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

Chapter 6 - Get Used To It

                  

It was almost an hour later and they were still driving. Tori was leaning against the back of the seats that Joe was sprawled across now, looking over the gun she had picked out for him. Andy was driving, and Pete was in the passenger seat, leaving Patrick to sit awkwardly beside her in the back of the van. She had given him a handgun to start with, not because she didn't think he could handle a bigger gun, but mostly because he had pissed her off in the store earlier. It wasn't his fault, she supposed, but she hated the fact that the boys thought they needed to protect her. She'd defended herself long enough to make it to them in the first place, and she was more than certain she could make it home on her own just fine without them. Still, it was comforting to have them with her, rather than no one at all.

            Patrick had managed to figure out how to load the gun all on his own, and it had only taken him this entire hour of driving. Now, Tori watched him curiously as he held the gun up and pointed it towards the back window, keeping his fingers off the trigger. He held it out at an awkward angle, and it was painfully obvious to Tori that this boy had never held a weapon in his life. With a sigh, she reached over and forcibly bent his elbow the right way, paying no attention to the glare he shot in her direction. As cute as she had found him that first night, Patrick was starting to become a bit of an annoyance to her. She wouldn't let herself think about the real reason he was so annoying to her, so instead, she settled for blaming it on the fact that he had tried to be her protector when she didn't need to be protected.

            "Don't lock your elbows like that," She told him, "You'll never hit anything that way."

            He nodded, apparently opting not to open his mouth to her. All the same, she could sense the sassiness hiding behind those lips of his. She rolled her eyes at him and leaned back again, closing her eyes tiredly as she stretched her legs out. She accidentally kicked a box on the floor of the van. They had taken all the bullets they could carry, and then they had also raided the Subway that was situated into a corner of Cabela's. The little restaurant had been nearly untouched, and the freezers were still cold and the food still unspoiled, as it had only been two days since the outbreak. So, the five of them had taken the opportunity to stuff themselves silly with sandwiches and cold-cuts, until they decided that they needed to get back on the road. They carried their weapons out to the van then, and went back in to pack up all of the bread and bags of Lay's potato chips that they could.

            So now, stuffed and safe in the back of a fully loaded van, Tori easily fell back into a deep sleep again. She dreamed of Aaron, of her parents, and of home. Briefly, she registered an unfamiliar weight pressing against her side after a while, and then, she dreamed of Patrick, Pete, Andy, and Joe, and what they must have been like in concert, had the world not ended.

***

            "Wake up sleeping beauty!" Pete's voice ripped her from her sleep, and she blinked groggily up at him in the dim light of the van. "You too, Patrick," Pete added, shoving the shoulder of the boy who's head had been resting against Tori's. She realized as she sat up that she had been lying against him, her head on his shoulder, and his head on top of hers. "I don't know how to get to your house, so we stopped for the night. You're driving in the morning, Tori. Andy's outside getting dinner. We'll wait for you guys."

            And with that, Pete was gone, slipping out the back hatch of the van. Patrick stretched beside Tori, groaning softly and yawning. He looked at her then, his hand landing on the handle of the pistol in his pocket. "Hungry?" He asked.

            Tori shrugged. She was actually feeling a little sick from how much she had eaten earlier. Either that, or it was the prospect of possibly seeing her family tomorrow morning. Either way, she got up and followed Patrick off the van, to where the others were sitting around a small fire. It was still light outside, so Tori was fairly sure they wouldn't attract any zombies with it. She sat beside Joe, and Patrick sat beside her, both of them looking curiously at the can of soup that Andy was holding over the fire with a couple of charred sticks. He noticed their looks and shrugged at them. "Innovation, my friends," he chuckled, "We have to be creative."