Seeking Daylight

by Becky Poirier

  He stood stunned half in the doorway and half out. I smiled at the expression of shock on his face.

  “Please stay,” I said once more, so he knew it wasn’t his imagination.

  “Are you sure?” I nodded. He closed the door slowly and placed the lamp on the desk again. The way the light reflected off his face made him look stunning. The gold flecks in his hair captured the little light and danced. The way the light cast shadows on his face defined his jawline making him look more handsome then I had ever seen him.

  He took up one of the hard-plastic chairs that had been placed against the wall and sat down next to the bed. I shook my head and patted the mattress beside me. He looked even more stunned.

  I laughed. “We’re both adults. We can be mature about this.” I yawned again. “There’s room for two. No reason you should be uncomfortable.” He looked a little apprehensive about taking me up on my offer. But the chair he was in was cold and uncomfortable. The bed was so inviting that he really couldn’t say no. He slowly inched his way under the sheets trying to keep space between us.

  His body was stiff hugging the edge of the bed. It made me smile. I slid closer into him and to my surprise his body became even more rigid, which I didn’t realize was possible. I laughed out loud. I reached out and touched his arm. “Relax,” I said. “I promise I won’t bite. Is this the first time you’ve had a girl in your bed?” I asked. The blush on his cheeks shining through the darkness revealed his answer without him having to say a word.

  “It’s that obvious?” he asked staring back at me with a look of pure embarrassment.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “That and with the work of scientific deduction I was able to conclude that you really wouldn’t have had much opportunity to get between the sheets with anyone. Who else is even in your age bracket? I guess there’s Clara.”

  He shook his head with an almost comical look of horror. “Never, ever.”

  “It’s because she talks too much, isn’t it?”

  He laughed, “Yeah I prefer the quiet and mysterious type of woman.” He immediately shut his mouth; the pink hue returned to his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I get that you’re not ready to think about that. Sorry, it was so stupid.” He was rambling now and he looked like he was about ready to bolt for the door.

  I didn’t want him to leave so I did the only thing I was sure of that would keep him there. I moved in quickly and planted a kiss on his cheek as I rested my head on his shoulder. His whole body stiffened up again. “You seriously need to learn to relax,” I teased planting another soft kiss on his cheek.

  “You’re making that very difficult,” he said. “This doesn’t seem like you at all.”

  “It’s me. It’s probably the most me I’ve been since we’ve met.” I pulled myself up to lean over him and this time I kissed his lips. At first, he just laid there not doing anything. It didn’t take long for him to give into what he was feeling. He reached out behind me and pulled me in closer. When he kissed me back there was a passion that I hadn’t felt in so long. It was something that I’d missed without knowing I was missing it. It invigorated me. I forgot all about sleeping, the exhaustion having melted away.

  My whole body sprang to life like I’d just woken from a coma. I kissed him back more fiercely. The desire resonated through my whole body, pulling me closer to him. I could feel his heart pumping faster beneath my hand. I wrapped my hand around his waist and pulled him over as I lay back on my pillow. Hey lay half on top of me. With his body pressed up so close to mine I could feel just how excited he was. My heart pumped faster. It had been too long since I’d felt this desire. It was so powerful, intoxicating. Probably more so than the wine.

  I started pulling up his shirt and that was when he pulled his lips away from mine. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I laughed. “I’m taking your clothes off silly.” I tried tugging at his shirt again but he pulled just out of my reach. I pouted at him.

  “Are you sure?” He asked me. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not ready to do.”

  “Am I not acting ready?” I said sitting up on my elbows to pull myself closer to his body again. “I thought I was acting really ready.” I reached up and pulled at his shirt so that his lips were once again pressed against mine. He fell back down on top of me, kissing me just as passionately as he had before. I started pulling at his belt to loosen it. He pulled away again and I let out an exasperated sigh. “What is it now?”

  “Are you really sure you want to do this. Because I’m reaching the point of no return here,” he said.

  I giggled, which was an odd sound for me to make. I was pretty sure I’d never giggled in my entire life. But I was feeling so excited, so free that I didn’t care how absurd the sound was. I pulled his hand down and up under my shirt until his hand was cupping my breast. The look on his face was priceless. “I’m very sure.” He didn’t ask again. He fell back on top of me as he kissed my lips and caressed my breast. My heart was pounding so loudly now I was sure that he could hear it. The excitement flowing through my body was electric. He lifted up my shirt slightly kissing my abdomen and slowly moving northward. Where he kissed, little traces of fire burst to life. Heat began pooling between my legs. I’d definitely reached the point of no return as well.

  Suddenly I couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough. I pulled at his shirt and this time he helped me lift it over his head. “Your turn,” he said with a smile as he helped me up. He lifted my shirt up over my head and tossed it on the floor. My bra didn’t last much longer. For someone who’d never done this before he managed to get it off with ease. I giggled again as my head hit the pillow once more. He started kissing my neck. As he kissed my neck, his hands were busy exploring my body. His lips moved towards my ear nibbling as he whispered “You are so beautiful. This has to be a dream.” He sighed as he pulled me in closer.

