Chapter 20- Talk and Nightmares

When we had gotten back into the house, my mom basically scolded me for running off and fussed over me for having blood all over my person. So I cleaned myself up and put on some different clothes. Just an oversized tee shirt and a pair of baggy shorts suited me just fine while hanging around the house. After that Genn and I made a simple stew that would be easy for everyone to swallow.

My mom took stew into our guest while I sat at the table with Thorne, trying to get him to use a spoon instead of just sticking his face into the hot liquid like he wanted to. His claws made it slightly hard for him to grasp the spoon and he growled softly at the piece of metal, which made me chuckle. He glared in my direction and I could tell he was ready to throw the spoon across the room.

"Try holding it like this." I used my own spoon as an example as I gripped it with my fist. I then dipped the spoon into the stew and brought it to my lips. He watched carefully then did the same, his hand shaking slightly as he lifted his spoon full to his mouth before devouring it. His eyes lit up in happiness as he continued to shovel the stew into his maw.

I smiled at the hunter before eating my own bowl at a slower place. Genn walked back into the kitchen with an empty bowl, placing it in the sink before getting herself some stew for herself and sitting on my other side. She sighed as she took a bite of the home made concoction.

"What's up momma?" I set the spoon down and looked over to the older woman.

"I'm having second thoughts about having brought that girl back here." She also set her spoon down, looking down at her hands. "She seems to do nothing but complain about everything. She was even hoping that you would have not come back after you went out."

"What?" I couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Bit…tch." Thorne spoke up, a dangerous look in his pale eyes.

"Was she like this before the infection too?" I looked over at the hunter with an eyebrow raised. He nodded and the dangerous glare was still there as if he was thinking about something. "We can finish discussing this later." Picking up my spoon, I finished with my meal and put the bowl in the sink. I then walked into the living room to check up on our guest.

"How's your leg feeling?" I nonchalantly took a seat on the coffee table and looked at the woman.

"Hurts like hell, kinda feels like it was run over by a truck." She responded, not looking at me.

"That's expected, the bone was sticking through the skin when you were brought in." Seeing her wince made me inwardly smirk. "Hopefully we set it back just in time so there won't be too much damage done to it."

"Hopefully." Eliza muttered, still not looking at me. "So how did your escapade out into the world go?" She seemed bored, but asked the question anyway.

"Well, I wanted to see if we could find any kind of supplies in the houses and found an infected." I shook my head, noticing that she finally looked my way.

"Those things are nothing but trouble. At least you didn't have to deal with your family in law turning on you and your fiancée left you alone at the altar." Her eyes narrowed slightly at me. So they were getting married but Thorne never showed up to the wedding. I put two and two together and sighed.

"He didn't mean to not show up. The infection just hit a little too soon for you two to be married." I shrugged my shoulders and she glared at me.

"You wouldn't fucking know." She turned from me then.

"I'm at least trying to understand." I stood up and walked back toward the kitchen only to see Thorne staring slightly as he sat in the room that joined the living room. My guess was that he heard everything. I bit my lip as I looked at him, his eyes just staring off into space. "Thorne?" He looked to me but his eyes were slightly glazed over.

He had indirectly found out that his family had turned. I felt slight rage growing inside of me, knowing that he was probably hurting from the news. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down and knelt beside the hunter, resting my hand on top of his. He kept his eyes on me before leaning down and laying his head on both our hands.

I lifted my other hand and ran it through his hair a few times before resting my head against his own. Somehow I knew this was bringing my companion some sort of comfort. I wanted to comfort him for the loss of his family like he had when I found out about mine. He lifted his head and smiled softly at me before nuzzling my face with his nose. I chuckled quietly and smiled back at him. "You're welcome." I whispered, squeezing his hand and standing.

I walked back into the kitchen, seeing Genn cleaning the dishes. She looked over at me before going back to her work. "So what happened when you talked to her?" Her voice was low, almost like she was trying to hide what she was saying about Eliza.

"Apparently she was waiting at the altar for Thorne when his family turned and started attacking the wedding party." I sat down at the table again and rubbed my temples. "He basically heard it from her mouth and was upset."

"Wait, so before all of this, Thorne and Eliza were… engaged?" I could tell her eyebrow was raised in question.

"Yeah, that's why I threw the wallet at her before leaving. It was Thorne's wallet and I guess she was too stubborn to recognize that it was him right off the bat." I looked up at the clock above the door way, which read six thirty-five. Standing from the table, I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

"Are you going to take a bath?" Genn semi yelled so I could hear her.

