Just ignore the mistakes because I'm sure there are a few.

Have fun!

• • •

"You should be more careful you know," Noah says insensitively, looking down at me as I sit on the ground.

I glare at him in the dark. "Yeah because I purposely tripped over my own feet and fell on my ass," I reply snarkily. "Maybe if I was allowed to use the flashlight I wouldn't have a broken butt right now," I say pointedly.

I hear him sigh. "Like I told you Princess, we can't waste the batteries, they're the only set we have left."

"I know that," I huff. "But if you don't want to be stopping every time I fall over in this goddam cave, then I would give me the flashlight."

"Sorry Princess, not happening."

"Fine, at least help me up," I demand, sticking my hand out blindly into the darkness.

I can practically see him rolling his eyes at me as our hands connect. He pulls me up from the ground and I brush the rock dust from my pants.

"You're terrible at compromise," I say to Noah.

"You're intolerable," he retaliates.

"Well you're kind of an ass."

"You're kind of a bitch."

"Go on, tell me what you really think."

He groans in frustration. "Look, I'm sorry Princess. I didn't mean that. Here's my compromise." I feel his fingers snake around my own. "This way, if you fall, I can pull you back up or you'll pull me down with you."

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You poetic little shit.

"Fine," I reply, still not happy about the situation. I mean yes, holding Noah's hand has been on my to do list for a while, but not like this. Being dragged through a cave in the dark wasn't how I intended it to happen.

His hand feels pretty much how I imagined it though. I mean, not like I've imagined it before...It's rough, like the skin has been toughened over time, and warmer than I expected. I always thought he was cold blooded and soulless but I guess not.

"Princess, are you going to move your feet any time soon?"

I blink. "What?"

"Walking, you know that thing where you put one foot in front of the other, and voila, you're moving!"

I narrow my eyes at him even though he can't see me, and I kick his shin. "Just go."

"Okie dokie."

I raise my eyebrows. "What year are you from, 2016?"

"No, 2062 actually," he replies.

"Really?" I ask rhetorically. "So you're nineteen?"

"Sure am Princess. Why? How old did you think I was?"

"Older," I mutter.

He begins to walk, dragging me along with him.

"How old are you?" He asks.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yes I would, that's why I asked."

"Touché," I respond, tripping on a rock. Noah catches me before I can fall. "I'm eighteen."

"You look younger-"

Well that's actually pretty flattering.

"-but it might just be because you're so short."

I take it back, he's still a dick.

"Thanks," I say dryly.

"That was a compliment. I like short girls."

He likes short girls...so is he talking about me specifically or about the general short girl population?

I mentally smack myself for thinking that. We're both probably going to die so there's no point getting attached.

• • •

We have been walking for about two hours and I'm starting to wonder if it was a bad idea to go through this cave. There has been no sign of light or life since we started walking and the blue tape ran out a long time ago

"Noah, maybe we should turn around, " I suggest.

"We can't," he disagrees. "This is the only way they could've gone."

"Yes, but what if they never made it out of here?"

"Then we walk until we find their dead bodies," he says stubbornly.

"We're digging our own graves," I mutter.

He stops walking abruptly. "Yeah well, I'd rather die trying to find them, than not try at all."

"That's not what I'm saying..." I trail off as I hear a faint echoing sound in the distance. I try to listen for the sound, and the second time I hear it, it's significantly louder.

"Then what are you saying?" Noah asks angrily and impatiently.

"Shhh, listen. Can you hear that?" I whisper.

I can hear the frown in his voice. "Hear what?"

"There's someone, or something, up there."

"Are you sure?" He asks questioningly.

"Trust me when I say I'm sure," I murmur.

"I do trust you," he says in a hushed tone. He continues to grip my hand. "Stay behind me."

It honestly should be the other way around. I should be the one in front of him, considering that I seemingly can't die, but I don't have the heart to tell him.

We walk slowly forward in the cave when all of a sudden I hear it again. It's a low rumble that sounds kind of like a volcano that's about to erupt.

"I heard it that time," Noah whispers in my ear. "We must be close."

I nod, gulping. He squeezes my hand. "We'll be okay Princess, we always are."

As we draw nearer and nearer to the sound it becomes clearer. It has evolved into a sort of gurgling. It definitely sounds like a person, but you can never be too careful around here. Noah retrieves the flashlight from his pocket, and flicks the switch. The cave is illuminated, all except for a dark shape on the rock floor. It isn't moving, but it is without a doubt where the sound is coming from.

We edge closer, discovering that it is a person. Noah crouches next to them, dropping my hand and giving me the flashlight to hold so that he can use both hands to flip the body over. As soon as he does so, the unidentified person leaps up, fingernails like claws ready to tear us apart. Noah's reflexes prove too quick for the attacker as he pins him against the wall with force.

I shine the flashlight on the person, my stomach dropping as I realise who it is.

"Patrick," I breathe. Noah looks devastated as Patrick outstretches his arms in attempt to claw our eyes out. He's foaming at the mouth and his eyes are gone, but he isn't nearly as aggressive as some of the other infected I've seen.

"Shit!" Noah curses, kicking the stone wall in front of him. "How the fuck is this fair? He's just a kid."

