This Night Walk The Dead

* * * * *

Ryan had his back to Brendon, gripping the kitchen counter so hard that his knuckles turned white.
“Why are you acting like this?” Brendon placed his hand on Ryan’s shoulder, which he shrugged off.
“He’s in Jon’s room Bren, he shouldn’t be in there.”
“Ryan, Jon’s gone – we don’t even know if he’s coming back any time soon, if ever.”
“Why would he leave? We had a plan!” Ryan slammed his hands down on the counter and then turned to face Brendon, “And then he comes here and messes everything up, everything was going fine.”
“By ‘he’ I guess you mean Frank? And it wasn’t his fault that Jon left,” Brendon shrugged.
“Wait, you don’t think that Jon...” Ryan trailed off and scowled towards the door.
“What?”
“Took you-know-what...with him?” Ryan looked panicked now, his eyes wide and worried.
“Shit! You don’t think he would do that to us, would he?” Brendon swore and ran his hands through his hair.
“There’s only one way to find out.”

* * * * *

Frank woke to a knock at his door.
Must have fallen asleep, he thought while stretching and sitting on the side of the bed. He had to admit that he hadn’t had such a good rest for months – it was so wonderful to not have to be constantly on guard, waiting to be attacked.

“Can I come in?” He heard Patrick say before poking his head round the door.
“Yeah sure,” Frank yawned and stretched again before standing up.
Patrick chuckled lightly, “Guessing you had a good nap then? I mean, considering that it’s morning now.”
“Really?” Frank was surprised, “I must have really been out cold, well, I haven’t really slept properly for a while.”
“Yeah, the safety is the best part about this place,” Patrick smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets, “Pete’s making pancakes and I came to see if you wanted some.”

As if responding to the word ‘pancake’ Frank’s stomach growled in hunger. Since the dead started rising it was impossible to cook anything without drawing attention to yourself, so something like pancakes was definitely off the menu, and Frank could tell you that eating cold tinned soup and beans gets old very quickly.

In the kitchen Pete waved as Frank walked in, flipping pancakes as he went.
“No bacon or eggs but we have some maple syrup which should do the trick,” he plopped the pancake on top of the pile of the others, which contained at least 20 others.

Frank’s stomach grumbled again when he sat down at the table, “Syrup will do just fine thanks; I can’t believe you guys have pancakes!”

“The powdered egg may taste a little bit different to fresh, and they’re made with pre-mix” he shrugged and smiled while placing the plate on the table, “But they’re still pancakes.”
Patrick placed down a stack of smaller plates onto the table and gave one to Frank, “Take as many as you want, we have enough mixture to last for years.” He nodded towards the food.

His manners would have told him to wait until everyone was sat down at the table before eating, but they had long since meant nothing, and Patrick had said it was okay to start, so Frank picked up a couple and shoved them down his throat. His stomach instantaneously grumbled in approval.

“Don’t choke!” Pete laughed as he sat down across from Frank, placing a bottle of syrup next to the pancakes.

The food was so amazing that Frank actually wanted to cry like a little girl, but made sure that he didn’t lose his dignity in front of Pete and Patrick. Instead he picked up the syrup and drowned his remaining pancake in it.

“We’ve been talking,” Pete cleared his throat, “And we have a lot of food, with Jon gone even more, so – why don’t you think about staying?”

These people were the reason that he was still alive, they had fed him and given him a bed to sleep in. A safe bed. But he had to get back to his friends, they were more important than him being comfortable, he couldn’t just leave them to think the worst, especially when he knew that there was somewhere safe for them.
Then again, he couldn’t turn round to Patrick and say, ‘Oh, by the way – can these other 4 guys come and stay here too? I know there are only 6 beds for 9 people, but have a heart!’ Yep, that would go down a treat.
“I’m really sorry, you’ve done so much for me, but I really can’t.”

Patrick looked sombre but Pete said, “I can’t even sway you with a tempting, working shower?”

Frank laughed, he really did like them – they were good people, “Not even that unfortunately.”
“Well we tried,” Pete turned to Patrick, “Where’re Brendon and Ryan?”

“Ryan’s probably sulking,” Patrick poked at his pancake but didn’t eat it, “I told Brendon that you were making breakfast but I don’t know where he is now, but he said he was coming.”
“I’m sure Ryan didn’t agree to letting me stay, that’s for sure.”

“Ryan isn’t usually like how he was yesterday, he’s a nice kid, I think he was just upset about Jon,” Pete fidgeted uncomfortably before he stood and picked up the used plates, including Patrick’s un-touched pancake and the other 10 or so meant for Brendon and Ryan, “Anyway, Brendon agreed and then it’s 3 against 1, we’re not just gunna throw you out.”
“And he didn’t say he didn’t want you to stay, he doesn’t hate you as much as you might think,” Patrick chipped in.
“Yeah, sure he doesn’t.” Frank said with a hint of sarcasm. He knew the kid was probably scared, just like Gerard, Mikey, Bob and Ray must be.

