oneshots || shyland

It's the End of the World (but at least we have each other)

Shane hummed, not to any certain melody but rather to whatever tune came into his head, as he wrapped his arms tightly around the boy in front of him, pulling him closer.

"Hey, Shane?" Ryland said, turning to meet eyes with the other. "I think we should get going. We can't stay here for too much longer."

Letting out a light sigh, Shane nodded. The two got up, grabbing their bags and slinging them over their shoulders haphazardly. They dragged their feet out the creaky door of the abandoned shack and continued on their walk down the equally abandoned streets.

Ryland glanced at the map before taking a look around them. The buildings that surrounded them, previously bustling with people, were empty. Although, that could be seen as a good thing. It wasn't safe here.

"The safehouse should only be about a three day walk that way," He pointed. "Hopefully we'll get there before the sun sets. If not, I'm pretty sure there's some old buildings around there that we could stay in overnight."

They walked quietly at first, just the sound of their footsteps against the cracked concrete echoing between them. The clouds floated across the previously pink sky which was now gradually fading to blue, their only sign that the day was still long ahead of them.

At last, one of the two broke the silence.

"Do you think they'll have better food at the safehouse? I've been craving a good Twinkie for weeks."

Ryland looked at him, brows furrowed together. "Really, Shane," He held back a chuckle. "We're in a post apocalyptic scenario and you're worried about Twinkies?!"

"Hey, I'm tired of eating canned beans and powdered milk practically every day! Plus, I heard that Twinkies can last for like thirty years; if anything's gonna survive the end of the world that's gonna be it."

Ryland's laugh carried through the empty landscape. Shane's eyes flickered over to him, smile gradually growing on his face. They hadn't laughed or even had a chance to unwind since the entire situation had begun. Tension and fear had latched onto every person and simply gripped tighter and tighter as people wore down. But finally, with the two of them just a few days away from being safe, they felt alright.

They were gonna be alright.

It was silent again, they'd been trudging on the same rough ground for nearly six hours now and both of them felt like passing out.

"Ry," Shane started, causing the beforenamed boy to glance over. "Can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest."

"Yeah?"

"In the beginning did... did you think we were actually going to make it through this?"

Ryland swallowed, pursing his lips before finally speaking.

"Y-yeah, of course, of course I did. I knew that we would make it because we deserve to."

The way that he spoke almost sounded as if he was trying to convince himself even more than the other boy. Shane looked at Ryland, opening his mouth to say something before closing it and responding with a simple shake of his head.

"I didn't." He looked up to the red-tinted sky, watching as a single cloud floated across it. "I thought that everyone was going to die, that no one was going to make it."

Ryland couldn't help but lean into Shane, entangling his hand within his own.

"And when Lisa d-died-" He paused to take a shaky breath, gripping the other's hand tighter. "I didn't even expect to make it past that."

"But we did," Ryland cut in. "We made it this far and we're almost done. We've almost made it, Shane-"

He stopped himself, pausing to cough loudly. Shane looked at him, unlinking their hands and taking a cautious step away. Ryland noticed and quickly broke in.