No Tomorrow

.

I walked into the nearest store and looked around while my heart calmed itself down and saw nothing much but broken or busted shelves; I kept a hand over my chest while I looked around, but...something felt too off about it. There were no dust or debris on the floor and when I got to the very back of the store where a cashier counter was I noticed a few sleeping bags crammed behind it on the floor close to an ajar staff door.

What the hell....is someone actually camping out here?

When I dared to get a closer look an arm came out of nowhere and wrapped around my neck from behind while a hand knocked the gun out of hand, causing it to fall to the floor and fire off ito a wall, a heavy weight pulled at my back until my body contorted and I cried out in pain, another man walked into view from the ajar door behind the counter and he wore a frown on his face while two more showed themselves from the point I walked in from.

"Way to go Johnson, now we're going to have to move camp because the gun went off, fucking idiot. Don't kill her either, you killed the little girl two days ago remember?"

The arm tightened itself around again and I coughed as my air struggled to get through my lungs, black spots danced around the corners of my eyesight but no matter how much I struggled, the dude seemed to hold onto me and not budge an inch.

"Fine, whatever man. I'll keep this one alive for a bit because she's got more tits then the 12 year old- she looks like she'd got a lot of fight left in her anyway."

The pressure on my throat got so intense that the choking started to turn into a burning feeling in my limbs, and I started to feel so hot that it was like they were trying to set me on fire. Why was I on fire? I'm burning....I'm burning!

*One Week Later*

My eyes flew open with a start and I wanted to scream, but a brown hand came down out of nowhere and clamped down over my lips; the warm tingle twinged against my skin and I knew who it was but not w h e r e I was.

"Don't do anything too fast, you've been out for damn near over a week."

I smelled a lot of straw and mildew around me and I tried turning my head to see that I was sitting in Jay's lap, I tried moving a little with what strength my body could muster but nearly fainted when a wave of pain threatened to send me under again; since when were we in a barn? The last thing that I remembered- Jay chuckled when my hands flew up to my throat and it was then that I noticed the clothes that I was in. I knew the shirt was Jay's because he didn't have one on but someone had put a pair of loose gym shorts on me at some point, I ignored the clothes and looked around the messy barn with a slight wrinkle to my nose; the place smelled like old mold, manure and everything felt damp.

"...a week? But...where is everyone?...."

I plucked a few pieces of straw that was stuck to my left thigh and flicked it across the way, whatever space we were sitting had two double wide doors that were cracked open to the weather outside and the breeze felt refreshing.

"....a lot's happened since you've been out, we lost Bob....but everyone else is ok for the most part. Beth's gone too...but they left us behind to go scout out this one place that someone said they came from....everyone's so tired, you know? Just in case it's like another Terminus they wanted to leave us behind so we'd have a chance."

"Mmm...."

I patted at my thighs and winced when my fingers brushed against a few angry looking pink scars near the inner side, my eyes strayed down to my left hand and to the tan line on my ring finger.

"Did...did he...."

Jay wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me back into his side before he rested his chin on the top of my head and rubbed soothing circles into the back of one of my arms.

"Find your ring? Yeah, he did."

I looked around the barn trying to see any sign of him but I sensed nothing other then Jay and myself.

"...he went with them I take it."

Jay squeezed me a bit and nodded.

"He was one of the first to go with them, yeah. But he still loves you I'm sure. He actually tried to carry you a bit on the way here."

I tried holding onto one of his hands and he smiled when our fingers intertwined with one another and I noticed a deep pink mark on the inside of his wrist; I had a few things in mind that I wanted to ask, but...

"...what happened to those people?"

"The ones who survived followed us- but we took care of them. They...were after you mostly."

"Jay....honestly, why do you protect me the way you do?"

He turned his face around to look at me and traced the outline of my jaw before his thumb lightly toyed with my bottom lip, his dark eyebrows were knitted together in concentration but it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through his head.

"Because I love you. I love you, and Daryl already knows that if he fucks up with you I'm going to beat his ass into the dirt."

*

"Alexandria, huh?"

I leaned close behind Daryl's arm as we were led down the main street full of large houses and I cringed away from some children who ran by screaming, playing in the streets; everything seemed so...unreal. Manicured lawns, prestine houses, and a few houses even had pools in their yards and a few had elderly people sitting in swinging chairs on the porch.