the front lines ♛ lashton

three

they ride in silence for a long time after that. "i'm seventeen, by the way," luke mutters. ashton had guessed his companion had been young, but didn't want to assume as much. he doesn't look very old, and ashton is surprised he's even seventeen. "what about you?"

"i think i'm going on nineteen, actually," he admits, looking out onto the passing street. "i don't know what the date is.. but my birthday is july 7th."

"i was seventeen last july." a wave of sadness washes over luke's face, lips turning down into a dark scowl. his eyes stay glued to the windshield. "my family.. i spent the day with them. celebrating, i mean. i wouldn't trade that memory for the world. i.. i remember the outbreak, too." ashton shifts in his seat, closer to luke. "i was supposed to start driver's training that week.. i never got around to it before. i was so excited.. getting my license, being able to do what i want. but... we.. we were at the breakfast table, and my mum would always watch the morning news on her phone. they mentioned the first case in melbourne, about how this guy had gone crazy cannibalistic. he hadn't been feeling well the past few days, and his wife took him out to dinner to cheer him up. it.. hadn't ended well." a shiver shoots down ashton's spine. he remembers hearing the same story on the radio driving back home from school for the weekend.

"i was going to ask you if you thought the airborne disease had gone, but i guess you don't," luke says, eyeing the handkerchief around ashton's neck suspiciously. it lays around his neck today, attached to a thin piece of wire; the one ashton had taken from a pipe cleaner out of desperation.

"i don't know what to believe anymore," he answers honestly. "it can't just vanish, right? we've both been exposed to it as long as everyone else has, why aren't we infected?" luke shrugs, unsure if it's a rhetorical question or not. "i think that some people, like us, though i guess there's not a lot, developed a sort of immunity to it because we've been exposed for so long to small amounts, so now the large amounts don't hurt us." ashton is no physician, and has no idea how medicine and diseases work. "but, i'm probably wrong," he taps his handkerchief, "so i always keep this with me."

ashton leans his head against the window, hoping to drift off into sleep. he hadn't gotten much last night. between the two of them, they took turns to stand guard, ashton's being the first. once he was done, he'd woken luke, and not long after fallen asleep, there was an attack a few houses down from them. ashton had spotted the light earlier in the evening, but had agreed with luke to simply steer clear of it. once they'd heard the screams of the poor sap who'd been trying to survive, they'd ran.
now is the only time he's able to rest, though the afternoon sun isn't doing him any favors. though, his brain felt like mush, and he fell into a light slumber before long.

he was at home with his sister, just the two of them, like old times. ashton could feel the happiness radiating off of him. they sat, takeout spread across the island, catching up on all things sibling related. they talked with ease, something they'd always done. she was only in year 7, but they were always close. there were no secrets between them, and there never had been. the day she was born, ashton swore to himself that he would take care of her. he would make sure nothing bad would happen to her, because that's what big brothers do.  her whole life, her older brother was someone she counted on for everything, and she had no problem talking to him.
but now, there was a problem. ashton turned away for a minute, simply to grab a drink from the fridge, but when he tried to tune back into the conversation, gone was the younger sister he cared so much about and in her place, the mutated version. her skin was gray and moldy, and ashton could smell it physically rotting off her in chunks. her soft blue eyes were replaced by lifeless black holes that were sizing up her next meal.
he called her name, a whisper at first. he kept calling, until his throat was raw. he got louder the more he said it, screaming at her until she lunged for him.