"Yes!" I called back before turning on the water. I made sure it was the perfect temperature for me before putting in the stopper. I pulled out a towel from the closet, along with a bottle of bubble bath. I poured some of the sweet smelling liquid into the water and it started to foam immediately. I tossed off the clothes I was wearing and gently eased myself into the water, letting out a content sigh as I relaxed.

Slowly, I removed the bandages from around my shoulder to stare at the bite mark I had. I was glad I was immune to the infection; else I would have turned by now and not have gotten back to my mom. I didn't know what she would have done if I was gone and I didn't want to think about it. I lifted my leg from the water to turn the faucet off with my toes since the tub was mostly full at this point. As I relaxed the leg back into the water, I closed my eyes and sighed in happiness.

I let my thoughts run rampant again, feeling whatever aches and pains I had in my body wash away into the warm water. Chuckling at myself, I piled some of the bubbles up on my face, making a bubble beard. I hadn't done anything like this since I was younger, so it made me smile at simpler times. I felt my eyes drooping and soon I was in a fitful sleep.

~~~~~Thorne~~~~

The hunter looked toward the bathroom door, wondering what was taking Ravei so long to get out of her bath. He was fidgeting while tapping his claws against the kitchen table. He didn't feel right without her in his sights; he was extremely worried when she ran off earlier to wherever she went. Taking in a deep breath, he turned his gaze from the door to look around the kitchen.

Nothing was really different in the room, except for the pot on the stove that wasn't there before, due to the two able women cooking food. The smell of the food was also lingering in the air, making him have to swallow extra saliva to keep it from running out of his mouth. The food had been amazing, both to smell and to devour; he couldn't wait to have more.

He looked to his left as the older woman, Genn, came from the living room after talking with Eliza. He tilted his head in question to her, to which she looked at him and shook her head. Apparently the younger woman wasn't being very cooperative about anything they were asking her.

"I don't know what's wrong with that girl." Genn spoke as she sat down at the table after getting herself a cup of coffee. "She was like this before the infection as well?" He nodded to her question. "You seem like you were too nice of a boy to have wanted to marry… that." She had a soft smile on her face as she stared down into her coffee. "I kind of wish you would have met my Ravei before this, maybe you could have proposed to her instead." There was a devilish gleam in the older woman's gaze.

Thorne felt heat bloom in his cheeks, something he hadn't felt in a while, at the woman's words. He avoided her gaze as he thought about it. Ravei was kind and didn't really judge people from what he had seen. Maybe she would have been a good choice to marry. If only times were that simple. He shook his head but smiled a toothy smile at the older woman across from him.

"She's been in there a long time…" Genn looks to the clock, taking a sip of her coffee. "Must be nice having a hot bath." The hunter nodded in agreement, though he didn't like water as much as he used to.

"THORNE!" The voice came from the bathroom, making both the hunter and Genn stand quickly from the table. He quickly launched himself from his spot and pushed open the door to the bathroom. "Stop! No Thorne! Don't!" Ravei cried out, water sloshing from the bath and spilling onto the floor. Her mother ran into the bathroom after the hunter to examine her daughter, only to find the girl's eyes closed.

"She's having a nightmare." Genn stated and gently shook the girl. "Ravei, wake up, come on now wake up." Her voice was soft, trying to call the girl out of her slumber. After a few more violent screams, the girl finally sat up, breathing heavily.

~~~~Ravei~~~~

I woke from my sleep feeling extremely wet, probably from sweat due to the dream I just had to endure. I looked down at my hands and saw they were underwater; I had forgotten that I was in the bath tub, trying to take a bath. Taking my gaze from my hands, I looked over at the person sitting beside me. My mom had a sad smile on her face as she watched me with careful brown eyes.

"What happened? Where's Thorne." I asked her, only seconds later seeing the hunter peeking around the corner of the wall behind the tub. I quickly, but carefully, pulled myself from the tub and launched myself at the unsuspecting hunter. He yelped in surprise but caught me as I threw my arms around him. I buried my head into his chest and let out a few sobs. "You're alright!" I cried out.

Thorne wrapped his arms around me, avoiding scratching me with his sharp claws. I was just so happy that he was still here, still with me. That dream, no the nightmare was just terrible. We were trapped between a group of survivors and a group of infected. The infected were calling to him to come to them, while the survivors were calling for me to go to them.

