They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 14

By the time they'd reached the end of the town it was starting to get dark and each of them was beginning to feel the effects of not sleeping well for several nights. Jason pushed forwards, leading them down the road and between the trees of the forest but his eyelids slunk down every now and then and threatened to stay close. Cassie dragged her foot, sometimes hallucinating that her foot would carry itself with little legs that it'd sprout from underneath. Tate focused on the horizon, squinting at it with all of his willpower to keep from falling asleep. They walked for a while and to Cassie it was hours but Tate believed it to have been minutes. Soon they came upon a great white building that looked sort of like a multi-storey parking lot, only it was in the middle of a forest and not many people would need to park out there. Jason veered towards it, questioning whether it would have any safe spots to bed down for the night. He grabbed ahold of one of two double doors and pulled it open. What ran at him from inside made the adrenalin in his veins spike and suddenly he was awake. A joyous snapped just inches from his face, held back by a chain and he swallowed hard, trying to breath calmly as it spat bloody saliva at him through its twisted smile. He stared straight into its eyes, defiantly keeping his ground as its yellow pupils swirled. Cassie appeared behind him with a flashlight that she had turned on to see in the dark and Jason watched as a sea of eyes lit up behind the joyous emerging from the door, the one at the front screamed and a chorus of screeches echoed back in response. "Yep, i found the joyous." Jason whispered, stepping back slowly then grabbing he door and slamming it into the face of the monster. He threw his shoulder against it and pushed until it closed all the way and trapped the joyous back inside. "Holy hell, what was that?" Cassie asked, not moving her flashlight from the door.
"That was a guard dog." Jason explained, turning back to find Tate frozen to his place a little behind them. His eyes drifted up to a light on the second floor and Jason pulled a face that Cassie didn't like. "What does that mean?" She asked, gulping back her fear.
"It means...we've got to find another way in." Jason replied, staring at Tate.

"No man, i cant do it." Tate argued as he shuffled along the branch of a nearby tree, Jason followed close behind, shuffling after him, "Why can't you go?" He pleaded, as he inched closer then got to his feet. A gust of wind blew and he wobbled, trying to keep upright as Jason got to his feet too and Cassie watched from below. "Because I've got to make sure you don't fall." Jason replied, giving Tate a small nudge forwards. "Aw man..." Tate grumbled, arms out to the side as Jason gripped the tree trunk and stabled himself. They stood for a second to compose themselves and before he could do anything Tate had kept forwards and broken through a glass window. There was more silence that followed and a thousand questions rushed through Jason's brain until Tate's face popped back up in the window. He. Had minimal injuries, a few scrapes and cut in various places but aside from that he was fine. Jason tossed over a branch he'd pulled from and Tate used it to clear the left over glass form the window as Cassie climbed the tree trunk. Jason helped her across the branch and Tate leaned out of the window to grab her hand and pull her in as she jumped. She made easily and Jason followed suit, barrelling through the window and landing gracefully on the carpet inside. "Come on." He mumbled, looking round at the room of glowing blue computers then crouching and stealthily making his way further into the room.

They explored the building, making sure not to go down a layer and accidentally end up in the pit of joyous. On the layer they'd broken into there seemed to just be an abundance of computers that were on but no one was working at them. Tate was the one to find the steps that led to the next layer up and they took them, climbing to what seemed like a medical ward and at the back was a walled away section with showers, they had curtains to draw across the front of them and when Cassie attempted to turn them on, they ran warm and clear. The building seemed to be a lot deeper in width than they'd originally thought too, holding store rooms and labs behind the shower block. There was a room on the third layer beneath the stairs to the fourth with four beds inside; they were bunk beds and were made with white sheets and blue hospital blankets that had been folded over the top. Tate immediately took to the room, selecting the top bunk of the right hand beds and climbing in immediately. He abandoned his makeshift bag by his feet then settled in for the night. Cassie took the lower bunk on the left and Jason found himself opposite her on the lower right. Trying to maximise the small space Cassie tucked her bag at the far corn er of the bed by the wall and sat down, soon getting back to her feet. Jason watched it all from his bunk where he'd sat and laid back against the wall with his bag propped against the bed on the floor. He closed his eyes for a few second and dozed off quietly.

