Killian was gently coaxed awake by something nudging him repeatedly. It was a massive effort, but he managed to force his eyes open, despite the exhaustion that still weighed his muscles down. Killian couldn't help but feel a wave of disappointment when the grogginess of his mind began to clear. When he was asleep, he was safe. Maybe things in the outside world could hurt him while he was down, but he wouldn't feel it. "Can't you see my eyes are open? I'm awake!" Killian sat up and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. In between them shutting and closing, he caught sight of Jasper's boots heading towards the kitchen.
"Rise and shine, kid!" The man's voice echoed through the house with a cheeriness that made Killian's stomach churn unpleasantly. Could this man be any more annoying than he already was? Was that even possible? Killian's nose wrinkled and his lips tugged down into an unhappy snarl. Before he could find his voice and tell Jasper to shut up, the other man continued to speak. "We've got places to be, things to do, and monsters to kill."
"Monsters?" Killian prompted as a large yawn split in between his words, "Wha' monsters?"
Jasper returned to the living room and started packing his bag up for travel. He looked at Killian expectantly, and the younger man rolled his eyes, then started doing the same. Shaking the last bits of drowsiness off, Killian shimmied off of his blanket and started folding it up. "You know, the undead ones?" Jasper prompted, raising a brow. "What, have you been living under a rock for the past five months?"
"Right," Killian snapped. "Well, if we're gonna be traveling together--against my will--then we'll have to come up with a word for them."
Jasper began to fold his own blanket and neatly set it in his pack. Killian paused, then looked back at his own blanket that was hastily shoved into his bag with barely any room to spare. "Well, what do you call them?" Jasper asked as Killian let out a frustrated huff and dragged the blanket out again to try and fold it just as Jasper had done.
"I call them 'biters,'" Killian said bluntly. "You know, because they bite." He noticed Jasper watching him struggle to pack his things up, looking rather amused. Killian hated it. Especially when he noticed how quickly Jasper had been ready to set off. For a few moments he was baffled, until he remembered; Jasper had been in the military. He was trained to get up and move quickly. Killian especially hated the way Jasper was leaned forwards with his chin on one hand, watching Killian patiently.
"'Biters' it is then." Jasper said. Killian finally managed to fold his blanket just right, and slipped it into his pack. He took his old bandage and unceremoniously shoved it in his front jeans pocket. Setting his hunting knives back in their place, Killian slung his crossbow over his shoulder and then his pack to follow it. Jasper took two of the remaining cans of food to carry in his own bag and Killian took the last one. Opening the cap to the pain medicine, Killian forced himself to swallow one pill. It scratched his throat uncomfortably on the way down. Killian screwed the cap shut and then shoved the bottle into his bag.
"Alright," Jasper said. "Are we ready to go, then?" The man stood up, and Killian tried to follow suit. His wound hurt a bit less than the day before; he could walk okay at least, but the way he stood up was definitely not as dignified as he would have liked. He stumbled, and landed face-first into Jasper's muscular torso. "Whoa there kid, you alright?" Jasper's voice rumbled pleasantly in his chest. Killian hastily shoved himself away from Jasper.
"Of course I am!" Killian snarled, bristling at Jasper's inquiry. Embarrassment made his stomach feel nauseous. He made a visible effort to move away from Jasper as quickly as possible. "If anything, you were the one in the way." He added. Killian's words were as sharp as the knives he carried with him. He shot Jasper a cold glare; a warning for the other man to keep his distance.
Jasper nodded curtly, "Okay then." Without another word the man walked towards the back door, which was slightly off set from the kitchen. As Killian walked through, his eyes flickered towards every corner of the room. His nerves were completely on edge. Any corner could be hiding a biter. Especially the dark and shadowy ones.
Killian jumped as the groan of wooden furniture on hardwood tiles broke the tense silence. "Are you trying to bring the biters knocking on the door?" He hissed sharply. "Be quiet!"
Jasper's blue eyes flickered towards Killian for a few split seconds, "I didn't make the noise, the furniture did."
