raid this fridge so hard!" she squeaked "Ooooh Camembert...and brie! Goats cheese and mature cheddar...edam! Swiss. I'll have one of each of you."

Blushing softly, Lenora clutched her cheese bag close and coughed; "I uhm...sorry about that. Anyway let's get moving. We shouldn't leave George on his own for too long."

David sighed and muttered some fake complaints about the 'indignity' of it all and how 'she didn't understand him' before laughing a little bit to show that it had just been him having a bit of a laugh and a joke. Once had had put the bags and the stuff away he was back into the store to find something that they could use.

He paused at the shop section.

There were shitty little paper-back novels for sale and you know what? It might be awhile until they ever had TV again so why not use some books? Taking an empty bag, he filled it with one of each of the books, magazines and newspapers. Of course if he had picked up a book in a trilogy it was rather sad that it would have a never-ending cliff-hanger.

Assuming this thing had spread outside of the UK of course.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow as she just rattled off all the different types of cheese in the fridge. Shaking his head a little bit, he chuckled a little bit,

"You know I think you're going stir crazy." he teased her, "No one loves cheese that much."

Grinning a little bit, David picked up a case of beers that had been hidden away in the break room before he'd visited it briefly,

"And we can drink to a successful little supply run once little George has drifted off to sleep too."

Lenora's cheeks exploded into a bigger blush when David called her on the fact that nobody liked cheese this much, well it was obvious that she did like cheese this much and she thought she might as well eat a lot of it because who knows when they were going to be able to make cheese again or have a cold enough place to store it in!

She was going to eat this cheese while she could!

"W-well...I just like eating cheese, its a comfort food okay?" she defended herself turning her head away a little bit "You keep making fun of me for it and you wont get any of my delicious delicious cheese foodstuffs."

Seeing that David had found some beers, Lenora grinned brightly and took the bag from him full of books and magazines so that he could carry the case better. Now that they had enough food to sink a small ship she made her way back towards the van, taking a look outside first to see if any of those things had appeared since they were gone.

"It's still clear out there, strangely." she murmured "Kind of makes me think that something bad is going to happen, that's plain old paranoia there though!" she laughed softly.

As she made her way to the van, Lenora opened it with the keys and sidled on inside. Seeing Baby George was okay, she gently tickled his stomach and began placing the food in the fridge before they headed off again. It was her turn to drive and she thought she might need one of those frappuccino's and some pickled onion monster munch she picked up.

David chuckled a little bit when she blushed about how he had called her out on her excessive love of cheese. Sometimes a woman could love cheese just a little too much. Shaking his head a little bit, he conceded the point though. If this shit carried on going then it was unlikely that they would be making any kind of cheese for a long old time.

Well... that wasn't true but home-made cheese was notorious for being absolutely terrible and he would much rather just steer clear of all cheeses,

"Oh believe me I gathered that much." he told her with a smirk before shaking his head a little bit, "No no you keep all that cheese. If I feel like some comfort food then maybe I'll have some of the chocolate they got stacked up in boxes back there huh?"

Smirking a little bit, he was glad when she lessened the load for him and took the bag of books with her so he could better carry the beers. Carrying them to the front of the diner, he hummed a little bit as he took found it hard to believe that there would suddenly be none of the infected freaks around here,

"Okay this is a little strange..." he admitted with a frown, "Paranoia isn't about to get us anywhere though. At least I hope not. It would get us bad things if it did anyway... like more of those damn infected freaks."

Shaking his head a little bit, he locked the door behind them and put away as much of the supplies as possible before taking out a small map and marking where they were before drawing a ring around an area,

"There's a campsite here." he told her, "Not too far from here and since it's out of season they'll be no one there. Should be a place totally free of infected... we can spend the night there and move at first light. Sound good?"