Into the Light

141

"I love the walls in here," Kat said, walking around the room to admire it. "Yeah, I like this one more than the other one. It's more me," Anna replied. She leaned over the bed and picked up her jeans from the floor. She glanced at Sam and I, so we turned our attention away from her. I felt her moving around in the bed, sliding her jeans on under the cover. Then she threw the blanket back and went to stand barefoot at the window with Katrina. They started talking about random things that I tuned out, because Sam's expression caught my attention. He was scared. I could see it in his eyes and in the way he was pulling at his bottom lip. "What's up?" I asked softly, not wanting to get the girls' attention. He sighed and glanced over to Katrina, then back to me. "I'm worried about this evening. What if we fuck up? What if we aren't strong enough? You've seen what she can do, Colby, and that's not even half of what she's capable of. Do we really have a chance here? I feel like we're taking a plastic knife to a gun fight right now." He kept his voice low, so that only I could hear him. I sighed and nodded. "I know, man, but what choice do we have? We can run, and keep running, until she ultimately destroys the world. What would that give us? A few more days? Weeks? Maybe months, but who knows? Or we can stay and fight for our lives, for the world..." I looked over to the girls, just as he did. "We can fight for what we love," I finished, and looked back at him. "I'm not running," he replied. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not scared shitless. Colby, I can't let anything happen to Katrina. If something were to-" He cut off his sentence and took a deep breath. "We're going to protect them," I responded, praying that what I was saying was true. "We have too." He nodded and swallowed hard, before he stood up. "Okay, Ash sent us up here to make sure that you two were awake. He said that Barbie will have breakfast on the table soon, so get your asses up. We've got a long day ahead of us, and an even longer night." "We'll be down soon," I replied. "Kat," Sam called out to her. She turned her head, letting the pink strands shimmer in the sunlight. "Yeah?" she asked. He held his hand out to her. "Let's go get some food before Colby and Anna get down there. Have you seen that girl eat?" he replied, shooting a teasing smile at Anna. Her mouth fell open a little in shock, while Kat giggled. "Hey!" Anna exclaimed. "I haven't eaten in, like, 30 years! Leave me alone!" I burst out laughing, along with Sam and Kat. Anna's laughter mixed with ours and it was the most beautiful, normal sound that I had ever heard. Even on a day like today, when our own mortality was staring us in the face, the sound of her laughter, mixed with my friends, felt like...home. I didn't know how else to describe it. Katrina waved and followed Sam out of the room, leaving Anna and me alone. She smiled at me, then turned and sat on the bed, so that she could put her shoes on. We eased into a comfortable silence, while we both got dressed. "I wonder what Barbie has us for breakfast this morning," I mused, just as my stomach let out an almost demonic growl. Anna glanced over with an amused expression. "I don't know, but it sounds like you better feed that thing quick, before it attacks someone," she joked. I laughed and slid my shoes on, before I stood. "Maybe I'll leave it hungry so that it can help us fight tonight," I replied. I knew that I shouldn't have said it, right when it left my mouth. Not everyone was like me. I tended to sometimes make jokes to make a horrible or scary situation seem bearable. When Anna's face fell and the worried look returned to her eyes, I wanted to punch myself. "Hey," I said, walking around to her side of the bed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I don't think before I open my mouth sometimes." She stood and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, while hers came around my waist. "No, it's okay," she replied. "It was funny. I just forgot that we were fighting for our lives tonight, so it kind of shocked me back into reality." I held her for a minute, in silence, wanting to comfort her, but not knowing how. All I could do was hold her, because nothing that I could say would make anything any better. She leaned back and met my blue eyes with her sparkling green ones. I could see a little humor in them now and my heart thumped erratically against my chest. "You know, that's not a bad idea. Don't feed the beast and see if it'll be hungry enough to taste demons," she said, with a wicked little smile. My stomach roiled at the image her words put into my head. "Gross," I groaned. "I think you might've just killed my appetite." She threw her head back, laughing, letting the sound echo throughout the room. I watched the sunlight dance through her raven strands, making my fingers itch to thread themselves through it. So, I let them. I ran my fingers through her hair and met her smile with one of my own. We were forcing it. That carefree feeling that meant we weren't worried or scared. The easy going smiles on our faces or the jokes that came out of our mouths. It was all fake...but isn't that what was said? Fake it till you make it? If we had to force ourselves to enjoy what could be our last few hours together, then so be it. "Let's go see what we can feed this monster," I said, taking her hand in mine. We smelled it before we were even on the first floor. Bacon and I don't know what else, but bacon. "I think I'm drooling," Anna whispered, as we got closer to the kitchen. I let out a short laugh and turned her to face me. I reached my hand out and let my thumb graze the corners of her mouth. "Got it. You're good," I said, smirking at her. "Oh, shut up," she giggled. "Seriously, it does smell heavenly." Her stomach let out a loud grumble about that time.