This Broken City Sky

Kat stood there for a moment, her chest still heaving in air from how worked up she had gotten. She knew that Lily had been correct and that she should try to let people in. Part of her fear of letting people in was that as soon as she’d get to know them, they’d be ripped away from her. She had her brother to truly worry about, and she didn’t need any more intense stress from a close knit-relationship. The room remained quiet for some time after that; a few of the others were glancing around nervously at the others and some were looking at anything but anyone else. In one swift movement, Kat strode to the bed and began to hastily reassemble her handgun.

Johnny noticed the look she had on her face was less than pleasant and her eyes were harsh and lifeless. He sighed heavily and stepped over to her as she finished putting the gun together and began to refill the magazine with rounds. Just before he went to speak, Kat cut him off, not bringing her eyes to him.

“I’m fine,” she said in a voice that clearly indicated otherwise. “I just…need fresh air.” With that, she strode out of the room without so much as a second glance to anyone, slamming the door behind her with such ferocity that the door jam gave a protesting groan. Everyone gave a jump as she left, eyes falling to the carpet and their shoes instead of looking around. Johnny sighed heavily and looked up first, biting his bottom lip nervously.

“I was going to high school before all this happened, I was a sophomore. I had the biggest crush on this punk rock chick named Ella and I never told her about it,” he spoke, commanding the attention of the room suddenly and he felt the need to suddenly sink back and disappear into the wall. He never really liked being the center of attention but felt like he had to really introduce himself to these people who were practically strangers to him. “I…kind of wanted to go into pharmaceutical studies when I got older. Helping people was kind of my thing. Not to mention the paychecks aren’t too bad.” A chorus of laughter traveled through the room and Johnny gave them a wry smile in return. “I’d go to nursing homes on weekends and help out there. I’d nurse my sister back to health after she’d come home drunk. I’d help her with her hangovers in the morning or listen to her gripe about a latest mistake.” He took in a deep breath and glanced around the room awkwardly before his eyes landed on Lily.

“So…what did you do before all this happened?” He asked her, trying to find out a little bit more about. “Other than work at this blasted hotel,” he added with a small smirk, causing laughter to flit around the room once more.

These questions started up a bit of an opening up amongst the group. They all shared things like their favorite meals and bands, or childhood pets and first love. With this opening up came an overwhelming sense of understanding. Despite their different background and beginnings, they were all so much alike. They all had similar interests and upbringings. They found that they all grew up in Jersey, yet not all of them lived there now. Frank, Gerard, Mikey, and Ray explained to the other about their band and their drummer, who was in Chicago and was supposed to be meeting them the day the infections broke out. They explained the future that they had, now somewhat sad that their goals for it would never come to pass. Hours flew by as they talked and chatted with each other and for the first time they truly felt like a solid group of survivors, rather than a bunch of stragglers. Kat, however, hadn’t returned and nighttime was closing in.

“Do you think Kat’s alright, Johnny?” Mikey asked the boy softly, so to not attract the attention of the room. Johnny looked over at the man and let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” he said, trying to convince himself that he felt the same way. “She’s probably just up on the balcony or roof.”

“Shouldn’t someone go check and make sure she’s fine?” Mikey asked, voicing his concern for the boy’s sister.

“I’ll go,” Gerard butted in, having listened into the conversation without the other two being aware of it. Both Johnny and Mikey looked over at the man hesitantly, knowing that Kat probably wouldn’t agree with that. Gerard didn’t wait for an answer from the two of them, he merely stood, grabbing his hammer, and left the room. The conversation between the other four dwindled a bit as the heard the door close. They all then glanced over at Mikey and Johnny with apprehensive expressions and Ray was the first to say anything.

“Is he going to find Kat?” He asked hesitantly and Johnny nodded.

“God help him. She’s going to be in a right mood,” the youngest of the group said seriously before laughter filled the room again.

Gerard slowly walked the staircases to the eleventh floor, slightly nervous about the condition he’d find Kat in. Then he remembered that she single-handedly had taken down three infected and that she could probably hold her own just fine. He pushed open the door to leave the staircases and began to walk toward the only open door on the eleventh floor. Well, there wasn’t really a door left to open or close since Dylan had blasted it off with the shotgun. He drew in a deep breath and stepped past the threshold into the room. He knew that Kat was in the room, because the lights were on in the living room. He glanced to the balcony and saw the blonde-haired woman leaning against the railing. Her leather jacket, which she rarely took off, was draped over the back of the couch. A cabinet in the kitchen was pulled open slightly, revealing a plethora of liquor bottles.

