The End of Days

[15]

Sam held his stone features as the-..as Liam left. It was only when he was out of the room that Sam allowed himself to relax and he came undone immeditly after. He'd gone too far, even he could see that.

Shit, the look on Liam's face. Like he couldn't believe something that fucked up would come from Sam's mouth. That hurt, man. Whatever he thought of Liam now, he hated he made him feel that.

"Dude."

His gaze rose from where his face was shoved in his hands. His blood pressure shot up at the sight of Cam standing there with the food, the most disappointed fuckin' look on his face. "I..really?"

Sam forced his eyes away, jaw threatening to break. "Ain't got nothin' to do with you, don't worry 'bout it."

"He's family. You don't talk to family like that, man."

He set the bowl of warm food down on the table next to Sam; not gently, before making to eat somewhere else. He wasn't even mad, either. Sam really wished he was because the guilt was driving him up a wall.

Sam watched the rest of the night, trying not to intrude. He wondered if their group would be okay. He was freaking out over Liam, about whatever was going on with..but the boys were right, they were stuck together. Sam more than anyone believed; at least when it came to those two, family always came first.

***

"What the hell, man?! You let us go!"

The bullet silenced his shouting, body slumping next to his friends corpses that were busy bleedin' out onto the pavement. Night had fallen so he didn't have time to drag the bodies off, he'd already spent way longer then he should've tracking them down.

The biters were sure to come out of the woodwork quicker at that hour so he patted them down quick, finding anything worth keeping before hopping back in the van and settin' off for Chang's.

"Is it done?" The old lady asked, brow raised as she shuffled on her slippers. Woman had balls of steel surviving the apocalypse with nothin' but slipons and a shot gun.

"Don't know what your talkin' bout." He said, eying her anyway. She got the message well enough, not nearly as concerned as other people he knew might be. If anything, she looked relieved.

"Was the right call Sam. One your friend could not make." She spared a glance over her magazine, recognizing the look on his face. "You protected them, be proud."

Sam didn't stick around much longer after that, not cause he didn't want to exactly but Chang was adamant she get her alone time. The outbreak was probably the best thing that'd ever happened to her cause she seemed to be thriving without any crappy humans around with their shit.

On the walk back, Sam wasn't too concerned about the dead ones. He put a few out easily enough and stuck to the route he knew to be quickest and most efficient. It wasn't night that scared him. He eyed the blood under his nails which wouldn't come out earlier at Chang's when he tried to clean away the evidence. All he could think about was what Liam would say.

He didn't want to kill, ever. Sam never understood why that was, maybe it was his cop dad or Doc mom, maybe he was just that good a person. Maybe he knew what a slippery slope it was. It wasn't something you could come just come back from.

What scared him was what Liam would think of him. 'I won't be like that', that's what he'd said. A killer, a monster maybe. That's what he refused to be.

Although it wasn't the first time he'd done it, Sam didn't have to think twice about it. The unknowns were too big a risk, the men could come back and have their way. Maybe their group wouldn't be around when it happened and Chang would pay the price.