Chapter Twelve
Wade
I wrap my arm around Briggs’ waist, letting him lean on me as we walk out of the house we’ve been staying in.
We step down the porch and cross the street.
It feels so wildly domestic, so ridiculously ‘normal’.
I feel like we’ve been transported into a time before zombies took over, where Briggs and I are simply visiting our neighbors instead of embarking on a sit down that will determine what happens next.
“You seem tense.”
Briggs lets out a breath. “Well, yeah. I feel like I’m on my way to the gallows or something. Who knows what they’re gonna say or ask of us.” We step up from the street and head towards the house where Lawrence and Devin live. “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“I understand,” I say softly. “This is going to be a lot, coming from me, but I tentatively trust them.”
“Are you sure I didn’t get you sick? Let me feel your face and check if you have a fever, Wade.”
I can’t help but snort, allowing Briggs to touch my face. Of course I’m not sick. I don’t think I’ve ever been sick my entire life.
“Happy?”
“I guess,” Briggs says, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to think but I know we can’t put this off any longer. I’m finally feeling better and if we need to get the hell out of here, I’d rather do it now before all the snow melts and the zombies unthaw.”
“Agreed,” I tell him, stepping up to the front door of the house. I give a soft knock. It doesn’t take long before Lawrence is opening the door, allowing us inside.
Briggs and I take off our shoes before following Lawrence deeper into the house. There’s a table set up in the kitchen area, two seats pushed together on one side, two available for Briggs and I on the other. We sit in our place across from Devin.
This feels like when I was in high school and had to have a sitdown with my teacher because the kid sitting next to me was caught cheating and the teacher wanted me to give a ‘statement’ on the situation since I sat right next to him.
I feel like I’m about to be yelled at or interrogated. Well, in a way, I guess I kinda am.
Lawrence passes out glasses of water to everyone before sitting down across from me. He gives Briggs a soft smile.
“It’s really good to see you awake.”
“Thanks,” Briggs says back, rubbing a hand over his face.
His voice is still a bit raspy, his throat still healing.
“It’s good to be awake again. I just want to start off by saying how thankful I am that you were there to help us.
Thank you for sharing your supplies with us.
You didn’t have to do that but I really appreciate it. ”
Devin crosses his arms over his chest. He doesn’t say anything, instead looking over at Lawrence.
“I’m glad we could help,” Lawrence says softly. I pick up my glass of water, drinking deeply. This all feels remarkably normal. We’re sitting at a table, drinking water from a glass, talking to people who don’t seem like blood-thirsty people out for their own gain.
“What’s your story?” Devin suddenly asks, his eyes boring into us.
“What do you mean?”
“How’d you make it this far? I want to hear about it. You tell us, and then we’ll share with you. Once that’s all out in the open, we can decide what should happen from here.”
I look over at Briggs who nods his head. It sounds fair enough to me.
I open my mouth to start but the sound of a hiss comes from behind me. A cat walks into the kitchen, staring at me with distrust. Being a werewolf, I’ve gotten used to felines not liking me but they usually soften when they realize I’m not a threat.
“Your Majesty,” Devin says softly, patting his thigh. “Come here.”
The cat walks over to him, leaping into his lap. Her eyes sit just above the table, watching me warily.
Clearing my throat, I start. “When everything started, I found myself in a camp. One of those places that promised refuge during all of this. The military was there and as you can imagine, things didn’t go as planned.
Someone with a bite snuck in and then all hell broke loose.
I managed to run away only to find myself in a new camp, one run by bandits.
They found out I was a werewolf and they caged me, made me fight zombies for entertainment. I was captive.”
I feel a hand touch my thigh and look over at Briggs, giving him a soft look.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Devin says and there’s a new look to him. His shoulders are more relaxed, his eyes just a tiny bit softer. “I was part of a group like that. Helped people but at a very steep cost. Disgusting.”
“Yeah,” I say in agreement. “That’s how I met Briggs.”
Lawrence perks up at that. “How so?”
“Briggs found our camp. At first I assumed he was just another asshole but he set fire to the camp and then broke me free. We’ve been surviving together ever since.”
“What about you, Briggs?”
Briggs swallows thickly and I can hear the way his throat clicks.
“It was me and my brother at the beginning,” he starts to say, touching the dogtags he wears around his throat.
“I lost him to a zombie while he was protecting me. I decided right then and there that I would use this new chance at life to help other survivors as much as I could. I was on my own for a long time before I found Wade.”
“I was alone too,” Devin says, my eyes darting over to him. “I was in a town not far from here when I ran into one of those damn zombie werewolves. The thing almost ended me but Lawrence was there to save me.”
“What about you, Lawrence?”
Lawrence suddenly looks sheepish. “My story is far less interesting. I was turned into a vampire before all this started. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once shit really hit the fan, everyone here had already left so it was just me. I put up the gates and kept to myself, only interacting when I ran into people while scavenging or foraging. Compared to you guys, my life has been way easier,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “The worst I faced was the loneliness.”
“That’s hard too,” Briggs says with a frown. “Just because your pain wasn’t the same as ours doesn’t mean it wasn’t there.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Devin looks at me. “You being a werewolf gonna be a problem?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I can help with hunting and I can run fast enough to scavenge towns far from here.
And you don’t have to worry about me becoming one of those things,” I say, pulling my sleeve up, showing them my bite marks.
Lawrence gasps while Devin’s body goes rigid.
“When I was captured and forced to fight those zombies, I didn’t always come out on top.
