The Only Hope for Me Is You

I walk into Mikey’s room, closing the door on the situation behind me. I see his jacket hanging on the end of his bed and him lying on the bed, engrossed in an Iron Man comic.

I smile at this and take my own jacket off, hanging it over his and then falling next to him, resting my head on his shoulder, scanning the page of the comic he’s on.

“Everything sorted?” he asks, wrapping one arm around me but not breaking his gaze with the comic, I nod.

“Yeah…they are…”

“Alright, what’s wrong?” he asks, laying the comic on his thigh and turning his gaze to me.

“What if he’s dead Mikey?” He knows straight away I’m talking about Exploder, “what do I do then? He’s my brother and…hell we know Korse will be looking for revenge…”

“Listen to me,” he says, sitting up and bringing me with him, taking both my hands in his, “everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”

I nod, stroking his thumbs lightly. “I just…I need to know if he’s alive.”

“We’ll find out, just not now okay? You need rest, we all do.” He leans in a kisses me lightly, I press mine hard against his, pushing my head towards his as he grabs my neck, pulling me towards him, I pull away for a second,

“Save the resting for later.” I smirk, he smirks back, pulling me back into the kiss as we fall back onto the bed.

_______________________________________________________________________

I blink awake, realising it’s still night as I squint at the blackened window across the room.

I see that I’m laid next to Mikey, his arm round me, mine sprawled across his bare chest and I realise that we’re both completely naked, I giggle to myself quietly.

I lay still for a while, my mind casts back to Exploder and the worry feeling is back. I just need to know if he’s alive, and I know a way to do that without getting anyone hurt, well I say anyone, that could possibly exclude me.

I look up at Mikey’s still, calm, perfect face and smile. I lift my arm from his chest and I carefully remove his arm from around me and put it by his side, placing a kiss on his warm lips as I do,

“I love you.” I whisper as I pull away, sliding out from the sheets, gathering up my clothing from the floor.

I pull on my pants and trousers as quietly as possible, strapping on my bra and then pulling on my shirt. I take my boots from under the bed and grab my jacket from Mikey’s as I walk out of the room, carefully closing the door behind me, it gives a light click and I let out a breath.

I look around the corridor for a second and just listen to hear if anyone’s out of bed, I hear only the crickets that habit around the shack and nod to myself, tip toeing to the living area, sitting on the sofa and pulling on my boots.

When I’ve done so, I walk into the kitchen and glance at the time, it’s only half three in the morning, this should give me plenty of time to get to Battery City, check on Exploder, get the other boxes and be back before everyone wakes up.

“Perfect.” I whisper to myself, I turn and walk to the sofa again and retrieve my holster, strapping it around my waist and then placing my gun in its place. I put my mask on the top of my head as I walk out of the shack.

It’s a surprisingly warm evening tonight, acid winds are low but I pull up my bandana anyway, pulling on my jacket as I do, zipping it up halfway and shoving my hands in its pockets.

I look out ahead of me, glancing into the nothingness of the zone, there really is nothing. Nothing apart from a couple of boulders dotted around, some tumbleweed here and there and a gas station, there’s the tiniest village in the middle of zone two, but that’s about it from then on until Battery City.

I shake it, one day this world will be better, one day.

I’ve been walking along the edge of zone two, keeping my distance from the civilisation in the middle of it, my face must be everywhere. I keep one hand near my gun at all times, I must be almost there now.