Wake of the Dead | Two

Chapter Thirty-Three | Jasper

Placing Killian down on their bed, Jasper set one of the pillows beneath his head and tucked a blanket around his body. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, he watched the rise and fall of his lover's chest, the even and calm breathing that soothed his own worries. Killian looked peaceful when he slept, sometimes he even smiled if he was having a good dream. Carefully, Jasper reached out to hold his partner's cheek in his hand. Right as he touched him, Killian pawed away at his hand and buried his face further into the pillow with furrowed brows and a grumpy frown. 

Not being able to help but chuckle, Jasper did his best to keep it quiet as to not disturb the sleeping man. Killian had hidden his face behind his hand, which had curled up into a relaxed barrier between himself and whoever dared to bother him. Jasper was still tempted to pet the young man's hair and soothe him into a deeper sleep, but he knew better than to risk waking Killian up for his own longing. His partner had experienced a lot that day, there was no doubt he was exhausted. 

Only after everybody had gone to sleep did Jasper carry Killian to bed. He knew the young man wasn't fond of people seeing him being looked after, even when he needed it. To Jasper, it seemed like nobody in the group would really care. Maybe they'd even be jealous of how close they were, if anything. But Killian had always been self-conscious about proving he was strong. Part of Jasper wondered how much of it was his partner thinking he was inadequate compared to others. Killian was much more efficient at surviving on his own than he gave himself credit for. The fear of other's judgment plagued his mind, which saddened Jasper. He didn't want Killian to be anything other than comfortable among his peers.

Just as Jasper was about to undress for bed, he heard the loud thud of the screen door in the kitchen shutting. His muscles stiffened and he paused, listening for anything else. There was nothing but the sound of Chris' snoring in the room right beside theirs. Everybody else in that house slept like a rock apparently, it was up to Jasper to figure out what was going on. There was no telling what was entering--or leaving--the farmhouse. The only thing that would be stirring outside that late at night were the biters. If one of them somehow broke into the house, there was no telling what chaos could ensue. 

Slipping on the jacket Jasper had grown very fond of, he laced his boots up again and armed himself with his gun and crowbar. He wouldn't risk waking anybody else up if it was just a gust of wind, but if it really was something else, the others would be within the range of shouting distance. Pushing open the door as quietly as he could so he didn't wake up Killian, Jasper carefully stepped into the hallway and crept down the stairs, avoiding one specific step he knew was creaky. With his heart beating quick in his chest, he gripped his crowbar tight and prepared to swing it at whatever was in the house. 

When Jasper turned the corner into the kitchen, he narrowed his brows. There was nothing, only the screen door bumping repeatedly opened and closed from the wind outside. Adjusting his grip to hold the metal bar even tighter, Jasper inched closer and closer to it. Nothing moved at the corners of his eyes, nothing quick enough to be alive at least. The only thing that caught his attention was a pen that had been dropped, presumably by accident on the floor. Bending down carefully, he picked it up and looked it over, turning it this way and that. He soon realized it was eerily similar to the one he'd found with Killian when they encountered the stranger in the barn all those weeks ago. 

A chill ran through Jasper's whole body at the thought of such a dangerous and unhinged person coming into the farmhouse. But with the back door slamming open and closed, he had to assume they're left instead of broken in. Part of that was a relief, another part was dreadful. Because that meant somebody in the group was going off in the middle of the night for no reason whatsoever. Whatever they were doing couldn't have been smart, Jasper decided. One of his groupmates were in danger just from being outside.