F*** Cancer, This One Did Us All In.

38. The End.

  A/N: One more chapter to go.

  I had a lovely day. The best day ever since Mrs Hobkins' stupid cheek fell off. A day I would cherish for as long as I live. That first day I spent with my family, laughing and playing hide and go seek and having real talks, I would always remember.

  Always.

  Supper was baked beans and poorly made bread. There wasn't enough flour, or there was too much flour, I didn't know, I just went along with everybody else and told mom that it was perfect. And it was. I actually went to bed with a full stomach, for the first time in more than a week.

  I was just lying there, waiting for sleep to find me, yet dreading what would happen when it did and my bedroom door opened. I looked and saw Michelle standing there, dressed in pajamas and holding her blanket close to her.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, sitting up.

  "Theodore, is it okay if I sleep with you?"

  I frowned. "But aren't you sleeping with mom and dad?"

  "I want to sleep with you." Was all she said, and I smiled and opened my arms.

  She smiled and jumped into bed, throwing her blanket over the two of us, even though I had my own blanket.

  "And don't worry." She said, looking at me and smiling, showing the gaps between her teeth. "I didn't drink anything tonight and I went to the toilet three times, so you don't have to worry about me peeing."

  I rubbed her head and said, "I don't care if you do. It's okay, and totally natural."

  Her smile faded a little and she said, "I never used to pee before, but now I can't stop." She looked down. "I think it's because of the nightmares, but -"

  "Hey." She looked up at me when I said that. "You don't have nightmares when sleeping with me. Okay? We'll beat those nightmares away together."

  She smiled and nodded, then buried her head into my chest and wrapped her arms around me. I smiled, as I patted her back, and didn't even realise she was asleep, didn't even realise I was asleep.

  Everything was happening in slow motion, my body was throwing itself backwards, the moonlight glancing off the gun I held in my hands. I could feel the wall almost rushing to meet the back of my head eagerly, but not nearly as eager as the Flesh-eater as she lunged at me.

  Her eyes, two pale eyes, were focused on me and nothing else. Her mouth was open and tongue dripping with her own black blood. Some of her teeth were broken, some were cracked, but all were ready to tear into my flesh. Her hands were outstretched and already touching the fabric of my jacket.

  Then there was a cracking pain against the back of my head as it spread like wildfire through my brain, sloshing it from back to front as my eyes squeezed shut, tears already forming in them. My finger tightened  (was it instinct? was it luck? what was it?) on the trigger and it was suddenly being pulled. I didn't see it, but could hear the bullet whistling through the air, like a common man on his way to work. I heard it make contact first with the skin. Tearing it and causing ripples all the way out. Then it hit the decayed meat, made a sort of sucking noise as it pulled its way through, cracking into the bone and shattering it, making its way towards the brain and my eyes were opening and my eyes were opening and -

  My eyes opened and I found myself moving, throwing the blanket off of me, getting to my feet, only remembering Michelle when she groaned in irritation. I turned to see her rubbing her eyes, a grumpy look on her face as she looked at me with confusion and a small amount of fear. (Small, barely there but still there.)