Through Their Eyes.

I awoke to a thin strand of light peeking through the window's thick curtains. I scooted up a bit to escape the beam. My body tensed as I felt someone stir against my back only to relax automatically as I realized who it was. Andrew's arm slid around me as he made grumbly sleep sounds into my shoulder blade. My eyes scanned the grime-covered motel room as I nestled myself closer to him. Aside from the terror I had felt from the previous night, I found waking next to Andrew was nothing short of heavenly.

"Natasha," he whispered against me. I felt his lips caress my shoulder as he gave me a light kiss there.

"Yeah?" I asked, voice cracking a bit from sleep. My eyes refused to leave the door as paranoia from the previous night kicked in.

"Are you okay?" he wondered. He stretched carefully as if he were afraid to disturb me.

"I'm fine," I lied. It was obvious that he'd known that I had the nightmares. Although I've had them for years, the nightmares still got to me, and it always took a few minutes of recovery in the mornings.

"Was it a bad one?" He pressed, tightening his arm around me.

"Not so bad." I answered. This was the truth, they'd been known to leave me screaming in my sleep, and force me to wake in tears. Desperate to change the subject I asked, "How long do we get to stay here?"

"Until noon... Unless you want another night?" He shifted his position until he was propped up on an elbow, his chin resting on my shoulder. He didn't seem to mind the light that had to have been in his face. "Natasha... Are you sure you're okay? I hate that you had the nightmares even with me here."

"I think the fear of what happened last night added to it. It really wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been." I told him in a small voice.

"Please don't ever be afraid to wake me if you're scared, I want to be able to help you." he said, kissing my shoulder once more.

"Thank you... I love you, Andrew." I whispered. The arm he wasn't using to hold himself up was draped over my side; I let my fingers lace with his as I slowly rubbed my thumb over his.

"I love you too, sweetheart. I always will." He replied, his words vibrating through me.

"Andrew," I began shakily, ready to address the dreaded topic that we'd seemed to have been avoiding. "I'm scared... Those... Those things, those monsters..." My voice trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence that revolved around such monstrous creatures.

"Shh... It'll be okay, my love. I'll always be here to protect you." He promised softly.

I smiled and curled even closer to him. His head returned to the pillows, beside mine. "Can we have another day?" I inquired. "I still have to get a hold of my family... Or the police, whichever comes first. Then maybe think of what we're going to do?"

"Of course. If all else fails... We'll call my mom." He whispered.

I sighed and nodded. Grabbing the edge of the dark comforter, faded from multiple washes, I pulled it off of me. Noting that I was wearing the same clothes as the day before, I sighed. I rose and began to stretch tiredly. Andrew watched me make my way to the door. As my hand fell to the knob, he asked where I was off to. "The car. I have to grab my stuff so I can have a shower." I answered.

He stood quickly, stumbling clumsily towards me. "I'm going with, Natasha."

My brow furrowed. "Why?" I asked.

"I just don't want you going out there alone." He said, staring at the closed navy curtains.

I nodded, feeling the warmth inside that resulted from his constant caring. "Thank you," I whispered, in reality, I was quite frightened by the thought of being alone and I was grateful that Andrew wanted to come along, even if it would only take a minute. His fingers found mine as I unbolted the door. I looked to his handsome face, he seemed mildly frightened. I drew in a deep breath and opened the door, expecting the worst. The sunlight momentarily blinded me, causing me to squint. After my eyes adjusted to the harsh lighting, I noted that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. A few cars passed along the road perpendicular to the building we had resided in, but save for that, all was silent. I looked both ways down the open-faced hallway and cautiously stepped out of the safety of our room.

As we descended the staircase, Andrew unlocked the car. "Maybe after showering we can go to breakfast?" He suggested.

I cringed as he broke the silence, afraid something would come after us. Nothing around us stirred. I smiled at my own stupidity. "All right," I agreed as he handed my bag to me. After grabbing his, he motioned for me to lead us back to our temporary home.

Back in the room, he exhaled in what sounded like relief. Upon noticing me eyeing him strangely, Andrew smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I just... I don't know, I guess I thought they were going to be out there." He explained.

"It's fine. There's no way they could have followed us this far... But I know what you mean. They were so... I don't even know how to describe it." I drew in a shaky breath. "They were eating that guy, Andrew! Devouring his flesh as if he were a fucking turkey dinner! And did you see their skin? They seemed to hardly notice their wounds at all, the way they were practically falling apart before out eyes... And they were coming towards us. They were going to-"

"Natasha, calm down!" Andrew interrupted me, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder.

My breathing began to decelerate as I was pulled back into the moment. "How can you be so calm, Andrew?" I whispered.

He sighed, locking every lock that the cheap door had. "I'm not. I'm scared shitless, but we can't just fall apart." He answered. He pulled me into his arms, stroking my hair as I shivered fearfully against him. My arms hugged him tightly around his middle as he whispered sweet words of comfort to me. "We'll be okay, my darling. Now go shower."

I nodded, pecking him on the lips and headed to the bathroom with my bag in hand. It was a small thing, the bathroom. A tiny sink and a toilet shoved against the left wall, and a small shower on the right. I sighed, gathering my hygiene supplies and starting the shower. It seemed there was either ice cold or blistering hot, no in-between. Damn broken motel shower, I thought angrily. I settled for the hot and stepped in, letting the liquid scald my flesh. I hurried to get out, nearly tripping over the edge. Looking around, I was unsurprised to find no towels, luckily I had come prepared. I pulled my purple one from the bag and dried myself hastily. After brushing my teeth I exited the room. "What are you smiling at?" I grumbled at Andrew.

"You're red all over." He replied with a childish giggle.

"Yeah, that's what happens when the shower has two settings. Ice and melt your fucking skin off." I mumbled.

His smile evaporated. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"Your turn. I suggest cold. No towels, I left mine in there for you." I said as he stood. He went straight to the bathroom, and I began brushing my hair.

When I heard the shower start, I flipped on the ancient television. We had all of three news channels, so I settled on the weather for some background noise. I busied myself by writing in my notebook, recording a few things I didn't want to forget as somewhat of a journal entry. Somewhere during my writing, the weather's elevator music had faded into a live reporter's distressed voice. I only caught a few phrases here and there, but, "...various attacks across the Illinois-Wisconsin area..." caught my attention. My head snapped up as small clips of a few of the said attacks were being shown. Many of the menaces looked eerily similar to the three figures we'd come across the night before, others looked not far from normal save for the ashen skin and a wound or two. The heavily made up reporter returned to the screen warning people to stay indoors until the situation was under control.

My eyes detached from the screen when the station cut to commercial. "That's it?" I gasped in horror to myself. "Just stay indoors while murderous freaks run wild out there?" I shuddered, catching an image of myself as a cannibalistic freak willing to make any poor bystander my next meal. My throat felt dry as I called Andrew's name.