Time to Survive

If There's One Good Thing About This Apocalypse

Chris POV

I let my fingers slip into her hair as she slept, her breathing even and slow. Ricky was curled up onto the cushion mat in the floor, sleeping in the fetal position with a ratty blanket twisted around his waist.

He'd come in a few hours ago, shooting me a look as he saw Kelsey asleep on top of me, her arm wrapped so tightly around my chest I couldn't shift if I wanted too. She'd become overly protective lately, though it wasn't like I could say shit, either.

I would have a heart attack if she did anymore dangerous stunts.

She wasn't going anywhere near the roof of a building if I had my way.

She was stuck on car detail.

Rick had made that comment as well, that maybe she should be taking it a little slower; she was running herself down too much, trying to do everything like she could before. And Until she was fully healed from, well, being burned alive, brutally attacked, falling through a building, Ryan trying to eat her, etc... she wasn't going to be having her way any time soon.

I sighed silently, gazing up at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

She did know what she'd said to me, the last night we'd been together.

She knew, she just... didn't want to talk about it.

Odd.

Usually girls were all about their feelings, how they felt, how I felt, how the fucking newsman felt about his tie ---- but not her.

I was going to have to drag this out of her like I did everything else.

I let my arm drop over my eyes, blocking out the bleak light shooting through the dirty window high up on the wall. It wasn't much, just enough to be annoying.

If only I could get more comfortable.

It was getting close to dawn, but I just couldn't make myself fall asleep; the past couple days kept running through my mind, and the faces of all of our lost friends did as well.

Sometimes, it just didn't seem real that they were really gone; I felt like I could just turn now and talk to Balz, and he would answer me.

But that... that wasn't going to happen.

And the way they'd all died...

None of them had gone out peacefully, god knew Balz hadn't.

Kelsey wouldn't talk about what she'd seen, she'd only cracked a little when I'd pushed, but then had shut down so hard it had taken me a couple days to coax her to speak to me again. I just knew that if it wasn't for Balz, there wouldn't be a Kelsey.

He'd died to save her.

I had only caught a glimpse of what had happened to Francesca it had been so quick; she hadn't appeared to be any pain, and had gone pretty quick; Ryan had taken care of the doctor, from what I remembered, making sure he hadn't gone out easy.

And god, Ang... Angelo hadn't gone out good at all. I wished to God now that he hadn't come to visit us, him and his new wife. We'd all been pumped to meet her, secretely hoping she could maybe convince him to come back to the band; touring was some rough shit, and after so many years, he'd just gotten tired of it.

But...

But damn.

He'd saved Ricky's life, getting him out of the way of that horde before any of them could snap their jaws around his small frame. Ricky hadn't been able to talk for a couple days after we lost Ang, and he still had nightmares about it. We'd all been able to hear Ang's screams as the deaders had ripped into his flesh, and there'd been nothing we could do to save him; we hadn't even had guns at that point to even put him out of his misery.

He'd suffered one of the worst deaths too.

And Devin....

Kels had said it had been quick, and I hoped he hadn't suffered.

Kelsey suddenly shifted over me, stretching slightly in her sleep, her arms now twining around my shoulders as she snuggled into me, her face pressing against my neck as she mumbled in her sleep.

I chuckled, wrapping my other arm around her tightly.

God, this girl.

Been through so much, and yet she was still going.

She made sure the rest of us kept going as well.

Jeez, if it wasn't for her, we probably would've all starved on some rooftop at this point.

If there was one good thing about this apocalypse, it was meeting her.

She made all of it a little better.




"What do you mean?" Kels asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she sat in the floor between my legs. I absently ran my fingers through her hair, dislodging the tangles the best I could and smoothing it out; we'd lost the brush at some point.

"Well, maybe we can syphon some of the cars," Kuza yawned, sprawled across the floor using a stack of towels as a pillow, an empty bottle of whiskey by his head that told me how he'd fallen asleep. "Help us get farther."

"But we don't have any tubing," Ryan mumbled, looking pissy from where he sat, one of the guitars from the stage across his lap as he absently strummed the strings. "We'll have to find some around here."

"It shouldn't be that hard," Kelsey huffed, leaning back against my thighs as I began braiding her hair loosely, knowing how tender-headed she was."I mean, I hope the gas is still good."

"I wish we could just have a house again," Ricky sighed from his position at a table we'd set back up. "And the TV. Fuck, hot water would be nice. A Jacuzzi...."

"You can stop fantasizing now," Kuza rolled his eyes at him. "All that shits gone."

He didn't have to be such a bitch today.

Kelsey frowned at him, obviously annoyed with his pissy mood, and I gave a light tug on her almost-finished braid, not wanting her to say anything that would get him started; he probably had a hangover. She huffed, settling back between my thighs as I finished.

Wasn't I becoming overly affectionate?

I couldn't seem to help myself.

My manhood, man.

Ryan strummed his fingers across the guitar again, hitting a few familiar notes. I chuckled, recognizing the song immediately.

