Apocalypse Grumps

On The Run Part 2

As I walked down the driveway, I heard the back door open, and broke out into a sprint. I needed to be alone. I ran down the sidewalk, across a street, and onto another sidewalk. I didn't care where I was headed, as long as it was away from everyone.

I heard Mark calling my name, which only made me run faster. I didn't want to talk to him especially. He said he'd rather be with Felix than us. Than me.

He kept screaming, but I kept running. I saw a 7-Eleven that looked like it was about to fall apart, and ran inside, hoping that I lost him. Why can't he just fucking leave me alone...

I hide behind in one of the small isles by the freezers, hearing some creaks in the ceiling, but then I hear the door jingle. "Danny..." 'He's crying...?' "Please, just... just let me talk to you..." 'You've done enough talking...' "I may not know why you're mad, but what I do know that... I love you, Daniel. I love you with every fiber of my being. I love your eyes, your smile, your fucking adorable little giggle that you have, how loving you are, your voice, that hair, and just fucking everything about you. And it just pains me that I'm the reason our relationship is on the brink of ending." 'Mark... I...' "So please, Danny, please just come out. We'll talk this through."

I stand up, and being the height that I am, stand above the isles and look Mark directly in the eyes. I sniffle as tears start to form. I wipe my eyes with the bottom of my palm. "Oh Danny..." Mark walks over to me, and wraps his arms around me.

We sit down on the floor, and begin to work the whole thing out.

"So tell me, why are you so angry?" he asks. I shift a little and look down, "Well... the way you phrased it just made me think that you wanted to leave us and be with Felix. Like you didn't want to be with me..." Mark puts his hand on my cheek, directing my head towards his, "What I meant was that I'd rather sacrifice myself as his puppet rather than anyone else. Besides, what do I matter?" he says sadly. I hold the hand he has on my cheek, "What the fuck do you mean by that?! Do you have any idea how much you mean to me and so many others?" I then kiss his cheek, making his smile come back.

The creaking I heard earlier starts to get slightly louder, but I don't know if he noticed. "Now, could I ask you a question?" he asks meekly. I nod. "What did you mean by, 'If I gave into it, I wouldn't even be here'?"

The flashbacks start to come back. 'No...' I start to scooch away from Mark. "Danny?" The creaks are louder. Much louder. They're everywhere. The creaks, the voices. "Fuck, the whole ceiling is caving in!" He grabs my wrist and pulls me towards one of the broken freezers. He gets in, but I pull away and shut the door before he can get me in. The ceiling starts breaking off small pieces around us. "Danny!" he screams. Bigger pieces are falling around me. I back away from the freezer, tears forming. Mark is screaming for me. I run away before a large piece of the ceiling falls down in front of the freezer.

The dust clears, and I don't see him anywhere. I bang on the freezer door, but it won't budge with the rubble in the way. I hit it with everything I've got until it brakes, the glass cutting me in different places on my arms. I scream for Danny again, but get no answer. I panic and start to frantically run around the store, looking under rubble for him. I was about to break down and cry when I hear the moving of rocks on the other side of the store.

Danny emerges from the pile, then falls to the ground. I run over and help him up, he flinches when he tries to stand. "I think my leg's broken..." "Here, let's go back and I can make a splint for you." I help him up and let him use me as support as I lead him back to the girls' house.

As we walk, I glance at him a couple times, examining his condition as best I can. He has some cuts, and there are some spots that I can't tell are either bruises or just some dirt. The thought of asking Danny why he freaked out nagged me from the back of my mind, but I didn't want him to freak out again. Or worse, run off. I decided to save it for a later date.

"Hey Mark," he spoke out of the blue. "Yeah?" He directs his gaze towards me, "you know I'm not still mad, right?" he smiles a bit. "Well I hope you aren't." He giggles a bit. "You know very well I never get mad." "Of course I do. Even when you rage at a game you smile!" I joke. He laughs, making me laugh as well. "Danny?" I ask. "Yeah?" I feel heat in my cheeks, "I love you." He smiles, then pecks me on the cheek, "I love you too, Markimoo." I felt myself get flustered. He nuzzled his nose into my neck, which only amplified it.

Once we got back, everyone bombarded us with questions. Is Dan hurt? Are you guys back together? What happened? Where did you go? Why do you have so much dusty stuff on you? Where did you get those cuts? Are those bruises? I told everyone we'd answer their questions once I patched Dan up.

I took him into the bathroom where I fashioned a splint out of two rulers and an ace bandage I found in one of the drawers. I was cleaning his face off with a washcloth I ran under some water when he laughed a little, "You do know I can do this on my own, right? I am forty-two years old." I chuckled, "Well I'm thirty-one." He stared at me in amazement. "I guess I never thought about how much time has passed since we've seen each other..." he said. "Five years, Dan." "Five years..." It seemed to have bummed him out about how long this has been going on. So I decided that I should probably shut my mouth. But the more silence there was, the more distant Danny's gaze became.

"You want to know, don't you?" I stopped cleaning his face and looked at him confused. "About what I meant when I said 'I wouldn't even be here'?" He had an expression that looked... depressed. Like he this was something that was tiring him. I placed my hand on his slightly wet cheek and wiped some stray dirt I missed away with my thumb, "Only if you're okay with it." He grabbed my wrist and nodded. I retracted my hand and rung out the cloth in the sink, wet it a little more, and got to work on cleaning the cuts. "It was the first few months of this. Barry and I were living together, so we figured we'd work together to get through this... well, at least he thought I'd be there..."

I stood in front of one of our windows, looking over the surroundings. It's only been two months and everything has already gone to complete shit. Windows smashed, buildings falling apart, and people being shot on sight by soldiers. It was no world that I belonged in.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled. I couldn't live in a world like this. A candyass like me wouldn't be able to survive. I had only one option. I clicked the shotgun Barry and I kept just in case, and raised it to my temple. My hand began to tremble and I could feel the sting of tears beginning to form in my eyes. 'Don't wimp out...' I closed my eyes, but instead of a gunshot, I heard the front door open behind me.

"Hey Dan, I couldn't find any supplies, but Arin—" he stopped mid-sentence and I spun around to meet his surprised face. "B-Barry, I..." He charged towards me and slapped me across the face. I held my cheek as the pain began to settle in. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he screamed. "I don't fit in a world like this, Barry! I can barely kill a bug; you honestly think I can kill a human being?!" I screamed back, tears starting to fall down my cheeks. "Oh Dan..." Barry pulled me in for a hug. He let go, but kept his hands on my shoulders and looked kindly into my eyes, "I saw Arin outside today, and he said he's rounding us all up so we don't get separated. So it won't just be the two of us, okay?" I nodded, sniffling. He pats my back, we gather everything we need into two separate backpacks, and we met Arin and Suzy outside.

Danny sniffles, then wipes his eyes with the bottom of his palm. I pull him into a tight hug, nuzzling into his hair. He flinches a bit, and I instantly let go of him. "I-I'm sorry. I forgot..." He laughs weakly, "It's okay." I take his hands into mine and sadly look in his eyes, "Just... just promise me you won't be doing that any time soon..." He plants a small kiss on my forehead, then smiles at me, "I promise..."