I did a…something with this chapter. People will have very mixed reactions to this one, I can tell already.

Their persistence was rewarded when they came across a small town, infected mulling about in the distance. They didn't dare go further and ducked into the first house they could. Seth sighed in relief as he flopped down on a moldy old couch, happy to be out of the sun.

The whole house was in disarray. Vladimir wasn't kidding, everything nearby had been laid to waste. May tried searching for any scraps that might have been left behind, but there was nothing. Not a drop of water, crumb of food, or even a single bullet. Everything of potential value had been taken, even utensils.

Finally, May gave up and returned to the living room, raising a brow at the nearly half naked infected. "Will you put your jacket back on now?" She asked impatiently, trying to keep her eyes locked on his face. He turned to look at her and huffed. "Nooot...till...cool..."

May sighed and flopped down on the couch next to him, digging into the bag for their food. "Ugh. It's mostly beans..." She muttered. Seth made a sound of disgust. "I know, but it's all we got. Can you at least try to force them down?" She asked, pouting and making puppy dog eyes at him. "Pleeeease?" Seth could only rasp out a chuckle and relented. "Fiiine..."

She handed him a can and pulled one out for herself. She found a pocket knife in the bag and used it to cut the lids open. "And nothing to even eat them with. Great, I get to eat like an animal..." They both stared down at the food, neither one ecstatic to eat. Finally, two days without eating finally caught up to them as their stomachs announced their emptiness in unison. The two began spooning out handfuls of the beans with, shoving them greedily into their mouths, losing their senses as their bodies desperately begged for more food. Over a month of mostly starving culminated into this one show of animalistic gorging.

In only a couple of minutes, the two cans fell to the floor, completely empty. "We shouldn't have eaten them that quickly..." May muttered, as she wiped her hand off on her shirt. Seth was too engrossed with licking what was left of the juice off his hand to heed her. "I thought you hated beans." She remarked, watching him with amusement.

He shrugged. "Too...huuungry..." He muttered, pausing for a second. "Stiiill...hungryyy..." May sighed. "I know, so am I. I never thought I'd be so desperate for food...I mean...I could just go for a huge, greasy double decker burger right now, with large fries and a root beer..." Even after the whole can of beans, her stomach growled angrily, wishing for something as good as that. "Listen to me, whining about that when we just had a practical feast the other day. At least, it's as good of a feast as we could hope to get in the apocalypse.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, lost in thought. May let out another sigh. She decided that she had a weight that she needed to get off of her shoulders, and now was as good a time as any. "You know...It's funny..." She started, pulling the infected's attention back to her. "We've known each other for less than a month, and already I feel like we're practically inseparable..." Seth processed it for a second before smiling at her. "But..." His smile faded.

"I...guess you've noticed by now...sometimes..." She swallowed with difficulty, a lump quickly forming in her throat, trying desperately to hold in her incriminating words. "Sometimes…I'm...I'm afraid of you..." He didn't move or say anything, continuing to just stare at her. "And I don't mean to be! I don't want to be!" She added quickly. "it's just…whenever I have a nightmare...you're there at the end, the last thing I see before I wake up and start crying, crying because it terrifies me…but because I still think you'd do it. And no matter how much we go through, how much I hate myself for the thought or try to tell myself that my subconscious is being stupid, it always happens again. And I'm always wary around you, no matter how at ease I am, I'm always waiting for the moment that you try to kill me..." By this point, tears were flowing from her eyes. "I don't want to be, b-but no matter what I tell myself, my brain keeps telling me to be afraid of you...".

She turned to look at him directly. "And I'm sorry for that...That made me take you for granted before we were captured...the week we were separated, I started to think I didn't need you and...that I would be fine without you. But now, even when my brain tells me to hate you, I know I couldn't hope to make it out here without you there with me. I've had plenty of chances to just leave you behind, but I could never bring myself to do it because I couldn't bear to leave you alone out here...".

"When I thought you were killed by the Charger, my world shattered just for a split second, and already I thought of ways to follow right after you before that guy could get a chance to gloat or turn me into some toy for his cronies. You're the only reason I still don't have a bullet in my head, whether someone else did it or I did...No matter what my brain might try to tell me...I know in my heart that I wouldn't have made it without you...I need you, no matter how much of a bitch I may act like, I can't imagine not having you here with me..." She sat there, tears still streaming slowly down her face as her head hung down. "Every day I feel like a bitch for the way my mind perceives you, and I can't apologize enough for that...And I understand if you hate me for it..." At this point she choked the last part out before she was reduced to uncontrollable sobs.