"So..." Ricky hesitated, glancing between all of us when a thick silence grew only interrupted by the occasional notes.

"So?" Kuza rolled his head to look at him, a grouchy look on his face. "So what?"

"Okay, why are you being such a bitch today?" Kelsey suddenly asked, looking annoyed. Everyone looked at her in surprise as she called Kuza out, even him. "I get this shit sucks, but your attitude isn't making it better. At least we've found some-fucking-where that had running water, and some supplies."

"I'm not being a bitch!"

"You're kind of being a bitch," I had to agree with her, shrugging my shoulders.

Kuza glared at me. "Man, you'd agree with whatever she said. She could say that the deaders are fuzzy kittens that just needs hugs and your ass would be outside in seconds trying to run them down."

Well fuck him too.

I would not!

Kelsey kind of grinned, however, as did the other guys, which only managed to piss me off a little more.

"I would not," I scoffed, letting my fingers drop from her finished hair.

"You kind of would," Ricky raised his brows at me, a beanie pulled so low over his face I could barely see his eyes. "Like, honestly, I think we all would."

"What?" Kelsey rolled her eyes at him. "Don't be ridiculous. None of you ever listen to me."

"I wouldn't say that, Mama Bear," Ryan interjected, causing all of us to glance at him; since when was he not being a bitch too? "You're kind of the only reason we survived for the first couple months. And now you're the only one of us worth looking at to remind us that our dicks still work."

Kelsey went crimson.

I grinned.

Well, that was true.

Ryan had actually got her on that, she didn't know what to say, and she squirmed a little.

Ryan grinned at her.

"Well, I kind of wish I didn't know that," She grunted after a moment, scooting closer between my thighs uncomfortably. "That's gonna give me nightmares."

"Oh, don't worry, it's not like we're wanking off to the thought of you or anything," Ryan continued, making her horrified expression worse. "Chris would punch us if he thought we did."

Yeah, I probably would.

I chuckled, tucking a few strands of hair I'd missed into her braid, her hair soft and clean beneath my fingers. She had never said anything, but I think she liked it when people played with her hair, so long as it was actually clean.

She hated it otherwise.

"Can we change the subject?" She muttered. "This is awkward."

All the guys chuckled.

"Let's play a game," Ricky suddenly suggested, perking up slightly. "Just something to pass the time."

"What kind of game?" Ryan asked warily.

"I dunno, just something. It's boring just sitting around."

"Boring? I'm loving it," Kuza sighed. "For once we're not having to look over our shoulder constantly. It's almost nice, and I'd never have thought I'd say that."

"What would you like to play?" Kels asked, letting her ankles cross in front of her, her jeans loose around her legs. She'd lost so much weight from the time we'd met and our time at the house, she almost looked frail.

She would probably kick me if I ever said that to her, but that's how I felt.

"You guys ever heard of the game where it's like you tell two truths and one lie and everyone else has to figure out which one is which?" Ricky suggested. "Me and Jess used to play that all the time."

"Okay, is that really fair?" Kelsey rolled her eyes. "I kind of don't know jack shit about any of you."

"Then you'll just have to figure it out!" I chuckled, squeezing her shoulders.

"Who wants to go first?"

"I will," Rick grinned slightly. "Okay, I was born in Seattle, I have a sister, and, uh, I'm twenty-nine."

"Bullshit," Ryan yawned immediately. "You're not an old fogey yet."

"Hey, fuck you on that, " I scowled. "Twenty-nine isn't old."

"Says the thirty year old."
"
"You're thirty?" Kelsey tilted her head back to look at me, blinking in surprise. "When's your birthday?"

I frowned. "October seventeenth."

I wasn't old.

"Yeah, you're dating an old guy, Kels," Kuza chuckled lightly. "What are you, seventeen or eighteen?"

"Fuck you Kuza, I'm twenty."

Jesus.

I hadn't realized there was such a gap in our ages. I mean, I knew how old she was, but it had just never occurred to me I was literally ten years older then her.


"Well, how old are the rest of you?" Kelsey scowled at all of them.

"Twenty-four," Ryan supplied.

"Twenty-seven," Ricky shrugged.

"You're basically the baby of the group," Kuza informed her, looking like his mood had improved a little. "Chris is like basically robbing the cradle here."

"Oh, please," I snorted. "You've dated girls younger then her before."

"But they were all just flings and had big tits. Kels ---."

"Are you saying I have a small chest?" She gasped, narrowing her eyes at him, looking offended, and Kuza suddenly hesitated, as if realizing what he said.

"er, no, that's ---."

"Because that's really rude, Kuza!"

"No, that's not what I was saying!"He said quickly, his eyes flicking to her chest as if he had to check, which made me send a glare his way. "Your chest is fine, it's not small, I never --- fuck, I ---."

He blushed, and stammered around a few more moments before shutting up completely, shaking his head as we all laughed, including Kelsey.

I relaxed back against the chair I sat in, grinning still.

This was nice, laughing and cutting up with everyone.

We hadn't been able to do this in a long time.