𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 | 𝐜.𝐛

8

Colby

Bella stirs next to me. Groaning, I shield my eyes from the sun and wake up.

"Good morning," I stretch. She groans and pulls the covers up over her head. Laughing, I lay back down. Almost immediately she wraps her arms around me.

"That's better," she mumbles making me laugh again.

"We gotta get up," I chuckle.

"No, we don't."

"Yeah, we do, Bella."

"Why can't we stay like this?" she huffs. Her eyes haven't opened yet.

"Because the world won't let us," I whisper. She opens her eyes and looks at me. We drink each other in for what seems like the hundredth time. It's taking everything in me not to kiss her. "We're going to need to go out for supplies in a couple of days."

"What should we do until then?" She smiles. A million things just her and I could do run through my mind. There's only one I want to do.

"Look for a car. I don't feel like driving that damn truck to go get supplies."

"Is it that bad?" She laughs.

"Yes," I laugh.

"We'll go look for one today then," she smiles. My thumb traces along her cheek.

"Whatever you want."

"Thank you for last night," she whispers.

"No problem," I smile softly. She pushes off the bed and sits up. We get up and walk out of the room.

"There's the happy couple," Kevin teases, earning a laugh from everyone.

"We're not together," Bella and I defend.

"So sleeping in the same bed isn't 'together'?" Mike questions.

"I didn't want him sleeping on the floor," Bella fires back.

"We're watching you two," Sam taunts. 

"Anyways," I begin, changing the subject. "We need a car so we can get supplies."

"Why don't you take the truck?" Jake asks.

"That thing sucks ass to drive," I explain.

"Okay, we need someone to drive the car and someone to drive the truck back."

"Okay, me, Bella, you, and Tara," I suggest. 

"That's fine with me," he nods, looking to Tara for approval. She nods. We all grab our bags before going out to the truck.

"You wanna drive, Jake?" Colby pleads. Jake gives him a look before taking the keys. Colby and I get into the back. The ride is pretty quiet. Soon, Jake stops the truck and opens up the back.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"We found your car," he explains. Colby and I get out and walk towards the front of the truck. In front of us sit a row of abandoned cars. "Take your pick."

"This is too easy," I mumble.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," I admit. "Something just seems off."

"Okay, well, we'll take a car and go look for some supplies." Nodding, we walk over to a car. Colby uses his elbow to break the window before unlocking the door. He climbs in and begins messing with the car wires. Walking to the other side, I place my hands on the window and look inside. Smiling, I see the keys on the seat. I knock on the window, getting Colby's attention and then point to the keys. He huffs before grabbing them and unlocking the car. "I think I'm starting to feel what you're feeling."

"Yeah," I say, climbing in the car, "It's too easy."

"I'm not gonna complain though," he chuckles.

"Yeah, we have everything we need right now." He starts the car and pulls onto the road. Jake rolls down his window and Colby does the same. 

"We're going to go look for a gas station," Colby shouts to Jake.

"Okay, we're gonna head back." Colby gives him a thumbs up before rolling up the window.

"How far do you think a gas station is?"

"I have no clue," he sighs. We drive and talk to pass the time. About thirty minutes later, we arrive at a gas station and a few stores. We get out and walk over to the gas station.

"This must have been a small town," I conclude.

"Yeah," he sighs. We walk inside and keep our hands on our guns. As we're walking around, we slip food and medicine into our bags.

"Do we want to check out the other stores?" I ask.

"Yeah," he replies back. We grab a few more materials before leaving the station. We head over to the next store and look through it. It looks like a small Walmart. My fingers brush along the dusty aisles as I look for things that might be useful in the future. Someone places their hand on my back, making me jump. Turning, I see Colby.

"You scared the shit out of me," I hiss, smiling lightly.

"Sorry," he laughs. All of the shelves are intact and nothing seems to be missing.

"This doesn't make sense."

"What?" He questions, looking at me.

"Everything is so intact," I explain. 

"Yeah, it is a little weird."

"I don't know if we should be here, Colby," I whisper. He takes my hand and rubs my knuckles.

"We'll grab a couple of things and then get out of here," he assures. Nodding, I give his hand a squeeze. He smiles softly and returns the action. We let go and head to opposite sides of the store. When I open a door, a walker falls out and on top of me. A scream passes my lips. My forearm is against its neck, trying to keep it away from biting me. Before anything else can happen, Colby kicks it off of me and shoots it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I breathe. He places his hand on my back and rubs it lightly. "Thank you."

"It's fine," he assures. "We should probably head back."

"Yeah," I sigh. He stands and extends his hand. As I take it, he helps me up and pulls a bit too hard, pulling me close to him. My feet stay planted. He looks down at me and scans my face. His eyes are captivating. His tongue flicks out and wets his bottom lip.

"We should probably get going," I whisper. Part of me wants to pull him in and never let him leave. The other part realizes how badly this can end.

"Yeah," he breathes a response. As we walk back, I can feel my cheeks heating up from how close we were. When we get inside the car, neither of us speak. Colby pulls out and begins driving down the road. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I assure, sending him a small smile. "It's just, it's really hard for me to open up to people. It's always been a thing even if I knew it was okay."

"That's okay," he assures. "None of us are going to hurt you."

"I know, it's just that's how my brain is wired."

"You opened up to me last night," he reminds, glancing over at me.

"Yeah, I did," I smile softly, remembering how he held me. When I look over at him, he's looking at me. Smiling, I look forward and see someone standing in the road. "Colby!"

He swerves quickly, making us go off the road and hit a tree. My body lurches forward but is held back by the seatbelt. Everything goes black.