  “This is real,” I whispered back as I traced my hands down his firm abs searching once again for his belt buckle. His lips moved back to mine and he kissed me with such intensity that I felt like I was in serious danger of running out of breath. I didn’t care. It felt so good. I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t care about the consequences or what would happen when the sun came up, I just wanted to live in this moment, this perfect moment. My hands finally managed to unclasp his belt buckle and I was in the process of unbuttoning his pants when a sound echoed through the building, stopping us both dead in our tracks. It was a sound I’d recognize anywhere. The sound of gun fire popping on the roof.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Seth and I stared at each other, as we both tried to make sense of what we heard. Seth was the one to come out of the fog first. He hopped off the bed, quickly did up his belt and grabbed his shirt off the floor. He was running out the door as he tried to put his shirt back on. I called after him, my pounding heart now full of fear for his safety and everyone else in the building. He yelled back something about staying put.

  “Like hell,” I responded to myself as I quickly hobbled out of bed. “Where the hell did he throw it?” I asked no one as I searched the room desperately for my shirt. It probably only took a few seconds to find it, but it felt like minutes. I yanked it up off the floor and tossed it over my head, not even caring that it was on inside out.

  I rushed out of the room as I dragged my walking cast behind me. Never was I more aware of just how heavy the stupid thing was, until that very moment. When I finally made it to the stairwell, I was met by Jane. She had the same expression of fear. “What’s going on?” She asked me.

  “I know as much as you. Seth rushed up there to check it out.” I started climbing the stairs awkwardly.

  “Where are you going?” She asked me.

  I rolled my eyes. It should have been obvious. “The roof. If there’s something up there that needs shooting, they might actually need a good shot. Don’t you think?” I started climbing again. She put her hand on my arm to stop me. When I turned around,
I expected her to be looking at me with the same annoyed expression she normally wore when our eyes met. But instead she looked at me with deep concern. It was almost like she actually cared about my safety, not just for Seth’s sake, but for my own.

  “You’re drunk how great of a shot could you possibly be?” I wasn’t that drunk. Well maybe a little, but I was sobering up fast with the situation and I didn’t have time for her stupid questions. “Jane, we don’t have time to argue. They’re up there and they need help. Instead of arguing, why not get Wes and Kyle to join us.” She looked at me and then back towards the common room.

  “Fine, but be careful,” she warned as she dashed off out of sight.

  I started run hopping up the stairs, being careful to put as little pressure on my injured ankle as possible. Something was becoming very clear as I traversed the stairs. Jane was right. I was drunk. Way more drunk than I originally thought. I nearly slipped and fell twice just trying to keep my balance. I held on more tightly to the railing as I made it the rest of the way to the top. The entire time my mind raced with worse case scenarios. The one thing I felt sure of was, that the infected were here.

  Over the last few years I’d become very attune to recognizing their presence. Alex used to call it my sixth sense. I knew when they were near, by the sick feeling that I felt in the pit of my stomach. And right now I felt completely nauseated and I knew it wasn’t just the wine. Another shot rang in the air as I shoved against the roof top door. It was jammed shut with something.

  I yelled for someone to open it. There was no response. I shoved harder with my shoulder trying to break whatever it was that was forcing the door closed. It wasn’t locked. That could only be done from the inside. There had to be something jamming it from the outside. “Hey,” I yelled louder, “Let me out.”

  “Stay inside where it’s safe,” Seth yelled back at me.

  “Her again, we don’t have time for your girlfriend. Pay attention Seth. They’re getting closer.” That was Nina’s voice.

  Rage flowed through me at Nina’s cynical remark. She had no right to keep me from this. If the infected were coming, then this was my chance. The one I’d been waiting weeks for. I needed to be there. They needed me to be there. Drunk or not I was still a better shot than any of them. I let the anger fill me as I slammed against the door once again. And this time I heard a distinct cracking sound as I fell through the door onto the hard, gravel roof. The gravel dug into my hands splitting the skin as I tried to get back up off the ground.

  Lying beside me was half of a splintered shovel. Seth was there in an instant picking me up off the ground. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said with a more worried tone, than angry one.

  “Yeah and we were trying to keep the other’s safe by jamming the door. Thanks to you they’re now at risk too,” Nina snapped.

  “Well if we keep the door blocked then Wes and Kyle can’t come up here to help,” I retorted. “I would think you might want a couple of sniper’s up here, seeing as you’ve already missed twice.”

  “Enough fighting you two,” Doc said as Seth handed me a rifle. “If you’re going to be here, at least be useful. They’re two buildings over in that direction,” he pointed to my left. “They’re biding their time.”

  I took the gun and held it against my shoulder as I looked through the scope. I could clearly make out two shadowy figures prancing around on all fours. It was like they were doing a dance of anticipation. They were staring at us. Their red eyes were only specks through the scope, but they still made my blood run cold. I shook the feeling off.

  “Is it just the two of them?” I asked Seth. He nodded.

  “The two you said you caught,” I spat out sarcastically.

  Seth shook his head. “We did catch two and we killed and burned them. We didn’t lie about that.”

