No Tomorrow

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*

Belle's POV:

"That's the last of it? Are you sure that we have to go out there?"

Jay had pooled all of our remaining resources onto his bed the night before but he merely nodded before he pulled a bulletproof vest across his chest, we were getting ready to go outside for the first time since the start of the outbreak and the mere thought of that terrified me. We watched all the news reports until the tvs seemingly stopped working a few days ago and it had been pretty bad, murders and thefts left and right and worse...rapes, abductions, and everything else in between.

"We have enough to last maybe three days at the most.....even with your bird's appetite. Besides, I don't wanna break into the MRE stash that we have unless we really need to....this should make things a little easier I think. Put this on."

He tried to push another piece of armored clothing at me but I just pushed it away and crossed my arms over my chest, in a few moments Jenner would push a button to unlock the doors to the outside from down in the main control room but after it would be locked for a few hours again, there were still people left with us but Jay wouldn't let me stay behind on my own.

"No. Let's be honest with eachother, if something out there wants me dead, a little piece of armor won't stop them from doing it."

He frowned, but put it down and handed me a loaded gun that felt heavy before he looped an arm around my shoulders and walked me over to the main doors.

"Remember what I taught you then? Keep the safety on unless you want to fire it, ready?"

I weighed the gun from hand to hand and rolled my shoulders around a few times before answering him.

"Not at all, let's go."

Jay put himself ahead of me before he shoved the heavy main doors open with a grunt and the both of us walked out into the heat of it all.

*

Jay's POV:

"....you really love her, don't you?"

I stopped my singing when I saw Daryl come into view with his crossbow lowered and cursed silently under my breathe when he stayed far away from me.

"I thought I made that obvious to you before you proposed to her a few years ago, but yes. I don't know if what I did to the both of us made me this way...or if it's just because I'm stupid...but I don't think I can just let her go. I've tried."

Belle twitched and jerked with a whimper and I cradled her closer to my chest on impulse.

"But that's my problem isn't it? She chose you way back before you came to the CDC and I'll just have to deal with it unless she wants something otherwise. I've known her for over 15 years and I tried showing her everything in my power that I loved her, and not a damn bit worked. I get that she wasn't meant for me but I just have the one thing to ask you."

I looked up and cleared my throat and he just remained standing there with one of his eyebrows lifted, I shifted most of Belle's weight to my right arm and used the other to brush some of her hair back away from her face.

"What?"

"You're human- and your needs might change one day and differ from hers-"

He opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off with a glare.

"Don't, I have a point with this and I'm trying to be as nice as I can be- when your wants change, just let her come back to me and leave her alone, alright?"

He just nodded before he jerked a thumb over his shoulder and kicked at the ground without meeting my eyes.

"A...preacher was the one making all of that noise...and he offered to let us stay with him in his church so...Rick wants everyone to meet up together.....we have to help him get some food from in town so everyone can have something to eat.."

He made an awkward cradle with his arms when I got up to my feet and I just stared at it in disbelief, either this man was just overtly stubborn or really fucking stupid. I couldn't tell which.

"Come on, he said it's not that far away. Let me carry her."

"Your back's funeral, pal."

I gently slipped Belle into his arms and he winced when our bare skin touched, he grunted a little bit under her weight and I kept my arms out just in case; he tucked her head close in over his heart and kept a firm grip under the bend of her knees just like I'd done.

"....carrying her like this didn't bother you?"

I chuckled and lowered my arms.

"No, not really- you'd be surprised at the amount of shit our bodies can handle. Now, we should probably go find the others and see what's up before you drop her and I have to beat your ass."

*

Belle's POV:

"No, don't!"

I had already rounded a corner to chase after a bullet I carelessly dropped when I saw them, there was easily five dozen of the things rumbling around and I felt my heart drop into my stomach from my chest.

Shit...shit...shit..shit!

I turned back around to try and look for Jay but I couldn't see him anymore, the dead things were closing in on me from all sides so I did the next thing that came to mind; I shoved past as many of them as I could and just ran. Tears were pouring out of my eyes and I was close to sobbing by the time my lungs were burning for air and my calves were screaming for a break. When I stopped to breathe I realized that I was in the middle of a deserted street I didn't know and it was oddly empty of anything, pieces of paper blew across the asphalt on occasion and a couple store fronts had their windows busted out.