#graydon imagines

I didn’t have the energy to move, so when I heard the lock turning I just closed my eyes, accepting my fate. Dad had been wrong. They’d gotten smarter and had found us. Or they were just trying to see what was in here. Did they need clothes? Blankets? Or did the warmth in the blood they ate satiate their sensitivity to the cold? If that was the case maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to eat another person. My old man was milliseconds from losing it. It wouldn’t be a big deal...

The door opened and there wa as gasp, a hand on my arm. I whimpered, recoiling, waiting for the hold on me to tighten as hands dug into my abdomen and teeth sunk into my arm. Neither came. In fact, the hand dropped my arm immediately. There was a swish and my dad started so I knew he’d been exposed. I opened my eyes, looking over to see two men bundled up, trying to calm my flailing father.

Didn’t take the old man more than a second longer than it took me to realize these people were not one of Them. These people were too controlled, curious, and concerned. Too humane. My eyes moved as the hand come back, pushing my hair out of my face. “Hey,” a soft voice greeted. I smacked my lips, trying to talk and respond, but my mouth had long ago gone too dry to respond. “Let’s sit up.” He offered me his hand and I took it, letting him pull me to a sitting position. He then reached around and I tensed before he came back, a water pouch in his hand. “Here,” he offered. I took it, not caring whether it was poisined or not. I would die either way so who cared if I died of poison or of human limitation?

The second the water hit my mouth I was sucking it down and the boy next to me took it back again. “Whoa whoa whoa,” one of the other men by my father mumbled at the same time. “Don’t drink all of it in one go. Won’t do you any good if you’re weighed down and sick from drinking too much after you hasn’t had any in so long.”

The man not offering water to my father looked at the boy next to me. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah,” I croaked, wincing at the pain as the words bubbled through my raw throat. The second man smiled at me, nodding. He recognized my ability to, at the very least, answer for myself. A good sign. It also meant he now had to direct his questions at me.

He moved closer. “My name is Sam,” the man greeted. “These are my friends, Briggs and Graydon.” He pointed first to the man who had offered my father water and then to the boy ho had offered water to me. I filed their names into my brain, forcing them to stick. I would not forget the people who had saved me.

“My name is-“

“No!” My father croaked. I looked at hm angrily. “If you choose to ever listen to me in your lifetime, do so now,” the old man chided warningly. “We don’t know if we can trust these people.”

I rolled my eyes, my emotions coming back weakly as the words and warmth followed the water. “You’re paranoid, old man,” I snapped. “They saved us. We would have died without them. If they wanted to eat us we’d be gone and if they wanted us dead all they’d have to do is leave us behind. There’s no logical reason for someone who means harm to us to help us as they have.”

The old man glared back at me. “You’ve had your voice back for thirty seconds and you’re already back talking me.”

Briggs chuckled. “Father and daughter?”

“How could you tell?” I asked, my head lolling back as I slowly popped my neck, trying to stretch my joints as well as I could. “I mean I know the regular situation is ‘you have his eyes’ or ‘your noses match’ but I’m sure the insanity I inherited from him gave us away, huh?” The other men actually laughed and I could tell that we’d get along. Before everyone had died it had been teased that I was the sunlight in a dark world. Warm and caring and hilarious. A lot of people liked to have me around to cheer everything up. Now, after watching all of my friends and family be eaten alive, their screams still echoing in the back of my head and maybe not-so-much-of-a-joke insanity eating at the edge of my brain... At least my sarcasm and sass could make people laugh. I hadn’t lost my touch, just changed my strategy.

I leaned against something as the trio talked to my father, switching information and getting everyone caught up. Everyone moved toward the screen as my father went to show them the broadcast of Paradise and as the boy - Graydon - went to follow, he suddenly paused and then stopped next to me, craning his neck to see what was going on from his spot by my side. “Whoa,” he whispered, his body leaning forward, giving away how much he wanted to be closer.

“You can go,” I told him. “I’ll be fine by myself.”

Something must have given me away in my face because he looked at me a second before shaking his head. “You’ve been alone waiting to die for too long. I’m not leaving.” I didn’t know if it was him or me that took more comfort from the other’s presence, but I instantly felt better and didn’t urge him to leave again. He was right. I hadn’t completely alone in this room, but a lunatic like my father really wasn’t much company.

