He felt better. A lot better. The hot shower, including crying,
followed by a long nap curled around Zeke, had done wonders. Now, a
bowl of cereal in hand, Casey watched the news absently.

Some high and mighty scientist had gotten on, and was telling about
how it appeared someone had sliced the nervous systems of the fallen
people. Thus severing the connections between brain and body.

Glad, in a sick and twisted way, to be proven right, Casey turned
his mind to his main concern.

Should he tell Zeke or not?

Casey wasn't sure what he would be considered. His mother was human,
but his father.... Well, his father looked human.

Right now, though, Zeke might not be of the most rational mind about
anything that didn't come from Earth.

On one hand, Zeke really needed to know. If Casey didn't tell him,
and the truth came out, Zeke would leave him alone. Totally. And
Casey might not be able to follow.

Casey didn't think he would be able to handle that.

On the other hand, if he told Zeke, Zeke might still leave. He
really, really hated aliens at this moment, so he might even attack.
Casey knew there were still a few pens of scat lying around. He
didn't want one through his eye. If Zeke did run, that would keep
him from following.

Fuck.

A noise from upstairs warned Casey that Zeke was up and about. About
time, too.

With a jaw-popping yarn, Zeke stumbled down the stairs, scratching
his stomach. Casey watched him walk across the room into the
kitchen, smiling.

One thing he definitely liked about Zeke was the easy grace the other
teen had. Even when walking around, shirtless and barefoot, Zeke
looked like he could handle anything.

A few minutes later, Zeke padded into the room and sat on the couch,
also holding a bowl of cereal. He looked at Casey solemnly.

"Did I tell you that you were pretty?"

Casey nodded, his chest tightening.

"Did we sleep, and just sleep, together?"

Another slow nod Did Zeke think it was a mistake?

"Did we kiss?"

A hard swallow and Casey nodded again.

Zeke just looked at him, then a slow smile crossed his face.

"Good. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a dream, and that I didn't
miss anything important."

He leaned forward, and Casey felt soft lips on his again. With a
sigh, he returned the kiss. If this was what every miserable year of
his life had been leading to, he thought, it was worth every second.

Zeke broke the kiss, smiled at Casey, then brushed his lips again.
The romantic scene was broken by the growling of Zeke's stomach.

Both boys laughed, and Zeke went to work on his food.

To Casey, the whole thing was slightly surreal. Here he was, kissing
Zeke, the older *man* he had never really talked to before, while
everything he had known was in ruins. Everyone he had ever known,
aside from Zeke, was dead.

Before he could brood on it, Zeke nudged him. "What's going on?" he
asked, nodding towards the TV.

"Don't know," answered Casey honestly, turning his attention back to
the flickering box.

"If you have been watching, you know about the mysterious rash of
sudden deaths that happened last night. Whole towns fell dead,
nervous systems destroyed by some type of parasite.

Now we face another danger. Over the course of the last two days,
over two hundred people have been hospitalized for flu-like
symptoms. This morning, our sources say, over half of them are dead,
and more are being hospitalized, even as we speak. We go to our on
the spot reporter, Mary Amsterdam. Mary."

The view changed from a middle-age white man in a news room, to a
young black woman in front of a building. The words at the bottom
said she was at Jewish Hospital, in Louisville, KY. In the upper
left hand corner was the word 'Live.'

"I'm here, outside of Jewish Hospital, in Louisville, Kentucky, where
the first victims of this mysterious disease were brought, and the
first ones, to all knowledge, lost the fight to survive."

Stifling a cough, Mary continued. "Doctors have given us very little
information, saying that the symptoms are similar to the flu. When
asked if this new illness was related to the unexplained deaths that
happened Friday night, many refused to answer. One compared it to the
influenza epidemic of the early twentieth century. When pressed...."

Casey saw it a split second before it happened. Mary's voice trailed
off, her lips paled and pressed together, and her eyes got very
large.

All of that happened in a second, and she collapsed to the ground.
There was a second of confusion, then the view jumped back to the
station.

Looking slightly hard pressed himself, the newscaster swallowed
hard, eyes darting around. "We'll update you on Mary's condition as
the information becomes available."

There was a small noise off camera, and the anchor pressed his
earpiece tighter. Whatever was said was not good. He paled, and
sweat dotted his upper lip.

"This just in. It has been confirmed. The epidemic is officially a
pandemic. Deaths have been reported in England, France, and Germany.
Many countries, including Japan, China, Australia, and several
countries in Africa, report rapid spreading of the disease."

Suddenly, the newscaster jumped to his feet, eyes wild. "We're all
going to die. I'm leaving."

The live feed was replaced with a test pattern.

Casey and Zeke stared at the TV. "What's going on?" whispered Zeke.

Standing up, Casey shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Come on."

"Doesn't matter? Doesn't fucking mater?!" Zeke also rose to his
feet, wobbling slightly before towering over Casey. "People are
dying, Casey. A lot of people. Marybeth must have brought some kind
of alien virus here, and its killing people."

Taking a deep breath, Zeke continued his rant. "Think about it,
Casey. She was carrying what ever it was. We're infected. We might
still die."

"I know." Casey looked at Zeke with the calmest expression that
Zeke had ever seen on his face. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to
do it outside of Herrington, Ohio. I'm not going to do it surrounded
by the dead."

Casey began to pace, making Zeke slightly dizzy just watching him.
The older boy realized he wasn't totally better, even if this was a
vast improvement over this morning.

"Okay, Case. Com'ere." Pulling Casey with him, Zeke sat on the couch
again. Holding the trembling boy in his arms, Zeke
relaxed. "Breakdown's over. Look, it's still dark out. One more
night here, then we can start our. Explore the world."

