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"Peter?" I mumbled looking down to our entangled fingers. He just hummed in response, continuing to play with my fingers. "You know this can't last forever, right?" He instantly stopped fiddling but refused to meet my eyes. "We've been lucky so far... that luck can't last forever. Our run-ins with the zombies are getting more and more dangerous. That's gonna lead to one of us getting bitten."
"I'm gonna protect you, whether you're one of them or not." He said finally shifting so he was meeting my soft gaze. I flashed him a smile and held on tighter to his fingers linked through mine.
"You know I'm going to protect you too." He barely nodded before he started to lean closer to me, but it wasn't done.
"We've gotta be strong." Yet again he just hummed in response, he was so close to me that the tip of his nose was directly next to mine. I smiled before leaning that little bit closer and connecting our lips in a sweet kiss. At the moment there really wasn't any lust for each other all our romantic encounters were just loving. We both shifted in our seats slightly so we were properly facing each other to giving the kiss a little more pressure.
Suddenly my whole body went numb. I froze, my hand going limp in his. My eyes got forced back open so I was staring at Peter's face. He obviously noticed me freeze because he pulled away and frowned at me. My eyes quickly blacked over and in a second I was taken into the inky abyss.
"Sharon's not gonna make it. You might want to go check on her and Bucky." My other half whispered darkly in my ear, she chuckled at me before I was brought back to the train.
I scrunched my eyes closed and blinked rapidly to get rid of my blurry vision. Peter was worriedly staring at me, his hands on each side of my neck supporting my head. Okoye had also arrived at some point since she was leaning over the seat also frowning at me.
"Baby, what happened?" Peter asked his eyes glancing between mine. A sudden high pitched scream interrupted my thoughts as my head shot to the opposite end of the train.
"Sharon." I muttered before slipping out of Peter's grip and pushing past Okoye. I didn't waste any time in sprinting to the other end of the train, the other two close behind.
The door slid open just after green goo splattered onto the glass. Hope stood in the entrance to the car covered from head to toe in green goo. I couldn't help but scrunch up my nose, the smell was horrendous.
"Uh, guys, I'm covered in Sharon." Hope groaned wiggling her arms before standing up properly.
"The kid has hand sanitizer." Okoye said nodding to Peter. Hope retracted he helmet her breathing heavy as she tried not to focus too much on the smell. Banner and Kurt, probably hearing the commotion, came jogging through the door.
"Uh, Hope?" Banner said making everyone's attention go to him. "I think you're in trouble." My heart constricted when my eyes followed Bruce's and landed on the nick in her suit, a small cut on her revealed shoulder.
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"Heart rates elevated, temperatures not going in the right direction." Bruce said somberly as two of my fingers ran over my bottom lip nervously.
"Then we both know what you have to do." Hope grunted shifting on the medical bed.
"Y/n, can you do anything?" Bruce asked making my eyes dart up to him before I frowned. "You know, slow the infection."
"Wha-" I cut myself off quickly when I notcied my hand started to shake violently. I quickly clutched it with my other hand to stop the sporadic movement. "I can't do anything." I whispered out defeated. My eyes darted back down to Hope. "I'm sorry." I whispered out my voice cracking slightly. I'm the disease... not the cure.
"We could be minutes away from a cure though." Okoye piped up taking the attention off of me. My entire body had started to tremble under everyone's hopeful eyes. I felt Peter wrap his arm around my torso before placing his lips on my temple, lingering so he could whisper an 'it's okay' against my skin.
"We can't take that risk." Hope grunted shifting uncomfortably again.
"It's not risk. It's Hope." Peter said, turning his head to look down at Hope. "And anyone who's seen a zombie movie knows that that's the key to survival. Plus, it's also your name, and that's gotta mean something." He chuckled slightly at the end, being his normal optimistic self. I couldn't help but smile softly as I leaned into him.
"Oh, kid. How do you do it?" Hope said looking up to Peter.