It made me briefly wonder if I was crazy and it just hadn’t manifested yet. I’d seen my dad stare at me like I was a meal and knew that if I didn’t keep an eye on him he’d turn on me. I knew HE was crazy by the things he bailed about and the ideas that came out of his mouth. He’d been crazy before They came. You could see it in the way he stood and the way he talked and the way he moved. You could see it in the folds in the fabric that made his body, soul, and person. How could you tell if you were crazy without that silent bodily context?

Graydon scooted closer, his shoulder bumping mine to try and knock me out of my thoughts. “Thanks,” I mumbled. He nodded.

When it was time to go, I volunteered to go first. Graydon helped me to my feet and then we were walking, him guiding me as I got the feeling back in my feet. They had fed us soemthing small too and I already felt my body arguing to lay back down but I knew that if I lay down I wouldn’t be able to get up again and then I’d rot away in this one room and die. Or worse, They’d find us and then I’d spend my last moments weak, helpless, and in complete pain.

When we were all out, I turned back to see Sam suddenly shoved, tumbling into me. I caught him and then he stabilized himself and returned the favor, catching me as my knees gave out. The door slammed and locked and we all turned to face it. “Shit,” Sam cursed.

“He locked it,” Graydon grunted.

There was a pause before Briggs looked at me. I shook my head, shooting down the question in his eyes. He won’t come. No matter what we do, he wouldn’t come. Briggs sighed. “Leave him,” he told the others. There was a loud knocking and I gasped, going completely stiff. Vivid images colored in sickly vibrant reds and suffocatingly dark blacks filled my head and I shivered. It was Them. Oh god I was out where they could get me again. I took a step toward the door then forced myself to stop. I had to get out. Hiding wouldn’t bring me anything but a slow death with a mad man I’d once called my father.

Briggs began to move toward the noise, Sam immediately following. Graydon went to follow and I reached out, grabbing his wrist. My heart was racing, fear coursing through my veins. “Don’t go!” I called, the three men looking back at me.

“Why not?” Sam asked.

“They’re down there,” I told him, my eyes begging them to understand the words I couldn’t form. “They... they eat... they killed everyone to eat.” I shivered again, leaving against the wall as my legs turned to jelly at the very thought of going toward where They were. “Please, it’s not something you can’t understand just from what I’m saying. It’s not something you need to see.”

Sam frowned. “They eat... people?” My hands curled, fingers turning into claws against the wall. I nodded and Briggs and Sam exchanged a look. I looked at Graydon who was already looking at me. He moved closer, trying to comfort me but not sure how to do it.

“You okay?” He asked. He immediately cringed. “I know you’re not I just mean... you’re willing to leave your dad behind?”

That surprised me. “I lost him a long time ago,” I reasoned. His frowned deepened. “Just... please don’t leave me.” I wasn’t one to be vulnerable, but I knew that I couldn’t lose him. Any of them. I’d already lost everyone else. I LIKED these people. If I was on my own again it would be absolute Hell. I hadn’t even been truly alone, not a single person around to look at in times of hopelessness. If they were gone, the loneliness is all I would have. And I don’t think I could bring myself to fight for that.

After seeing the look in my eyes, his face set and he nodded. “Promise.”

That set me at ease. Briggs moved, catching both of our attention. “Can you shoot a gun?” He offered me the weapon and I looked at it with the slightest of pauses before nodding, taking it. He stepped close, pointing things out. “Safety, trigger... pull that when you want to shoot. Safety’s off so be careful.” I nodded. “Let’s go,” he mumbled, turning away from the noise and toward the exit and I relaxed. “Let’s get out of here before they find us.”

We were moving again but a second after we took a step I heard my dad ram against the door, screaming my name at the top of his lungs. I gasped, skittering away. Graydon was immediately right against me, his body then moving in front of me.

After a few beats, Sam chuckled. We all looked at him like he was insane. “Got brave all of a sudden, hm, Graydon?”

Graydon glared but there was a sudden awkwardness in him that made me wonder how accurate Sam’s statement had been. “Guess it’s easier to be brave when there’s something to fight for,” I mumbled. “Maybe he didn’t want to come in or be here, but he has to get out now.” Sam looked at me like I hadn’t quite got what he’d meant and maybe I hadn’t. Sam’s smile and Graydon taking a step away from me seemed so out of place and nonsensical that it didn’t add up in my mind as I tried to draw a conclusion as to what Sam was insinutaing.

My dad started smashing against the door again, violent and loud. “Let’s go,” Briggs muttered darkly as I tensed, the split second of almlst light heartedness completely disappearing in a second as screeching voices echoed in the distance.

