Hell's Reign (Patrick Stump/Fall Out Boy Fanfiction)

Chapter 4 - Switchblades Aren't Gonna Cut it

            That night, Tori slept across the back seat of the van. The boys took up the back, in their sleeping bags, and had elected that "the lady of the van" needed her own space. They gave her all of the extra blankets they had and Patrick gave up his pillow. He ended up using Pete's leg in lieu of his pillow, and Pete didn't seem to mind. Tori didn't actually get much sleep however, even though the boys were surprisingly quiet. None of them snored, and no one talked in their sleep, but Tori's mind was too loud for her to even bother closing her eyes.

Her mind was stained with the image of Annabelle, hunched over Jess's dead body. The sound of a skull, breaking beneath a wooden club kept echoing through her ears as if it were happening at that very moment. Finally, she sat up, restlessly kicking the blankets from her legs, and got up. She didn't dare leave the van, just in case there was something out there, but she climbed up to the front seat and sat in front of the wheel, staring out into the darkness. She heard one of the boys moving around in the back, but she payed no heed to it and pulled her legs up to her chest. A second later, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around quickly, looking over her shoulder to see Patrick smiling apologetically at her.

"Sorry," he mumbled, climbing into the passenger seat beside her. He had a blanket wrapped around himself as he settled down, kicking his feet up onto the dashboard. "Can't sleep?" Tori, by way of answering, only shook her head. She glanced over at Patrick and looked at him closely for the first time that night. He wasn't wearing a hat anymore, so she could fully appreciate his almost shoulder-length sandy brown hair. He also had sideburns that she hadn't noticed before, and without his glasses, she could notice the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen looking back at her in the darkened van. "Me neither," Patrick sighed, reminding her that he was trying to talk to her. "Too much on my mind."

"Yeah," Tori whispered, feeling like she should say something to him, even if she wasn't sure what to say.

Patrick looked at her, leaning his head back against the seat. "So," he muttered, "What's keeping you up?"

"Same thing," she muttered, "Too much thinking."

"About?" Patrick pressed, smiling innocently at her when she cast him a sideways glance. He was cute, Pete was right about that, but he was frustratingly so.

"Just...everything that's happened."

"You mean the zombie apocalypse?" He chuckled, but it was a dark, empty laugh. Tori nodded, shivering slightly at the fact that someone had finally given it the name they were all thinking. Zombies. They were actually real, and this thing was actually happening. "It's fucked up," Patrick muttered. "I called my parents after the first broadcast, when we had to cancel the concert. They didn't answer. I don't know what's happened to them."

"Same here," Tori answered. In fact, while she had been driving on her own, she'd called her parents and Aaron no less than fifty-six times. Each. Not a single answer. "I was actually trying to get home when Joe and Andy found me."

"And stole all of your shit?" Patrick giggled. Tori looked at him and playfully reached over to shove his knees. He only laughed more and then calmed himself and looked over at her. "I'm sorry," he chuckled. "They, uh...they told me about your friends. "I'm very sorry for your loss." He reached over then, lightly pushing his fingers against Tori's knees, almost mimicking what she had done to him, but in a comforting manner. That simple touch drove her over the edge, as her memories of that morning came flooding back to her. She frowned suddenly and her eyes filled with tears, and then a strangled sob escaped from her throat. She bowed her head and buried her face in her arms, over her knees.