Love in Hell

Chapter One

                      His Nerd Queen
                      
                         Chapter one

My name is  Sarah Lance. I was one of the biggest nerds in school before the world went to hell. My parents and brothers were gone, so for a while it was just me and my sister, Raegan. Then we ran into the last person I thought I'd see, and he was one of my least favorite people at the time....

         I had been scouting all morning. Raegan was back at camp with her gun, keeping guard. I had found an old cabin with a single walker. I killed it with ease. The kitchen had more food than I'd seen in almost a year. I started putting as much food as I could in my bag. I was almost done when I heard a noise behind me. I spun around and held my knife to someone's throat. They wore a mask, camouflage shirt and jeans, and combat boots. I could only see his blue eyes behind his mask. He was tall, I'd guess about six feet and four inches. He held his hands up in surrender. "Calm down, sweetheart. I won't hurt ya." I only knew one person who called me sweetheart. "Skylar." I stated. He removed his mask. "Wow you really are smart, Sarah." I slowly brought my knife down. "With how arrogant you are, I'm surprised a walker hasn't gotten you yet." I stated flatly, closing my bag. "For a scrawny nerd on her own, you have no right to talk to me like that." He said, trying to sound like he was a king. I threw my bag on my shoulders and started walking out. "I don't have time for this, I have a sister to get back to." He grabbed my wrist and it took all I had not to slice his hand off. "Wait, sweetheart." He said, sounding slightly desperate. "What?" I said, glaring at him with years of built up anger. "Stay, please." He says, pleading me with his eyes. "I have to get back to Raegan." I tried to yank my hand away, but he tightened his grip. "You can bring her here. Just please don't leave me alone." I saw true sadness in his eyes when he said that. "I... I consider it." I said.

He finally let go and let me leave. I hurried back to camp, looking behind me every now and then. I made it back and Rae let me in the tent. "What'd you find?!" She asks eagerly. I open my bag and dump all the canned goods and veggies on a blanket. Her eyes grow wide. "Where did you find all this?!" She asks. "Don't eat it all now. I might be considering ya moving camp." I say, handing her a cherry tomato. "Where?" "I found a nice cabin and... someone I knew from school. He said he'd take care of us." She sat quietly, thinking. Finally, she looked at me. "If you know him, we should go." She said confidently. "Alright. Help me pack up then."

We packed the camp within half an hour. I took Rae's hand and started walking back towards the cabin. When we got there, I knocked and stood back, squeezing her hand. Skylar opened the door and smiled when he saw us. "Glad you came back, sweetheart." He stood back and let us in. "It's only bc I need someone to stay with her when I go on runs. Don't think anything of this." He held his hand up in mock surrender. "There's a spare room for Rae down the hall. You can have my room and I'll take the couch." He said, gesturing down the hall and to a bedroom just off the living room. I nod and part with Rae.

I laid my bag on the bed and looked around. It was a relatively nice room. Paintings of various landscapes hung on every wall. A dresser with a tv faced to foot of a king sized bed. The night stand had a nice lamp and a candle. Both the dresser and  night stand were a dark brown wood. The bed frame was a polished wood, and the dark green comforter looked untouched. The two dark green pillows looked fluffy and brand new.

I heard a voice behind me. "Like the room, sweetheart? It's the best one in the house." I turned around to see Skylar leaning against the doorway. "Yes it's nice. Why did you let me have it? You hated me in school." I asked with pure confusion in my voice. "I thought you might like it, that's all. You're the only other person I've seen in almost a year, I want you to be comfortable and safe so you won't leave." With that, he walked down the hall to check on Rae.

As I laid in bed that night, I couldn't get Skylar out of my head. Not even the insanely comfortable bed could get me to sleep. I finally got up to go check on him. He was on the couch, just staring at the ceiling. "Hey." He said, not looking at me. "Hey." I said awkwardly. "You can't sleep either?" He asks. "No." "Something you need, sweetheart?" He still doesn't look at me. "Can you umm.... can you sleep with me tonight?" I say quickly. He finally looks at me. "Sure." He moves his blanket and gets up. We walk back to my room and climb into bed. We face each other in an awkward silence. He slowly puts his hand towards me and opens it. I take it. He closes his eyes and tries to sleep. I do the same and fell him squeeze my thumb. I squeeze his hand. "It wasn't me." He says innocently. "Sure, sure." I said teasingly. We both fell asleep after that. Little did either of us know the night would be plagued with nightmares.