Dan woke with a start, echos of his latest nightmare still went round in his mind but he couldn't remember the details, and wasn't sure he wanted to know. He'd jerked awake so quickly that his vision was blurred. As his sight adjusted to the small amount of light the boarded up windows would allow into the room he saw the outline of a figure hunched over by the door, sleepy clutching a muddy rifle.

''Shit! Phil!'' Dan exclaimed so suddenly the Phil let out a small squeak. ''Have you been awake all night? Why the hell didn't you wake me for my shift?''
''You need the sleep Dan! I didn't want to wake you...'' Phil mumbled at the gun in his lap, only glancing at Dan for a seconds, then back to his lap
''You're right, I do need sleep; but so do you phil! and plus in some ways I wish you did wake me up!'' Dan quickly looked away and nervously bit his bottom lip, he could never let Phil know about the nightmares. When he turned around a few seconds later he saw Phil had stood up and ,with a sad, puzzled look on his face, opened his mouth to say something. Dan interrupted him, desperate to steer the situation away from why he wanted to be woken up ''Umm, no trouble last night I take it?''

Phil sat down by a cracked security screen and baby monitor set up on a box. It was hooked up to the security system of the library they where staying in.
''No lucky not too much trouble, a few Zs turned up around 2 am, loitered around the cookery section a bit then scarpered. I'm so glad Pj set up this little screen for us, been a life saver!'' Phil turned around with a nervous smile on his face, desperate to lighten the mood.

''Well, we know one life it certainly didn't save...'' Dan murmured but Phil didn't hear, or he just chose not to ignore it.
''I wish he'd told us how he managed it, might come in handy for our next base'' Phil was determined to keep some sort of noise (that wasn't gunshot) going.
''Well, we only have ourselves to blame for that don't we?!''
''Dan-''
''No! If he was still alive he wouldn't have had to tell us how he did it? Do you know why Phil?! BECAUSE HE'D STILL BE HERE TO DO IT!'' His eyes were burning now, he could feel himself about to tear up.
''I'm sorry Dan, I miss him too! But you're wrong, it's not our fault, it's mine and mine alone. I'm sorry ok? I'm so, so sorry-'' Phil slowly sunk down the wall and onto the floor, he curled his knees up to meet his chin and rested his forehead on them, he looked so defeated. Dan sat down next to him to see Phil silently sobbing into his chest, his hand lay on his knee. Dan stared at it for a moment, longing to hold it in his. He desperately wanted to comfort Phil but knew if he did he'd never be able to let go.

''I'm sorry Phil, we both miss him.'' Dan settled for a gentle squeeze of the shoulder. He jumped up and slung two guns onto his back, and grabbed 3 spare ammunition clips and attached them to his belt.
''Wh-where are you go-going?'' Phil hiccuped, still sobbing.
''I'm going out,'' He realized how bitter his voice sounded ''I'll see if they have anymore marshmallows down at the little shop we walked past yesterday.''

He smiled weakly at Phil, who was still sobbing, still without sound. Dan quickly checked the security monitor and dashed to the door. Just before he closed it, he poked his head back into the room, he wanted to say something to Phil. he just didn't know what to say. He clicked the door shut and turned towards the exit of the library. With all of its fallen bookshelves and torn books littering the floor, it really was a beautiful place. Carefully stepping over the broken glass on the floor that used to be the front door, he glanced back towards their little hideaway.
''You won't even be gone 10 minutes Dan, Phil will hardly even notice you've gone.'' Dan just hoped that Phil would be
ok...