We began to move out the next morning and planned on ceasing as much of the day as our strength would let us. My sword needed to be sharpened badly and Gavin was low on arrows for his bow, as he had shot four walkers while passing by, costing him four of his arrows. We were both hungry, tired, cold and in need of shelter as the wind of the breezy day chilled me to the core even in the safety of a warm pullover. Gavin kept holding his arms to his chest and baring his teeth as he pushed against the wind. The mood could only be described as eerie or unearthly- spooky, even. We both knew that we could be attacked by the infected at any given moment walking through those parts of the city, we could be tackled to the ground and our flesh could be torn straight from our necks. Honestly, as blunt as it sounds I'm telling the truth- that's what happened to Lindsay. We had to leave her behind. We were quiet, taking the lightest steps through the shadowed alleyways and dark corridors. The smell of waste and death circled the air around us and all I could do was avoid breathing through my nose and Gavin did the same. The sights to see were gruesome and dreadful, spray paint on the brick walls saying things such as 'S.O.S.' and 'HELP' and one drawn in darkened blood on a dumpster, 'ANOTHER ONE GONE.' "Michael..." Gavin started. I immediately turned around to face him. "...Hm?" Gavin swallowed. "...What do they mean by 'another one gone'? I mean, I understand the whole apocalypse thing, but..." he paused for a second. "Are there even any more Survivors?" I stopped in my tracks. Now that I had the chance to think about it, it...seemed pointless to believe there was any hope left. Looking out the window that one night, I hadn't given myself the chance to think- that gas leak by the hospital followed by an ear-splitting explosion that made my stomach sink, or the yells of the innocent that drove me to the edge and turned me around to get Lindsay, followed by Gavin.  Tears stung my eyes as I snapped out of it. I pivoted on my feet at looked Gavin straight in the eyes, those goddamned hazel eyes and he gave me a look like I had just stared straight through to his soul. I sighed, "I dunno, Gavin. I really don't know. By the looks of it, it doesn't seem too likely. I heard we were the only ones who made it out of the whole damned building despite being on the top floor. I've gotta say, Gav, I don't think we have much of a chance-" "What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped.  I put my hands up in surrender and noticed how glossy his eyes were becoming. I sighed again. "It means, Gavin, that not all people are gonna survive without food or four days like we have. Not all people are gonna have the skills to meat-cleave the shit out of every walker that tries them." I inched closer to him and put my hands on his shoulders which made him flinch. "...It means that we might not even be able to survive much longer, but as long as I'm with you, as cheesy as it sounds, I'll be okay," I said hoarsely, slowly pulling him into a hug. I told myself it'd be good- that he would be good, but all I could think about as I wrapped my trembling hands around his waist was the crazed, lurid passion that I felt with him. He sobbed softly into my shoulder and I sat and let him. I whispered sweet nothings into his ear and  tried to ease his breathing, resting the bridge of my nose against his collar bone. We stayed like that for a while until the sudden, extremely fast-paced footsteps caught us off-guard and we broke away.  He dove behind the dumpster and I behind a small canister just big enough for my crouched body. I held my sword tightly in one hand and it glowed faintly in the light of the cloudy day. Gavin drew his bow and we both aimed for the direction we heard the noise from. The footsteps got louder and I could now make out heavy breathing, gasps for air and grunts of pain. The rhythm of the other's quick-paced jogs seemed to make out that he/she was limping. I could also hear the walkers that were apparently chasing after the unknown figure. He finally ran through the opening through the alley and he rolled behind the dumpster where Gavin was. "Shit," I muttered and quickly crawled over to the same spot, sword raised. I was about to chop that guy's head off when I heard his pleading. "Oh, fuck, man- don't, no, no, no, no-" I punched him hard square in the face. I pushed him down with a free hand and he winced at his head hitting the concrete below him. His eyes were shut tight and his teeth were bared and he fought to be released, grunting and hissing at me, kicking me wherever he could. "What's your name, assmunch? How did you even get here-" "Shut up!" he whispered hoarsely as he pointed to the direction of which the walkers were coming. I cursed under my breath and ducked, pulling a stunned Gavin down with me. The walkers moved slowly, but they were gone soon enough. I sighed in relief. "Alright, how did you find us? Is there anyone else? Do you have any weapons on you-" "No! No, I don't!" he insinuated as loud as he could without being noticed by walkers. "...Get your filthy hands off me or I'll skin you."  The mix of image and emotion was staggering, his words boring into me and pushing me away, but not without pulling the small gun from his untied boot. He gave me a dirty look and I smirked, staring him up and down before letting him go. He immediately pushed me to the ground and moved away near Gavin. "Don't you dare touch him." I growled. "I wasn't going to, yeesh. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." he snickered like a child. "Hey, you'd better be watching your words, sunshine-" "Shut your whore mouth!" "You shut yours, asswipe!" "Whoa, whoa, hey, hey, hey, calm down." Gavin separated us with his arms. He then turned to the unknown man. "...Tell us your name and we'll have a nice little chat, huh?" He grunted. "Geoff. My name's Geoff." "Good," I started, "Because we really needed to know that-" "I'm not trying to start a fucking fight, here, buddy." "I'm not either!" "Stop it!" Gavin yelled. He sighed in frustration. "Jesus Christ, you guys are bloody killing me over here!" He moved back to his original spot in the middle of both Geoff and I. "Listen, it seems like we didn't get off to a good start, but we can change that. Geoff, Mi-cool and I don't mean trouble. He's just a mean little sausage sometimes-" "Shut up, idiot," I muttered as I leaned my head back. Geoff chuckled. I ran my hands over my head as Gavin continued to speak with the most devious smile on his face. "Look, all I'm trying to say is that we don't mean you any harm. We'll only try to defend ourselves if you try to do something stupid first. Got it?"  