Chapter Text
There was something wrong.
At first glance, it seemed all normal. The sun was shining on a summer morning. The birds were chirping gracefully. The chickens were laying peacefully, but Bubba felt off. He felt that feeling in the wind as it brushed by his rocking chair on his porch. There was something brewing in America.
He looked up at the sparkling sky once again. No cubes. Thank the lord for that.
He sighed. He’d always been paranoid and impulsive since he was an itty bitty youngin’, running around his mother’s home, causing a fuss. The child didn’t have much to worry about. He had loving parents (at the time), and all a child could want, but the kid couldn’t wait to be an adult. Then, adulthood came crashing down on him. All of a sudden, it was all gone. His home, his family. The only one who stayed was his dear husband, Jeremiah.
Speaking of Jeremiah, where was he?
Panic set off in his brain. There was something wrong and Jeremiah wasn’t with him? He took off into their house, searching all of their small rooms. He called out of his name. There was no response.
Well, he might have gone into the fields. There was nothing to worry about, right? He went up the stairs and returned to the porch where he started. He scoured the farm. Nothing. Now, he was really worried. ‘Miah would have called him if he went off property. This wasn’t good at all. He tried to regulate his quick breathing. Suddenly, he felt a rough touch on his shoulder.
“Hey,” the exhausted voice from behind him said. Jeremiah? Thank the lord he was fine.
“I was looking for you. Where have you been?” He exclaimed in concern.
He wasn’t listening to any of the words he said. “We have an issue,” he stated.
“What?”
He grabbed his shoulder and practically tossed him in a different direction. He was always rough with his hands. He pointed. “Look,”
There was a walking– no running– corpse heading towards them. It smelled terrible like rotten meat. It was a sight to be seen, something straight out of a zombie movie. That must have been what it was. He’d seen many zombie movies to know for sure.
He still asked in shock, “What is that?”
Jeremiah gave him the answer in the most his way possible. By not answering at all. “Run!” He ushered, pushing him inside the house. The taller looked at him, confused. His brain went blank. “To the basement! Quick! I’ll follow behind!” He grabbed his old sword from the way for defense.
Usually, Bubba would argue, at least slightly, but he was so out of it, he obeyed immediately. He sprinted down to the basement. He made sure to snatch some stuff with him before he went down. It was mostly food and a couple emergency items. Although, he did snag the nearest photo of them together. It was necessary to him.
He was about to close the door until he heard a small noise from behind it. It was one of their chickens, Penny. She must have escaped her coup. Again. Well, he couldn’t just return her now. There were literal zombies out there. “Come here,” He picked her up, and placed her on a stool. She made whiny noises in protest. She did this frequently when he held him. She certainly preferred the ‘miah. He didn’t mind it much.
“Open up!” The voice on the other side of the door shouted. It sounded like Jeremiah’s, but who knew what these zombies were capable of? They could be able to mimic other voices. None of it mattered when he opened the door without hesitation. He would rather die looking at a fake of him than without him entirely.
He slammed the door shut as soon as he saw a rotting corpse behind him. It still tried to get through. Jeremiah’s back held the door closed. “Are ya okay? You don’t look so alright,” He asked in concern.
“It still followed me for fuck’s sake. I can’t believe it survived a blow with a sword!” He shouted, struggling to keep the door closed. He swore under his breath several times.
A static noise cut through his frantic yelling. There was an old radio that Bubba was pretty sure was broken the last time he checked. It started to light up. “There’s been an outbreak! A parasite has been going around infecting people. The government advises everyone to barricade your doors and windows and hide before it’s too late! Call… for more information while it’s still operating,”
“Too late, assholes. We fucking know now!” He spat. “Could have told us sooner…” He mumbled under his breath.
It continued, “Stay calm. The government will regulate the parasite and lock it away before you know it! It will be over soon. Trust them,” The voice behind the radio didn’t seem so convinced themselves.
“Bullshit,”
While his husband aggressively kept the door closed and swore at a radio report, Bubba grabbed some plywood. Then, he started to nail it to the windows. He saw in the distance a few more zombies, grazing his precious fields. They seemed docile, but they might have been dangerous if provoked. He would know, he was the same.
Surprisingly, a few moments later, Jeremiah stepped away from the door, looking obviously tired. He sighed heavily. “They’re gone,” He simply said. He sat down on a broken chair in the middle of the room in silence.
Bubba searched the small basement for any additional food. He’d placed emergency food somewhere. He just couldn’t remember. There were some in the mini fridge they had and some in the top shelf. Once he confirmed that they had enough food to last a couple months, he sat next to him on the table. The blond seemed to be out of it, staring at the empty table. He gently placed his hand on the other’s open palm. “Hey,”
“Hey,” He replied, refusing to look up.