Killian's whole body tensed. Anger seethed beneath his skin, boiling in his chest. His fists clenched. How dare Jasper mock his concerns? Did the other man have any sort of sense? "Alright asshole, you're going to make me-!"
"Now look who's being the loud one." Jasper teased. Killian ground his teeth together, his muscles slowly coiling. When Jasper smiled, the other man's smug expression made him want to punch it right off. Instead, Killian punched Jasper hard in the chest, then winced. Jasper raised a brow, "Look man, you've got to have more momentum behind that if you want to hurt me." He said.
Killian's lips parted with disbelief. Jasper was telling Killian exactly how hard to punch him for it to actually hurt? The man definitely had something not right going on; a few screws loose in his brain. Jasper pulled open the sliding glass door to the back porch and walked out. His heavy boots made a pleasant thumping sound on the wooden slats as he descended the stairs. Killian saw no tense muscle in the other man's body. How was Jasper completely relaxed? Was he not scared? That was until he remembered Jasper's statement the previous night. 'If being brave makes me stupid, then I'll take the title gladly,' or something along those lines. The man was an idiot.
Killian began to walk towards the back gate to leave, but Jasper was walking in the complete opposite direction. What exactly was this idiot thinking now? Killian was completely and utterly on edge, his eyes wildly flickering to and fro to scan the yard. He was especially suspicious about the possibility of a biter hiding in the hedges. Killian jumped again as an ear-splitting crack reverberated through the air and echoed off the sides of the neighboring houses. He whipped around to see that Jasper had kicked in the old wooden door of a tool shed. "What are you thinking?!" Killian demanded, stalking across the yard towards Jasper.
The other man let out a soft sigh of annoyance when Killian stormed up behind him. But to Killian's surprise, Jasper didn't seem annoyed with him. He seemed more annoyed with the fact that all of the tools in the shed were gone. "What were you thinking?" Killian demanded again with a hiss, "Are you trying to get us killed? Every biter in the neighborhood is probably-" Killian broke his words off as soon as he heard a loud snarl from behind him. A new biter was...not walking. It was sprinting! He shoved Jasper in front of him. "This is your fault, you take care of it!"
Jasper had grabbed a crowbar from the tool shed, which was the only thing he'd found left inside it. As soon as the biter got close enough, he swung it hard into the side of its head, caving in its skull. The creature flew off to the side and slammed into the wooden fence surrounding the back yard. Despite having caved in its skull and the gore covering the metal of the crowbar, the biter snapped its teeth at him and nibbled on his boot. "Oh, ew." Jasper said. "That's just vile." And promptly smashed its face in with the gory part of the crowbar. He looked down at Killian, who emerged from the shadows of the tool shed and gave the biter a swift kick to the chin just for good measure.
On the outside, Killian's demeanor was cold and detached. But on the inside, he was shaking. His heart pounded against his chest so hard he wondered if Jasper could hear it. Adrenaline rushed through his body, and an unpleasant shudder ran down his spine. "I've seen them move fast before," He said quietly, "But never that fast."
Jasper glanced down at Killian again, his blue eyes suddenly far-off. "I have," He muttered quietly. When he spoke in a quieter tone, Killian could hear the real depth in the other man's voice. It was strong and deep, like thunder in the distance of a rain storm. "When they first attacked the city, the newest turned biters could sprint faster than a trained soldier. Some men were taken out. They could even jump. Anderson, one of the other soldiers with us, was tackled off of the roof of a car." Jasper shuddered. "I used a bullet so I didn't have to hear his screams when he was torn apart."
Killian's whole body went rigid and his stomach dropped. How could Jasper speak so calmly about something as terrible as that? He didn't know how he managed to keep his voice steady but he said, "If this one is so newly turned that it can run like you said, then that means there's a group of biters big enough to take him down." Killian tilted his head to the side and walked around the body, "From the looks of things, he's a pretty big guy. It'd take a lot of them to bring him down."
"Not necessarily," Jasper said. "But we should still be more careful." The two stared at the body for a while longer, and Jasper was the first to break the silence. "We should get moving." He said sternly. This time, Killian didn't argue with him.