FLASHLIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

November 1st 1:00 am

He was an idiot. He was such an idiot for thinking it was a great idea to settle down in that abandoned house for the night. Why settle for an easily breakable shed when there was probably a neighborhood full of perfectly fine empty houses a mile away? Sure, he would run the risk of being out at dark for a few minutes, but at least he wouldn't now be running in the dark from a hoard of the infected that had torn down the crappy shed he was in and almost killed him in his sleep.

Keith was racing through the woods, heart beating, chest heaving, lungs burning, and every part of his mind screaming out about how he was an idiot. He strained to see just a foot in front of him as he ran through the foggy darkness of the woods probably crawling with the infected. There was no doubt that this was it for him.

All he had was a knife, having left behind his backpack that held everything else he needed to survive back at the shed in his desperate escape. He woke up to almost being killed a half hour ago with the hoard of infected long behind him. He wasn't going to stop running though. Not now and not ever until he got out of these woods and in a place where he could see.

Unable to see a tree root in the ground as he ran down a hill in the woods, Keith tripped and fell over, rolling the rest of the way down the hill. He finally landed at the bottom thanks to a large rock that was sticking up out of the ground, preventing him from rolling any further.

"Fuck…" he muttered out, his legs shaking as he fought to pick himself up and keep running.

When he stood up, a sharp pain took over his knees as if they were begging him to let them rest on the ground for just a few seconds longer. Though he knew he needed to get up, his body couldn't refuse anymore requests in him to let him rest. He fell back down again, laying down in the leaves on the ground of the woods as he stared up at the sky.

He could see the stars. When was the last time he had the chance to look up at the stars? Maybe he should just take advantage of the moment and-!

Keith's eyes widened when he heard a low groan to the left of him by a creeping infected. He strained to get up, every muscle in his body clenching to force him back down again, but this time he couldn't listen to their pleas. He had to get up or else both him and his aching muscles were going to become dinner to the nearby infected.

He immediately started to run forward again, adrenaline pumping through his veins still. His eyes searched desperately in the darkness for something, something he could grab onto as hope. He just needed to get out of the woods and survive the night and then, then he would be in the clear and alive for another day. Maybe tomorrow night, he would find a proper house to sleep the whole night in.

As he ran, Keith started to lose any hope he was every going to reach the end of the woods before running into a mob of the infected. His eyes burned as tears started to fall from his eyes. He wanted to scream out every cuss word there was as everything was going wrong tonight, but he couldn't even do that much. Making any noise whatsoever would send every infected within a thirty meter radius to come attack him. He was pretty sure his stomping against the ground as he ran was already causing just that as well.

Something suddenly flashed in his sight from far away though. It was bright and couldn't be dismissed as his imagination or his brain desperately creating something for him so he wouldn't lose hope. This bright light was definitely coming from a flashlight, which was something that could only be held by a human! A very stupid human for being out so late and shining a flashlight for all of the infected to see, Keith thought to himself, but at least it was a human out late enough to shine a flashlight for him to see.

As if adrenaline wasn't in him at all before, Keith ran towards that light as if he was running those final few seconds of a race. All he had to do was make it to the light and then he was free until he had to deal with that certain human.

He heard growls and footsteps behind him, making him imagine his death if he was just a pace slower than what he was running. He ran faster and faster until he couldn't feel his legs under him. He ran until he rammed into the light and toppled over the human holding that flashlight.

Once again though he was the idiot of the night, because there were definitely consequences to ramming yourself at an unknown human in the middle of the night in an apocalypse run down by infected monsters that kill. Keith experienced that consequence when he heard the human under him shout out in panic right before a gunshot was sounded off and a pain in Keith's shoulder shattered into wild fire.

"Fuck!" he screamed out, rolling off of the human and holding onto his shoulder.

