Two Roses On The Garden Wall

Trapped

July 4th, 2025, Day 700

Skeppy sat next to Bad on the eighth floor of the building they'd run into, watching the sunset through the broken window in front of them. Skeppy's eyes traced over the sharp edges of the glass, admiring the way they caught the light and made a broken window look like a masterpiece.

 Bad was sorting through their supplies, calculating how long they could stay here. The sounds of his rummaging were the only noise now. The wind had been absent for some time, and there was no birdong in the city. How could there, when just below them, there was a horde of devastating monsters. The monsters that broke the world. 

Not a soul knew where they came from, only that the outbreak had started in Essempi High School, and it'd spread like wildfire until the world's population was now down to only around a thousand people worldwide, and still declining. 

Skeppy could feel his train of thought headed down that dark craggy path through the scariest cave tunnels of his mind, and quickly redirected his thoughts back to the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset, no doubt. 

The oranges and blues and reds and pinks all blended together to form a gorgeous mix of soft, warm lighting that faded to calming blues. Like a perfect picture painted on an unfathomably large canvas, the sunset hung there, and Skeppy thought in that moment he wouldn't mind if it stayed for years, as if it could somehow make this situation they were in better.

His peace of mind was short lived, though. Bad tossed him back his bag, and it Skeppy in the stomach, causing the diamond hybrid to let out an 'Ooff of pain. 

"Skep, head out of the clouds." Bad reminded him, looking worried. Skeppy sighed and put his bag into his lap. "I was just having a nice moment looking at the sunset, what's wrong with that?" The boy complained, pouting his lip. 

"I'm just saying; daydreaming gets you killed." Bad looked away and walked over to the old battery-powered heater sitting in the corner. 

It hadn't been used in a long time, but Bad was determined to get it running before that soft, warm sunset sank below the inevitable horizon and made way for the sharp midnignt blue and cold blanket of moonlight. 

"You'll never get that running, Bad." Skeppy said with a slightly annoyed tone as Bad banged on it with the plam of his hand, after putting some batteries in. Why was Bad so calm about this?

"Just you wait..." The demon muttered, tweaking with it a little more and then whacking it once again. "You'll thank me when you're warm tonight." Skeppy just rolled his eyes and continued to stare at the sunset. 

When Skeppy was no longer looking, Bad let out a soft, quiet sigh. Where had the times when him and Skeppy had been best friends gone? 

When did they become nothing but comrades in surviving the apocalypse, rather than friends. He banged halfheartedly on the heater, and some real disney princess magic happened, and he watched it hum to life with satisfaction. 

Bad halfway smiled as he could already feel the heat warming up his chilly body. 

Skeppy listened to Bad work silently. He didn't feel like speaking right now. As he heard the heater hum to life, he rushed over. The greyish orange and blueish purple dusk had set in now, and he was feeling the nip of the cold pre-night air on his skin. 

Bad moved over so Skeppy could sit with him on the blanket he'd laid down over the dusty tile floor beneath him. "So... how long do we have? Until we can leave?" The diamond hybrid asked, holding his hands up to the heater. 

Bad sighed. "Zombies are stupid, but they somehow have it in them to wait for us. We'll be up here for a couple of days, at worst." The demon guessed in a voice abandoned of hope. He didn't look like he believed they would make it.