"I know," I reply, looking down. I know what has to be done, but it makes me feel sick to my stomach. It's so much more difficult when you actually know who they were as a person.

"Patrick," Noah says, attempting to get through to him. "Patrick, it's me. C'mon buddy, I know you're still in there somewhere." Patrick exposes his yellowing teeth and hisses, struggling against Noah's grip.

He hangs his head, clearly knowing what we have to do.

"I can't do it," Noah says, looking me straight in the eyes.

I nod. "It's okay, I'll do it."

I draw the knife from my belt. "Just hold him still okay?"

Noah breathes in deeply, gives me a brief nod, and turns his head to look in a different direction. He doesn't want to see the murder of his friend. I bite the end of the flashlight, trying to hold him as still as I can by placing one hand on his chest. My other hand grips my knife so tightly that my knuckles turn white, and my skin is taunt.

I take a deep breath and then plunge the knife into his neck. Blood spurts from his arteries, some of it decorating my face. Initially he strains against Noah's grip, but as the moments pass I watch the life drain from him until his body is limp.

I remove my hand from his chest, and Noah gently sets his body on the ground, pulling his eyelids over his empty eye sockets.

I shakily slide my knife back into my belt, and remove the flashlight from my mouth. I was biting it so hard that I left teeth marks in the plastic. I lean against the wall of the cave with my hands on my knees and try to justify what I just did.

"Princess, where are you?" Noah calls.

I point the flashlight towards the ground next to me so he can follow it. I hear him approaching and then breathing once he is next to me.

"You okay?" He asks in concern.

"Uh, well I haven't decided whether I need to throw or not yet, so I'll get back to you on that," I reply, trying to focus on something else other than how nauseated I feel. It doesn't work and I end up vomiting down the wall of the cave.

"I killed him," I say once I've stopped puking. "I murdered a sixteen year old kid."

"Hey, look at me," Noah says, tilting my chin upwards with his hand. He wipes the blood, and probably vomit, off my face with his sleeve. "Somebody had to do it, and that wasn't Patrick anymore. Patrick wouldn't hurt a fly. That thing wasn't human."

Surprisingly, It's Noah who initiates the hug. My arms hang by my sides as he strokes my hair, and I let my head lean against his chest. If I closed my eyes for a moment it would almost feel as though everything was well in the world. So I don't close my eyes for the fear that I'll open them and see this.

Noah takes my hand. "Let's get out of here Princess."

• • •

Unfortunately, finding a way out of here is proving more difficult than we originally thought.

We decide to stop, having no clue whether it's day or night. Dinner consists of a few strips of jerkied bambi which has now been submerged underwater, and been travelling in a backpack for a few days.

There is no wood for a fire, nowhere to go, and only each other for company.

Both of us lean against the wall of the cave in silence. I bite my thumbnail out of boredom.

"Noah?" I suddenly ask.

"Mmm?"

"What were your parents like?"

He doesn't reply, and I try to backtrack.

"Shit, don't answer that. Stupid question, sorry."

Great Clover, now you've upset him and he's going to give you the silent treatment and then hate you for the rest of eternity.

Noah shuffles around, flicking the flashlight on. He passes me a small rectangle of paper and shines the light on it. There are four people and a dog the colour of caramel. It isn't a perfect picture but it makes me smile. The dog is licking Mae's face and she's clearly disgusted, but laughing at the same time. The man in the picture that I don't recognise is ruffling Noah's hair and smiling proudly, while the woman is kissing the side of the mans face, but is very clearly only using this as a distraction to steal the chips he is holding protectively in his other hand.

Noah just looks happy. I can't think of a time where I have ever seen him smile, but in this picture he grins from ear to ear.

"My mom would've loved you," Noah says quietly. "She always complained that the girls I brought home looked too much like strippers, and laughed like hyenas."

I snort. "That is such a mom thing to say."

"She used to make the best pancakes ever. Every Saturday was pancake breakfast and I would always drench mine in lemon juice and sugar." I can hear the smile in his voice as he talks about his family. "I always aspired to have a relationship like the one mom and dad had. Sometimes even when there was no music playing they would be dancing together in the kitchen. The best part about it was that they were both terrible dancers."

I smile, handing the picture back. "You know you really ought to smile and laugh more," I comment. "It makes you live longer."

I hear him chuckle quietly.

"There you go, good start!" I exclaim.

Again, silence takes over until Noah breaks it.

"What are your nightmares about?" He asks softly.

I blink, taken by surprise.

"You don't have to tell me."

I breathe out. "No it's okay. They're about my mother. She uh...hung herself about six months ago."

"Jesus," Noah mutters. "Sorry for bringing that up."

"It's good to talk about it. I just would've liked a note, you know? Some sort of closure. I was the one who found her, she probably did that purposely because she knew it would be me and not my sister or little brother. Every time I close my eyes I see her, but the nightmares...they manipulate my memory of her. They turn her into something she's not, and I can't do anything about it."

"I don't even know how to respond to that," he says.

"You don't have to," I reply honestly.

So instead of talking, he takes my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine.

• • •

Hahaha...how's that for a cliffhanger? I always feel ultimately evil when I do this.

Oh yeah, and I killed somebody! Well, I killed somebody fictional anyway. Buh bye Patrick.

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Until next time.