Love and the Undead (gxg)

Chapter 3

I wake up and yawn, stretching my arms over my head. I feel an unfamiliar warmth across my waist and on my shoulder and open my eyes confused. Then, I chuckle as I see Iris passed out with a leg thrown over my waist and an arm across my stomach. Man, I have to pee. I try to move myself out from under Iris but she won't budge. I lay still for a moment, contemplating whether or not to wake her up. On one hand, she looks so relaxed and beautiful while she's sleeping it seems like it should be a crime to wake her but man. I really have to pee. I gently shake her shoulder and whisper her name.

"Iris, come on. Wake up, please"

She shoots up gasping and wide eyed staring at me in fear.

"Whoah, its just me, its okay." I say and reach a hand out towards her.

She flinches away, and scoots back against the wall with her head in her knees.

"Iris?" I ask gently. "What's wrong?"

She shakes her head and mumbles something.

"What?" I ask.

She sighs and lifts her head up, looking at me with those eyes.

"I'm scared." She says.

Uh, okay. I think. I scoot forward and sit next to her against the wall.

"Of what?" I ask.

Looking anywhere but at me she whispers
"Of you."

I'm astonished. What could I possibly have done to scare her? She finally looks at me and I guess the look on my face shows I dont understand because she starts to explain.

"Every single day of my life since I can remember, ive had nightmares so bad that I can't sleep more than a couple of hours a night because of it. Even after he died... No. We dont need to talk about it. The point is every night for as long As I've remembered, ive woken up terrified. But you," she says, "you made the nightmare go away."

I just stare back at her schocked. I don't know what to say, because all I can do is think about what happened to her to give her nightmares so bad. Ive already seen how incredibly strong and determined this girl is, and to see her vulnerable like this, it kills me.

"I'm so sorry." I say to her.

Now it's her turn to look confused.

"What?" She asks, wrinkling her eyebrows adorably. "Why in the hell are you sorry I'm the weirdo that just told you that I not only have had horrible nightmares but that you somehow made them go away after 17 years!"

"I'm so happy that I could help." I say while looking her in the eyes.

I mean every word of it, too. This girl has obviously been through hell and I can see the despair under the toughness. She just looks at me, shocked and then I see her eyes start to tear up.

"Thanks" she says softly.

We sit in silence for a few seconds and then all the sudden I jump up. She looks at me strangely and I say

"What? Ive had to pee forever" and run to the bathroom while she starts giggling.

When I come back she's petting Erebus who is wide awake now and looking much better.

"Hey, buddy" I say to him as he walks towards me.

I reach and hand down and pet him, and he licks my hand happily. I giggle and look up at Iris to see her gawking at us.

"What?" I ask her.

"I've never seen him act like this with anyone else. He was trained to kill."

I just laugh. I mean come on this guy? She's got to be joking, he is such a sweetheart. But then I notice that she looks completely serious.

"You've got to be kidding." I say.

"Nope." She says, "I rescued him out of a building where I found him stuck in a room with the dead body of a military officer. I don't know if he trained him or someone else did but, he's very dangerous in all actuality."

"Hmm." I say looking down at Erebus. "You've got one hell of a story dont you?"

He just thumps his tail and goes over to sniff the pan he ate out of last night. He must be hungry, and I'm sure Iris is too.

"Hey, you hungry?" I ask iris.

"Of course I am, who isnt nowadays?" She replies.

Well, she's got a point I think to myself. I go over to my bag, and pull out one of the cans of peaches I found last night and hand it to her. I seriously need to go hunting for some meat, but I hate using my pistol and thats the only gun I have.

"Hey, do you have any weapons or anything?" I ask Iris.

"No, I lost my bag running here a few days ago. What were you hoping I had?" She says.

"Well, I need to go hunting for some meat, but I hate using my pistol."

She just chuckles and says "Take Erebus."

I look at her dumbfounded. He can hunt too? She laughs at my facial expression and calls Erebus over to her.

"Hunt?" She asks him.

He immediately starts wagging his tail and enthusiastically licking her face. Getting up, she starts walking towards the door with Erebus following happily. She then looks back over her shoulder at me, where I am still standing in the middle of the room wondering what I'm supposed to do. She didnt invite me, but she didnt tell me to stay.

"Well, you coming?" She asks me.

"Oh, uh, of course yeah sorry I just didnt know if you wanted me to-"

She laughs and says "Of course I would want you to come." Like its just the most obvious thing in the world.

-next chapter soon-
Much love,
Me