"You ready to go? Got everything you need?" asked Bill as Francis was double checking his necessary supplies for the day.
"You worry too much, old man. I feel like I've been practically doing this for ages- I won't forget anything." said Francis, with a bit of humor in his voice. "Lemme just grab my stuff and get packed up."
"Dammit Francis, you're only starting now?"
They had found a safe house at the outskirts of a city that they didn't know the name of. The one story building had barred windows and a fence surrounding it. Francis and Bill both weren't entirely sure what they purpose the building might have served before the outbreak, but it didn't matter much. The area had a surprisingly low amount of zombies, and there had been no disturbances in the night. The barricades Francis had stacked up against the door looked like they hadn't been disturbed at all. IT was a tame area. Maybe it was going to get easier.
No excuse to not bring ample supplies, however. Francis had laid out his day's supplies on an old metal table. Pump shotgun and plenty of shells, well stocked medkit, bottle of pain pills, and a molotov cocktail they had made the night before from some supplies in the house. With other provisions like food already being in his backpack, Francis seemed ready to go.
As he was grabbing his things, Francis asked, "You know anything about where we're going?"
"Not much." replied Bill. "Although I would normally never think of doing it, we're going to head into the city."
Francis shot up. "The city? Got a screw loose, old man? You know it's gonna be crawling there."
"Quit it, Francis. There's really nowhere else to go for now. Just don't do anything stupid and we'll get through it fine. We might be able to find some info in the city on where to go next, or better yet, some more survivors…."
They both went quiet with that. Francis finished packing up and stood, looking at Bill.
"I guess I can't argue with that. I hope this is a good idea. Lead the way, sergeant."
Bill smiled. "Let's give 'em hell."
"Hunter! Francis, behind you!"
Francis only barely heard Bill's voice over the sound of the gunshots and the screams of the zombies, and even then it was a little bit too late. The damn things had simply began pouring out of the buildings as they were walking through the city. Francis turned as fast as he could to see the jacketed fucker spring right at him.
It slammed him into the ground and started clawing. He'd been pounced before. Never a pleasant thing.
"Ah shit! Get the fucker off of me! Get him off me!"
His arms and chest burned as the claws scratched at him. He felt hot blood on his skin and the damn thing was so close to him he could almost smell it's rotten breath. Francis tried desperately to get the hunter off, but he held him down.
"Bill! What the hell are you doing! Get it…"
Francis was losing too much blood. He was losing his grip. Fuck. This is how I die, huh? At least Bill tried to warn me..
As he lost his consciousness Francis felt an intense shockwave and his chest became lighter.
A slap to the face woke Francis up. "You still alive?" Bill said, kneeling over him. "That hunter screwed you up pretty bad, Francis."
Francis pushed himself up slightly with his arm. He had been moved inside a building, but they weren't very far away from where Francis was pounced. In fact, he could see the damn hunter- covered in blood with it's head blown off. He could see a path of blood from where the hunter laid to his current spot-Bill had dragged him over here. His chest ached and he looked down to see some bandages on his chest and around his arms, but they looked quickly wrapped.
Francis looked over at Bill and saw a face he had never seen the man wear before: A face of guilt.
"Look, before you get too mad, I screwed up, okay?" He quickly sputtered out. "I should have gotten the thing off you sooner. But right after I warned you they started pushing on harder, and I didn't have time to check if you had gotten it or not. As I began to realize that you had been pounced I threw a pipe bomb and blew the things head off." He took a long puff from his cigarette. "Those bandages should hold until we find a safe room. This is one big mess because-"
He waved him off. Francis was tired of it. "Just stop Bill, I get it, okay? Shit happens. I'm alive and that's what matters. I should have watched my back more often. Let's just get somewhere safe, I need to sleep. Help me up." Francis outstretched his hand.
Bill still looked guilty, but grabbed his hand.
Francis stood and then immediately began to fall. "Woah there, soldier" said Bill as he caught Francis. "Can you walk?" He held his shoulder.
"I just need some help walking, I'm not as old as you yet. Let's get going."
They began walking. Francis knew that he should feel more angry at Bill for his lack of help, but it just didn't make any sense anymore. This was the only guy watching out for him, being pissed off at him for some mistakes was just useless anger. Francis wasn't dead yet, and that was thanks to Bill.
The rest of the trek through the city was, with luck, very uneventful. Francis doubted he could fend for himself in this condition. They made it to a secure looking safehouse and piled in exhausted.
"Look, I know you want to sleep" Bill began. "But we need to really deal with these wounds. Stand up straight, lemme patch you up." He grabbed his medkit from his back.
"Yeah, sure.."
Bill began taking out the supplies. "Take off your vest and shirt, it'll make it easier."
"S-sure". Francis took off the blood soaked vest and shirt. The vest luckily held up pretty well, but the shirt would need to be replaced.
"Jesus, it really messed you up.." Bill began cleaning the wounds and patching them up. But Francis wasn't paying attention to that. Francis was terrified at how comfortable he felt. Terrified at how safe he felt. Terrified that he was slightly blushing.
Bill was helping him, touching him, healing him. He hadn't felt like this in so long. He was scared because he shouldn't feel this good. He was in a zombie apocalypse, his life was at a risk every single day. But Bill cleaning him, rubbing him, his firm hands rolling the medical tape over the many scratches from the hunter...it just felt so good. He felt himself stiffen and prayed to god that Bill didn't notice.
"H-hurry up Bill, I want to sleep already" Francis quickly said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm almost done, just doing a quick double-check…" Bill hadn't seemed to have noticed yet. That was good. Goo-
He felt Bill's hand brush the erection that was throbbing in Francis' jeans. Shit. Bill looked up quickly and Francis bolted to his sleeping bag.
"We-well thanks Bill, I'm gonna sleep." Fuck. what's he going to think of me now?
"N-no problem." Bill seemed equally embarrassed. Francis crawled into his sleeping bag and tried to fall asleep but couldn't. Why did Bill helping me feel so good? He'd never had something like this happen to him with another man...why now? Was Francis gay? What the hell is Bill going to think of me now? He never really did enjoy the sex that he had with women, but he always though it was just a bad girl, or people praising sex too much. But Francis had never felt this way before. He couldn't stop thinking about Bill. He wanted him, more than anything, and he was ashamed of the fact.
Francis couldn't stop thinking about him.