We were running now, me leading the group because I knew the layout of the base I’d once called home better than they did, especially while panicked and running. We were about twenty feet from escape when a body landed from the ceiling. I gasped, my eyes going wide as an arm tugged me back. All I saw was black as guns went off. My hands flew to cover my ears and I pressed my face into Grayson’s back. When the fight cleared, the groans echoing from behind us made me lock up.

Graydon turned, pulling me after him. No one had to say anything- the four of us took off. We ran and ran and kept running until we hit outside, where we only stopped because Briggs has to blow up the opening. "Keep going!" Sam yelled, motioning at me and Graydon when I whined, hopping from foot to foot. I didn’t pause, turning and taking off, and Graydon was only too happy to follow.

Running through snow was not easy. My feet kept sinking and catching in the holes and I almost tripped several times. When we finally got to the bridge, both of us were having a hard time breathing. We got across when I finally stopped, not able to go any further. "We got over the bridge," Graydon gasped. "Let’s wait here for Sam and- and Briggs." He said his words between gasping breaths. I nodded and he kneeled next to me.

The world was spinning and I groaned. "Graydon I... I don’t feel... so good."

He looked at me and then back at the bridge. There was a pause and then a loud explosion. I shivered as the air hit me from whatever had happened and then something hit me over the head and I was out cold. The world was gone and I fell into black.

-

It was dark when I woke up but unlike I’d g-them use to, it wasn’t cold. I was laying comfortably on soemthing soft, a thick blanket over me. A door opened and I looked over to see Graydon walking in with a bag in his hand. "You’re up," he greeted, smiling. He sat next to me on a beaten down chair, offering the bag. "Food. You hungry?" I nodded, taking it from him.

"Thank you." I reached in and pulled out a lumpy sandwich, smiling. It was the most delicious thing I’d laid eyes on in weeks.

I dug in and he chuckled. "Don’t eat too fast, you might choke." After a few bites and swallows, it was gone. "Shit, a girl who can eat her food. You continue to impress." He seemed awkward, a weird lilt to his voice that I couldn’t quite pin.

My head tilted. "Are you sick? You keep looking at me weird."

Graydon rose a hand, running it through his hair. "Guess Sam was right," he sighed. I rose my eyebrow. "I... know I don’t know you well, but... but I kinda- well-"

His face went red and I scooted close, pushing the blanket and the food to the side to plant my feet on the ground, leaning my elbows on my knees so I could reach out to him when I pressed the back of my hand to his forehead. "Now you’re red, and your face is kind of warm. Maybe you are-"

"You’re beautiful." I froze, my hand still on his head as I met his eyes. It was suddenly very apparent how close we were. "And you saved our asses back there," he added quietly. "We got out a lot faster than we would have if we’d ins[ected like they had planned and soemthing really bad could have happened. We’re back at base and Sam found the clearing where there might actually be a good place to restart normal life on Earth. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up so we can go. Whenever you’re ready, we-"

"You said I was beautiful." My hand dropped to my knee and he swallowed. His eyes were wide, full of fear, and I couldn’t help but note that he was very attractive. I sat back. "I’m flattered and... and I haven’t had real company in a long time. But Gray... I... I’m really messed up. Looks aren’t everything."

His lips tugged as he fought a smile. "I’m not asking you to have sex with me, it was just the truth. I would like to get to know you. You’re strong and brave- it amazes me. You sat in the same spot for DAYS and then got up and ran faster than ever I could in the far below freezing weather without proper warmth and you just... took it so well. We thought you were dead when you didn’t wake up for four days, constantly taking your pulse and checking your breathing... I don’t know."

A shyness I hadn’t experienced in a long time bubbled and poked, my body hinting at a possibility. His promise ring out to me, the idea of always having someone by my side at all times and through everything - especially in the way that I hadn’t had the time to allow myself to think of but had wanted for as long as I remembered - was promising. It was good. I smiled. "Sure, Gray. I’d love to get to know you."

"And no pressure," he added. "If we become just friends, then it’s just friends." He laughed, shaking his heads. "I didn’t think this was how this whole thing would go down but I also didn’t realize how awkward I was around a pretty girl, so here we are." I blushed and he reached out, the pads of his fingers gently moving across the tinted skin before slipping a piece of hair behind my ear. His hand dropped. "I like that nickname by the way. I’ve gotten Aydon but never Gray."