Apocalyptic Love

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Carter-

My eyes were trailing back down to my watch, hoping the time would pass quicker. I was perched on the roof of the smallest building, a rifle slouched across my lap as I watched the distance. The roads to the school were deathly quiet, apart from the occasional dead head making its way through.

Andrew was smart. A curfew was set in place meaning the dead walked straight by at night; I still wasn't fully comfortable with this place yet, but I had to try for Katie.

Each time she looked around this place, her ocean blue eyes illuminated and since the moment we arrived she's had a permanent smile etched across her face.

When I finally made it back to the room at sunrise, she was peacefully slouched across the bed. Her brown curls spreading across the pillow, her rosy lips slightly parted. She was beautiful, I'd known it since the first moment I saw her, but I couldn't let myself get attached to her. The girl had a way of making everything seem okay.

Her petite hands were gripped around a small black notebook, a pen slowly slipping from her grip. I took them both, being careful not to wake her while I pulled a blanket across her body. The moment I laid myself next to her she rolled over to face me, her head resting against my chest while her arm wrapped around my torso, and it didn't take me long to fall asleep next to her.

The morning passed by quick, Andrew who was still weary of us leaving handed us a set of keys to a small automatic car and some supplies. Katie wanted to head out straight away; we were about a two-hour drive from her hometown and if we were going to make it there and back before dark we would need the whole day and the hope that we wouldn't run into any trouble.

"You're really not going to let me drive" Katie pouted her lip towards me; it was almost hard to resist.

"I promise ill teach you, but until then you're not driving" I rested my hands on her neck and pulled her towards me so I could kiss her, since the first I didn't want to stop. Each time we connected it was like small parts of me were being glued back together, Katie was my saving grace, and she didn't realise it.

The journey was smooth apart from the occasional dead in the road; Katie fell asleep when we were halfway there, and I couldn't help but grin as I watched her small form curl into the side of the seat.

Pulling the car to a stop, I double checked the map she marked to make sure we were in the right place. The house was huge, it looked almost untouched apart from the rotting bodies of dead slashed across the pavement.

"Katie" I shook her thigh slightly to wake her, it didn't take a lot, the girl was always alert even when she was sleeping.

The moment she gazed through the window her body froze, her hands trembling as she tried to hide them between her legs "Hey" she twisted her neck to look at me; Big blue eyes brimming with tears as her mind drifted "I know it's hard okay, but you can do this".

"I don't know if I can" Tears were brushing past her freckles as she used the back of her denim jacket to wipe them "I never came back here after I lost my parents, I don't know if I'm ready".

I pulled her hands away from her face as littered kisses across her knuckles "You are the strongest person I know. You pulled me out of my dark place, let me help you do this" She nodded gripping my hand.

Katie's grip never left mine as we walked up to the front door, her gaze turning to me for a second of reassurance before she gripped the doorhandle "You can do this".

The place was in utter darkness, wooden barricades hammered into each window. This house was different to what I grew up in, Katie's home was huge, it practically screamed money.

We searched each room to any clue Matt had been here, Katie was silent each moment and I could tell she was hurting as she looked around the home full of memories. We made it to the second floor, both armed as we kept an eye out for any danger lurking in the darkness and we ended up in a large room.

A double bed situated in the middle of the room, a white wooden desk with pictures hung on the wall behind. Most were Katie smiling next to a brunette and blonde girl, some of her and a younger boy that shared her features, the one that caught my eye was the small boy hugging her side as she smiled down at him.

"That was my little brother Kyle" Katie's voice tremored as she unpinned the picture and slid it in the front pocket of her pack. "I used to call him Duckie, he had an obsession with rubber ducks" she tried to smile but the emotions took over.

"He looks like you" I smiled, brushing a solitary tear that had escaped her eyes "My sister went through a stage of superheroes, spider man was her favourite" Katie didn't know anything about my past, but I trusted her, and she was the first person I'd opened up to in a long time.

She smiled leaning up on her tiptoes to leave a chaste kiss along my stubble before turning back around to search the room "This wasn't here before" a dark green backpack was hanging from her grip.

The brunette sat on the edge of her bed, pulling the zipper and rummaging through. The first thing she pulled out was a dog chain, her face instantly lifting as she danged the silver between her fingertips.

"It's Matt's" Her smile erupted when she pulled a long-range walkie talkie from the bag "I knew he was still alive".

Edited