This Broken City Sky

The trek back to the guys’ rooms was a slow one. For one, they were all exhausted and Kat was taking a while, since she was still very weak. When the eight finally reached the fourth floor, they paused outside of the doors labeled 413 and 415 in fancy, brass letters that hung pristinely on the crème-colored doors. Kat stumbled a bit, Johnny quickly catching her by the elbow, Mikey catching her other. She sent a small, thankful smile to the latter before righting herself again.

“Alright…so…how are we going to go about this?” Gerard asked as he leaned against the expanse of wall between the two doors.

“Both Johnny and my gun stay with me,” Kat said sternly. Ray turned and glanced over his shoulder before looking back at Gerard.

“And Lily and the shotgun stay with me,” Dylan added with a nod. Frank let out a sigh and fisted his hair in his hands. Gerard glanced over to Mikey before taking in a deep breath of air.

“Mikey and I stay together,” he said softly.

“Well…can we just figure this out so I can sleep?” He asked tiredly, shaking his head in exasperation. Kat shot him a venomous look with her tired eyes as Johnny readjusted his grip under her arm so she wouldn’t fall over.

“One gun per room,” Ray said, staring off at the ground before looking up to spy all eyes had gone to him. “That way, we have a little bit of protection should something happen. It wouldn’t be fair to have two guns in one room, while the other room just has crowbars and wrenches.”

“That’s fair,” Dylan said with a nod, placing the butt of the shotgun on the ground and resting it against her leg. “So…if us girls with guns go to two separate rooms, where does that put you guys?”

“Mikey and I are already in 413, Frank and Ray are in 415,” Gerard said, pulling out his key card and holding it between his fingers. “So…it’s your choice as to where you want to go.”

“Which room do you want to stay in, Lil?” Dylan asked, trying to get something out of her stolid cousin. Lily just looked over at her for a moment, her brow furrowed with thought.

“Kat’s favorite number had always been 13,” Johnny spoke up. Lily turned and looked over at Johnny and Kat for a moment before looking back at Dylan. She let out a small sigh and shrugged.

“I guess we’ll stay in 415,” Lily said softly with a nod. Dylan glanced over at Frank, feeling a bit reluctant to stay in a room with him, but decided against saying anything. She was tired and didn’t want to raise a fuss; she just wanted sleep.

“Finally,” Frank let out in a big gush of wind. Ray shot him a tired look before pulling out his own key card and opened the door. Gerard mimicked his actions and opened the door, letting Johnny and Kat walk in first, followed by Mikey. Gerard glanced over to Ray and nodded once.

“Night,” he murmured as he began closing the door.

“Night,” Ray replied as the doors closed nearly simultaneously.

Kat and Johnny shuffled into the room and she sat down on the neatest looking bed, her eyes darting around the room as Johnny turned on a bedside lamp. Gerard and Mikey shot a worried look to each other before walking to the other bed and sitting down on it.

“You can get a shower first, Johnny, if you want to,” Gerard said, motioning to the door that was just to the left of the plasma TV that was mounted on the wall. Johnny sent a look to Kat, who looked back at him for a moment before a wry smirk curled the corner of her lips. Mikey was quick to lay over on his side, placing both the wrench and broken broomstick he held on the side of the bed.

“You looking at me to give you permission to get a shower?” She asked, causing Johnny to let out a laugh and shake his head. “Yes…you can go get clean. Just…bring me a wet washcloth before you do so I can get all this blood and shit off my face.” He stood and disappeared into the bathroom.

Gerard looked over at Kat for a moment, watching as she plucked a pack of cigarettes and a Jack Daniel’s Zippo lighter from her pockets and placed them on the bedside table. The she pulled her handgun out from the back of her pants and placed it closest to her. They heard water running in the bathroom, as well as in the room just next to them. She sniffled lightly and slowly brought her eyes up to Gerard’s before sighing heavily and looking away. The room then fell silent for a moment, which was cut by a snore from Mikey. Gerard let out a chuckle and shook his head at his brother. He heard a raspy laugh from Kat as she put a pillow up against the headboard and leaned up against it, running a hand over her face as she kicked her legs up onto the bed.

“Here you go,” Johnny said softly as he walked back into the room, handing his sister damp washcloth before making his way back to the bathroom. She could feel her skin stretching uncomfortably around the fresh wounds on her arm as she closed her hand around the washcloth. He closed the door behind him that time and soon thereafter, they heard the sound of the shower start. Kat looked down at her bloodstained hands and grimaced. She hummed a noise of irritation under her breath, knowing she was going to need a bit more than one washcloth to get completely clean. She bit her bottom lip and looked over at Gerard.

