He swept up one of her soft dark curls in his hand and played with it a moment, while she struggled to get comfortable in the small subway station. The ground was cold and damp, as anyone would think it would be and the seasons were clearly changing, the cooling wind blew down the steps and into their small sanctuary as the sounds of the nearby groans were heard in the distance.
His head flew up to make sure it was still clear and then looked back down at her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, the bags forming under her eyes would suggest otherwise but it was hard to keep calm in times like this. He picked up a curl again and twirled it around his finger. Maybe tomorrow it would all have been a dream.
R woke up in a pant; he swiftly struck his body upward in a force that woke the startled Julie who was resting so peacefully on his chest. Sweat descended down his cheeks and he struggled to catch his breath before looking over to a concerned Julie.
"Are you alright?" The look in her eyes made R even more nervous.
"…Yeah. Just. Need a moment" R wiped his face and got up to go to the washroom, he quietly closed the door behind him and Julie continued to stare. He splashed some water on his face and looked up at the mirror. Blue eyes, dark hair, and flushed cheeks. His face looked like he was dead all over again. The dream must have taken the blood right from his cheeks, he splashed some more water in the hopes that it would help. He shook his face and went back out to bed. Julie had fallen back asleep but the moment he sat on the mattress she jumped up to his rescue.
"Better?" She smiled and rubbed his shoulder.
"Yeah, thanks." He rested his head and drifted off to sleep as Julie now took his hair in her fingers and twirled it playfully.
"I can't be late this time, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get kicked out of college soon too."
"You'll be fine, it's hard to balance work with so many classes. Just tell your boss that you can't handle so many shifts, he'll understand."
I looked down at the small woman's face as she fixed my tie, her small figure and bright smile always comforted him. She had the same hair color as him but with big brown eyes. She pinched his cheek and laughed. He flinched.
"Now if that boss of yours can't see how great of a waiter you are, then it's his loss."
He laughed and grabbed his bag, running out the door.
He cocked his gun; they were backing to close to the river and would soon fall in. It was a matter of die in the current or by a corpse. The choices weren't exactly in his favor. He shot a couple of them down but knew it wouldn't do any good. He stumbled back and reached for her hand. She looked up at him terror in her eyes her tears flew down her face and soaked the ground. He handed her a small gun and she nodded and rumbled it into her shaking hand. Then he stepped forward small steps but he could see the blank expressions on the corpses getting excited and restless. He turned back around quickly to say goodbye, but as he turned his head he heard the gunshot and saw her limp body fall into her tear stained ground. He now had nothing left to lose he ran straight into the crowd fighting off as many as he could before he became on himself.
R woke up again, this time he fluttered his eyelids and stayed calm. He carefully motioned his body out of bed and looked to see that Julie was already up. He made his way downstairs to see her cooking powdered eggs and toast.
He couldn't quite get used to the taste but since the cure had been going around it was getting easier to get supplies including supplies to help with farming and (hopefully soon making the bread taste less like dirt) He walked over behind her and kissed her on the side of her cheek, she swooned at his touch and turned around to smile.
"Breakfast." She said with a feeling of pride in her voice, it was one of the few times she cooked lately, since R had decided to cook as much as possible and make up for lost time. R smiled back and went to sit at the table while Nora walked in and joined them.
"This damn ipod is stupid, I swear they did not make these things to last through the apocalypse and it's a damn shame too… Morning." She slumped herself into the chair next to R and looked back at her broken ipod; she held it like a lost pet that she was mourning. R thought it was time for her to switch to records.