stay alive // jack metzger

six

I sat in the corner of the dusty room, the light from the sun coming into the room from the broken window. I rested my head against the cool wall as Jack sat across from me in the opposite corner of the room, staring down at the floor.
"Jack," I said, the word cracking out of my throat from not talking these past few days. "You haven't said a word since we left the house."
"Neither have you," He said, continue to stare down at the floor.
"Okay, you got me there," I laughed, digging into my backpack and pulling out a protein bar. I threw it at him and it landed in his lap with a thud.
"I don't want it," He said, tossing it back to me. I gave him a looked and tossed it back to him. "I said I didn't want it!"
He got up quickly on his feet and threw the bar out of the crack in the glass of the window, it landing outside in a thud. I flinched at the motions, covering my head in the process.
"I-" He said, catching himself. "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," I said, throwing my bag over my shoulders and heading towards the exit of the building we were in.
"Where are you going?" He asked as I looked back at him.
"I'm giving you space to cool down," I said looking at him. "You-"
"Cool down?" He asked, raising his voice a little. "I just lost the love of my-"
"Yeah, Jack? You lost the love of your life?" I asked, returning right back the volume of his voice and getting in his face. "Well so did Adam. So did Ryan. So did I. We all lose everyone, Jack. Get fucking used to it."
He stood there, staring at the ground as I yelled at him, taking in every word. Anger grew on his face as I spoke.
"Did your's die in your arms?" He asked me, looking up at my eyes.
I looked down at the ground, biting the inside of my cheek in between my teeth.
"No," I said quietly. "I didn't get the chance to even say goodbye. You did. Adam didn't. Ryan didn't. You did. The new rule of thumb is that you don't get goodbyes in this world, so feel fucking privileged Metzger."
Tears streamed down his eyes as he met my gaze again. He wiped his face of the tears.
"I don't know if Ryan or Adam are alive right now," he said, breaking his silence. "I didn't get to say goodbye."
"Ryan is a fighter, I'm sure he's got everyone safe with the help of Kiana," I said, reassuring him.
"But we don't know where they are," he said to me, trying to get his point across.
"Jack, do we even know where we are?" I said, throwing my hands in the air at the crumbling building around us. "All we have been doing for four days is walking even farther from the house, who knows how far we are. Who knows where they are. Who knows who is even alive right now."
Jack winced at my words and turned around, staring out the broken window.
"I'm just saying," I said to him, calming my voice down. "Is we have to keep going so we can see them again. Because we will see them again."
Jack didn't say anything, just stared out the window and tapping his right foot against the concrete flooring.
"I'm going to let us both cool off," I said inching towards the door. "I'll be back before sundown."
I turned around and left the house without another word. I took the knife out of my pocket and closed the dry rotted wooden door behind me, leaving Jack to his own vices.
***
As the sun set and my bag on my shoulders was full to the max, I trudged back down the road towards the house where Jack and I were staying for the night. The town was quiet as I finally made it to the door, having to kick it a little to open.
"Good," He said from his sitting position. He was sitting criss cross in the middle of the floor, tending to a small fire that he had created. "Back before sundown."
"I always keep my promises," I said to him smiling. I yanked my bag off of my shoulders and crouched down to start rummaging through it. I pulled out a plastic package and tossed it to Jack.
He looked at the package of white t-shirts in a confused, almost concerned, way. I laughed at his confusion as I continued to file through the bag.
"Don't say I never got you anything," I said, not looking up from the bag. "I thought you would want a new t-shirt since-"
"Yeah," He said, cutting me off. He took out his knife a cut a slit at the top of the package. He tossed off his jacket and shirt and threw it towards the corner of the room. He slid on a new clean tee shirt with a smile. He looked up and saw me staring, which made him laugh.
"Thank you," He said to me quietly as he put on his jacket again and his trapper hat.
"Don't thank me," I said laughing. "Thank the people of the local CVS who thought plain white tee shirts weren't a necessity when stocking up for the apocalypse."
"Thank you dead people," He said, raising his water bottle up to the heavens. "God, how I wish this was burning vodka."
I laughed and dug in my bag, pulling out a tall glass bottle full on clear liquid. I tossed him the bottle and his expression lit up.
"Damn, Wilson," he said in awe over the bottle. "It's like you can read my mind."
"We will save that for a special occasion," I said standing up and taking the bottle from his hands. "You're not drinking on an empty stomach. Reason A, because I don't want to babysit and reason B I really don't think getting drunk in the zombie apocalypse without at least one sober person is a great idea."
He held his hands up in defense as he rocked back onto the nearest wall. The crackling of the fire filled the void of silence that was peaking through the conversation.
"Here," I said, handing him the protein bar that he threw out the window earlier. "Eat something."
He looked at the bar and hesitantly took it from my hand, pulling away the wrapper delicately.
"Thanks," He whispered.
"You're welcome," I said to him, standing up from my squat. I grabbed my bag and headed towards the exit of the room.
"Where are you going?" He asked, a mouth full of the protein bar.
"The other room," I said, pointing towards the living room across the hall. "There's a mattress in there and some blanket so I'll keep warm."
I turned back towards the door but he jumped up from his seat on the floor, reaching out his free hand to stop me.
"You can bring it in here," he said with big eyes. "I don't mind."
I turned around and met his gaze, knowing all too well from the time before the apocalypse what that facial expression was.
"Jack," I said quietly, the crackles of the word in the fire louder than my words. "You're lonely. You're going to do something you'll regret and I'm not letting me be your mistake."
"I-" He said, not even realizing what he was unintentionally doing.
"It's okay, Metzger," I smiled. "Goodnight."