No matter how many times I let them bite me, I never turned. ”
“Remarkable,” Lawrence says softly.
“I don’t know how to feel about that,” Devin confesses, his eyes glued to my arm. “You’re immune. Does that mean if someone drank your blood, they’d be immune too?”
“I have no idea,” I say with a shrug. “I don’t think my blood has the answer to humanity but even if it did, it’s not like there’s a government or health department to help make use of it anyway.”
“I’m already immune,” Lawrence says to Devin. “Vampire trumps undead.”
“Right,” Devin says, looking over at Lawrence. “Which is another reason you should turn me.”
“Don’t ask me in front of our guests,” Lawrence says back.
Briggs looks over at me, raising his brow in my direction.
I can’t believe we’ve found ourselves in the middle of a lover’s spat.
It’s comical. We’re in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and somehow, we’re listening to a couple argue over whether or not one of them should turn the other into a vampire.
I can’t help but chuckle, the noise breaking out against my permission. Devin and Lawrence freeze, turning to look at me. I cover my face with my hands.
“I’m so sorry! I’m not laughing at you, I’m really not,” I say between wheezed air. “This just feels so incredibly normal after the last few years. It’s like we’re on a double date instead of discussing if we’re going to team up during the end of the world. It’s obscene!”
There’s a moment of stillness before Lawrence starts laughing, followed quickly by Briggs and then finally Devin.
We all laugh and laugh and laugh at how ridiculous the situation is until there are tears in my eyes.
Briggs’ hand stays steady on my thigh, holding on, filling my entire body with warmth.
Finally, the giggles die down. We all look at each other, waiting for confirmation or denial.
“Trust is something earned with time,” Lawrence finally says, “but I’m willing to take a chance on you guys. I know we’ll all be uneasy at first, especially as we’re so used to doing this whole thing on our own, but I vote that you can stay.”
Devin nods his head. “Yeah, I vote that you can stay too.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. My shoulders unclench. The hand on my thigh squeezes and I look over at Briggs, finding him smiling at me.
Lawrence shows us the backyard where the well is located. He shows us his pasture with milk cows and his coop filled with chickens. He guides us over to his beehive and then gestures towards his garden.
“Once the ground thaws, we’ll start working on a well for your plot over there and we can get a second garden going.
You and I can also start making supply runs just the two of us since we’re both so fast. We’ll be there and back in no time without these slow pokes,” he says, gesturing at Devin and Briggs.
My chest feels ready to burst. We’re already discussing plans for when the snow melts. I could see Briggs and I staying here for the long haul, making a life together, here with Lawrence and Devin. Surviving doesn’t have to be so lonely anymore.
Briggs lets out a big yawn beside me and I turn towards him, only just noticing how exhausted he looks. He’s still recovering from everything that’s happened.
“I think we should turn in so that Briggs can rest some more.”
Lawrence nods his head. “That’s a good plan. Our schedules are opposite of each other right now. I can only leave the house at night,” Lawrence explains.
“Right. I don’t know how we’ll adjust to that but maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle,” I tell him with a small, barely there smile.
“It might be nice to have people awake all around the clock, just in case of emergencies,” Devin says with a shrug.
“It’ll be nice to be able to sleep knowing someone else has our backs,” Briggs adds before yawning again.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” I say softly, turning Briggs back towards the street. “Thank you again. For everything.”
“Don’t mention it,” Lawrence says, giving us a little wave as we go.
Briggs and I make our way into the house we’re staying in. It’s hard to wrap my head around all of this. I still feel hypervigilant, like this is all going to come crashing down at any moment. I’m waiting for the inevitable to happen.
“This feels too good to be true,” I murmur as we make our way back into the bedroom. I toss a log into the fireplace and close the door, wanting this room to stay nice and warm.
“I know what you mean,” Briggs says softly, getting into bed. “But for right now, I have to believe this is the real deal. Maybe we finally caught a lucky break.”
“You keep being our voice of hope, I’ll keep being our pessimist.”
Briggs smiles, the sight doing funny things to my insides. I crawl into bed with him, turning on my side so I can face him. His hand comes up, cupping my cheek.
“Hey,” he says softly before moving closer and kissing me. I sink into the kiss, allowing it to wash over me, sweeping me away in warmth that has nothing to do with the fire in the fireplace.
Briggs pushes his tongue into my mouth and I scoot even closer, wanting to feel his body pressed against mine. It takes all of my self-control not to roll over and pin him to the bed, to rut against him until we’re both coming in our boxers.
“Briggs,” I gasp out against his lips, pulling back enough to properly look at his face which is flickering golden hues from the fire.
“Yeah?” Briggs asks, breathlessly.
“We should stop. You’re tired.”
“Not too tired for this. Not too tired for you.”
I can’t help but smile, my insides feeling like molten lava. I am so thoroughly in love with this man it drives me wild. I feel so goddamn lucky that he’s the one who found me, he’s the one who saved me. I can’t imagine dealing with all of this with anyone other than him.
“Sleep now. I promise you can have as much of me as you want when we wake up.”
“You promise? What if I want you to fuck me? Actually, properly fucked.”
I suck in a sharp breath, my cock throbbing in my boxers with how desperately I want that, how desperately I want him.
“We can arrange that,” I say, just barely above a whisper.
“I’ll hold you to that,” he says, his words cut off by another big yawn that makes us both laugh. I hold open my arms and Briggs tucks himself against my chest, holding onto me tight. “I love you, Wade.”
I kiss the top of his head. “I love you too,” I murmur before finally falling asleep, holding the man I love, and feeling safe.