Desolate

Oliver came back inside, he had a few plots of blood that had stained his clothing; he looked between everyone and shook his head. Obviously, Austin had been torn up by the zombie, he was a nuisance; he was still a human though, they have emotions and feel. Charlie ran a hand and placed it on Oliver's shoulder, comforting him slightly; he was still tense around her, but at least he wasn't being a douche. Zakk was sitting down in the corner, running a hand through his hair; he was obviously conflicted with his mind, and other things.

"Damn all these couples," Darren remarked from the middle of the room, crossing his arms in angst ,"Everyone's got someone except for me and Alex, and I'm not going with her!" he announced, earning a very annoying look from Alex; everyone else could only crack a smile.

"It's alright, you'll find someone," John smiled at him, patting his back in one of those "manly" supporting touches; it was hard to describe, but everyone's seen them.

"In the trash," Alex interjected, a triumphant grin on her face; she hadn't really done anything to earn it, but she wore it anyways. Darren curled his fist as he pointed at her, they started yelling, and soon everything turned into a giant mob of curses and interjections. Charlie's lip twitched as she tried to force down the anger bubbling in her throat, her head was pounding against her skull; she wanted to shoot someone, and she wanted to do it so badly.

"Shut the fuck up!" she exclaimed loud enough to get all of their attention; her head seemed to have burst in a fury of pain, making her wince slightly. "Okay, listen here, this isn't the time to be thinking about couples," Charlie continued, she was reminding herself as well; the world didn't revolve around relationships. "We're not here to tap a little ass, as you should recall, we're here to survive; love doesn't matter, relationships don't matter; surviving does!" she argued, putting her hand on her head as if it'd bring relief to the throbbing. "How are those significant others going to live, if you die on the way to the top? How can you hold them when this is all over and say "At least we made, and we made it together?" Does surviving mean anything to you all, throwing away your life for love?!" She finished, pulling a chair from behind her and forcibly throwing herself into it; she was angry at everyone, herself, and just everything. The daily routine of survival was becoming stale, and it was almost tedious just to try anymore; there was nothing you could do though, no matter how much you missed it.

"Then why do you have Oliver? Why does Jordan have Zakk?" Darren retorted, standing up; his eyes were glazed over as a frown overcame his features. "We're all trying to survive, yes. We have emotions though, they tend to tell us our next actions. How are we supposed to have hope, when we can't even get the people we like to notice us?" he was angry, and the last part of his sentence had been spoken quietly; soft enough to hear, but not by much. His hair covered his face when he looked down, Charlie felt guilty, she did; what was she to do though?

"How do you know it won't work out later? What if they weren't the ones you wanted in the end?" Oliver replied, raising his eyebrows as he stood to his feet. "What if your feelings were leading you in a pathway you shouldn't have even set foot on?"

"Because my heart's telling me what to do and say," Darren immediately countered, hate was evident in his eyes; catching Oliver off guard, they used to be friends to an extent. "I follow my heart, my brain doesn't have a say. I'm only here because my heart said, "If you leave now, you won't see her again," and my brain said, "If you leave now, you'll die," Both were correct, but now my brain doesn't even matter anymore," he rambled, his hands moving over his chest and his head, fumbling over his words as he tried to explain his logic. "I know, if I die, at least you all will remember me. But if I don't see her again, then what's the point in living?" his voice had gone weak, and he turned his eyes away from everyone; no one had anything else to say, how were you supposed to respond. Charlie pulled at the fabric of her pants, trying to think of something to comfort the young man; she didn't understand his logic. She wanted to live, if it came to it...would she throw her life to save Oliver? Her eyes became heavy, and she pinched at her skin, trying to rid of the light headed feeling.

"There's a lot to live for," Charlie broke the silence, and Darren still wouldn't face her. Oliver tried to grab at her arm as she stood up; pulling away, she made her way over to Darren, and simply stood in front of him. "There's the people you care about, the feelings you get when you realize you just survived, the smile of someone you love, just living. You get to be a part of something that a lot of people missed, they had their lives taken away from them; you have to realize what's in front of you. You only live once," Charlie continued to persuade Darren, not to give up on believing; she didn't want him to just lose hope, she was too, but she didn't want the group to just fall apart. In a rash action, Darren wrapped his arms around her neck; it was just a hug, but Oliver didn't waste time in standing up to check.

"Charlie," she could hear him simply whimper softly, his head was buried into her shoulder; his embrace tightening as his shoulder shook. Soft cries could be heard by only her, and Charlie was struck at how much emotional toll was being put on him; Darren always seemed so optimistic and bright, as most glass faces are. Rubbing her hand over his back, she relaxed as she placed her head on his shoulder; trying to help him regain his composure.

"Will you all just shut up, this is making me sick," Zakk announced, storming out of the room; he seemed to have been put on a permanent man PMS. Darren only clung onto Charlie as she tried to pull away, only to sigh in return and continue to return the embrace.

"Just a little longer," he whispered to her, and she nodded her head; a glare from Oliver across the room, she hung her head as she tried once more. Oliver had his arms crossed, an angry and hurt look across his face; she could already tell that he was one of those protective boyfriends. She tried to stay away from those, because they all seemed to turn into abusers later in life; although, she doubts she could see Oliver turning into one of those.

"Darren come on," Charlie mumbled, trying to unwrap the man's arm away from her; she was starting to tell Oliver's tolerance was beginning to break. "Darren let go," she ordered more than commented, she didn't want Oli more mad; she didn't want to fight with him again, it wasn't worth it in the end.

"I can't," Darren only responded pulling away, and looking at her with a red eyed expression. "If I let go now, when will I ever be able to do this again?" he inquired, not giving her a chance to respond as he leant down and attached his lips to hers; she only tried to pull away, but his fingers had moved behind her head and forced her to stay.

"I fucking knew it," Oliver sighed in exasperation, climbing up to where Zakk had stormed off previously. Letting a growl out of her throat, she pushed Darren off of her as she glared at him slightly; he didn't seemed fazed, more as content.

"You're such an ass!" she voiced, trying to follow Oliver; who only slammed his and Zakk's door in her face. Growling she stormed her way to where Jordan's room was, and found the door locked; knocking in an obnoxious manner, Jordan finally opened the door with an aggravated look on her face.

"What? Came in here to yell too?" she asked, crossing her arms as Charlie pushed past her and collapsed face forward into the bed. "What the hell?" she questioned, locking the door and making her way over to her; about to push her off, Charlie's glare stopping her.

"Just let me stay here for a while, I don't want to be left out there with..." she stopped, and clenched her fists. This is why she said survival came first, emotions lead to stupid things; it also could mean to bring someone low, and high. Darren ruined everything she had going with Oliver, and her actions would become effected; if she thought about it too much, she might not see the zombie behind her, or the fallen tree in the way of the van. If she could block out these emotions, it could be for the better; smothering her face in the pillow in a whine, she wanted to scream her lungs out. She could try, but emotions are fucking tedious things, they like to get in the way of everything. Making things worse than they already were. Things were falling apart, and all they could do was watch.