Still not bitten (Zombie apocalypse) Harry Styles

Familiar

*Five years later*

I waited patiently for the signal. My hair was plastered to my face from the rain and lightening flashed overhead followed by the rumble of thunder.

A sound resembling that of a gunshot rang in my ears, the signal. Another shot sounded and I jumped from my perch on the roof of a building that had long since been forgotten. Cars rotted on either side of the road, trash littered the ground and the smell....words couldn't describe how bad the smell was.

I had to hurry, they would come back soon. Walking into an abandoned supermarket I grabbed whatever I could, and stuffed everything I could into my bag.

A movement made me freeze, I reached for the handle of my gun and waited.

There it was again, a movement. I saw  a mop of curly brown hair first, then a pair of familiar green eyes peered around the shelf and stared straight at me. I waited for him to snarl, for him to run at me. Neither happened. We just stood, frozen, staring at each other.

I couldn't speak, I had not expected this. I hadn't seen life outside of my group, and I definitely never thought I would find him. Maybe he wasn't alone, Maybe he had a group. I wanted to ask him if he was with anyone but I couldn't find the words. In the back of my mind I knew my group would be coming for me soon. That I would need to hurry. I knew it wouldn't be long before the infected came too.

"Bree?" His voice was scratchy and unused.

I almost choked on the air I was breathing, "Harry?"

Harry stepped towards me and I noticed the outline of tattoos through his dirty white t-shirt. I heard the horn blasting outside. I didn't want to leave him here. I couldn't.

"Come with me." I took a step towards him.

"Where?"

"Back to my camp, I have a group. Please, I don't want to leave you here."

"You don't have to take me...I should be fine." He said, trying to convince himself as well as me. I grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. We hopped into the jeep without a word. I noticed my best friend Karen glancing at the boy curiously, like she was waiting for him to explode. I knew there would be questions later, maybe even an argument or two. But I didn't want to think about that. I just wanted to get back to camp and sleep.

***********************

"What were you thinking! You could have gotten hurt! What if he had been one of them! You could have been dead right now!" Liam had been lecturing me for an hour now and I just wanted to go to sleep.

"No he would be dead right now if I hadn't helped him!" I yelled.

"What if he had been one of the infected?"

"I would have shot him."

"You don't know that! You could have been too slow!"

I groaned, "Liam! Honestly! I had my hand on the gun ready to shoot IF I had to." I spotted Louis, "Lou! Help me.....please!"

Louis walked towards me and gave me a hug, "Come on Liam, cut her some slack. She's alive and so are we. That's all that matters."

Liam sighed, "I know, I just don't want anyone to get hurt. I feel like it's my responsibility to keep everyone alive and healthy."

"And you do a great job considering the position we are in." I pointed out. Liam was the glue that held us all in place. He kept us safe. We loved him, no matter how annoying he could be sometimes, "Goodnight Liam. Night Lou." I walked towards my bed. There was another bed pushed closely next to mine that had not been there until tonight. A figure lay beneath the thin blanket, green eyes stared at the ceiling.

"Thank you." He whispered once I was close enough to hear.

"For what?" I asked. His words were unexpected.

"Not leaving me." He sat up and looked at me."You could have left me there. I'm just another mouth you have to feed. I don't deserve this."

"You saved me that first day, and now i'm saving you. An eye for an eye, I guess you could say." I smiled at him,"If I had left you there and found you dead somewhere next week.....I wouldn't be able to live with myself." 

Harry looked away, a pained expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

A tear slid down his cheek and, without thinking, I reached out and wiped it away, my hand lingered on his cheek before I finally pulled it away. A blush crept onto my cheeks as I looked away, the heat from the make-shift fire comforting. "Sorry." I whispered.

"For what?"

"Touching you...I don't know what came over me...I just...sorry."

"It's okay." He smiled tiredly, his eyelids closing.

***********************************

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Harry screamed beside me, his arms thrashing wildly in the air. "I didn't mean to!"

I sat on the edge of my bed and shook him,"Harry! Harry wake up!"

His eyes shot open open, a look of pain in his eyes. He seemed to look straight through me like I wasn't even there, it scared me. It took a few seconds before his eyes finally focused on me, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" I studied his face for any signs of the pain I had seen just seconds before.

"I'm fine." He didn't meet my gaze, he was lying. I wanted to ask him what he had been dreaming about, but I knew it was none of my business

The fire had long since burnt out, the remaining embers glowed among the grey ash. The air was still and quiet, I could hear my breathing in sync with Harry's.

The sound of a gunshot broke the silence. I scrambled out of bed and reached for my gun, preparing to wake everyone up, but Harry stopped me. "What are you doing?!"

Harry brought a finger to his lips and motioned for me to follow him. I reluctantly stepped away from my bed and walked close behind him. Another gunshot made me jump. Harry reached for my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before pulling me after him.

We reached the boarded up window that was furthest away from everyone else and I suddenly felt nervous. Peering through a tiny gap I covered my mouth with my free hand to keep from screaming. A group of infected were walking towards the gunshots, their skin rotted and bleeding. A thin layer of wispy hair covering their scalps. I noticed that a few of the infected had missing limbs, I looked away, Burying my face into Harry's chest. Tears ran down my cheeks, wetting his shirt. I couldn't help but wonder if somewhere out there, my family walked. Their skin falling away in places. I was able to keep my sobs from escaping, a skill that had taken years to master.

We walked back to our beds in silence, our fingers still tightly entwined. "I'm sorry I whispered."

"What for?" He whispered back.

"Getting your shirt all wet." A smiled, pointing to the wet patch on his shirt where my tears had soaked into the fabric.

"It's okay." He smiled sadly.

"Where's your family?" I asked before I could stop the words from tumbling out. I wished I could stuff them back in my mouth and crawl into a corner, but it was too late now.

"I don't know." He mumbled, pain evident in his expression. "Where's yours?" 

Ouch. That hurt.

"I don't know. This is my family now." I looked at the ground.

"Do you want to find them?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"More than anything." I whispered, looking back up to met his eyes. "I'm just afraid of what I might find."