He was woken suddenly when someone tapped his arm lightly. "Jason?" She asked and he blinked through the darkness at her, Tate snored loudly in the distance, "Would you come and stand guard whilst i have a shower, i don't feel safe going alone." He nodded, getting to his feet then shuffling along to where he knew the door was and pulling it open for her. She slunk out and he followed, the light burning into his eyes as he emerged into it. They walked in silence down to the showers and as Cassie picked out which shower she wanted he found her a towel in a storage closet. She smiled at him warmly snd thanked him before crossing into a cubical and staring at him. He turned his back to be polite and watched the wall in front of him. "I'm not gonna close the curtain, ok?" She asked and he could hear her undressing, the clicks of the clips on her trouser legs, the gentle hush of her fabric shirt being removed then the rip of the tape around her wound, "I want to be able to see you so i know you're standing guard." The water went on and he looked down at his hands, examining the dirt beneath his fingernails and the harsh callouses that had grown over the time he'd been in the apocalypse. Something thudded behind him and he tried to imagine what it could be. He started to turn his head slowly but she spoke back to him. "No peeking." He didn't need to peek, his brain was doing it for him, conjuring up images of her stood under the soft water, scrubbing seductively with the soap. He tried to clear his mind, clearing his throat in case it was somehow related, shifting his feet and then the water went off, the towel swooped as she wrapped it around her. "Do, um, do you need anything?" Jason asked, listening as she dug back through her clothes.
"Nope." She chimed back and he hears her tear open a packet of gauze, "Got it myself." He waited patiently for her to give him the signal to turn back around but it was taking a while. His mind wandered again to what she was doing, perhaps slipping into her bra or- He felt like slapping himself, his cheeks went red and he brought a hand up to rub his eyes. He was being tortured having to stand and listen but how could she know. Her hand touched his shoulder and he turned back to find her right in front of him. She was so close that he could feel her breaths going in and out, his eyes moved to her hair, darker when wet and slicked back then as his eyes travelled down he realised she was only wearing a thin shirt and her trousers. His heart skipped and he exhaled slowly as his eyes found her jumper and her socks and shoes. He brushed past her, fetching the jumper and tugging it around her shoulders. "You need to keep wrapped up otherwise..." he trailed off, those eyes, looking into his soul, he was closer now, he could feel it, pulling the jacket over her was a mistake. He leaned down hearing his heartbeat in his ears and bent over her, closing the gap himself as she seemed to wait for him to do. Their lips touched and he felt a fire burning within him, he kissed her harder and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They tumbled backwards, Cassie hitting the wall and Jason leaning into her grasp. He kissed her like it was the last time ever and the first time after he'd been longing to for so long. She pulled him closer, kissing him violently and feverishly. Deep down this is what he wanted, Cassie, her affection and lust but it felt wrong, forced. He pulled away from her, reaching up and slowly unhooking her hands from his neck. "Cassie...." He started but she came for him again, arms out, face desperate. He caught her by her forearms and stared into her grey eyes, they were hurting and sad, not the way he ever wanted her to be with him, "Not like this." He whispered as her expression fell into despair. She hitched in breaths like she was going to start crying and pleaded with his with her eyes, "Please..." she whispered and Jason shook his head, throwing her arms away from him and turning back to grab the rest of her things from the shower cubicle. She stood there whilst he did, wanting to cry her eyes out or scream or something but it never came, instead she stood with the pain wiling Jason to understand. Jason bent over her things, his eye catching the bloody gauze that she'd discarded beside her clothes. He turned back to her with a handful of her shoes and socks and thrust them into her hands. "Now go to bed." He instructed, heading back towards the bunk room, she followed solemnly with her head hung forwards.