Will POV

Matt was extremely restless. It had been ten days since I stitched his wound closed and he was testing my patience by trying to stand and do things on his own. He continuously grumbled about how I was emasculating him. Of course, Mellissa and I didn't want to help him with his...toiletry requirements.

So Jeremy got stuck with that one, "What about unconditional love?", Jeremy sounded incredulous.

"We're not married so it's not my problem", I told him with sass.

"This is so embarrassing, I can do it by myself", Matt whispered, flushed.

I put my hand on my hip and was about to give him a piece of my mind, but Mellissa beat me to it, "Will won't restitch it if you open it again, neither he nor I want to be near you when you do your business, so that leaves the Stray as the only option."

"I have a name", Jeremy hissed at her.

"You don't have a collar with our cellphone numbers on it, so as far as I'm concerned I could name you Snowball if I wanted to", she hissed back at him.

"Plus we're feeding you", I added with a shrug.

Jeremy pinched his brow and sighed through clenched teeth. That was the end of it. Jeremey had to stay with Matt while Mellissa and I went to get supplies, naturally the first time I was hesitant to just leave him with Matt, but I knew Matt could look after himself if something happened - even if he was injured. It took time to adjust to not having any lights on at night, the generators had long since run out of fuel. With that came a blessing and a curse, the buildings were mostly empty because there were no lights to draw the Cannibals inside at night but that meant that they were always outside on the streets. In other words, we could only safely travel during the night - and that was still risky with poor visibility.

Matt snapped a lot these days, he was quick to anger. Which Mellissa delighted in because it made annoying him a lot more fun.
Everyone was asleep and I was following steadily behind them when I felt Matt press his lips against my temple.

"Go to sleep", I muttered.

"I can't, I'm not tired", he whispered against my skin. My heartbeat started going wild as he pulled me closer to him.

"Matt, you're in-", he cut me off by smashing his lips against mine.

My professional side was arguing with my lustful side. The argument that won was the one that mentioned that it had almost been fourteen days. I straddled him and his hands found my hips, I started kissing him back and he gripped my hips harder. He started kissing along my jaw and I was panting, my back arched when he found a spot under my ear. I gasped and he stuffed two fingers in my mouth, "Shh, you'll wake them up" he whispered smugly.
Two can play at that game, I started sucking on his fingers and his body went rigid. He let out a low groan and I popped his fingers out of my mouth, "Shh, you'll wake them up", I mimicked his previous tone. He looked at me with such smoldering lust that my breath hitched.

He tried to move and winced in pain, just like that, the mood died.

I got off his lap and he tried to stop me, "N-no I was just joking, I'm fine I swear" he sounded so desperate.

I snorted, "Matt, just go to sleep and get better. I'm not going anywhere."

He groaned in clear frustration, "You can't just leave me like this."

My brows furrowed in confusion, "Like what?"

He averted his gaze and grumbled, "Nothing."

I turned onto my side and rested my head against my arm. It's amazing how quickly you can adapt to sleeping on the floor. Sure, there was a blanket, but it was designated to Matt. He tried to give it to me on multiple occasions but I raged at him each time, telling him that he needed proper rest more than anyone.

None of us spoke about the night terrors we all had. Being under constant threat has a way of scaring even the strongest person. Most of us would wake up with a cold sweat and keep to ourselves until we had shaken off most of the fear. The truth is; we can easily act bravely in a situation we can do something about, but when the danger lurks in our own minds, we're all rendered to frightened children. Even Mellissa had her fair share of nightmares, but she disguised it with her usual grumpiness.

My dream was the same most nights. It was me running while a river of Cannibals chased after me. I would always get cornered and always feared that this was the end for me, then I would suddenly be in a different setting and Cannibals chasing me all over again. But this time, the dream was different and even more fearful. I managed to escape the river of Cannibals by hiding in a business I had passed, I watched the never-ending stream of Cannibals sprint passed the building. I felt a blow of fear plow through my body - squishing my insides - as I heard the harsh breathing behind me. I turned around and gasped in horror and grief. Mellissa was standing in front of me, but she was covered in a terrible rash and her eyes were fogged up by that disgusting green fog. She seemed to stare at me but I knew she couldn't see me. She just stood there, all former indications that she was my best friend were gone. Ripped away from her being.

She started walking toward me and I was suddenly holding my aluminum bat. But I couldn't bring myself to kill her, I was crying in grief. The closer she got, the less fearful I was and the more grief-stricken I became. The memories of our childhood seemed to tease my mind, making fun of its weakness of being so sentimental. She grabbed my arm in a painful iron grip and brought it slowly to her mouth, she opened it, revealing her bloodied teeth. I closed my eyes and surrendered.

I shot upright, gasping in air, with my heart bouncing against my ribs. I rapidly scanned the room, looking for danger. The others were awake and glanced at me with bored expressions, then went back to eating whatever dreadful food there was. None of us got overly concerned about the nightmares anymore, it became a regular part of the morning. In fact, it was expected, just like the sunrise. I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling my arm for any wound. I knew it was just a bad dream, but I was relieved nonetheless when I didn't find any blood on my arm. I let out a weary sigh and stood up.

Mellissa had warmed up to Jeremy these past few days. We learned a bit about him, he has no siblings, he was studying art at the local university and his father taught him how to shoot. Being stuck behind these dull blue walls was extremely boring, the only distractions we got was when someone started an actual conversation - not just grunts of agreement - or when someone had to make a supply run. I felt bad for Matt who hasn't left this building in days. His wound was still tender but it was healing nicely. I made sure to clean it and change the bandages regularly.

I went over to the group and grabbed my can of breakfast and started eating it - rest assured, it was horrible. That's when we heard a slam on the front door.