“Look at me,” It came off more direct than he intended. He kept his eyes on the table. He tightened his grip gently. “We’ll get through this together, alright, ‘miah. They said it’ll be over soon,” He raised the smaller’s hand and placed a kiss on it gently. “Love ya,”
His mouth turned upwards slightly. “Love you too, bubble,”
He let out a light-hearted chuckle, “I told ya to stop callin’ me that!”
They were gonna be alright. At least for now.
~~
It was their third Christmas in the bunker.
Or they thought so. They had no way to verify if it was indeed Christmas day because they had completely given up on trying to keep track of the days on day– what like 231? They had a small logbook from the beginning of the apocalypse where they noted down the day and some of their feelings. It was like their personal diary. Bubba abandoned it after a month because he got bored of it quite quickly. You couldn’t get that man to do anything consistently. But, Jeremiah lasted longer, making time to note some stuff down. He was always sentimental about things. It didn’t surprise him.
It was Jeremiah’s idea to count down til’ Christmas, even when they both quit. Christmas was important to both of them. It would bring some domesticality into this hell hole. They (as in Jermiah) found a solution by just counting twenty-five days after the first snowfall. Was it gonna be completely accurate? Absolutely not. It could be the start of November for all they knew, but it was good enough.
It worked in their favor as it was currently snowing outside. Jeremiah sat on the ground with Penny in his arms, patiently waiting, while Bubba was putting the last finishing touches on his gift. All of the gifts they made were hand-made since they had to work with what they got. Throughout these years, the amount of gifts dwindled as they ran out of materials to use. Either way, they were both grateful they had the option to share Christmas together at all.
The blond fiddled with his card. Inside, there was a note and a couple of bad drawings of them. He felt like a stupid preschooler drawing them. It wasn’t the greatest. He ain’t no artist, but it was one of the only things he could make. Penny seemed to like the card. She didn’t tear it to pieces like the other years, so he claimed that as a win.
The taller man sat down next to him with his newly wrapped gifts. “Merry Christmas,” He strained, passing his two gifts to the shorter. It was quite obvious what they both were, despite his futile attempts at wrapping them. To his defense, they ran out of boxes after the mistake they made in the first year by throwing them away. The items were a blanket that would refuse to fold properly, and –well, that one’s a surprise for last.
“Do you wanna open first?” Jeremiah asked. Bubba didn’t even realize that he’d already passed the gifts. Jeremiah’s presents consisted of a card,-- and Penny apparently? She must have been annoying him too much. He placed the hen into his lap, brushing her feather. She protested. Again.
“Sure,” Bubba replied, picking up the card. It was a sweet note, one he was gonna look back on during times of need. He gently placed it inside his back pocket and moved on to the next one. It was just a box. He wondered if he stole the rest of the boxes. He opened it to find two empty cans, “painted” to look just like them. It wasn’t actually painted. It was just marker on aluminum. There was a smaller squished can in the corner. It was made to look like Penny. “Aw, these are cute,”
Then, they moved on to Bubba’s presents. Jeremiah “unwrapped” his first gift in fake surprise. Then, real joy sat in when he looked at the colorful blanket more closely. It was a simple blanket with a snowflake pattern, but he could feel a sense of love attached to it. Not just because it was from his husband. “Did you make this yourself?” He asked, tracing the frills.
The brunette nodded. The blanket was far from perfect with its uneven stitching and frayed string. Bubba hadn’t picked up a sewing needle since he was at war. He used to enjoy sewing, but the war did what it did and made him unable to pick up a needle without overwhelming thoughts. He found the materials in an old part of the basement used for storage. He might have as well put it into good use, instead of it rotting away.
“This is impressive,” He remarked, examining it further. “Now, I feel bad for my gifts,”
“You’ll outdo me next time!” They both knew there may never be a next time. He shoved his last gift into the other’s hand. “Open it!”
“If you insist,” He rolled his eyes playfully. Inside the poorly wrapped offering, there were three small paper rings. Two of them were identical to their wedding rings, simple silver bands with minimal engravings (they weren’t detailed at all, but it was the thought that counts). The last one was a replica of the engagement ring he gave to Bubba. A gold swirly ring with a circle cut ruby in the middle. He was quite proud of it when he chose it all those years ago.
He held them close, tears forming in his eyes. They were so well done. He couldn’t help, but be emotional. “These are wonderful,”
Bubba shifted closer to him, pulling him into a hug. “Glad ya like them,”
~~
“I can’t stand it here!” Bubba snapped in the middle of trying to tear open his can of baked beans.
Jeremiah couldn’t stand it either. Currently, he was sitting on the floor. But what could they do? He was so tired. He sighed. He clutched Penny closer to him, wrapping a warm blanket around her as he watched her eat some of his leftover beans. “Bubba… you know this. We can’t leave.”
