"Hi!" The little girl yells, waving her hand at the frozen strangers at their door. She has blonde pigtails and little freckles on her face. She looks maybe 4 or 5.
The big man immediately reaches for her arm and pulls her behind him. "Ouch daddy, that hurt my arm!" She yelps from behind him.
"Please, don't hurt us I beg of you. Please don't hurt her," his shaky voice let's out as he stares at Louis. His eyes full of fear.
"We're so sorry mate, we wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your little girl. We were just looking through the rooms, searching for anything we could use," Harry calmly explains.
"Oh," the man replies. Harry reaches his hand out, Louis protectively staring at his hand as he goes to shake the bigger mans hand.
"My name's Harry, this is Niall, Zayn and Louis," he points out with his other hand.
"Liam. And this is Sophia."
Sophia jumps from behind him and gives the boys a wide grin.
"Come see my toys!" She grabs the blonde lads hand, his face instantly turns pink and he smiles, almost dragging him and leads him inside the house.
"Um, please, come in." He scratches the back of his neck and chuckles a bit, watching Niall get dragged by Sophia.
The boys enter and are met with a small flat. Sofa, tv, a small bedroom to the left and a kitchen to the right. Liam closes the door behind them while the boys take a look around.
"Please, make yourselves at home." Liam offers, directing them to the sofa.
Zayn sits, Harry next to him, and Louis, still standing, moves so that he's close to Harry.
"And this one's my favorite.." Sophia's giggles can be heard all throughout the house. Niall laughing too, good thing she's bringing his spirit up.
"So, how'd you guys end up here?" Liam ask, curiosity taking over.
"We came from an old building down the road. It got overrun and we had to leave.. one of our friends.. um.. didn't make it," voice going lower as he speaks of the fallen lad.
"I'm so sorry for your loss. I've lost a few people too. My family, friends... The mother to my daughter... All because of stupid mistakes in this horrible world." His head is now in his hands, elbows on his legs. He seems broken, as if at any point he's gonna lose it.
He lifts his face, now looking at each boy and giving a small grin, "But I keep going. Not for myself, but for her. She shouldn't have to deal with this." As soon as he says that, Sophia comes running into the living room, toys in hand. Niall follows behind, his hands also filled with toys.
"Come play! Come play!" She chants excitedly, giving each boy a stuffed animal. She hands Zayn a Lion, Harry a frog, Louis a hedgehog, and Niall a bird. The boys, a bit shocked, smile.
She then turns to her father and goes to hand him his but notices the tears forming in his eyes. "Don't cry daddy, I didn't forget you." She hands him a dragon and makes a fire-breathing noise. He accepts the dragon, a huge grin forming on his face as he goes to hug the little girl.
"You're the best Sophie!" He yells as he lifts her into the air. She giggles histerically as he gives her raspberries on her belly. He puts her down and looks at the lads.
"How about we get you lads some new clothes?"
The rest of the day was spent looking through Liams clothes. All the boys had decent pants and shirts, the only problem was the size difference between Louis and Liam. He tried giving the smaller lad all the clothes that fit him tight. They all managed to fit him baggy, a frown permanently marked on his face while Harry chuckled under his breath, hoping Louis didn't hear him.
The little girl had grown on the Irish lad, they played with her toys all day and ended up falling asleep, Sophia in his arms. Liam smiles and places a blanket over them. He walks back into the living room. Zayns already put a blanket and pillow at the corner of the room and Harry and Louis took the other corner.
"Thank you so much Liam." Harry whispers, not trying to wake Louis or Zayn.
"My pleasure, are you sure you'll be okay on the floor? You can have the couch." He ask, worry in his tone.
"It's fine, your flat, your couch," he jokes.
"Okay, good night Harry."
"Good night Liam."
Liam lays on the couch, head on the pillow and faced towards it.
Harry moves his body back to facing Louis. He lays his head on the pillow and stares at the older lad. He looks so soft and precious when he's asleep. He goes to rub Louis face but as soon as contact was made, Louis flinched.
He wasn't awake but his body still reacted. Harry grabbed the blanket from behind him and put it over Louis, pulling him close to his body. The contact was warm, Harry finally felt safe.
Hmm.. let's change that...
••••
"Wake up! Wake up please!" Sophia yells, jumping on Louis, waking him up and making him laugh.
"What's this little monster doing waking me up?" He ask, mischief in his voice. He picks the girl up and makes her fly through the air. She giggles and sighs when shes put down. Instantly laughing again once she starts feeling fingers tickling her sides. Harry's up too and making the girl laugh.
"Hmm what should we do with this little monster Louis!" He ask, placing a hand on his chin. The little girl begins laughing and attempts to run off. Only to be stopped by Louis.
"Let's take her to the dungeon!" He yells, picking her up again. She yells excitedly.
"Return my princess or no food for you peasants!" Liam shouts from the kitchen.
Louis pouts, placing her on the floor. "Next time," he whispers to Harry loud enough for Sophia to hear and run off laughing.
The two lads walk over to the kitchen, noticing the sandwiches Liams made.
"Morning you two, slept well?" Liam ask, turning to face them and the placing his attention back on the bread.
"Wonderful as can be when you sleep on a floor," Louis sarcastically says, reaching over for a sandwich, only to be hit on the hand by Liam. Liam gives him a stern, jokingly look and then continues.
Niall then walks in, rubbing his eyes he leans on the counter. "Morning everyone," he greets.
"Morning," they reply to the sleepy lad.
"Wheres Zayn?" Niall ask.
Louis and Harry both look around, freezing once they notice he's no where in sight.
"He wanted to check out the other rooms in the building to see if there was anything useful," Liam replies.
Relief flows through the two and they let out a breath.
Liam passes out sandwiches to the three starving lads and heads into Sophia's room, catching her and bringing her to the table to eat.
Zayn walks in with bags full of things, he moves to the living room, placing one on the table and another on the floor. He grins at the boys and opens the one on the table. A few guns and an odd weapon at the bottom. He pulls it out, "and this beautiful crossbow I found under someone's bed".
Sophia goes to look at the bag but Zayn pulls it up so she doesn't see the guns.
"New toys!" She yells.
"These are grown-up toys darling, you can't play with these till your older," Zayn explains to her, bending down on one knee, saving Liam an explanation to her. Zayn looks to Liam and he gives him a thankful nod.
The next bag contained clothes. Zayn throws Louis an outfit, "thought this might fit you better lad." He laughs, everyone joining in and Louis cheeks turning red of embarrassment, but of course, he goes to the bathroom to change.
He's now wearing black, tight fitting jeans, a sheer black shirt, and a black Jacket with a white strip.
He walks out, Harry immediately looking him from top to bottom. Nice, he thinks to himself.
All of the boys are sat at the couch, looking through the weapons.
"Do you guys know of any place better than this flat? It's not safe having Sophia here for long." You can hear the desperation in Liams voice.
"What about the coast Louis?" Niall turns to him.
"I mean I was headed there at first but I don't know now, we need a place that those walkers can't reach." He replies, pulling out his map from his back pocket and setting it on the floor in front of them.
They look at the map, forest, cities..
"What about the farm here?" Harry points out. The boys look to where he's pointing and think.
It's a good place for Sophie, Liam thinks.
We could grow our own food, Harry thinks.
There's a lot of space for footie, Louis thinks.
It's very isolated and away from walkers, Zayn thinks.
"Where's Sophie?" Niall ask, worry in his voice.
She's nowhere to be found.