Wake of the Dead | One

Chapter fourteen

Killian could see next to nothing besides the stars in the sky and Jasper's large form walking beside him. The group had continued on their tireless pace to beat the herd, to wherever Casimir was taking them. Killian was once again unsure if they should just be trusting one of the group members, especially one that Jasper didn't know so well. But he needed to stop making his basis of trust on Jasper's knowledge of others. The rest of the group seemed to think Casimir was trustworthy enough, but Killian would be lying if he said he trusted their judgment. 

Soft murmurs of conversation had kept some of the group from getting too bored. Others would stray every once and a while to kill a biter that got a bit too close to them. Killian had listened in and attempted joining in but every time he tried he would be ignored or given strange looks. Were they determined to keep him as an outsider? Killian bit his tongue and let out a low sigh of frustration, stuffing his hands into the pockets of Jasper's jacket and huddling it close. 

Of course, Jasper was quite the conversationalist. Everybody loved talking to him, but strangely enough Jasper hadn't been too eager to speak with the rest of the group. Killian knit his brows together with confusion. Why was that? Well...why did Jasper do anything? The young man snorted with amusement. Questioning the behavior of somebody like Jasper was idiotic at best. The man was unpredictable, and predictable at the same time. It was, case in point, infuriating. 

"So, when do you think we'll stop..." Killian could catch a few snatches of Jasper's current conversation with Aubrey, but he wasn't paying much attention. Well, not much attention to the conversation. He was more so paying attention to Jasper. For whatever reason, the other man was beginning to intrigue him. Jasper was unlike any person Killian had ever met, and part of him was curious just enough to want to find out more. 

Jasper's low voice replied to Aubrey in a quiet and hushed tone, "Not until we either find a place to raid or get to the motel Casimir is talking about." Chills raised along Killian's spine, even though it was warm in Jasper's jacket. The other man's pale blue eyes were almost ghostlike, haunting in the moonlight. His strong hand held the strap of his bag as he walked, his powerful stride swift and confident. 

"Hey Killian, are you in there?" Somebody waved their hand in front of Killian's face and he shook his head, his lip curling into a snarl as he saw how smug Aubrey's playful smirk was. Her lips were tilted upwards in one corner, and she raised a single brow. "You kind of spaced out." 

Killian narrowed his eyes, perhaps a bit more angry than he should have been. "Put your hand in my face again and I'll tear it off of your weak twig arms." Killian spat, shoving past Aubrey. There was a small snarl on his lips, his eyes narrowed. Jasper was visibly taken aback, and Killian could see him gently guiding Aubrey forward towards the rest of the group while he turned to Killian. 

Jasper's gaze was soft and concerned as he said, "Killian, is anything wrong? You've been...tense ever since we started walking." Jasper paused. "Are you upset about leaving the camp behind? You never really got a say in anything." 

The feeling of his breath being caught in his throat was terrible. It made a lump that was hard to talk around. "Yea," He managed to mutter. "That's it." That was definitely it, not the fact that he'd been caught staring at Jasper like a deer in the headlights, or the fact that the group wanted nothing to do with him. 

Jasper's blue eyes softened a bit, and Killian felt his muscles beginning to relax more. He wondered if Jasper had caught him staring too. If the other man had, he didn't say anything about it whatsoever. "Well, don't worry about it Boy Scout." Jasper said gently, "I'll make sure you can get your grumpy two cents in next time, alright?" 

Killian shoved Jasper playfully, and got another shoved in return. He resisted the urge to tackle Jasper into the grass at the side of the highway to teach the other man a lesson about pushing others around, but decided against it. He quickly hid his smile and narrowed his eyes whenever Wilson and Keagan glanced back at them curiously. Killian felt a bit bad when he saw Jasper's smile fade a little, but forced himself to shake it off. Now wasn't the time to play around, they were trying to race a hoard to a motel miles ahead of them still. 

Jasper nudged Killian and nodded to the rest of the group ahead of them. "So, do you remember anybody's names yet?" 

Killian bit his tongue for a few moments as he thought over it then began with pointing at Aubrey, the only person walking beside him and Jasper. "There's Aubrey." 

"That's me," Aubrey said with a grin. Killian narrowed his eyes at her and continued on, ignoring her. 

"Cohen is the doctor, right?" Killian muttered, and Jasper nodded with an encouraging smile. Killian knit his brows together with concentration. "Alright, then Tom is the group leader...that's an important one." He continued in a low muttering. He didn't want any of the group to think he was talking about them. Killian didn't care for them enough to talk about them. He didn't want to bother with memorizing names, but this was something to keep him from going insane on such a long trip and ignore the aching in his feet. 

 Jasper nodded then said, "Alright then, raising the difficulty." As if this was a video game. Killian scoffed, but decided to play along. "What about the blonde guy at the front, beside Tom?" Jasper prompted, nodding to them. 

Killian wracked his brain try and remember who was who. It was all way too confusing for him, but he focused and did his best, "Is that Casimir?" He asked, and Jasper nodded with a small smile. That small smile made Killian smile a little bit too. 

"See? Already getting the hang of it." Jasper said, tousling Killian's hair. Killian frowned and let out a soft huff of frustration, trying to even out his soft curls again. Maybe Killian wouldn't admit it out loud, but Jasper was good at making him feel better. At first he had been infuriatingly irritating, but now Killian was silently thankful he'd decided to stay instead of leaving. 

Around the seventh hour of walking, Killian was starting to feel like one of the living dead himself. Everybody's morale was running low, it was only a few hours before the sun would be up again, and he could feel blisters on his heels. Jasper gently set a large hand on Killian's shoulder, "We're almost there. Then you can rest all you want, Boy Scout." Jasper then nodded up ahead, "But look, a gas station. We can stock up on some supplies for when we're barricaded in our room."

"Our room?" Killian prompted, raising a brow. An irritable scowl spread across his lips. "Saying that like you know I'd bunk up with you is awfully presumptuous, military man." 

Jasper grinned and nudged him, "Hey, it's not like you were going to trust anybody else enough to bunk with them, right?" He nodded towards the rest of the group. Killian scowled and rolled his eyes, pushing past Jasper and into the gas station. No lights inside of it was on, only pitch darkness. He heard a low growl, but it was cut short when Aubrey threw a knife and hit it between the eyes. 

Killian looked in his bag to see whatever he had left. A single granola bar and half a bottle of water. He was definitely in need of more. The hard tile floors reflected harsh shadows from the others, who were roaming as well. Killian felt tense every time he turned a corner, half expecting a biter to be there. 

After a little while Killian had managed to get himself some more water and a few cans of soup. When he looked behind the front counter, he noticed a book beneath the table. He didn't look at the title, but he picked up the bookmark instead. Jasper was reading a book, and maybe he'd like a marker for it instead of bending the top corners of the pages like he'd been doing for the past few nights. 

When the group was ready to go, Killian was the last to leave the store. He stuck to the tail end of the line again, and like always Jasper was there beside him. Killian pulled the book mark out of his back pocket, and silently handed it to Jasper. The book mark was a dark red, with a golden colored tassel at the top. Jasper's eyes warmed, and he looked down at Killian with a soft smile. "Thank you." Jasper's voice was smooth and silk and soft as velvet. 

"You're welcome." Killian said, not being able to help but smile.