Is This the End of the World? (8/?)
Title: Is This The End Of The World? (8/?)
Author: dauntlesss
Pairing: Jalex
Rating: R
pov: Third
Warnings: this chapter is pretty violent, so beware if you're squeamish or w/e! its not too bad though lmao
Disclaimer: sobs i dont own all time low, but i do own the plot and storyline, title goes to you me at six!!
A/N: yeah i actually really like this chapter, i think its my fave so far so tell me what y'all think!!
masterpost
It was raining the day that it happened, the event that would be a turning point in everything.
It was sort of funny that it happened to be raining that day, and that it happened to be the first time it had rained since the infection spread. They were driving down a highway, on their way to Tucson, because Alex had decided he had a longing to go to Arizona, and Jack didn’t care where the hell they want as long as there wasn’t any freaks to ‘rip his throat out and feed it to him’.
It’d been about 6 days since the ‘incident’ between the boys, and not a word had been uttered about it. Since Alex had agreed to let Jack come with him again, Jack had been sort of scared of the other boy, not that he would ever say that out loud. He had enough trouble admitting it to himself anyway, because it was downright ridiculous.
Jack Barakat?
Afraid?
Never.
Especially not of a rich little gay kid from the ‘right’ side of town.
But that was the thing, Alex was more than just that, and at this point, Jack would do anything just to make sure that he had Alex by his side. He knew that no matter how much the older boy deluded himself, he could never in a million years survive on his own, he needed Jack, he was just having trouble realising it.
And Jack totally understood that, he’d freaked Alex out when he’d pulled his (almost) runner, and now he was having trouble trusting him again. It was okay though, Jack had decided, because one day, and that day would probably be very soon, they’d come face to face with these freaks, and Jack would save Alex, and Alex would decide that Jack was his favourite person ever and everything would be fine and dandy.
Unfortunately for Jack though, nothing ever turns out the way you imagine it.
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Tucson turned out to be just as dead as every other place they’d been. Alex had kind of, secretly, been hoping that they might find some people there, but as they drove through the suburbs it seemed to be devoid of any human life.
“Where do you wanna stop?” Alex asked softly from the driver’s seat. It had been maybe a full day since the boys had spoken, though in the days since the thing between them happened, they’d spoken a lot. They’d continued they way they had before, ignoring everything that had happened that drunken night, and they’d been totally open with everything about each other. They’d even got to the stage of being comfortable with being dicks to each other for fun. However for some reason, neither boy had felt like talking the past few days. It wasn’t that they’d fallen out or whatever, the silences weren’t awkward and they didn’t spend all their time struggling to think of things to say, they just didn’t feel like talking, it was comfortable silence.
“I don’t really give, man” Jack answered “but I kinda need to pee so why don’t you pull up at one of these houses and I’ll run inside for two minutes.” He gestured out of the window toward the row of one level houses they were currently passing.
“I don’t know Jack…” Alex said, turning in his seat to survey the area around them “There could be people in there, or y’know, other stuff….” He trailed off, but Jack knew what he mean by ‘other stuff’.
“Alex” he began “Tell me the last time you saw another human being, or another being of any sort besides me” He raised his eyebrows at the older boy, smirking slightly. “And anyway, even if there is some crazy freak in there, I can handle it. I’m a crazy freak myself!” He put a lot of emphasis on the word crazy, before opening the door and throwing himself out onto the road. He picked himself up and closed the door, before leaning in the open window. He was surprised, and slightly delighted to see that Alex was laughing, Alex hadn’t laughed properly very often since they’d known each other.
“Do you trust me to be safe, Alex?” he smirked
“No.”
“Wanna come with?”
“No.”
“Are You sure?”
“N- I mean yes, oh for fucks sake Jack just hurry up and go already! And be quick dickhead.”
“Okay.” Jack said, nodding and looking up at the sky, but not moving.
“Ja-”
“Nice weather we’re having right now, huh?” Jack said
“GO, JACK!”
Jack laughed and sauntered off toward the house, happy to find that the front door was unlocked and he wasn’t going to have to waste time busting in. He’d been totally nonchalant about it before, but he really didn’t want to leave Alex out there on his own.
Unfortunately Jack picked the wrong house to pee in.
The minute he opened the door, he felt a hand curl round his neck, and another against his chest, pushing him to the wall. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a gargled whimper came out.
He closed his eyes before he could see who his attacker was, and Jack had never been a religious person, but at that point he prayed to any fucking god that would listen, he prayed that this was just a human that hadn’t been bitten, a human that was just protecting their home.
He opened his eyes.
Unless it was now in fashion to have blood dripping from every crevice in your body, to have only one eye and to have breath smelling like shit and dead animals, then this was no human.
Adrenaline poured through Jack’s body, and he lashed out, dragging his nails down the side of its face, before kicking its shin and kneeing it in the stomach. As the freak stumbled back against the wall, Jack noticed that it was actually she, and for a moment he felt bad for hurting her. But then she punched him in the jaw and those thoughts fell out of his head as quick as they fell in.
He managed to get her into a headlock, but it quickly registered in his mind that this put his arm dangerously close to her mouth, and that all she had to do was bite him…
He punched her in the temple, leaving her slightly dazed, which gave him time to open the front door and run outside. He knew he wouldn’t get away, but he couldn’t kill this thing on his own. Luckily, Alex had somehow already realised something bad was going on, and he was running toward the house as Jack ran out.
“The fucks going on Jack?” he asked, but inside he already knew, he was just clinging onto the sliver of hope he had that it wasn’t what he thought.
It was then that she came running out of the house, screaming like she had just had her leg cut off, and went straight for Alex. Jack cried out, expecting the worst, but Alex jumped into action quickly. He pushed her off him and then swiped her legs from underneath her. She fell to the ground and he kicked her in the ribs so she rolled onto her back. Then he began to stamp on her face, and on her chest, and her stomach, over and over until his jeans and shoes were covered in blood, and she wasn’t moving anymore.
They were silent for a few minutes, just staring at the mess on the ground that was once a human.
Jack was the first to speak, thought he started talking before he knew what to say, because this was one of the rare times that their silences were actually sort of awkward.
“Uh..Alex?” he began, walking closer to Alex, who had his back to Jack, staring at the body below him. Jack placed his hand on Alex’s shoulder, but it was shrugged off.
“Let’s go.” Alex almost snarled, and turned on his heel and marched toward the car.
Jack took one last look at the girl on the ground, and he felt a lump rise in his throat, the first time he’d felt that in years. He quickly wiped at his eyes before following Alex to the car, the image of her lifeless face burned into his mind forever.
He never did get to use the bathroom.
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