Eyes of the infected ✔ [COMPLETED]

Chapter twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

I woke up to see daylight flooding through the cracks in the windows but more notably, I woke up alone. After a few seconds of panic, I noticed two figures sat at a table metres away from me, talking quietly. Instantly, memories of last night flooded back to me and butterflies swarmed my stomach; I couldn’t stop the smile which jumped to my lips. On paper, it should have been a mistake, something I should have regretted but I just didn’t, I couldn’t. Even in this mess, within this madness nothing felt more right than that kiss, that closeness. I wouldn’t have changed it and even though I knew I had more important things to worry about and I should put this behind me, a very dominant part of me screamed that I couldn’t, that it meant too much to me to simply let go.
Did he regret it?
I shouldn’t have been thinking about this; I needed to push it to the back of my mind for now, it was so difficult though. As I concentrated on my surroundings, I noticed that it was Keith and Percy sat at the table having a conversation and laid completely still, listening to their conversation.

‘Do you think?’ Percy asked, sounding nervous.
‘I hope so. If there’s a way out, we’ll find it’.
I didn’t know what they were talking about but I shimmied closer, holding my breath.
‘How long have phones and the internet been down for?’
‘Days now’ Keith sighed, and I heard him rhythmically tapping on the table. It sounded like Radiohead, the song we’d sung in the car. One again, the smallest smile formed on my lips.
‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’
‘What is?’
‘This’ Percy began, sounding mystified, ‘I’ve spent years and years studying to become a top scientist but this just defies everything I’ve ever learned, everything I’ve ever believed. I’ve written essay upon essay on what is possible and what isn’t, and now England, Wales and Scotland have all been overrun and we’re trapped in New Look sleeping on wooden tables’. At his words, Keith laughed quietly, probably trying not to wake me up.
‘You’re right, completely right. I dropped out of school, worst mistake of my life. I understand though, I’d spend hours and hours on one painting, I wasted so much time and now they’re all probably burned down to the ground and I think, what was the point? What was the point in all those shifts in Sainsburys where I could have been out enjoying my life? How much time is even left?’
‘Precisely. Goodness, we should be on Oprah!’
‘Maybe we should mate, maybe we should’ Keith was laughing again, it was so familiar. When had all this happened, how could I not have noticed?

‘I guess one good thing came out of this though’ I could practically hear the smirk in Percys voice.
‘What’s that?’
‘Can’t you guess?’
‘Oh’ Keith was smiling now, I could tell. He sounded like he had in the middle of the night when I’d awoken; I swore he’d been talking to me in my sleep but I couldn’t be sure, ‘You mean Harley and Lucas? And you of course, Percy’.
‘Mhm, one of the three in particular’.
‘Oh Percy, you realised I have a soft spot for you?’  I rolled my eyes, still listening intently.
‘Don’t beat around the bush Keith, we all know the score, even you’.
‘It just happened really fast, I’m still trying to catch my breath’.
‘You’re mincing your words’.
‘I’m not’.
‘You like her’.
‘She’s a beautiful girl, we just met and she’s a goo-‘
‘Keith’.
‘I like her’ he sighed, making me smile again. For only a moment I forgot my surroundings and just let myself be amazed, let myself feel this without beating myself up about it.

‘I can’t help it’ he continued and I swore I heard him burying his face in his hands, ‘When I first saw her in the car, she just looked at me and it was ridiculous, like I knew her, you know? But there was just no time for it because we’re running for our lives and I don’t even know how long we have left. We could be dead in twelve hours and this will all mean nothing. Why couldn’t this have happened years ago? At least we could have had more time, at least it would have all made sense’.
‘We never stop running’ I barely heard Percy’s bold words as my mind still focused on Keith’s with wide eyes and a heavy heart. He was right, he was so right and even though his words made me feel in a way I didn’t know possible, it was with lead in my stomach that I knew everything he said was true. What if this was it, what if this was the end? I couldn’t just put all this down, I couldn’t just let it all go. So what if I'd known him for the shortest of times, if I didn't know all the things you learn on a third date, on a fifth? He'd saved my life, fought for me, made me laugh in dire situations and above all, I was glad we'd met him and not some randomer, glad we'd met Percy. People click. Even at deaths door, people click.