His chest was heaving up and down both from having just ran two miles non-stop and also from the pain he was feeling all over his body and especially in his shoulder. The flashlight shined on him and he peered at the light, trying to figure out who was behind it, but the light was too bright for him to be able to see anything else.

"I'm human," he snapped. "Who fucking shoots at someone without checking if they were a human or not first?"

The boy behind the flashlight started to speak too fast for Keith to understand, stuttering out a million apologies as he still managed to sneak in a few, "What kind of person is running around in the woods at night with infected around and tackles down another person as if they were an infected?"

Keith glared at the boy that sounded his age even though he still couldn't see him due to the bright light in his face, "Well what kind of person is shining a fucking flashlight in the woods late at night for the infected to flock to like a bell for meal time?"

"Watch your fucking language!" the boy shouted, only to cover his mouth with both hands, muttering out, "Oh Dios mio, mama is going to murder to me."

"Get off of me," Keith snapped, making the executive decision that he did not want to stick around with this guy any longer. Being around people like him reminded him why he liked staying alone.

The boy dropped the flashlight and pushed Keith down on the ground, making sure he stayed as he said, "Dude, you are not fit to just walk away, you know. Two days and you're dead with a gun shot wound like that. In fact, I give you less than two days."

"Wanna make a bet?" Keith snarled, attempting to push the boy off of him again until he was held down by the boy's stronger force.

"I'd love to make a bet and win it, but my conscience tells me to do otherwise. You need to come with me. I have a first aid kit that I guess I can use on you, since I was the one who shot you… But deal is you can't steal my food and you can't kill me, alright?"

Keith glared at him, holding onto his shoulder tightly as he thought about what scenarios could possibly happen in the near future if he declined or accepted the offer. Buying himself some time to make the choice, he asked, "What makes me think you won't do that to me though?"

The boy was quiet for a moment, only to answer sarcastically, "It doesn't look like you have any food I can steal. Do we have a deal or what?"

Did Keith really have a choice? He wanted so badly to just trek on and fix this situation himself, but the boy was right. If he went off by himself, he would only be able to go on for two days at the most and the whole time he would be suffering and in pain. Maybe if he went with the boy it would be the same, but at least he had the chance. And plus, he had been making so many stupid decisions tonight, what was the danger in making another one?

Keith started to speak, reluctant and regrettable about what he was about to say, but before he could say anything, his breath caught in his throat and his eyelids fell in front of his eyes as everything in his body faded out as well. Maybe he wasn't going to die from this, but he was definitely passed out for God knows how long. Maybe this all really was the end for him, with him having made one stupid mistake after the other, over and over again from the start of since he could remember until where he was dying now.

At least he wasn't dying alone like he expected himself to, under a pile of raging infected that were tearing at his flesh. He would have taken this death a countless number of times before he would ever ask for a death like that. If he was meant to die tonight, he was thankful he saw that light, that small flame in the night. He just wished he could have accomplished what he needed to do before he died.

November 3rd 3:57 pm

"I'm sorry!" Keith screamed out, as his eyes opened wide and he suddenly woke up.

His breaths were coming out short and quick and his body felt too hot. His head hurt, his muscles were cramped, his throat was dry, and his stomach was turning. The only thing he could move were his aching eyes that desperately searched the room for answers as to where he was and if he was even alive.

"Sorry about what?" a tan boy with soft brown hair stood over Keith and came into his view with a soft smile and a tilted head that made him blush bright red. This was the flashlight boy from last night. He was sure of it because of that obnoxious voice he couldn't get out of his head while he was unconscious.

Keith furrowed his brows as much as he could to seem intimidating as he asked, "Where am I? What have you done to me and why can't I move?"

The boy shrugged, "Don't know man. Not my fault, but you might have a fever and you've been out for almost two days. You know, I've seen in movies how people sleep for multiple days, but I didn't think that was actually a thing that could happen. Seeing you sleep for like… over a day and half man was really amazing!"

