Arthur was dreaming. He certainly hadn't anticipated getting any sleep tonight, but somehow it came.
He wasn't terribly sure where he was. His surroundings stretched away into such a dark void that the spot of earth beneath his knees may have been the only solid ground in the world. The stagnant air held a chill, but his hand was warm. Still quivering and dripping sticky blood all over his fingers, a ragged chunk of cardiac muscle gleamed in the faint white light. He couldn't actually feel the fiery needles of pain blooming from his chest, but he knew very well how much agony he was in. He was too paralyzed by it to throw the piece of his heart away from him.
No one else was there; no warmth rolling off a human body reached him. Yet a voice was at his ear—someone familiar, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out who.
"You need that to survive, you know."
Jolting into awareness, Arthur nearly rammed his head into a branch sitting up. Disoriented, he had to grip rough limbs like an alligator's jaws clamping down on prey to keep from falling headlong, but that didn't keep him from scrambling to Belle's spot. He was hardly aware of what he was doing, but the horror of the dream compelled him to do something.
He shook Belle's shoulder for a few seconds before she started to stir. Once her eyes cracked open, she started mumbling and reaching for her rifle, but Arthur stammered, "We're not under attack." He didn't remember to drop his voice until the end, but he wasn't particularly concerned about Kiku at the moment.
Belle let her arm go limp and yawned, not quite keeping her eyes open. "Okay. So wha—" a yawn—"at couldn't wait until morning?"
Arthur hesitated, starting to feel stupid now that the prickle in his chest was fading. "You—G-go back to sleep. Sorry."
Blindly swinging her arm out, Belle managed to grab his wrist. "Well, I'm awake now. What is it?"
Arthur nearly barked, "Nothing," but he held his tongue and didn't pull away. "U-um..." Flushing, he wasn't even sure if he knew the answer to her question. "I just, um, uh, wanted to... talk to you?"
"Talk away." Letting her hand slide off Arthur's wrist, Belle interlaced her fingers beneath the back of her head.
"Um." He had no idea what to say next. What was he even doing? He could have at least had the courtesy to let her sleep as much as she needed before he went out of his way to say nothing. He should have just pushed the emotion down to a reasonable level and... and crawled back behind his stupid barriers... and let the whole thing rot so he'd never again have to hope she'd reciprocate... It actually sounded worse the more he thought about it.
Swallowing, he gripped his knees. "Um, I—I'm sorry for being an idiot. Uh, l-last night in particular."
Belle waited for a moment, but he just sat there taking deep breaths. "We've been over that stuff," she sighed. "It's really not a big deal."
"Not—not just everything being shabby. Me acting, er, like... that. Um, like I did." Heart pounding faster than it had been from the nightmare, he tried to control his breathing. "I was just panicking, and, um, I—I didn't want to look like, u-uh, more of an idiot than I already did, so I... I a-acted unnecessarily harsh. Wh-when I shouldn't have. Um, not that I ever should, just..." He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut now that he could actually see some of her face in the dim light. "Sorry," he finished so weakly he wasn't sure she heard. His stomach was twisting too much for him to feel able to say any more without throwing up.
"Okay," Belle murmured. "I mean, people snap when they're stressed out, and you were definitely stressed out. Try not to do it again, of course, but..." Arthur had reopened his eyes just enough to see her lips curve up. "You'd have to try a lot harder than that to make me hate you. You'll still have to try hard to make me love you, but—maybe not quite so much."
She patted Arthur on the knee and rolled onto her side, away from him. "Good night."
"Uh—" he tried to echo her, but his mouth was too dry—"yeah."
She didn't respond, so Arthur slowly crawled back towards his set of branches. Twigs rattling from his shaking grip, he made it back to his perch before realizing he wasn't breathing. He let out a wheeze of an exhale and stared out at the inky sky.
He couldn't even try to analyze the conversation with his neurons firing as rapidly and incomprehensibly as they were. He just tried to relax and listened to the voices that were a lot quieter than usual.
By midmorning, the sun was conspiring with the muggy atmosphere to launch a full-fledged assault. Glaring light bounced off car windows and the faded white paint on the asphalt. Any standing water from the day before had vanished, leaving the travelers with precious few sips remaining in their water bottles.
"I'm starting to think," Belle croaked, "we should just lay low for a while. Maybe head off again come evening." She pressed her fingers to her forehead. "To be honest, I feel like doing anything but walking today."
