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“What do you want to do if any of this ends?”.
Lizzie turned to Jimmy, head tilted in confusion. The two of them were on a rooftop of an old warehouse, stargazing in silence. They had decided to take refuge there for the night and would probably stay there for a few more days since it was pretty well protected.
“If the apocalypse ends, I mean”, Jimmy elaborated. “I’m pretty sure you don’t want this to go on forever”, he chuckled bitterly.
The apocalypse had started almost a year ago. The two of them had no clue how it had even started. One moment everything was fine and normal, and in the next second people were screaming about zombies and were told to board their doors and stay inside.
It was four months after it had started that Lizzie met Jimmy. She had been staying at an abandoned convenience store when he broke in. She had mistaken him for a zombie and hit him with her bat. When they both realized that they both were human, they decided to stick together.
“Of course not”, Lizzie scoffed. “Only an insane person would want this to go on forever”.
She hummed in thought. “I guess... I’d like to re-dye my hair again”. She brought a hand up to the top of her head. “My roots are growing out and I kinda miss the bright pink it used to be”.
The two of them went silent for a moment. They stared up at the stars, comforted by each other’s presence. Jimmy glanced at Lizzie, seeing her eyes glazed over with some kind of sadness.
“I want to find Joel”, she finally said. “I want to find him and finally get married”.
Lizzie missed him dearly. They had been dating for two years, and she loved him so much. He had proposed about two months before the apocalypse started, and she had been so happy. She was so excited to plan their wedding.
Jimmy looked at her, confused. “Who’s Joel?”.
Lizzie blinked, before turning to him in astonishment. “I haven’t told you about him?!”.
Jimmy shook his head, and Lizzie huffed at her stupidity. “He’s my fiancée. We dated for about two years, and he proposed right before all of this started”.
“What’s he like?”, Jimmy asked.
She smiled, glancing up at the stars. “He’s wonderful. He’s so sweet, and kind, and caring, he’s really funny too. Joel’s so full of love and care, but he can be stupid at times too”, she chuckled.
Lizzie frowned, debating whether or not she wanted to continue talking. Jimmy waited patiently for her, and when she glanced at him, he nodded with a small smile.
“I was at work when this whole thing started”, she explained. “I worked at a bakery, I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you that. It was just me and my coworkers Oli, Eloise and Shelby working there that day.
“It had started out normally. We were baking, serving customers and having fun. And then we heard the screams. Eloise looked out and saw all the people running and screaming, and that’s when we heard the news. We immediately got to work. Oli and Shelby boarded up the door and windows while me and Eloise tried to find weapons and save as many as the pastries as we could.
After a few days we decided to leave the bakery and walk around, see if we could find anyone. I immediately asked if we could go to my and Joel’s apartment, and they agreed. But when we got there, he wasn’t there. No clues that told me where he was or where he could be.
“And then a month later I got separated from Shelby, Oli and Eloise. I don’t even remember how. One minute we were all walking around and in the next I’m lying on the ground, waking up alone”. Lizzie finished.
The two of them were silent for a moment again. Lizzie was holding back her tears, not wanting to cry. Jimmy gave her a small side hug in comfort. She laughed wetly and leaned into it. They sat like that for a while, before Lizzie pulled away.
“What about you?”, she asked. “What do you want to do if this ends?”.
“I want to find my siblings”, he replied any without hesitation.
Lizzie blinked. “You have siblings?”.
“Yeah”, Jimmy said with a small smile. “I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about them, but I haven’t explicitly said they were my siblings”.
“Well, are you going to tell me their names or not?”.
Jimmy chuckled. “My brother is named Grian and my sister is Pearl”, he explained.
Lizzie nodded as the familiar names registered in her brain. Jimmy had told her about them. About a Grian who teased him a lot, and a Pearl who was though but caring towards him. He had talked very highly of them, and them being his siblings made a lot of sense.
“Is that all you want to do?”, she asked. She watched as Jimmy chewed the inside of his cheek in thought. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his face became almost as red as a tomato.
Oh, Lizzie knew that look.
“What’cha thinking about?~” she said in a sing song voice. Lizzie giggled as Jimmy became even redder than before.
“What are you- stop looking at me like that!”, Jimmy stuttered. He punched Lizzie weakly when she kept raising her eyebrows suggestively and laughing at him.
“Sorry, sorry”, Lizzie said when she finally calmed down. “But seriously, who were you thinking about?”.
Jimmy fiddled with his hands. “You know how I went to college before the apocalypse right? Well, I met these two guys named Tango and Scott”.
Jimmy glanced at Lizzie, who nodded encouragingly for him to continue. “Tango is- he’s just so cool. He always wears leather jackets and his golden hair is beautifully combed. He has these red sunglasses always resting on his head. His voice when he rambles about something he loves is so excited and his laugh- gods his laugh”.
“And Scott”, Jimmy continues. “Scott’s gorgeous. He has beautiful blue eyes and the softest hair I’ve ever seen. He has this Scottish accent that I absolutely adore. He’s so sweet and he calls me these really cute flower nicknames like ‘Petal’ and ‘Poppy’”.
Jimmy finishes rambling with a wide smile. Lizzie can’t help but giggle and bump her shoulder onto his.
“Look like someone’s in love~”, she teased.
Jimmy scoffed at her but chuckled with her. He was silent for a moment, eyes cast downwards and a sad frown on his lips.
“I miss them”, he murmured. Lizzie looked at him, her eyes softening. “Yeah?”.
“Yeah”, Jimmy took a small breath. “I was in class when the apocalypse started. When the news reached us, the teachers boarded up the school and told us to stay inside. I tried to call Grian and Pearl, but I couldn’t reach them. Whatever I did it just didn’t work.
“So, I was stuck in my college without knowing if my siblings were okay or not. I didn’t even know if they were alive. Scott and Tango cheered me up though. We would spend the days together just talking and hanging out. I guess we kind of trauma bonded.
“About a month after the apocalypse started, the zombies got in. I don’t know how, but they got past our boarded-up doors and windows. We had to evacuate. We were all screaming and panicking, no one really knew where we were running to. I got separated from everyone during that. Now, I don’t know if my siblings are okay and I have no clue if Tango and Scott are alive either”. Jimmy finished.
Silent tears were falling down his cheeks. Lizzie reached out and enveloped him in a side hug. They both looked up towards the stars again.
“Don’t worry Jimmy”, Lizzie whispered. “This has to end at some point. Until then we’ll have to keep surviving”.
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah, we’ll survive this and see the people we miss again”.
The two of them turned back towards the sky, hoping this apocalypse would end.