Chris POV
This was the most uncomfortable couch I'd ever laid on.
I rolled again, trying to find a comfy spot, but I couldnt, springs poking me from every angle.
This was fucking ridiculous.
I glanced about the dark hut.
Devin was asleep on the other cot, and the girl was still on hers, unmoving the entire time we'd been here, just whimpering and crying every few minutes. Candles were still lit, giving off a soft light that didn’t make the hut quite as awful as it could have been, though it smelled like must and animal droppings in here, and I was pretty sure there was a nest of something under this couch.
Kelsey stood by the window, taking the first watch, moonlight highlighting her features.
We were having to stay the night here, the hut basically surrounded by ambling deaders for the time being. I was immensely glad she'd come after us when she did, otherwise I doubt me and Devin could have made it out of that situation as unscathed as we had.
I sat up with a sigh, my hair falling around my shoulders. I couldnt sleep, there wasn’t much point in trying. I stood and made my way to where Kelsey leaned against the wall, and she gave me a tired smile.
"Can't sleep?" She whispered, and I shook my head, leaning beside the window and glancing out, only able to hear the water and crickets, the night peaceful and only interrupted by the occasional moan of the dead.
"That couch sucks."
She chuckled, nodding. "I know, it could be better. Hows your neck?"
"Fine."
She glanced up at me, then looked back out at the riverbank, a silence thriving between us.
I waited patiently, crossing my arms, knowing she was going to rip me a new one for not telling her about Kierans body disappearing, that there might be someone else in the area, leaving her behind this morning --- there was a list of things.
Instead, she just sighed, and turned to look up at me.
"Don’t run off without me again," she muttered, my eyes meeting hers. "You always get into trouble when you do."
I smiled slightly. "So you're not mad that I didn’t tell you about all the shit?"
Devin might have blurted out everything when Kelsey had pressed him earlier, so she was basically up to speed, especially about the fact that it could be the men from the highway.
"Of course I'm mad," she scoffed, glancing back out the window. "But... I get why you did it. Youre all manly and shit and wanted to protect the weak women, right? Not scare them into a panic."
"I just wanted to protect you," I muttered, shaking my head, and her eyes flicked up to my face. "I didn’t want you to have to worry about those guys anymore, yknow? You don’t need that after all that we'd just gone through."
She looked down at her hands, not saying anything, and I hesitated before reaching forward and tucking her hair behind her ear.
"You're not mad?"
"No," she rolled her eyes and finally turned to face me. "I'm not. Come here," she muttered, her hands clasping around my face and drawing it down to hers, her lips pressing eagerly against mine.
I sighed in relief, pulling her against me, parting her lips.
I could tell how worried she'd been about us, and she'd told us about Ryan locking the cabin down and refusing to let anyone out, which was exactly what he was supposed to do.
There was a lot more of them there that needed protecting then us.
But Kelsey would have kicked me if I had told her that.
She'd also told me about how when her and Kylie had gotten upstairs, Kelsey had merely crawled out her bedroom window, Kylie helping her down the roof and then off the back of the house, where she'd taken off into the woods to come find us.
The fact her and Kylie had teamed together for anything was kind of unbelievable, but when it came to Devin, Kylie was willing to do anything, I suppose.
I ended up staying up through her entire part of watch, and I doubted Devin was asleep, because midway through the night he got up and gave Kelsey his cot, saying it was his turn to keep watch.
Kelsey tugged on my hand, drawing me with her, and I knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep otherwise.
The hospital had ruined that for her.
I suspected there was more that had happened there then she was letting on, but she would tell me on her own time, and I really didn’t want to push her on it either. Kelsey didn’t do well when pushed.
I laid on my side, my back to the wall, and Kelsey curled her fingers against my shirt, nuzzling close to my chest despite how hot it was in the small hut, and after a little while she started to doze, my hand resting on her waist, her breathing slowing and becoming more even.
I didnt sleep any.
"This way," Kels whispered, and we crept low through the field with her in the lead, deaders milling about aimlessly, the ones who hadnt gone on with the rest of the horde when it had finished going through.
We were keeping low to the ground, or as low as we could get considering Devin was still carrying the girl, whose name I couldn’t remember whatsoever.
The field was high, so it hid us pretty well until we reached the main yard, which Balz had been pretty good at maintaining.
There was three deaders in front of the porch steps, and I knew me and Kelsey could take them easily. I glanced at her, and she nodded, and after a few seconds we both ran forward, smashing the deaders down. I whirled, taking care of the third one before it really had a chance to turn around.
Devin shot forward immediately onto the porch, and his hand wailed against the door, shouting for the guys to open up.
It was just now hitting mid-afternoon, and the sun was hot and boiling, merciless. we'd had to wait a couple hours to even get out of the small hut, and we'd been killing deaders the entire way through here.
We were almost as grimy as the girl now.
"Guys!" Devin bellowed, his fist slamming against the door, and I sent Kelsey a nervous look when the locks didnt immediately open.
She hesitated, then left me to deal with the deaders coming toward us, her feet just hitting the steps to unlock the door herself when the windows started to move, and I heard all the locks click.
"Come on!"
I turned, and kelseys hand closed over mine as we sprinted into the house, the screen door slamming behind us.
We all tumbled into the entryway, panting for breath, and Kylie appeared immediately, her eyes going to the girl Devin carried.
"What happened?" She demanded, her voice high with worry, and we all stepped into the livingroom.
Ricky had been the one to unlock the doors, and I could see Balz and Kuza halfway down the stairs, all of them looking worried and tired.
"We got stuck in the horde," Devin explained, shifting the unconscious girl in his arms; I wasn’t sure when she'd passed out, but I was definitely glad for it. "If it wasn’t for Kelsey coming when she did, we wouldn't have made it out, they had us surrounded on the bridge."
