Is This The End Of Us? Or Just The Means To Start Again?

What me infected? That can’t be, I haven’t been bitten I can’t be... Just as my body lurches into another coughing fit. Jack pats my back until the coughs die down, both looking up at a clicking sound.
“Jack, get away from him” says Hayley, pointing a gun at me.
“Hayley, what the fuck are you doing?” Jack yells.
“He’s infected! Get away from him or you’ll get infected too” she continues to point at the gun at me and Jack doesn’t move.
“How can he be? He’s not been bitten!” Jack shouts back.
“Look at him, does he look healthy to you?” she snaps.
“I’m right here you know” I mutter.
“Either you can fuck off, or you can put that gun down I am not going to leave him” Jack puts his arm protectively around my shoulder and I lean into him feeling incredibly tired. Hayley sighs and puts the gun down and walks away to the other side of the small room.
“Come on, let’s get you outta here”
“Where are we going?” I ask sleepily as Jack lifts me up onto his shoulder.
“The back room, I figured you’d probably want to sleep away from them...”
“Thanks Jack” after claiming into my sleeping bag I start coughing again and Jack brings me some water.
“Why did you stick up for me? How do you know I’m not you know.... Infected?” I ask sleepily.
“Well you don’t look much like a zombie to me, also I’m not going to let the guy that saved my life get shot by some weird ginger bitch” he smiles. Wait saved his life? When did I do that? I want to ask but I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open any longer and I fall asleep.

The first thing I notice as I wake up is I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, everything hurts and I feel way too cold for this time of year. The second thing I notice is the sound of raised voices from the next room.
“It’s not safe to stay here, and no I still don’t believe you! What makes you so sure he’s not going to turn?” It has Hayley again, she seems bend on killing me.
“You act like you’ve never seen a sick person!” Jack yells.
“Not since the god damn apocalypse! Every cough I’ve seen in the last eighteen months has lead to zombies and more people dying, you can’t convince me now that that kid in there is not going to become one”
“Nope still human last time I checked” stepping into the room all four of them turn to stare at me.
“Fuck Alex” Jack mutters, coming over to see me.
“Are you okay?”
“’m fine” I get out before I start coughing again.
“Here sit down before you pass out” Jack sits me down on one of the boxes we’d been using as seats the night before.
“He’s only getting worse, even if he is just sick there’s no medicine and we can’t exactly sit around here. We’d be sitting ducks!” Hayley says.
“Then go! No one’s stopping you from walking out of here but I am not leaving him” Jack snaps.
“Jack, can I have a word?” I ask quietly.
“What’s up Alex?” he asks, kneeling down in front of me.
“You should go, they’re right you’d be sitting ducks here with me plus every day we stay here it’s a day closer to getting blown up. You have to keep moving”
“Alex no, I said I’m not leaving you behind and I’m not leaving you” he says firmly.
“Why? Why do you care about me so much?” I pause for a coughing fit. “I got your only friend killed; you should just leave with them. You’d be better off without me”
“You saved my life Alex, I’m not about to leave and let you die”
“I don’t even know how I....” I was cut off with another harsh cough.
“Stop talking okay?” I nod continuing to cough.
“So?” Hayley asks.
“Leave, Alex can’t come and I won’t” he says firmly. My eyes start closing and I realise how tired I feel, stupid body you have to catch the most evil flu bug at the worst time...
“You’re the first people we’ve seen in a very long time and this is how you choose to end it?” Hayley asks. Jack nods.
“Well then this is goodbye...” she shook Jack’s hand and just stared at me, if I look as dead as I feel I probably look like I fucking zombie by now.
“And Alex, I’m sorry”
Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy leave the gas station and for a whole minute until I burst into coughing again.
“Okay, let’s do something with you before you do actually kill yourself” he says. Making me a little bed in the middle of the floor, using my sleeping bag and any remotely comfortable things he can find. It’s no real bed but it’s 100x better than lying on the cold floor.
“Thank you Jack” I say, pulling the sleeping bag up around me.
“S’okay bud, how are you feeling?”
“Sick” he leans over to put a hand to my forehead.
“Yeah you’ve got a fever Alex” I groan and pull the sleeping bag over my head.
“I’m sorry” I mutter through the material.
“You don’t have to be sorry, everyone gets sick even at the end of world” he laughs.
“Yeah but now we’re both going to die”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because we’ve only got like 25 days left before we got blown to kingdom come and you’re wasting it....” coughing again. “You’re wasting it here with me”
“Alex I’ll tell you like I told them, I’m not going to leave you”
“But why?” I demand, my voice cracking propping myself up a bit so I can see him.
“Because you saved my life! How many times do I have to say it?”
“But I don’t understand how I saved your life!”
“Think about the day we met, think hard”
“I was cornered in the back room of Wal-mart, you fucking saved me Jack!”
“I was alone in a store full of zombies, what do you think I was doing?” he asks.
“I don’t know... Getting supplies?”
“I was going to die Alex!” I take such a sharp intake of breath that it sets off a new round of coughing.
“What?” I crock out when it’s died down.
“I’d had enough, we were stuck with no way out I just... I just wanted to be with my family again. Then all of a sudden there was a rush of zombies running through the store and a kid jumping through the ales on top of shelves, the idiot got himself cornered in one of the back rooms so I thought I’d help the kid out; never did I think it would be my old best friend. I may have saved you from a painful death of being ripped about my zombies but you saved me from myself”
Reaching out from my mess of blankets and sleeping bags I grab for his hand, taking his cool one in my clammy one.
“Thank you Jack” I whisper.
“No thank you Alex, now get some sleep there’s no meds to knock you out and I don’t want to have to resort to knocking you over the head so get some sleep” I nod my head sleepily and close my eyes, sleep claiming me quicker than it has in a long time.

Notes

I hope I don't often any Paramore fans with this! I'm sorry xx