Stepping outside is… difficult.
It’s a beautiful day, all things considered. The weather is lovely. The sun is bright, lighting up most everything but the alleyway’s shadowed corners. It’s lovely—if one ignores the corpses bumbling along the streets.
Jordan gulps as he steps outside, his grip on his bat punishingly tight. There aren’t any immediate zombies this far into the alley, nothing walking or shambling along on broken bones. But—there are corpses lying still on the street, exposed to the sun and slowly decomposing. The smell is nauseating; overwhelming in its sting and smothering in its size. He breathes in raggedly, his chest seizing at the motion, and tries to forget what he’s smelling.
”Alright?” Sebastian asks as he locks the last lock, turning around to look at him. He’s got a bat of his own, holding it in a loose grip as it swings by his side. It’s metal compared to Jordan’s tree, and still splattered with dried blood. Sebastian adjusts his grip as Jordan watches, his fingers flexing on the handle.
Jordan tears his gaze away, gulps again, and squeezes out, ”Yeah.” He breathes deeply and mutters, ”I’m fine.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Sebastian frowns, but doesn’t disagree. He merely nods, fingers flexing again. They’re long, those fingers, and entirely capable of snapping a man’s neck. They’re also warm and inviting, and Jordan can still vividly remember how they feel curled around his own. He blinks at his own thought, but Sebastian is speaking before he can process them. ”I’ve cleared all the zombies in the alley, but some new ones might have wandered in, so stay on guard.” Here, he pauses and gives Jordan a considering look, eyebrows slightly furrowed. ”You remember the plan?” Sebastian finally asks, voice low. He’s looking at Jordan with concern now, and Jordan doesn’t know how to handle that.
He looks away, back out into the alleyway. ”I remember,” he assures him—and he does, thankfully. They’d gone over it four times, Sebastian showing him a map and everything of the alleyway in case they get separated. Jordan knows where to go, what to do, how to act. He just… still remember Jules. Still remembers how awful Jules looked, how he acted, how he sounded.
Fuck, Jordan still has nightmares about Jules.
”We don’t have to go now if you’ve changed your mind,” Sebastian says after a moment.
Jordan shakes his head, drawing his shoulders up. ”No, let’s… let’s go now.” Before I lose my nerve entirely, he doesn’t say. They need to go. Jordan needs to know people other than Sebastian exists, needs to know that his sanity isn’t dependent on just one person. Needs to know there’s still people out there, and it’s not all just—hopeless.
Hand trembling around his bat, he begins to walk down the stone stair’s steps. He walks carefully, on edge as he looks around for any oncoming zombies. His steps are silent, slow, methodical.
”Okay,” Sebastian says behind him. Jordan glances over his shoulder and sees the tense line of Sebastian’s jaw. Sebastian is looking over Jordan, right through him, as if he doesn’t exist. As if he’s seeing something else entirely.
Jordan scowls. His grip on the bat spasms and he suddenly says, ”Hold my hand.” There is no taking back the words that have already been said, and he watches Sebastian’s eyes burst to life again. The color shines now, and the focus is back in them. They are present again, not lost in some strange time where Jordan can’t follow.
Sebastian holds out his left hand, and Jordan shifts his bat to his left in order to grip Sebastian’s hand with his own right. He squeezes Sebastian’s hand once, before threading they’re fingers together. ”Are you okay?” Jordan then asks, voice hesitant and low. He furrows his eyebrows as he waits for a response, licking his lips and adding, ”Maybe it would be better if I got some training first, or something.”
Sebastian’s mouth pinches. He stares at Jordan and then sighs, the sound painfully loud. ”I—you’re right. You do need training. But first you should see zombies up close, so you can… prepare yourself.” He closes his eyes and mutters, ”I don’t want you caught off-guard when you fight one for the first time.”
Jordan’s lips purse. He bobs his head shallowly. Jules is still… he wonders, has Andrew returned to their apartment yet? Has he found Jules? Does he know what Jordan did? Does he know that Jordan just… left him there? Does he know that Jordan walked away, and now Andrew is alone?
(Fuck, Jordan just walked away.)
Swallowing his saliva, Jordan nods again. He tries to smile at Sebastian, tries to throw his unfortunate thoughts away, tries to ignore them so he doesn’t lose focus. They’re about to walk through a zombie infested city. He can’t be distracted. So… so those things will just have to be left for another day.
Licking his lips, he worries his bottom lip. ”Let’s go,” Jordan murmurs, and begins to walk again. He drags Sebastian after with their connecting hands, feeling the warmth travel up his arm and settle in his chest. He squeezes once, just to make sure that Sebastian is still there.
Sebastian squeezes back.
They pick up speed as they go, the alley littered with more corpses than Jordan had expected. But they’re all dead dead, unmoving on the ground. They lie still, heads viciously caved in, blood splattered around them. Jordan wonders if the rain will wash it away.
Taking a deep breath, he forces his thoughts to focus again. Sebastian leads the way soon enough, and when a zombie finally attacks them, drawn in by their footsteps, Sebastian steps up with his bat ready to swing. Jordan freezes, his body locked as he breath shatters in his throat. ”Don’t move,” Sebastian mutters, standing solid in front f Jordan. His muscles tense as the zombie shambles closer, picking up speed. And then—then Sebastian swings.
And the zombie drops. Sebastian gives it second, hears the zombie let out a weak growl, and walks over. He whacks it harshly on the head again.
Thanks for the chapteer~
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
Thank you! 😊
Why is it that all I can think of is how the Japanese break watermelons like a pinata xD