He stepped farther into the room and noticed that Kat had a bottle of clear liquid in her left hand as she brought her right hand to her lips, expelling smoke off to the side. She then brought the bottle up and tilted her head back, gulping down the liquid with hopeless abandon. When she pulled the bottle away from her lips, she swallowed hard and winced dramatically. Gerard took a few more steps forward and knocked gently on the door frame, causing Kat to spin around wildly. She stumbled a bit from the suddenly movement and Gerard dropped his hammer to the ground and took quick steps to the obviously drunk woman. He caught her before she fell and slowly righted her back onto her feet. She had managed to keep a decent grip on her bottle, which Gerard could now see was vodka, and her cigarette.

Her cheeks were flushed a bright red color and her eyes looked glossy and tired. Gerard’s brow furrowed as he watched her watching him before she turned back around and looked off to the sunset. She pushed her cigarette between her lips and took a drag of it before expelling the smoke.

“The others are wondering where you are,” Gerard said softly inciting a raspy laugh from Kat.

“Are they?” She asked with a sarcastic kind of cheerfulness. “They aren’t hoping I pitched myself off the side of the building?” Gerard looked over at her and noticed the sour look on her face, the slight sway of her body.

“You know no one would want that,” he said softly, watching Kat’s profile closely. Her lips pulled down at the corners dramatically and she shook her head wildly.

“No…no, they would,” she said, her words slurring together pitifully, before slowly looking over at him. “Everything they said was true, Gerard.” She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before sighing heavily and shaking her head. “I really do have no one out there looking for me.” Gerard merely stayed quiet, letting Kat talk herself out of this drunken depression she was in. “I should be in Sweden right now.”

“What?” Gerard found himself asking, finding no sense in that sentence what so ever.

“Yep,” Kat slurred, nodding a bit, before staring back out across the city to the horizon, “my parents, my birth parents, were Swedish punk rockers. My mom found out she was pregnant, didn’t have the heart to abort me, and gave me up for adoption as soon as I was born without even a second glance. I was adopted by an older couple when I was three and taken to America.”

“So…Johnny isn’t blood related to you?” Gerard asked softly as the girl took a break from talking to take a few gulps of her vodka. The girl swallowed and winced again before shaking her head wildly, her blonde hair flying in every direction.

“No…but it doesn’t mean I don’t care for him. I was eleven when my adoptive parents got him so; he’s grown up with me. I’ve grown up with him,” Kat said, swaying a bit more on the spot as the light slowly grew darker and darker around them. “They died when I was nineteen and I was given custody of Johnny. I never met my birth parents…so I’ve been with Johnny for the past five years, trying to make a living to support the both of us.” Gerard was completely silent as he stared at Kat, who was running her tongue over her bottom lip before she turned her tired eyes over to him. “Do you feel sorry for me?” She asked in a quiet voice, her face and eyes void of emotions.

“Should I?” Gerard asked hesitantly, not wanting to say something to ruffle the feathers of the drunken woman beside him. A rarely seen grin curled the corner of her lips and she slowly shook her head.

“No…I don’t want pity…just booze,” she said happily as she tilted the bottle back and took a gulp of the liquid. Gerard let out a nervous laugh as she watched the woman, knowing she had probably drunk half the bottle in the little time he had been with her.

“Maybe you should take it easy, Kat,” he said softly, his worried eyes darted to the bottle in her hand. Kat scoffed and shook her head, taking another rebellious sip of the drink. She swallowed and cut her eyes at him.

“Maybe you should take it easy, Gerard,” she said, completely slurring his name. Gerard merely shook his head and easily plucked the bottle from her hand placing it to the side.

“C’mon, let’s get you back to the room and lay you down,” he said, curling an arm around her back to steady her as he began to guide her off the balcony. She laughed loudly and leaned against Gerard as she walked along with him.

“You want to get back to the room and lay me down. Is that what you want? To lay me down?” She cooed breathily in his ear and he could smell the crisp, pungent smell of vodka in her breath. His cheeks burned with a bright pink blush and Kat gave a raspy chuckle beside him. “It’s okay if you want to,” she babbled on drunkenly beside him as he turned off the lights in the room, “you have my permission to do whatever the fuck you feel like doing to me.”

“Are you always this friendly or is it just for me?” Gerard murmured to himself as he grabbed her jacket from the back of the couch.

“Just for you,” Kat sighed as she leaned her head on his shoulder, stumbling a bit over her feet as they continued to walk out of the room. Gerard bit his bottom lip and paused a bit, thinking about how dangerous it was for the two of them to walk down the stairs. Gerard was never quite good with walking down them and quite often fell down them, and now that Kat was drunk, she’d be more apt to falling down them.

“We’re going to take the stairs nice and slow, okay?” He asked, feeling like he was talking to a child. Kat let out another raspy chuckled and swayed a bit.

“That’s just how I like things…nice and slow,” she said aloud, causing Gerard to roll his eyes at how drunk the woman was.

“C’mon then,” he said softly as he pushed open the door to the staircases and slowly began to guide Kat down them.