Kelsey glared at everyone in the room, and they all looked down guiltily.
"Is... is that Kera?" Kylie spoke after a moment, her eyes wide as she recognized her. "What happened to her?"
"I don’t know, but I need to get her cleaned up so I can look at her wounds. Can she borrow some clothes?"
"Of course, I'll be right back." Kylie disappeared up the stairs, and Devin started for the downstairs bathroom, disappearing inside.
I let my pack drop off my shoulders, rolling them, and my stomach rumbled painfully.
"There's some sausages from yesterday waiting for you guys," Ricky said. "You want me to heat them up?"
"Yeah, I'm starving."I yawned. "Just let me get cleaned up."
Kelsey had already disappeared up the stairs, and I followed, not even bothering to knock as I stepped inside.
At this point, I don't think she cared anyway.
I shut the door behind me, seeing she was just buttoning a new pair of shorts on, her dirty clothes discarded on the floor. I followed her example, pulling off my t shirt before moving toward my bags and scrounging for some new clothes that didnt smell like hut and dead people's rotting guts.
No one could imagine what that smelled like.
"Your back is looking a lot better," Kelsey said after a moment. "How does it feel?"
"Like I was rammed through a window a couple weeks ago," I grunted, unbuckling my jeans.
I heard her chuckle as she sat down on the edge of the bed, and I glanced back, seeing she was wrapping her hair up into a ponytail, an absent look on her face.
I let my jeans fall to the ground, feeling my face redden slightly.
Which was so fucking stupid, considering most of the guys walked around in the boxers all the time now, not giving a shit if Kylie or Kelsey saw them or not.
I don’t know why I felt a little embarrassed about it; for fucks sake I was a dude, I shouldn’t feel embarrassed about dropping my pants, and it wasn’t like I was--- jesus I needed to get a grip on myself.
Maybe it was just the lack of sleep.
I sighed, kicking them out of my way and then huffing into a different pair, quickly guiding my belt through them; they were getting too big again.
"I wish they wouldn’t splatter so much," Kelsey said, and I glanced back, seeing she was wearing a different tank top now, her other one on top of the growing amount of dirty clothes by the door. "It makes washing difficult."
"You're telling me. I'm running out of clothes," I started to pull another t shirt on, but paused, glancing down when I felt her cool hands on my waist; I hadn't heard her step over to me. She was staring at my chest, a troubled look on her face, and I hesitated, dropping my shirt on top of my bag.
"What is it?" I asked, and her face twisted as she thought.
"You... that could have been bad, Chris," she muttered, her eyes tracing my tattoos. "You could have gone out there and freaking died, and you were right here close to the house. What if I hadnt come along when I did? What if I hadnt made it there period? What if ---."
"Don’t worry yourself to death with the what ifs," I interrupted her, shaking my head. I wrapped my arms around her small frame and pulled her against me, picking a twig out of her hair. "That'll only make you unhappy. And besides, we made it out all right, didn’t we?"
"I guess," she mumbled, and I rolled my eyes. I leaned down to where my arms were around her waist, and then lifted her up, she gasping in surprise, arms locking around my neck.
I carried her over to the bed and tossed her down, and she sent me a really disgruntled look when she stopped bouncing. I chuckled, flopping down beside here, feeling exhausted.
I would rather sleep then do anything else right now.
Kelsey rose to her elbows, and her fingers trailed down my face before she leaned over, kissing me again.
She was always so hesitant.
"You don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want too," I murmured after a moment, feeling... sad, oddly enough.
"Why do you say that?" She looked surprised as she pulled back.
"I know you still love Chase, I'm not an idiot." I said after a moment, and she looked away. "And that I started this, technically. So if you don’t want to do anything with me, we can still be friends. i'll still stay up here with you," I let my thumb brush her cheek, tracing one of the scars beside her eye where the gravel had cut her skin. "I won't leave."
"I..." She bit her lip, staring at me. "I do love Chase, I can't help it. I've loved him for years. He was..."
"I know," I sighed, and raised into a sitting position. I pressed my lips against her forehead. "I don’t blame you for that."
"Do you... not care about Sabrina anymore?"
I frowned. "Not like that, not... anymore. That died a long time ago, before all of this started."
"So if she came back, you wouldn’t be with her?"
"Not like that, no," I shook my head, and Kelsey sighed, nuzzling against my neck, her nose cold as always.
If Chase came back, though, I knew she would run to him immediately.
"Chris?"
"Hmm?"
She was curling closer to me, but I was getting really sleepy now, the bed considerably more comfortable than what the couch in that hut had been.
"Stop telling me how I feel."
I chuckled, and felt her lips press against my neck, careful to avoid the scratches that the deader had left as she slowly made her way up my jaw, and I hesitated, feeling her fingers curl into my hair.
"Kels ---."
"Chase is dead," she muttered, her lips at my ear. "He's not coming back, and I'm not going... I'm not going to pine after him when I know he's gone forever, okay? Don’t assume that I will. I love him, but... but he's gone."
Her voice trembled at the end, and I sighed, abruptly curling her into my lap.
I was tired, and I was saying things I shouldnt, feeling oddly sentimental and very much not like myself.
I really needed to sleep.
"Guys! Your food is ready!" I heard Rickys voice call from downstairs, and I grimaced, shuffling.
"Come on, let's get something to eat before we ghost away," I mumbled, and after a second she shuffled out of my lap, looking unhappy. I stepped over to my clothes and pulled my shirt over my head, and then started down the stairs, hearing her follow me.
I didnt want to think.
I just wanted to eat and sleep.
Nothing else, nothing more.