Stay the Night - Harry Lewis & Chris Dixon

Chapter 6: Twelve Hours

"I hope not," Harry replies, scrunching his nose, "Space terrifies the fuck out of me."

"So you can survive a zombie apocalypse, but you wouldn't travel to Mars?"

"A thousand percent yes. I'd take on zombies over aliens any day," Harry replies.

"That's fair," I laugh.

Harry smiles, "Okay, I have one more for you."

"Hit me," I say.

"Humans can't breathe and swallow at the same time."

I immediately try, and I realize he's right. My eyes widen, "Holy shit. How have I never realized that before?"

"I only found out this year. It's crazy stuff," Harry replies.

I agree with him as I rest my head on the wall behind me, "You're good at this. At being a distraction."

"You can't control what's going on out there, so there's no use on dwelling on it," Harry says, "They'll be back soon."

"I know you're right," I say quietly before we fall into a comfortable silence. Harry moves his body closer to me, and I lean over into his side as he wraps an arm tightly around me. I've been thinking so much about Chris and Erica that I didn't realize how tired I am. I try to fight it, but soon I give in and I fall asleep.

-

When I first wake up, I feel like I'm in a dream. Harry's asleep next to me with his arm still wrapped around my side. I check my watch and see it's only been thirty minutes. I'm about to close my eyes again when I suddenly hear talking from the other side of the door. Before I can even process what's happening, the door swings open and Erica and Chris walk through the doorway.

"Oh my God," I say as I scramble to stand up. I immediately wrap my arms around Erica and she laughs as I tightly squeeze her. I then move to hug Chris, and once I do, I pull back abruptly.

"Wait. Are you guys okay?" I ask, scanning them, "No one got hurt, right?"

"Yes, we're completely fine," Erica says.

"Good," I say before quickly punching both of their arms.

"Ow," Chris says, holding his shoulder.

"That was for scaring me half to death. I think you guys took ten years off my life."

"I know. I'm sorry. We got trapped by the horde and had to wait it out in an apartment. There was no way to reach you, but we came back as soon as we could," Chris says, pulling me back into a hug.

The other guys run toward the front of the store, and everyone's moods are instantly lifted.

"Thank God you guys made it back," Ethan says, pulling the two in for a hug.

Chip suddenly tackles Chris into a hug, nearly knocking him over in the process. Everyone laughs as Chip then makes a show of hugging Erica and spinning her around.

"Chip and I felt so guilty about leaving, but we didn't know what else to do," George starts to apologize.

"No, you guys did the right thing. There was no use in all of us getting trapped," Chris brushes him off.

The group catches up for a few minutes on everything that happened before Erica says, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm fucking exhausted."

We all laugh and head to where the makeshift beds are located. Arthur offers to let Erica and I share his bed for the night and tells us he'll share with George. We thank him before getting comfortable on the bed.