  “No you just lied about the two you shot, that hobbled away.” I looked away from the scope for only a second, but that was all I needed for confirmation. The look of guilt on Seth’s face, was one he couldn’t hide. If the situation weren’t life and death, I would have yelled at him then and there, but I only hoped we’d have time for me to chew him out later.

  “Yeah well, they should have been mortal wounds and besides, they were covered in drying concrete, we really didn’t think they’d be much of a problem,” Seth replied.

  “Well you were wrong,” Nina snapped back as she pulled up her binoculars to get a better look at them. “What the hell are they waiting for?” She asked annoyed.

  “They’re probably analyzing us for weaknesses,” Doc offered though Nina’s question was clearly more of a rhetorical one.

  “They’re demons,” I replied, “Monsters. They don’t think rationally. All they know is how to infect. They’re probably just frightened of the sound the guns make.”

  “You don’t know that,” Doc said. “Nobody really knows much about them at all. That’s why we need to study them. And that’s why we’re using the tranquillizer,” he said offering me a pathetic tranquilizer gun to me in place of my military issue rifle.

  I shook my head half laughing, as I stared at the pathetic excuse for a weapon. “No way in hell am I using that sissy thing. You want to get us all killed, then that’s the gun you use. I personally would like to survive the night.” Seth looked at me with both a look of surprise and joy. It took me a second to realize why. I’d just admitted that I actually wanted to live. And in that moment it felt truthful, not that I could explain why I felt that way.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Nina spoke up, “But I actually agree with her. We’re not using that. You want to find a beast to experiment on, then you can set up a trap like you originally planned. We’re not risking the lives of everyone here.” I had to resist the urge to go over and high five Nina. We didn’t agree on much, but she was clearly one of the few sensible ones in the group.

  “Seth come on, help me out here,” Doc pleaded.

  Seth shook his head. “I’m with them. This is too dangerous and not at all what we discussed doing. I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to kill these two and set up a trap for a test subject later.” Doc huffed off to stew by the blind while still holding on tightly to his tranq. gun. I could tell Seth was torn over his decision. He didn’t like disagreeing with Doc.

  “What’s everybody shouting about?” Kyle asked as he and Wes came rushing through the door, guns held tightly in their hands. Seth quickly apprised them of the situation. The two men didn’t really seem surprised by the turn of events. And unlike Seth and I, they were actually sober which told me they’d been waiting for this. I’d seen them drinking at the party, but only once and it wasn’t the strong stuff. They also looked like the type who could handle their liquor, unlike me. Thank goodness someone decided to keep their wits about them. I was still struggling to keep the gun steady in my hand. I only hoped that when the time came, my instincts would push me into some sort of sobriety.

  “So what’s the plan?” Kyle asked.

  “I think you should go back downstairs to the others to keep them safe. If anything goes wrong, we need a good shot around to protect them,” Seth responded with his voice of authority. And both Kyle and Wes responded like they were taking orders from a commanding officer. “And Wes we need you up here to help us out. We’ve got three so-so shots up here and our only other really good shooter is wasted.”

  “Hey, I argued,” without much effort. I wasn’t as wasted as I had been before the gun shots. Seth only smiled at me, taking me in. I looked down at myself remembering I’d put my shirt on inside out and then also realized that in my haste I’d missed putting my bra back on. My cheeks burned despite the temperature. The cold wasn’t hiding anything. Seth wasn’t the only one taking in my appearance. Nina was also staring…in a disapproving way.

  Kyle rushed back downstairs, locking the door before he ran to meet the others. The rest of us took up different positions on the roof, readying ourselves for the attack. I pulled my gun back up
to my shoulder as I attempted to get the two demons back into view of my scope. At this distance it would only be a waste of a bullet if I tried to shoot. But if they came to the next building, I could take them out easily, drunk or not.

  “Didn’t you say there were two of them?” Wes asked.

  I searched through my scope and my heart sank. While we’d been busy arguing and plotting, they’d moved. I could only see one now. It was just staring back at me calmly now, not moving or dancing like it had before. My mind threatened to flash back to the room where I lost Molly. I could see the smile of the demon that had bitten my sister. I shoved the memory out of my mind. I needed to focus. The other demon could be anywhere.

  Everyone had gone silent, searching for the demon we’d lost. Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud thump as Wes’s body hit the hard roof top, his gun slid away from him landing at my feet. Before I could react, Wes was screaming out in pain. I focused my gun in Wes’s direction. The demon was on top of him, his teeth firmly gripping the soldier’s shoulder. No one else made a sound as Wes’s screams filled the air. With my sweaty hands slipping on my gun, I knew I had only one chance to end the torture. I fired just as the demon let go of Wes. It looked me straight in the eye, with its teeth dripping with blood, as my bullet penetrated its skull. I moved my eye away from the scope just in time to see the demon fall off of Wes landing with a crunching sound beside him.

  Wes was bleeding heavily. That was when the rest of them finally reacted. Doc went into healing mode instantly as he ripped off his sweater, pressing it in tightly to Wes’s wound. “It’s too late,” Wes whispered through gritted teeth.