Take a Bite of My Heart Tonight

“They've been gone for a while.” Jack says as he paces back and forth in front of the window.

“Don't worry, bro. They're probably on their way back now.” Rian pipes up from across the room.

Truth be told, Evan and Zack have been gone for over an hour and everyone is worrying. They'd contemplated going to look for them, but Jeff had advised them not to, saying there was more chance of them being attacked and killed if they were in smaller numbers. So they'd decided to stay put.

“But what if they don't come back?”

“They will, Jack. Calm down.”

It's silent for a few minutes. No one dares say anything, but they're all thinking the same thing. What if they didn't come back... any of them? That would be three more of their friends gone. Four dead in the space of a day.

Suddenly a gunshot rings out in the distance, and everyone looks at each other in fear.

“What the fuck was that?!”

“I don't know. Shit!”

“We need to go find them!”

“No, no if we go out we could be attacked.”

“Fuck that! They could be in danger or dead or worse-”

A loud cough breaks the conflict, and all heads snap over to Colussy, who has a hand covering his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut. He coughs again, more violently this time, a rough, hacking sound filling the air. And then again, and again.

“You alright?” Jeff asks with a concerned expression.

Colussy nods quickly, before coughing again and speaking, “I'm fine... I just feel weird.”

“Sure?”

“Y-yeah,” he stammered, “I think I just need to sit down.”

He lowers himself to the ground, putting his head between his knees and crossing his hands over the back of his neck. Everyone looks around nervously, unsure of how to act. Jack is the first to react. He crosses the room quickly, crouching down next to his friend and placing a hand on his shoulder, then pulls his hand back abruptly as if burned.

“Shit, Matt you're burning up.” He exclaims, and everyone knows he's serious. Anyone referred to by their last name, i.e. Colussy, Grieco, Flyzik, were only called by their first name when someone was worried about them. And Jack was never worried.

“I feel like crap.” Colussy groans, lifting his head up to face everyone.

“You look like crap.” Danny says from opposite him, because really, he does. His skin is pale, a layer of sweat making it shine against the morning light. His eyes look sunken and dead, like he hasn't caught enough sleep in days. And he's shaking, shaking like someone going through withdrawals.

“Fuck you!” He snarls, and everyone's eyes widen in shock. Colussy never snapped at anyone, not even when Alex and Jack were drunk and spouting out useless information to him at the top of their lungs. Even Jack takes a slight step back from his place next to him.

“He didn't mean it like that.” Jack insists, shooting the guitar tech a glare before focusing back on the man in front of him.

He wasn't expecting the fist to suddenly snap out and hit his jaw, sending him flying backwards to the hard tile floor. Jack's eyes widen, his hand reaching up to cradle his now-red jaw as he stared in disbelief at Colussy.

“What the fuck, bro?!” He yells, “I didn't fucking do anything!”

Colussy's eyes round on him with a malicious glare, and any other words Jack was about to say die in his throat. There's just something about the way his friend is looking at him that just isn't right. It's like he's not there.

“Just fucking leave me alone!” Colussy yells, rising to his feet quickly as he does so. No one says anything, no one daring to move except Alex, who rushes over to Jack and helps him to his feet.

Jack doesn't look at Alex's face at first, still staring over the other man's shoulder at Colussy. What the hell was that? Alex clears his throat, making Jack look over at him. He raises an eyebrow, and Jack realises Alex had said something.

“What?”

“I said, are you okay?”

“Oh- yeah, I'm fine.”

“Good.” Alex says with a slight grin, before turning on his heel and staring Colussy down.

“What is your problem?” He demands, not even getting a response from the other man. Alex marches over to him, pushing at his shoulder to get his attention, “I said, what is your problem?”

Colussy reacts then. He grabs the hand that pushed his shoulder, tightening his grip and pushing Alex away roughly. Everyone else takes a step forwards, going to intervene but he interrupts them.

“Stop, just stop it! Leave me the fuck alone!” He yells, grabbing his head as if he were in pain. He claws at it, the way he would yank at his hair if he had any.

Jack notices he's shaking more violently now, his skin even paler, eyes more sunken. He frowns as Colussy reaches up a hand to claw at his head again, before he notices something.

“Guys,” He murmurs quietly, but everyone hears him despite Colussy's yells of anger, “His wrist. Look at his wrist.”

And that's when everyone notices the crescent-shaped wound on their friend's arm.

“Fuck. He's been bit.” Grieco says under his breath, eyes wide as they look at the bite mark.

“What's going on?” A voice from the doorway says, and everyone turns quickly to see Zack and Evan standing there looking more than confused.

“You're back.” Jack sighs, relieved, “Where's Matt?”

The sombre expressions on their faces says enough, and no more words are spoken. A moment of silence for their fallen friend.

It's shattered by another of Colussy's raged cries, and everyone's minds focus back on him.

“What do we do?” Alex asks, biting his lip worriedly.

“What's happening?” Evan asks, glancing to each persons face quickly.

“He's been bit.”

The newly-arrived pair let out a pained sound, knowing another of their friends would soon be gone. Three gone in one day.

“Do we have to kill him? May- maybe he's just ill. Not turning.” Evan stammers, but everyone shakes their heads.

“We have to.” Jeff says sombrely. No one wants to see another of their friends dead, but they had to survive, and having a zombie in their proximity would severely lower the chances of that happening. And it's not like he wouldn't already be dead – technically, anyway – he'd be a zombie.

“Then do it... I don't want to see him like that. Vinny was bad enough.” Zack says, his eyes squeezed shut as the memory of their dead friend resurfaces. Evan had fired a round into his head with Matt's gun as soon as Matt had shot himself. That memory was worse.

They know they should - they have to – but no one can bring themselves to do it. They can't kill their best friend. He's still human, still breathing. Still alive.

“God damnit, do it!” Zack cries, but no one moves. So he grabs the gun from Evan's hands and pulls the trigger. The bullet whizzes through the air and lodges itself in Colussy's skull.

They say a gunshot is deafening and leaves behind a trail of destruction in its wake. Jack understands that now.