"See all these movies? AV club." He replied simply only making my smile grow.
"No." Hope chuckled. "No, how do you stay so..." She inhaled deeply before continuing. "...upbeat? After everything."
"Practice, I guess." He said absentmindedly staring at the bed as he delved into his mind. His arm fell from around me but I quickly held onto his hand for support like he had just done for me. "My mom, dad, Uncle Ben, Mr. Stark." He listed off, his voice getting louder each name he said. I gave his hand a quick squeeze. "And now Happy. I've... I've lost a lot. But my Aunt May says... used to say, that if we don't keep smiling when they can't, then we might as well be gone too. And..." Peter trailed off as he reached out with his other hand and held Hope's. "Well, they'd want us to keep going." I smiled down at the ground thinking of my lost loved ones as I rested my head down on Peter's shoulder, moving his arm so I could snuggle back into his side.
The car door suddenly slid open making all of our heads turn to look at Kurt who'd been driving the train.
"Guys, uh, bad news, team." Kurt said, my smile instantly got replaced with a frown. What now? "The train has run out of fuel." He said, I sighed glancing out the window. I looked back to Kurt before my brain registered what was out the window. I slowly turned back to the window, my lips parted slightly at the sight in front of me.
"How far are we away from Camp Lehigh?" Bruce asked as I picked my head off of Peter's shoulder.
"On the bright side, we were at least closer than we were." I quickly started tapping Peter's shoulder trying to gain his attention, since every word I thought I knew had vacated my brain.
"And the not-bright side?" Hope groaned through her words. Peter turned to look at me but it quickly grabbed his chin and forced him to look out the window.
"We're going to have to walk through that." I felt Peter jaw slacken slightly so I removed my hand from it, knowing he'd seen what I had. Peter moved closer to the window, pulling me with him since I was hugged into him like a koala. Everyone else finally looked outside making them crowd around the window as well. In front of us laid a sea of zombie, moaning and groaning as they limped about. None of them had noticed us yet which was in our favor but still... how on earth were we supposed to reach the camp.
"Well, looks like our draft cards just got pulled." Bucky sighed, I nodded slightly still shocked even though I had no clue as to what he was referencing.
"We will not make it through them."
"But you can make it over them." Hope grunted from behind us making us spin around to face her. She winced as she sat up, steadying herself with Peter's arm before she pushed herself up onto her feet.
"No, no. Hope, no." Peter interjected.
"Listen to me. We all know my time's up, okay? And if I have to go, I might as well go out fixing the mess I started." She said through gritted teeth as she tried not to splutter out a cough.
"Hope, this isn't you're fault." I told her semi-firmly but I wanted her to know that I was serious.
"I was so obsessed with bringing my mom back that I never considered what I might bring back with her. I started this, but you are gonna finish it." I was going to cut her off, tell her that she couldn't have known, but she wouldn't listen so I kept my mouth shut this time. I nodded lightly, trying to keep myself together... It was just getting harder and harder to do so though.
Hope enlarged herself bursting out of the train, picking us all up in her hands as she went. All the zombies growls and groans had been faded out into a low buzz in my ears. I gripped Hope's thumb, although she probably couldn't tell I had, before I leaned forwards and rested my forehead gently again it. I closed my eyes letting a small tear slide down my cheek.
I quickly sniffed and moved back, swiping away the tear as I went. I sunlight suddenly shone into my eyes making all sound come back to me in a burst. Hope then held out her hand flat and we all jumped off, well I lowered myself down while the others jumped. We all watched up at her giant form, I could tell she was struggling.
"Peter." She voice boomed out. "Smile. Smile for me, okay?" Her eyes crinkled in the corners indicating that she was smiling herself. Zombies had now clambered their way up to her head and quickly punched through the glass covering her eyes. The zombie that burst through screeched in her face before her eyes seemed to roll back and she fell back onto the ground. Hopefully crushing some of the hoard.
We all looked down somberly as the sun set behind us. It was sort of beautiful in a sense...
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