BITE ME ➼ C. G. 〖 #wattys2016 〗

Chapter 15

SOTC: for him. by Troye Sivan
• You don't have to say 'I love you' to say 'I love you' •

She looked so peaceful, asleep in my lap, her braid laid out over my grimy boots. Mouth pulled into a rare smile, revealing slightly crooked teeth tinted red with S'getti juice. She shifted her feet, folding herself closer to me, and I put a hand onto hers.

"Kee..." I whispered, and she awoke in a flicker. She rolled off me, wildness swirling in her eyes, but then it faded.

"Oh," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Instinct. Sorry."

I nodded. "They're outside."

She looked out and watched Dad hop out of the car. There was a shinnnfff of the screen door being pushed open by Daryl. He looked over at us, giving a nod, before making a beckoning gesture and disappearing outside.

I pulled Keira up off the window seat and she raced out the door. Scooping up my hat, I dropped it onto my head before following her. Nowadays I felt naked without it.

The street looked more like a dirty lake due to the rain. The water rippled out in oily waves as I ran towards the car. "Dad," I whispered between my parched lips, grinning and giving him a hug. He looked down at me, surprised.
I pulled away. "Where were you guys?!"

"Long story," he patted my back, which involved a bit of contortion because of how tall he was compared to me. "Go inside, Coral."

I sighed. "Carl."

But he was already laughing.

I'm starting to think he named me Carl just so he could tease me.

I went inside, like he asked. Kee had crashed on the window seat already, so I curled up in the corner of the room.

In a last moment of consciousness, I placed my hat over my face like a badass Cowboy.

Hell yeah, I thought halfheartedly to myself before winking out.

Ø     Ø     Ø

We ate more cans of food for breakfast. Kee full-on devoured her Spam, and I spent a fair amount of time teasing her about her meat-stache. She kicked me under the table, eyes glinting with mischief as she wiped it off.

Other than that, it was silence.

Sometimes I would look over at her, and she'll be gripping the can with both hands, glaring off into the distance. Lips twisted into a scowl, eyebrows curled back into a sad expression. She looked miserable.

I nudged her boots underneath the table. She looked up at me, digging herself out of whatever reverie she'd trapped herself in. Her frown reverted into her normal expression—an "I'm okay but don't bother me" look that made me think that she would've fit inside high school if the apocalypse hadn't happened.

Breakfast trailed off and soon it was time to load up and leave. Kee ran ahead, out the door, her duffel bag slung her back. I fingered my own straps, staring at the destruction around the area. There was a broken laundromat with chipped blue letters lined up on the forehead of a square building. Frosty icicles hung from overhangs like eyelashes. The windows that were still intact had blemishes of white tracing up from the corners.

Everything looked so cold, so frozen and dead. The zombies weren't just living in this world, they had morphed it into theirs.

Kee pulled open the door of the RV in a flurry of steam, flicking on the light switch and going inside. Many of the group members had already made a mountain of bags and jackets in the trunk, which was basically a room-sized storage cell. I chucked my duffel into it, leaving the door open so that Maggie could add her load behind me.

Before I could go inside the RV, she caught me by the shoulder, twisting me around to look at her. "I see the way you look at her."

I knit my eyebrows, letting my eyes drift to the left. "Uh... Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know who."
(A/N: *whispers* Voldemort)

I hung my head. I did know who she meant. With Kee... I didn't know how I felt about her. Licking my chapped lips, I crossed my arms. "I know that now we're just friends."

She nodded. "I understand. It's just..." She cut off, closing the RV trunk doors. "You can trust me. You can ask me anything if you have troubles."

I wrung my fingers, finally looking at her. "Okay... Uh... Thank you."

She nodded, her hair spraying frost in my direction. It would've been funny, except that the situation was as strung up as a rubber band.

I gave a weak smile and whipped around into the RV. Kee grinned in my direction and I slid onto the bench seat.

"So, are you ready for phase 2? The second 'refugee' camp that we've ever come across?"

Her eyes darkened. "I hope it's not like that."

I nodded. I had never asked her about what her experience at Terminus was like. Maybe she was there longer than we were, maybe she had lost a lot more than I had. I wouldn't know.

"I don't..." She shivered, tucking her knees up against her and leaning against the plastic-covered seat. "I won't make that mistake again. I can't. I won't."

She fell into my arms and nestled into my hug like a pearl into an oyster. I felt my heart melt a bit as I smiled at her figure curled up against me.

"It'll be okay. This sounds good. It's not going to be like—" I cut off as she tensed, bracing herself for that terrible, reminding word. "That place." I finally said.

Her eyes glittered as a smirk played across her face. She closed her eyes and sighed. "You can say the word, Carl. I just hate the memories that are tied to it."

------------------------------------------

A/N: I am on family reunion, and am typing this under my covers because my parents think I'm asleep.
Only two more days left in 2015. Can't believe it's over.

Anyway... We have the debut of Carl's POV! Sorry if it was confusing, but I need to do this for later.

I'm also almost done with planning out a Chandler fic, set in the Hunger Games. It's going to be badass and awesome and feelsy.

But while Scarlet is still going, it is my top priority. Don't worry, updates will hopefully not slow down.

A/N 3-7-15: Well, this fanfic was pretty high maintenance so I deleted it off my profile. Don't go looking for it 😉

I'm going to scan over this story and fix up some dumb stuff I put in there. Sorry if I blow up your notifications.

Update: I updated so much omg so sorry for the notifications! But the story is soooooo much better. I added the song of the day and fixed up some plot holes and terrible decisions of mine.
I spent about four hours between fixing this up and pretending I was asleep and tbh... So worth it!

If I slack again and don't update until New Years... Happy 2016! May the end of the world not happen this year. 🍻

QOTD: Name your zodiac sign. See my zodiac book for how and why. 😉
AOTD: Cancer. ♋️

RQOTD: "You can't expect to win the jackpot if you don't put a few nickels in the machine." -Flip Wilson

---------------------------------------

Word count:
1248

Edited 3-7-16