Sighing, Casey collapsed into the embrace, head resting at the
melding of Zeke's neck and shoulder, enjoying the contact. How many
years had it been since Casey had been touched in anyway except
anger and contempt? Too many for him to count.

"So," said Zeke, lightly. "What do you want to do?"

Warm lips pressed down against his skin. Tilting his head back, Zeke
stiffened when the softness was replaced with the pain of sharp
teeth nipping hard against the same spot. Before Zeke could react,
Casey lazily licked the teeth marks and tiny drops of blood.

"I have an idea or two," purred the pale man, his eyes glittering in
the light. Zeke touched the injury, started at the tiny smear of
red. Dark eyes caught blue, and the pair smiled at each other.

"Let's go back upstairs."

***

The doors slid open, and Casey almost expected to hear someone
say "Welcome to Wal-Mart." Of course, there was nobody there. It was
the first time Casey had ever seen the store empty. He stopped, eyes
wide.

"What's wrong?"

"It's so quiet."

Zeke's hand settled on his shoulder, giving him a quick squeeze. "I
guess we should get used to it. At least we still have each other."
The hand moved away, taking only a second to trace one of the bite
marks that decorated Casey's neck.

With a laugh, Casey moved into the store. "I can't decide if that
was romantic or corny, Zeke."

That earned him a soft punch on the arm, which he ignored. Out of
habit, he grabbed a cart, then froze.

"Do you.... Do you think we'll find any bodies?"

Behind him, Zeke paused. "Fuck," he muttered, eyes sweeping the
store. "No cashiers. Maybe they were closed?"

Casey smacked the side of his head. "Marybeth had them all at the
game, I bet.

Let's just get our stuff and get going. Grab what you'll think we'll
need."

Zeke looked at his lover, noticing the fine trembling of his
fingers. "You gonna be okay?"

That earned him a wane grin. "No, but there is nothing either of us
can do about it. Let's get this done and over with."

Reluctantly, Zeke and Casey split up. Zeke went for Sporting Goods,
while Casey hit the grocery aisles.

It took about half an hour, but they had a wide variety of things to
go through. Having added to duffle bags to his cart, Casey began to
sort.

There was no question about the ammo. It went into Zeke's duffle
without a word. Casey had seen the LA riots on TV, and this would be
even worse.

Cans of food were tossed into the cart. Those would go into the car,
along with the bottles of water, and most of the rest of their
supplies.

A change of clothing in each bag, and Casey put several bags of
jerky and chips in, also.

"Quick snack and they won't spoil," he told Zeke.

The camping area had been hit hard. Most of the things were
portable, useful, and exactly the right size fro two guys. Most of
that had also gone in the care. A few things, emergency blanket,
flashlights, matches, and a large bladed knife, all went into the
bags.

Finally, after several trips, Zeke and Casey were done 'shopping.'
Everything that had been deemed useful had be picked through and
tossed into the backseat of the car, which was overflowing.

Dusting his hands off, Zeke looked for Casey. The only other
survivor of the invasion of Herrington stood on the other side of
the car, gnawing on a fingernail. A sure sign of nervousness. Zeke
had seen him do it once when Gabe had played cat and mouse with
Casey one day.

"Case? What's wrong?"

Blue eyes darted everywhere, looking at anything besides Zeke's face.

"Casey?"

"I have to tell you something, Zeke. I don't want you to freak, but
I have to tell you."

Zeke laughed, the sound having a bitter edge to it. "Casey, we
battled an alien queen, have watched most of the people we went to
school with die, and now the world is being hit by some kind of
killer virus. Now, unless you tell me you're an alien who's going to
take over Earth, I don't think I'll freak."

Instead of getting the laugh, or even glare, he had hoped for,
Zeke's little rant got him a bone-white Casey. What color the boy
did have drained away, leaving him paler than ever. The only color
he had was those blue eyes, grey lips, and purpling marks on his
neck.

Easing his gun from the small of his back, Zeke stared at Casey. "I
was joking. Unless.... Unless you really are one of them?"

Casey shook his head violently. "NO! Not like that. Nothing like
that. My mom is, was, human. And my dad.... Well, he was mostly
human, I think. Actually...."

The sound of a gun being cocked shut Casey up. He froze, staring
down the barrel of a loaded gun. In the back of his mind, Casey knew
that most guns didn't need to be cocked to fire. It was a noise. A
noise that both relieved and worried him.

If Zeke was really that terrified, he would have used the weapon,
not given Casey time to react. But there was still a loaded gun
pointed at Casey's head.

"Get the fuck away from the car."

Casey obeyed the commands, lifting his hands up as he backed away.

"Don't come near me. Ever again. Just.... FUCK! Just stay away."

Once Casey was far enough away, Zeke slid into the car. His head
hurt, so did his chest. The one person who he had left was a fucking
alien. Damnit all to Hell.

With a squeal of tires, Zeke peeled out, speeding off down the road.
Casey sighed, moving forward to grab his bag. At least he could
follow, not unconscious or injured. Always of the good.

Grumbling about know-it-all repeating seniors, and their poor
judgment, Casey picked up his bag and settled it across his
shoulders.

Then he started walking down the road, heading after Zeke.

THE END

Endnotes: Well, this was fun. My mind has already started churning
out the next part of this series, and it is pondering if it wants to
make a missing scene for this part. Of course, that's just because
it's a pervy brain, and wants a sex scene.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. Haven't gotten much feedback, but the
few pieces I did get was nice. And I've decide to keep babbling
until everyone else talks just to drown me out. Have fun.

GW Katrina