“When have we ever listened to what we are told? Do you want us to die here?” He exclaimed. “Rot away in this big ole’ basement? Or do you wanna fight again? Have the freedom we dreamed of for our whole lives? If you still do, we have to fight for it, the American way,” He wished it was that simple.
“This ain’t the coobe war, baby. We don’t have horses or swords no more. We can’t defend ourselves without the army. We aren’t fighting mindless shapes.” He stood up, staring face-to-face with the other man. Eye contact always worked on Bubba. He knew his husband inside and out. He would be more easily swayed by his distracting eyes.
“These are zombies. They used to be people just like us with their own lives.” He took a step forward. Their faces merely inches away from each other. He raised his voice. “Bubba, I’ve died before! I don’t wanna make another being suffer like that!” He took a breath, calming himself down. He shouldn’t yell, especially at Bubba after he’d been so patient towards him for all this time. “We’lll wait it out.” He concluded, turning around to return to his spot on the ground. He scooped up Penny into his arms, muttering senseless praises to her to distract himself.
He hoped that would be the end of it, but he should have known better. They both were as stubborn as mules.“Waiting it out” isn’t what we stand for! Out of everyone, I thought you’ll be the one to get understand. This urge to go out there!
“And I thought you were the one who would understand that we have to stay. It’s been years. We’re old. We’re not gonna survive out there.” He simply said, trying to calm the other’s temper slowly.
“You and me are the toughest guys I know. I got my legs blown to smithereens and you died. We’ll get through this how we get through everything.” Bubba kneeled down in front of him and took his hand gently. The blond looked at his pleading eyes. He wondered if this was what it was like when he proposed to him all those years ago. It felt… nostalgic, sentimental. This time Bubba was the one making vows. It made his heart sprint. He knew him so well. He guessed they both were using their weaknesses against each other.
“Please, ‘miah,” He begged. “I can’t go out there without you. You promised to stay with me no matter what. I’ll be no good without you. Join me.” He was so beautiful under the dim lighting that definitely needed to be replaced. The soft glow emphasized his features so well. How could he say no? He said it himself, he was a weak man.
“I–”
“You don’t have to do nothing! I just want you here within arms’ reach.”
He sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This man was quite persistent. It was about time he gave in. “Someone needs to make sure you don’t get bit.” He shoved the brunette’s face out of the way as he walked around him with a grin.
The other gave a similar smirk back. “Don’t ya love bitin’ me?”
“By a zombie, you idiot.” He defended lightheartedly. His grin only widened. He grabbed a backpack from the top shelf, rummaging through it. “C’mon you got a plan or what?” Three seconds of pure silence. “Where ya seriously gonna run out there without a plan?" He questioned.
“Plan was get a gun then figure it out from there,”
“Really?” He sighed. “You would have died out there without me!”
“I know.” He smiled.
Jeremiah grabbed a large piece of paper and the map of the area from their bookshelf and rolled it out on the table. “So, we’re here, correct?” He pointed to the middle of the hand-drawn map. Their farm. The taller one nodded. “We should go downtown.” He pointed to the far end. “To the big city. They’ll have more people, more food, more shelters. That’s miles away. We’ll make pitstops at these stores if we need anything.” He raised his hand and dragged them across a path of a variety of stores.
“Sounds great.”
He glanced over at his chicken, pecking away at its food. He guessed they would have to leave Penny behind, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. “Can I–”
His husband finished it for him.“Of course. Don’t wanna starve ya of the only thing we have left,”
He picked up the chicken and placed it into his backpack. She just barely fit on top of the materials. Even while eating very little, she was still quite big for her breed. She seemed to be quite frightened, shaking in his grasp. Poor thing. He petted her on the head. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe,” He comforted her.
Bubba, who was watching the interaction, laughed. His bag was already hanging off his shoulder, filled with the necessary items Jeremiah directed he should bring.“Stop getting distracted! Hurry up and pack,”
“I’m trying!” He exclaimed, quickly grabbing the rest of the stuff he needed.
Once they had gathered all of their stuff, they aligned themselves at the back door that had access to the outdoors. Bubba took the plywood down earlier while waiting for the blond. He needed to unlock the several locks secured on the door. There were all different types of locks, combinations, ones that require a key, padlocks, even some with an alphabet passcode. He was good at remembering codes.
He opened the door ajar. Outside, it was a shadow of its former self. There was nothing out there, except for a couple tumbleweeds dancing around. Their lovely farm was just a dead wasteland now. Jeremiah’s stomach dropped. He suddenly felt sick. The wind blew in his face. “You ready for that?”
He tried to look as neutral as possible. “As I’ll ever be,”