Arthur frowned, glancing over her. "Why? Are you feeling all right?"
Belle laughed weakly. "Yes and no. Let's just say it's been about a month since I left Killeen."
Arthur stared at her for a second before it clicked. "O-oh." He looked off to the side, wiping some sweat off his bow hand.
"There appear to be some signs and other streets ahead," Kiku started. "Perhaps it would be best to see if there are any buildings before we stop."
"Yeah," Belle panted. "Some shade and walls would be nice."
The three fell silent as they struggled to gain a little more ground. Eventually the crossroad came underfoot, and not enough trees bordered the street to obscure the house ahead. A few others seemed to be farther behind it, but the first house seemed sturdy enough as they approached. Although, at this point, any structure that didn't scream "death trap" was good enough for Belle.
Exhaling, Belle tried the front door to find it was firmly closed but unlocked. Mumbling a thanks to the heavens, she turned the knob and carefully stepped inside. The door opened straight into the living room, a mass of slightly-rumpled white carpet encumbered by a television, bookshelves, and a large, bluish couch. The air inside was so brisk Belle's knees nearly buckled just standing in front of the door. No infecteds were in sight, and no heavy footfalls were coming to check the door.
"Looks okay," she said, stumbling over to the couch and collapsing on the nearest cushion. The others followed her inside, eyes widening as the sunless chill hit them. Kiku quickly shut the door behind him, throwing the room into near-darkness. A few glowing slats of sunlight cut up the carpet opposite the blinded window, but that was all. The two men had to grope through the darkness to find the couch, but neither complained.
"There's room for you up here, too," Arthur breathed, glancing at the side of Kiku's head before shutting his eyes.
Kiku lay back on the carpet. "I'm all right here, thank you."
"Suit yourself." Arthur rested the back on his head on the top of the couch. "This tacky fake leather is wonderfully cool."
"It's almost cold in here," Belle mumbled, holding her bangs away from her face for a moment.
"I like it," Arthur said, stretching his arms.
Belle swatted at his elbow. "Stop it. Your pits smell terrible."
Arthur deliberated for a moment without putting his arms down. "Kiku, I'm just going to join you on the floor." Arms still up, he stood for a second and flopped onto the carpet. "Ow—and that is your shoe."
"Sorry." A bit of sunlight glinted off Kiku's hair as he shifted.
"Sorry."
Belle laughed softly. "If you two are having enough fun down there, I'm just going to take up the whole couch."
"Go right ahead," Arthur grunted, rolling onto his back.
As Belle slid down, the couch made a zipping sound, eliciting a snort from Arthur.
The three lay in dazed silence for a while before Arthur announced, "This was a really good idea."
"Thanks," Belle and Kiku said at the same time. Giggling, Belle tried to exchange a glance with Kiku, but he seemed to be hiding his face at the moment.
With a pleased sigh, Belle thumped her head back on the armrest and swished the water bottle in her hand. She waited a while longer before daring to take another sip. The water was lukewarm, but it took enough of the strain off her dry throat that it was hard to stop herself. She screwed the lid back on with shaking hands.
Was she actually shivering? Good grief, this house was wonderful. She hadn't remembered taking shelter in any place so cool since the journey started. Then again, most houses had open doors or windows and didn't seem as new as this one. And she hadn't been in condition to estimate temperature most of the time she had been in Arthur's house.
His couch hadn't been this cushy, either.
At this point she was having trouble imagining leaving this place. Between the monthly unwillingness of her legs to move and the fatigue from days of nothing but walking, she wouldn't want to get up from any sort of shade. Add in the heavenly frostiness of this place, and she was pretty much frozen to the spot. That wasn't a bad thing, though. Going on in this heat with nearly no water could easily be lethal. Rest was not only what she wanted but also what she needed.
Some part of her was still itching to get out and run to Claus, but he was a while away yet. Motivation was important, but so was common sense.
Belle started to wonder if she was actually going to fall asleep. She had been having enough troubled dreams without Arthur jerking her awake in the middle of the night, and if she could sleep well now, she should have taken the opportunity. Surely it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes. With three fighters in the room, someone would have to be ready if an infected or two came knocking.
The click of the doorknob nearly sent Belle tumbling off the couch. The other two sat up as well, but no one had a weapon raised before someone stepped inside.
"Oh!" he said, stopping in the doorway, where the sunlight silhouetted his large figure. "I wasn't expecting guests."
