HUMAN

Chapter Seven

A/N: When you still manage to write fluffy Scomiche into a zombie fic. I regret nothing.

Kids - OneRepublic

***

Their bus was parked in an isolated, gated area behind the mall parking lot. The moonlight crept in through the long, picture window and shed a soft glimmer of light on their shared living space. The stillness of the night, was only periodically interrupted by the sporadic jingling of a metal fence surrounding their makeshift campsite. It seemed that the dead were much more active at night. Avi was fast asleep on the couch. He dreamt of being dropped into an area of vast nothingness, with nothing to distract him from the knowledge that he was all alone. This was his most common anxiety dream and he was certainly riddled with anxiety tonight. Kevin was nearby, asleep on the dinette bed, which was surprisingly comfortable. He was tossing and turning from time to time though, fervently praying for peace of mind every time he awoke. Nicole had fallen asleep comforting Kirstie in her bunk again, who was also finally sleeping peacefully after another long night of restlessness. Esther was in the bunk across from them. She passed out the second her head hit the pillow, her eyes exhausted from staring at the road and sore from crying. Above Esther was Scott's bunk.

He was blankly staring at the ceiling.

How can everyone be sleeping, he thought. The world's falling apart. People we love are dying and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. I can't even think about shutting my eyes.

His mind was raising. He thought about the terrifying present, but he mostly thought about what would now be in the past. His favorite part of the career that he had been blessed with was that it offered him a sense of purpose. He felt that he could be a beacon of light and hope to those who needed it. Not only was that being ripped out from under him, but now HE felt hopeless too.

He took a deep breath. 

Don't forget to breathe. Cherish every single breath. It's about all you have left anymore.

He frustratingly turned on his side and looked across the aisle, zoning out at the image in front of him. He saw that Mitch was laying on his side, facing his direction. He thought he saw his eyelids flicker. Suddenly, he jolted in his sleep. He placed his hand over his eyes and grunted a mumble. Something terrifying must've just woken him up because he was nearly out of breath.

Scott whispered to him, "You ok?"

It took him a few seconds to fully wake up and softly respond, "Huh?"

He looked at Scott's concerned face, "I just... I had a weird dream. I..... can you come here?"

"What?" Scott whispered back, scooting forward a couple of inches so that he could hear him better.

"I'm lonely and I had a bad dream," he said, slightly above a whisper. He then patted on the empty space next to him, "Come join me, please?"

Scott quickly banished all of the negative thoughts that were clouding his brain in order to attend to his friend. He grabbed his pillows and hurried to his side. This reminded him of when they were younger and would stay up all night whispering about crushes and making inappropriate jokes. They would be up till 3 AM giggling and have to suddenly fake being asleep when one of their parents would check in on them. Mitch scooted back so that Scott would be closer to the edge of the bunk. It made him feel slightly claustrophobic, but he'd rather feel that than have Scott accidentally kick him off of the bed in his sleep. To be fair, it had happened before.

Scott dropped his pillows on the bed and curled up under the blanket.

"So tell me what happened," he whispered.