Seth's arms were around her in an instant. "Neveeer...haate…yoou…" He rasped, cupping her face in one hand and lifting her gaze to his. "Unless…shooot…meee…" He added with a smile, getting a laugh out of May through her falling tears.

"I think the only reason I haven't gone off the deep end is because you're here to pull me back to the real world…" She muttered as she let her head fall against his bare chest, listening to his heartbeat. It had stopped being too awkward for May to want to break the embrace, even now, and when Seth did make to move, she squeezed her arms tight around him and pulled him back. A part of her felt like a little kid clutching to a big stuffed animal for protection from the thunder of a storm, but with her sanity clinging to the cliff edge by a single pinky, she felt she could afford this extended comfort.

Seth stared down at her. She remained as strong as she could when they were on the move, but as soon as they found safety she crumbled like a burning log cabin. He would almost pity her if he wasn't as broken as she was. Every day was a hidden struggle. Every time they got into a fight, his bloodlust hit a peak, but he had managed to overcome it for this long. But there were some days where the infection fought back, whispering sweet thoughts of blood to quench his thirst, and flesh to fill his stomach. But he ignored these subtle whispers. It was when they began to scream and shout that he began to lose the battle.

And the worst part was they whispered about her, how lean and delicious she must be, how enthralling the crack of her bones would be when he broke them open...He knew she had every right to be afraid of him, she should be. But he was terrified to say that to her, he didn't want her one pillar of sanity to crumble, and for her to do something drastic that would result in one of them getting hurt, or worse…

He tightened his arms around her and rested his head against hers. He slowly became aware of a feeling welling up inside his chest, almost an aching pain, not quite physical however. The pain left as soon as it arrived though when May shifted closer to him, and his heart skipped a beat. Whatever this new phenomenon was, she was the cause of it…and he wasn't entirely sure that was a bad thing.

Their shared warmth and exhaustion lulled the pair into a much desired sleep, cuddled together on the couch. The hours ticked by with no disturbance for the two. May stirred and noticed the everything blanketed in darkness, the moon sitting high in the sky. She sighed before turning to the infected she was cuddled with.

Seth could give a rock a run for its money, it looked like not even a pack of rampaging Tanks could wake him. She chuckled at the sight, even if was marred by the blood. He needed another bath soon, and somewhat disturbingly to herself, she looked forward to it...

She blushed as she ran her hands over his lean, torso, still left bare from his being uncompliant while they walked. This was wrong on so many levels, but she didn't care in her slightly groggy state. She bit her lip slightly as she moved his jacket away for a better look.

She shuddered, her body feeling like it was on fire just from being this close. At the same time, she was disgusted with herself, mostly because she was doing this to Seth without his knowing, much less that he didn't even remember anything about love or sex.

Her gaze moved down, regardless of her thoughts, and her breath hitched. Maybe she could…just take a peek…

She shook her head quickly, squeezing her eyes shut as if she could force the idea out of her brain with physical effort. They opened again though, trailing downward. She was quickly becoming aware just how neglected she was feeling, not that she ever felt truly satisfied, never even having a boyfriend before. The temptation just to see something like that in person was too great.

She bit her lip and threw caution to the wind. She carefully reached down and undid his shorts, tugging them down so that only his boxers were left. Her heart was racing as she hooked her fingers into the waistband of his boxers. One move and he'd be exposed, the one thing she had avoided looking at bared for her to see.

She hesitated. This was so wrong, but her raging hormones and tired, fragile mind urged her on, and she lacked the willpower to fight. She yanked his boxers down and her breath caught in her throat as she stared between his legs, unable and unwilling to look away…The intimacy of seeing it in the flesh, and being so close to it, sent shivers up her spine. Finally, one single cohesive thought managed to break free from the cloud of hormones. "It's…bigger than I thought it would be…"

She almost had a heart attack when she realized it could get bigger. She shifted slightly, a noticeable and rather uncomfortable dampness between her legs, begging to be relieved. She quickly covered him once more before she did anything else that she would regret, and turned on her other side, staring at the ground.

"I'm disgusting. I'm a pervert." She whispered to herself.

"He's so sexy...I want him so badly…"

"I'm a terrible human being."

"I want him all over me…"

"I'm a waste of life."

"Just wake up and take me already…"

She got up from the couch and paced quietly, trying to calm down. She clenched her teeth, turning to look at Seth before sneaking upstairs, finally losing all sense of decency as she collapsed on a bed, clothing tossed to the floor…