Meet Me At The End Of The World

Chapter Thirty

FIVE MONTHS LATER

I open my eyes and smile to myself, once again thrilled to find myself in a comfortable bed, in a room all of my own. Rolling onto my side, I read the time from my digital alarm clock as eight thirty and once again smile at the fact that I received a full night of sleep. It wasn't easy at first but finally, I'm begining to relax.

Despite missing my family and previous life, living in the compound isn't the worst. It's a large round building with bedrooms, dining halls and even a full scale hospital. The centre is outside and makes up the most stunning garden I've ever seen. Compared to what life was previously like, this place is the equivalent to a luxury hotel.

With a smile on my face, I climb out of bed and open my wardrobe to reveal a load of clean clothes. I never noticed how much I missed wearing nice clothes until the apocalypse. Choosing a simple outfit for the day, I head into my bathroom and relish in my warm shower.

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"Danny!"

I whirl around at the sound of my name to find Heather walking towards me. I see her most days since she works in the hospital which is always my stop directly after having breakfast with Val and Honey.

"Hey." I say and she smiles before speaking once more.

"He's not here." She informs me and I frown. "Rebecca says that she saw him leave his bed at three in the morning and hasn't returned. He's most likely down in the gardens." I nod and offer her a small smile.

"Thanks." I say before changing direction and heading down to the gardens.

The gardens of the compound are beautiful and after not seeing much in the way of picturesque views in our undead cursed city, it was a welcome change.

As I enter the spacious circle garden, I instantly notice his red hair shining in the sunlight as he kneels in the dirt not caring for his outfit at all. He's leaning over something and I instantly guess that it's a flower. After everything, he chose gardening as his new hobby and appears to enjoy it a lot more then killing the undead. Not that he ever really did that anyway.

"Guess who?" I say as I cover both of his eyes with my hands.

"Danny." He responds, missing my sense of playfulness.

"Your supposed to guess everyone but me. It's sort of a joke." I explain to him as I plop down in the dirt beside him. Turns out that I don't care much for my outfit either. Simon frowns at me before saying:

"Oh."

"It's okay." I assure him, mentally hitting myself for once again making him seem as though he's a bad boyfriend.

"Okay." Is all he says before glancing back down that the soil and flower starts which he hastily begins to plant again. I watch him for a moment before speaking once more.

"Heather said that you were up super early today. Everything alright?" I ask softly, unable to prevent myself from worrying about him. Maybe that's what love is though? My mum once told me that she worries for me because she loves me so that has to be the same for both Simon and I.

"My legs fine Danny. You'll be the first to know when..."

"I ment up here." I tell him as I tap my finger against his head. He frowns slightly before answering with a stiff:

"Fine."

Ever since we all got settled in the compound, Simon, Honey, Val and I have had to talk to a woman named Jessica twice a week. She's supposed to be helping us deal with the trauma and she is really nice making her so easy to talk to. Simon doesn't seem to think so though. Jason Friday was able to book Simon in to have three appointments per week due to his poor mental state even without the apocalypse yet Simon doesn't seem to like the sessions one bit. I understand that he doesn't speak to people he doesn't know and that he can't open up about his feelings so they must be hard but he also can't seem to understand that not everyone is the enemy. The enemies were left in the south and now we're safe and able to recover as well as we can from everything we've witnessed. Well, that's what we hope to do anyway.

"How is your leg?" I choose to ask.

"Fine." He mumbles as he pushes the soil down around a pansy and then tips the watering can over it sending sprinkles of water cascading down upon the small plant start.

"Any sign of the virus returning?" I question, understanding that Simon isn't going to provide me with a direct answer unless I ask a direct question.

"No. Everything's been fine since the flare up last month." He states with a sorrowful tone. I wish that he didn't have to suffer the constant return of the virus to his body yet without a cure, we'll just have to continuing giving him Frederick August's chemical concoction.

"Any pain?"

"Danny, if I wanted to be mothered, I'd call Heather." He snaps before planting another pansy. I frown before leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss against his temple. He blushes slightly highlighting the freckles that cover his face before turning to me. "You demand attention a lot."

"Pansy's are more fascinating to you then your own boyfriend. I have to gain your attention somehow." I joke yet Simon appears to miss the humour and frowns.

"I'm..."

"It was a joke Simon." There's a long pause before he responds.

"Oh."

"Have you eaten?" I ask, wanting to change the subject. Simon shakes his head so I push myself up and hold a hand out for him to take. He does and now we're both caked in soil. I laugh slightly as I pull him up before we both head into the compound, hand in hand.

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"I can't believe that the worlds saviour is fields. Honestly, it just doesn't make a good plot." Honey states as she steels a chip off of Simon's plate despite having a tower of them on her own.

The entire south was taken by the undead and virus but due to the fields that spread out on the other side of our city, the virus didn't progress much farther. With the undead having nothing to eat in that direction, they didn't see the point so remained in the city allowing the rest of the world a moment to prepare for such an event.

"I can't believe that there is still a world." Val comments as they eat another chip. I nod in agreement before turning to Simon who is watching a bird through the window. The bird wags its tail and let's out a long cry before hopping several paces only then to dart into the air.

"Wag tail." Simon says as he notices me staring at where the bird just was.

"Huh?"

"The bird was a wag tail." He repeats and I can't help but smile at how he knows that. Ever since coming here, Simon has been cooped up in the hospital resulting in him reading a lot. He naturally did that anyway but now he's also including non-fiction instead of just fantasy and science fiction.

"Imagen being named after what you do." Honey states with a smirk. We all think for a moment before soft laughter spreads between us leading to an outburst of giggles that lasts for at least ten minutes.

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Plopping down beside Simon, I stare out over the compound, unable to see much beside that soft glowing lights in the windows through the darkness of night. Simon doesn't turn to me but his head moves until it's resting upon my should and his fingers lock into mine.

"Do you think that you'll be happy here?" I question, needing to know that wherever we are, he feels safe and happy.

"Maybe." Is all he says, leaving me confused. Simon's clearly registers my confusion and continues to talk. "I don't think I'm ever truly happy wherever I am."

"Simon..."

"But I'm glad that I'm here with you." He interrupts. His stunning eyes flutter shut and we fall silent. For a second, I believe that he may be asleep but then he speaks again. "I don't like having more people around though. I like you, Honey and Val being the only family I've got."

"Those are just people. They're not a part of the family. They never will be." I assure him as I ruffle his red hair making him smile slightly.

"Promise?" He mumbles.

"Promise." I confirm as I wrap my arms around him and hold his fragile body close to me. "I love you Simon."

"I love you too Danny."

And that is all I've ever wanted to hear.