“Hang on,” Pete went over to the wall and began to climb the ladder to the hatch.
“Woah – wait! What are you doing?” Patrick began to panic and was ready to make a grab for Pete’s legs.

“I remember Jon said something about a scope, you know, to see outside without actually going outside!” Pete was smiling slightly manically, but it also made Frank and Patrick smile.

“So you can see if those things are still up there?” Frank get excited, ready to leave as soon as possible.

Pete got to the top of the ladder and mumbled to himself while typing something into a control box, ‘So, you have to type a password to open the hatch? Super.’ Frank thought to himself. Eventually Pete shouted in success and a little rod popped out of the wall next to the box, it must have been a periscope, he put his eye to the end of it and used a joystick on the security box to make sure he could see 360 degrees around the perimeter of the hatch.
“It doesn’t look too bad, I can see one or two in the far trees,” Pete eventually said after making a few ‘oooh’ and ‘ahh’ sounds.

“Well that’s good then, I can take on a few, I can slip past ‘em pretty easily.”
“I’m still not so sure that you should go, I don’t want you to get hurt,” Patrick said while twiddling his thumbs together, looking down at the floor, “We’ve lost too many people... far too many people.”

Pete slid down from the ladder and patted Patrick on the back, “Don’t worry, he’s a grown man who can make his own decisions, he doesn’t need you to mother him.”

Patrick stayed quiet.

“Besides, if I something happens to me,” Frank shrugged while clasping Patrick’s shoulder, “It happens. People die. No matter what I need to do, they’re my only family now and I have to get back to them.”

“We understand,” Patrick smiled weakly, “So when do you think...-t-think you’ll be leaving?”

“Soon, I just need to get my bag. I can’t thank you guys enough,” Frank moved off towards his room, the pancakes suddenly making him feel sick – or maybe in isn’t the pancake’s fault after all.

“We understand,” he heard Patrick mutter under his breath again as Pete pulled him into an embrace to comfort him.

Frank got back to his room and shut the door behind him. He lay on the bed again and put his arms over his eyes to cover them. He could finally leave, he should be happy!, but instead there was just a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him something was wrong. He couldn’t stay here forever.

He peered out from under his arm to stare at the light on the ceiling – that’s it.
He was sure he hadn’t put the light on. Was it Patrick when he came to wake him? No, Patrick didn’t come into the room properly, and Pete was already in the kitchen. And why would anyone go in there anyway?

Frank didn’t like it, he looked around the room and his eyes settled on his duffle bag, that he had definitely placed at the foot of his bed, which was now far too close to the top.

Someone had been in his room.

Probably looking for something that they shouldn’t be.

* * * * *

“Shit Ryan, shit!” Brendon put his head in his hands and sat on the edge of Ryan’s bed while Ryan paced angrily.

“That bastard,” Ryan had used the word ‘bastard’ a lot within the last 5 minutes, “How the fuck could he do this to us? Why the fuck would he?”

“Fucking creep, what are we supposed to do Ryan?” Brendon was close to tears, he and Ryan had trusted Jon, “What the fuck are we supposed to do!? You know what’s going to happen now? We’re dead Ryan!”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do Bren,” Ryan massaged his temples to get rid of the oncoming migraine, to no avail, “You need to calm down though.”

“We’re dead Ryan,” Brendon had a look of desperation etched onto his face. “He’s taken all of them. every. last. one. Don’t you get that?”

“Yes I get that Brendon!” Ryan shouted while grasping the other boys shoulders, “But there’s nothing we can do now... we just have to be careful.”

Brendon cried silently, his body racking with sobs. “What about Pete and Patrick...?”

“It’s none of their concern... we just have to-“

“None of their concern? Of course it’s their concern!,” Brendon grabbed Ryan around the back of the arms and leaned into his chest, “We need to keep them safe Ryan, if we don’t get it back within 48 hours you know wha-“

Before Brendon could finish what he was saying Ryan gently grabbed the smaller man’s chin, lightly pinching it between his thumb and forefinger before gently pressing his lips to Brendon’s.

Brendon was slightly shocked and silent for a moment, and then slowly pulled away before saying coldly “This isn’t going to solve anything Ryan.”

Ryan ignored him and gently traced Brendon’s bottom lip with his thumb, his other hand slowly making it’s was under Brendon’s shirt and sliding up to his chest.

“Ryan,” Brendon gently pushed him away, but when he still wouldn’t listen he was pushed back firmly, “Ryan, now isn’t the time,, okay? You can’t just ignore this!”

Ryan sighed and looked towards the floor. “You’re right, and that’s exactly why we’re leaving,” Ryan looked up to meet Brendon’s eyes, “Tonight.”

* * * * *