In Darkness & Light

Garrett and I sat in the back of the bus as John drove and Pat kept him company. Garrett and I were deciding what we would need for the night we were staying at the mall. Garrett was particularly quiet, and I didn't want to start conversation if he didn't want it. We stuffed the bags with food, water, ammunition, and Garrett put chains and locks in them without a word. I didn't ask, and I zipped up the bag when he did. We had good timing; as we finished packing the bags, John pulled into the mall parking lot. Garrett sighed with relief that there weren't any cars in the parking lot, so that meant there probably weren't zombies in the mall. As John pulled up in front of the mall, Garrett picked up eight handguns. He gave two to each of us. John turned off the bus, taking the keys out of the ignition and putting the keys in his jeans pocket. We walked off of the bus and up to the front door. Garrett slung one of the backpacks over his shoulder and he handed me the other one. Pat opened up the door and we all walked inside, the mall a bit hot and humid, but it was alright. Better than outside. Garrett opened up his backpack once the doors shut, taking out a chain and a lock. He put the chains through the door handles and then attached the lock, so the door wouldn't open. Garrett turned to the three of us.

"Split up in twos. Each bag has a few chains and locks. Chain up all of the doors that come from the outside. Nothing's coming in or going out until we unlock the doors. I have the key in my bag, and there's one in the other. I'll go with Pat; John and Stas, you go together. Meet up at.. uh.. Bed Bath and Beyond. We'll stay there for tonight." Garrett said as he zipped his bag back up.

'Why do we have to stay at Bed Bath and Beyond?" John whined. "It's such a girly store."

"Would you rather sleep on the floor or in a bed?" Garrett laughed as he asked.

John went quiet and Garrett smirked as he started to walk down the main corridor with Pat, and John started the other way, and I followed him. He walked slowly so I could catch up and then soon I was walking next to him. He turned to talk to me. I never noticed how green his eyes were, and I never noticed the hazel specks surrounding his pupils.

"If we see any of them, you wanna shoot or me?" He asked.

"You can, you're a way better shooter than me," I replied with a smile.

"Have you ever shot a gun before?" He scoffed.

"I have! Well... not until today," I smiled at him.

He returned the smile and then looked forward. "If there's any of them that we see and they don't look like they're going to kill us in a second, I'll let you shoot. You need some practice."

I nodded, touching one of the guns Garrett handed to me out of the area between my shorts band and my hip, both of them were tucked into my shorts, and John's were tucked in the same spots also. He started to speak again.

"You know, I remember the morning after that party so well, even if I was hungover," he started to say but I quickly cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it, John. Me and Gare are on good terms, and I don't need to hear all of the details about him fucking some whore," I stated.

"Just listen," he said calmly, and I followed his order. "I remember the girl walked downstairs after it was done, she complained that it was over too fast, but what did she expect? It was his first time. When he came downstairs the next morning, I was up, hungover as hell, but I had to clean the house and get the passed out people out of my house. He asked me why he woke up naked, and I told him he hooked up with some girl. He instantly broke out in tears. I haven't known him my whole life, but for the time I've known him, I've never seen him cry. He kept saying how he couldn't believe he would do such a thing to you. He wasn't even upset that he just lost his virginity to some 20 year old slut. He was just so hurt that he hurt you. You have no idea how many times he would say how beautiful you are, and how he was going to marry you some day. He never wanted to see you upset, and when you were upset, he was upset. When you were happy, he was happy. He loved you so much, fuck, he's still madly in love with you. When you two broke up, he was such a mess," he paused for a few seconds. "I'm really not supposed to be telling you this..."

"Keep going," I said eagerly, wanting to hear more. I was surprised at how quickly my thoughts changed about not wanting to hear what he had to say.

He scoffed and kept going. "You didn't hear this from me..." He smiled at me and then went along with his story. "After you two broke up, he was such a mess. He felt like he had no reason to live anymore. He would never come to band practice. We tried to bring him out drinking one night and he just sat there, quiet, not talking to anyone. A girl even tried flirting with him and he told her to go away. I think after about two months of you two breaking up, he started showing up for practice. He even wrote Daisy for you. But, then he started skipping practice. He made new friends, and they were all druggies. He smoked a lot of pot, drank a lot. He skipped practice a lot to get high. One day, me, Pat, Ryan, and Alex all went to his house and sat down with him. We told him that you wouldn't want him to be doing this. He started crying, and I knew that he was a little drunk, and he kept saying how he would never be able to get you back, and there was no point in being alive if he couldn't have you. We finally got him out of his funk, and he started coming to practice regularly."