I could not go to either of them, I was happy being in the middle with just me and the hunter I cared so much for. I had started to move toward the survivor group, and Thorne moved with me because he didn't want to leave me. The infected attacked after he made that move. As they attacked the survivor group started to shoot their counterparts on the other side of the field.

He had pushed me down to stay out of the cross fire; bullets were whizzing over my head, and blood was splattering onto me. Thorne was attacking the infected along with the survivors trying to keep them away. I could hear him call out in pain every now and then, making me wince but not look up from my fetal position on the ground.

When the gunfire had stopped, there was ragged, heavy breathing walking my way. I heard the guns click one more time as I looked up. Thorne was standing above me, scratched, bloody and riddled with bullets. My eyes grew wide as he knelt down before me, holding out his clawed hand. I reached out for it but was hesitant as one last shot boomed out into the air. Buck shot scattered into the hunter's chest making some blood splatter out of his back.

His eyes grew dim as he still looked at me, but then he started to fall over. I moved to his side and let him fall onto me. His breathing was ragged, and his movements were slow and jerky. He reached his hand up to me and placed it on my face, gently stroking away the wetness that had started to make its way down my cheeks. My hunter was dying in my arms, and there was nothing I could do about it. He smiled up at me with sad eyes, still trying to wipe my tears away with a shaky hand.

I watched as he tried to speak, but coughed up blood instead. The liquid dribbled from the corners of his mouth but the smile was still on his lips. I heard another click and turned to see one of the survivors, though they were pitch black and I could not see who it was. A pistol was pointed toward the head of the hunter I was holding in my arms. "NO!" I shouted before the trigger was pulled. That was when I woke up.

If it were possible I held Thorne closer to me. I didn't want to let him go out of fear that this was also a sick, twisted dream and the dream was the reality. The fact that I was standing in the bathroom was the only factor that made me realize that it wasn't a dream. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see my mom holding out my towel to me. Gasping, I remembered that I had just crawled out of the bath and flung myself at the hunter I thought was hurt.

I took the towel from my mom and quickly wrapped it around myself. She seemed to laugh softly at me, which made heat rise to my cheeks. I had basically thrown my naked self at Thorne and hadn't even thought about covering myself up. Turning back to said person, I noticed that with my hug I had gotten what water was on me all over him.

"Sorry." I muttered, still full with embarrassment. He seemed to chuckle before walking out of the room after making sure that I was alright. I sat back down on the edge of the tub and released the stopper, hearing a gurgle as the water started to be sucked down into the pipes. My mom lowered the lid of the toilet and took a seat on it, looking me over with slight worry in her gaze.

"You dreamed that he died didn't you?" She asked out of the blue. I looked up at her with wide eyes and she nodded. "Thought so; the way you were screaming out for him was a dead giveaway. No pun intended."

"It was terrible, momma." I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned my head into my palms. "He died in my arms, shot right in the head by a survivor." An involuntary shudder wracked my body. "I don't want that to happen." Genn rested a hand on my arm and I took her hand in one of mine.

"If it's up to either of us, we won't let that happen." She smiled. "He's a good kid, even if he is one of them." She chuckled softly, as if remembering something she had said earlier. "I told him if he had met you before he met what's-her-face out there, that he should have proposed to you." I felt myself blush again and she only laughed. "I'll let you get changed now." With that she took her hand from mine and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

I shivered slightly as I thought about what she had said. What would it have been like to have someone that you cared about so much that you asked them to marry you? I laughed softly at the idea, not like it could happen now anyway, not with all the rabid zombies running around. I changed back into my previous clothes after drying myself thoroughly and quickly exited the bathroom to head up the stairs to my room.

Once upstairs, I flung myself onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I didn't really want to fall back to sleep after that dream, so I just let my thoughts wander some more. I heard a voice downstairs and listened carefully. "You want some more of that stew already?" Genn's voice wafted up the stairs. "Alright, alright! Don't give me that puppy-dog look!" There was laughter in her voice as she spoke with the hunter, who I assumed was still hungry. I laughed to myself before closing my eyes and letting the calmness of being home and having some kind of banter in the house overtake me.

A/N- Well there's chapter 20! For those who reviewed the last chapter… Oh where is he? *Ravlia drags the reluctant hunter from a different room, a childish pout on his face.* Go on give them hugs! *Thorne reluctantly walks up to the reviewers and hugs them.* There you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What will be next on the agenda in this land of the dead? Only I shall know… Muahahahaha! *Thorne hits Ravlia over the head with a pillow, bowing his head in apology to all the masses that have to deal with her insanity.* So, until next time! Feel free to review again and have a great day!