Geoff nodded, a solemn and clearly irritated nod.  "Good," Gavin concluded. "What are you even here for?" I asked, a bit too monotonous to not sound agitated and Geoff glared at me. "Walkers were chasing me and a friend down. I don't know where he is. I ended up here. Simple as that," Geoff disclosed. "All I really want to do now, and once I do, I'm planning on returning to my apartment building-" "Wait, what's your apartment building name?" Geoff gave me a puzzled look- suspicious, even. "...Driftwood?" "Holy shit, that's the same one Gavin and I are in!" Geoff laughed and shot Gavin a look. "Sweet. That means we can all go back together once we're ready, right?" "Hold up," I implied. "What's the catch?" "Catch?" "Yeah, cost. Catch. There's got to be some kind of catch for you to be able to trust us so quickly like this, and I guess us being able to trust you so quickly, too." Geoff sighed and rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I'm not the type to distrust people, I guess. To clarify, there's tons of supplies down at Driftwood still, I was just waiting to meet up with my buddy so we could go together. He arrived, but...he was being chased. We had to run down here. All I'm saying is that I haven't seen anyone coming in or out of there, and there's certainly no one patrolling the area. I'd say we could make a quick run, then find a permanent spot to stay if not there. What'dya say?" I thought about this for a long while. Ever since the outbreak, I haven't trusted anyone, not anyone but Lindsay and Gavin. Lindsay's gone, so tat only leaves Gavin and I, and I know that we won't be able to fend for ourselves much longer. We're hungry. We need food. We need weapons. We need another companion to at least help us. I gave Gavin a questioning look and he nodded, a determined and rendering nod. I sighed, "Geoff, you a good shot?" "Best shot." I laughed and held out a asphalt-stained hand. "Shake on it?" He paused and looked at his own hand for a split second, then smiled, putting his hand in mine. "Shake on it." I had a big feeling that Geoff was going to be good for us.

Dark. "Run, Gavin! C'mon!" I screamed as he trailed behind me, bow in hand. I stopped abruptly and swore under my breath as a walker turned the corner and charged at me from the front. I raised my sword once again and swung it as viciously as I could, slicing right through the front of its head. It fell to the ground and I picked up the pace again. We continued to sprint on our way in desperate need for a break, as we had been running for God knows how long away from a mob of walkers. Both of us were dehydrated and in a cold sweat, heavily panting as we made our way through the alley and through a thankfully unlocked door in which I yanked open, throwing out my shoulder in the process. I let out my hand as Gavin finally reached me, pulling him and pushing both of us into the corridor and I slammed it behind me. I groaned as I slid down the wall, the ringing from the loud strike of the door still pulsating in my ears. I had a terrible, splitting headache and my whole body was shaking violently. Gavin sat across from me, keeping back hints of a sob and looking at his hands, covered in blood and asphalt. My breathing was beginning to slow as we heard the walkers pass by- their snarls and hisses began to die down. I put my elbows in my thighs and my tear-stained face in my palms. I rubbed at my temples. I could smell myself and it was the stink of blood, the awful wet, metallic smell and I could taste it too. I lifted a finger to my lip and discovered it was split, spilling blood down my chin at a rapid pace. In a flickering kaleidoscope of images, I envisioned the blood running down his body, heard the constant screams of absolute fear and tasted the plump, wholesome bitterness of horror. Gavin sat still, letting the noise wash over him like surf. He was looking miserably at anything but me. I knew how he felt- I knew he felt that he must burst into tears, scream or tear something apart and beat it, crush it, kill it. That frustration sent him crawling across the room as his eyes filled with salty tears and his legs began to give out from underneath him, and as soon as he made it to my legs he just collapsed, scooting his way to my stomach and wrapping his arms around my waist. He sobbed, and it was the worst thing I could bare to hear. Even after all the screams we heard. Even when Lindsay was killed. Even after all we've been through, his harsh cries that stained my shirt and broke my heart killed me the most. I could only understand some of what must have led up to that week, and as awful as it was, I could understand how someone like Gavin Free could be able to survive through all of it, despite his idiocy and cluelessness. Plus, he had me. He cared for me and I cared for him and it was as simple as that, but it seems to me that from the first to last moment before we left, before we had to get away, his one and only object in view was the complete and total destruction of the outbreak, the walkers that moved slow and disoriented through the streets and the faster ones that we called 'survivors' that included us. The silence became deafening. He moved closer and was now at head-level. His lips pressed against mine and I immediately wrapped my arms around him and pulled his close, and it was the most needy, passion-filled kiss we had ever shared. As soon as he pulled away I moved a hand to his cheek, cupping his face. My mouth felt like I might have been smiling. "We're okay now, Gavvy," I encouraged between heavy whiffs of air and comforting back rubs, which I knew he liked. "We're safe in here. You're safe with me. We have weapons." We didn't know where we were, and that ambiguity sent a chill of fear right up my spine. We could be in that very roadhouse-perhaps the very one where the doom of this world had begun. He sat up and his sobs ceased, giving me the opportunity to pull his chin closer with one hand and kiss him. I wiped his tears from his face. "You're safe in my arms."