I didn't know what to say, and John expected it from me. He was telling me all of this as we went around, locking the main doors that we could find, and we locked three. We started to walk to Bed Bath and Beyond. As we were walking, the bright lights on the ceiling turned on, and the air conditioning turned on. I guess Garrett and Pat found a generator. We got to Bed Bath and Beyond, and my idea was correct since they weren't there yet. We walked around the store; I mostly looked at all of the pretty furniture while John played around with some plates. Garrett and Pat walked into the store, and Garrett put his bag down on one of the couches, along with his guns. We all did the same and then Garrett opened his bag, taking out two walkie-talkies.

"Found these in the security room when we turned on the generator. I figured they would come to use," Garrett said as he placed them down between the bags. He reached back into his bag and he took out a bag that had a Taco Bell logo on it. "Also hit up the food court, found these. Did you guys see any zombies, by the way?" He placed the plastic bag on top of the walkie-talkies as he looked at me and John.

John answered for us. "Nah, you?" He walked to the plastic bag, taking out two tacos and he sat down on the couch as he opened one of the wrappers.

Pat shook his head. "Nah. I guess this place is deserted," he said as he took some tacos out of the bag.

We all got two tacos, and we walked to one of the king sized beds. We all ate, and told stupid stories about high school experiences. John told a story about a freshman girl coming up to him and she offered him a blowjob. We all got a laugh out of it. After we all ate, Garrett excused himself and said that he was gonna go get some fresh air from the roof. He took the masterlock key and walked out of the store. The three of us looked at each other and we all shrugged at the same time, which made us all laugh.

"Pat, do you know what's up with him?" I asked, finishing off my last taco.

Pat shrugged again. I fully noticed now that Pat's been awfully quiet this whole time. I don't blame him, though. "Probably just scared, like we all are. I mean, when we were walking he was almost in tears. He kept saying how he misses his family, and how he just wants everything to go back to normal. He isn't the only one." Pat said the last part as a whisper and I looked to where Garrett had walked.

"I'm going to go check on him," I said as I stood up from the bed.

As I walked from the bed, I grabbed a walkie-talkie and a gun, just in case. I didn't know exactly where the roof was, so I walked the way Garrett and Pat had came from. I went to the second floor and I finally found an exit to the roof. I walked up the stairs, and the lock holding the door shut was unlocked and the chain was on the ground. I pulled the door open as quietly as I could, but the rusty door creaked loudly as I opened it. I finally gave up and swung it open. I didn't see Garrett immediately, but as soon as I turned the corner, there he was. He was curled up in a ball, sobbing his eyes out. He didn't notice me until I started to walk towards him, and he quickly wiped his eyes and he sniffed his nose.

"Stas, what are you doing up here?" He choked out as I sat down next to him, my arms wrapping around him, offering him comfort.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, and you're not," I said, one of my hands moving to his back and I moved my hand in a circular motion.

"I'm fine," he said to me, giving me a weak smile.

"Don't lie to me, Gare," I said, my hand still rubbing his back as he rested his head in the crook of my neck.

"I'm just scared," he breathed into my skin, his hot breath feeling electric.

"I'm scared too," I confessed, his hands moving to my hips and then he put his arms around me. We sat there for a minute, just holding each other. I didn't notice he started to cry again until he sniffed his nose, and I kissed the side of his head. "Hey, look at me," I whispered and he cocked his head up, his bloodshot eyes meeting mine.

"I don't want to lose you, not again," he said, pulling away one of his hands to wipe the tears falling down his cheeks.

"Hey, hey, I'm right here. I'm not leaving," I said reassuringly.

He kept his eyes on mine and then he closed them as he leaned his head towards mine, our lips pressing together. His hands quickly worked their way from my hips to my chest, making up for all of the lost touches for the past few months. Things escalated quickly, to the point where his hand was under my shirt but over my bra. My hands were on his thighs, but I moved one of my hands to the side of his neck. He parted his lips, his tongue begging for access into my mouth. My body jumped as I heard the walkie-talkie buzzing in my back pocket, forcing myself away from Garrett's lips. As I reached into my pocket to take it out, Garrett sighed, wanting more. I wanted more too. I leaned in, my lips pressing back into his for a few seconds, but then I pulled away again as I heard John talking through the walkie-talkie.

"You guys! You have to come down here!" He shouted.