“Could you help me get all…” Her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as she came to the sickening realization that it wasn’t just her blood on her anymore. She had been splattered with that woman’s blood when she shot her…through the bottom of her chin. “Oh God,” she moaned, dropping the washcloth out of her fingertips and it hit the floor with a wet slap.

“What? What’s wrong?” Gerard asked frantically, looking over at her with wide eyes.

“It doesn’t make me a murderer, does it? Killing those infected people,” she asked in a quiet voice, staring back at him intensely. Gerard pulled in his lips for a moment, just staring at her.

“Well…I don’t think they’re human…”

“So, no? Right?” Kat cut in, closing her eyes and exhaling through her nose. “Not that there would be any sort of judicial consequences, because there probably are no judges left…so it shouldn’t really matter…” Her hands were shaking as she ran them through her hair, snagging it on a bit of dried blood.

“Look at it this way, it’s either kill or be killed,” Gerard said. Kat merely gave a heavy sigh and shook her head, letting it fall forward for a moment as near silence enveloped the room. Gerard watched her for a moment before he looked away, glancing to his own blood-splattered hammer.

“Can you help clean off my face…and make sure that all of it’s gone?” She asked, sounding a bit bashful about having to ask someone for help. Gerard merely nodded and stood from his own bed and sat beside Kat, who had swung her legs over the side of the bed. He leaned over and grabbed the washcloth from the floor and slowly brought it to her face, gently rubbing at the dried on, black blood.

Silence enveloped the room as Kat looked at anywhere but Gerard and Gerard bit his bottom lip as he slowly cleaned the blood off of her face. The seconds passed by slowly as they sat together in the room, the silence only broken by a snore from Mikey or a sound from within the bathroom. Gerard had only gotten half of her face cleaned when he realized that one measly washcloth wasn’t going to clean her entire face, but chose not to say anything, knowing that it’d just worry her more. Kat drew in a deep breath of air and brought her eyes up to Gerard.

“It was close,” she said in a rough, yet quiet voice with a sort of solemn look in her eyes.

“What was close?” He asked softly as he paused from washing off her face.

“I almost got bitten,” she replied quickly, emotionlessly. He merely stared at her, noticing that the confidence that she had when they met had quickly diminished. “I could feel it…breathing on the back of my neck.” Gerard got very still as he watched her closely. She looked away from him and shook her head. “I thought it was over for me.”

“Someone should have gone with you,” he said as he began to clean her face again, pushing back her fringe gently with his other hand to clean some of the blood from underneath her blonde hair.

“I shouldn’t have been so stubborn,” she said before a long pause. “I almost got myself fucking killed because of it,” she added with venom, her upper lip almost curling into a snarl. The room fell quiet again as Gerard pulled the washcloth away from her face, looking over it to make sure that he hadn’t left behind any blood.

“What was the last that you’d heard, from the radio or TV?” He asked hesitantly and she looked away, drawing in a deep breath of air. She bit her bottom lip, hard, before bringing her eyes back to his.

“That scientists thought that it was spread through bites…and to shoot them in the head,” she said plainly. Gerard hissed a curse and shook his head. “Then…some asshole hit the back of my car and almost wrapped me around a street light pole.” She sighed and brought her fingertips to the gash on her forehead. Gerard gently pushed her hand aside, gently dabbing away at the blood there. “Didn’t even turn around to check and see if we were alright, the bastard.” Gerard really didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t been anywhere outside of the hotel in twenty-four hours, so he hadn’t see the atrocities that humanity could create firsthand. The shower in the bathroom switched off and both of their eyes darted over to the door before Gerard looked back to Kat.

“It’s every man for themselves now,” he murmured and Kat’s eyes and expression suddenly hardened as she smacked his hand away from her face. Gerard looked a little surprised, his mouth dropping open. She felt outraged that someone would still have that outlook while she nearly had died to try and make sure six strangers and her brother were safe.

“I don’t care if that’s your fucking mentality about things, but it’s not that way for me,” she hissed, staring hard into his eyes. “I’ve got my brother…and I’ve got the rest of you lot to protect. We’re all we’ve got now.” She paused and took in a shaky breath of air as the tension grew in the room. “I don’t plan on giving in to some stupid apocalyptic virus bullshit without knowing that I died in pursuit of protecting someone else.”

With that she pulled the wash cloth from Gerard’s hand and gave him a hard look, one that he knew not to go against. He stood from the bed and moved to the opposite one, going completely silent. Johnny opened the bathroom door and stepped into the room, wearing the same clothes he was before but his hair was dripping wet. He glanced up to both Gerard and Kat, who were both having a silent stare-off and his eyes widened a bit before he cleared his throat as he walked over to the opposite side of the bed that Kat was laying on. Gerard looked away suddenly, yet Kat continued to stare at him before throwing her legs back onto the bed. She leaned over and turned of the lamp beside the bed, plunging the room into sudden darkness.