"You talk too much," Keith groaned, shutting his lips tightly into a tight line as he squirmed with discomfort under the sheets.

He inwardly cringed when the boy caught on to how he was feeling, peeling back the covers as he said, "Can you really not move? The bathroom is only like two feet over there if you are just feeling lazy."

"I'm not lazy and I'm not paralyzed…" Keith deducted out loud, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm just…Can you move my right arm for me? It's ok to move, right? You did a decent job of patching me up?"

"A decent job? I did an amazing job!" the boy boasted, suddenly becoming ten time more obnoxious. "I mean, I took the bullet out, I stitched it up though it does look a bit rough, and I made the blood stop!"

Keith nodded his head, looking towards the boy with a bored look, "Ok that's great… what is your name?"

"Uh, the name's Lance," the boy spat out, glaring daggers in Keith's direction now.

"Great, ok, Lance," he said in a monotone voice, "I'm very thankful for this all, really, but I need to get going, and before I do that, I need to actually be able to move. Just move my arm for me so I can get used to it."

Lance shook his head, "Nuh uh, no way. I can force that on your body. It should heal on it's own. It's not like you have anywhere to be!"

"I do," Keith muttered, now trying to sit up with all his might though every part of his body shook from over exhaustion. He fell back down in a huff, staring up at Lance, "Don't you want me out of your life?"

"Where do you have to be?"

"What does it have to do with you?"

"Because I have to be somewhere as well!" Lance exclaimed, now leaning forward over Keith. Keith suddenly became aware of the fact that he couldn't move, deciding that it was best for now to just play it safe and be nice to this guy while he had the disadvantage of being too weak to move.

Keith looked off to the side of the room, irritation spilling over his mind though he was trying his best to become submissive to the conversation. He muttered out a response finally, "I have to go to Texas. Where do you have to go?"

Lance's eyes widened, "Are you serious? I'm going to New Mexico! I'm gonna meet up with my family, so how about we just join forces until I reach my home and then you can go on your way to Texas?"

"Aren't we in New Mexico?" Keith asked, feeling like if it was just a short trip to get this kid to his family's house, then he wouldn't mind.

Lance paused for a moment, causing Keith to look up at him in confusion as to why he wasn't answering. Lance had a smile on his face that looked like he was trying everything in his power not laugh. When Keith finally moved his lips to start to ask what was going on, Lance burst out laughing and answered, "We are in California! What made you think we were in New Mexico?"

Keith's eyes widened and he sat up, this time ignoring every cry his body was screaming at him to lay down again. He held his breath as a pain swelled up in his shoulder and attached itself like lighting to the rest of his body. He held onto his shoulder and muttered out, "I've been going in the wrong direction this whole time…"

"Wait, where did you start off?" Lance asked, getting up to pull a bottle of advil out of his bag for Keith.

Keith snatched it from Lance's hands, though he looked up at him with grateful eyes and answered reluctantly, "I started out in Idaho… I'm so bad at reading maps!"

Lance laughed again, causing a blush to come across Keith's face. Keith could feel his cheeks burn with an embarrassed heat, forcing him to look away so Lance couldn't see. Why was he so gay even in the apocalypse. This kid seemed super annoying, so was he really becoming that desperate?

He felt Lance touch his uninjured shoulder and say, "Well I'm amazing at reading maps, so it'd be great to have me along. And consider this, I do all the work of keep us alive while your shoulder heals and by the time I find my family, you will be good as new and on the right track to Texas to do whatever you need to do. Sound good?"

"It sounds terrible," Keith muttered out, looking down only to feel another surge of pain rush through his body like a raging river running over a dam. There was no way he could travel alone with this shoulder. There was no way he could enjoy spending the next few days with a guy who spoke like he could handle anything, but what was the lesser evil?

Keith looked back up to Lance, screaming at himself internally for getting himself into this situation, but knowing that this was the best decision for him. He took a deep breath, "But if it is to survive, then I have to say yes."