It had been a neighbor, once. Jeremy could barely recognize her, through the contorted face and sallow, unnatural skin. Pam Wilson. Childless herself, she’d always been fond of Jeremy and Laura, always had a slice of cake or a jam tart or a piece of shortbread for them. On Guy Fawkes’ night, she built a bonfire, which Jeremy’s parents would never allow on their property, and had them over to bake potatoes and drink hot chocolate. Now, she lunged at Jeremy with her bloodied teeth bared.
Hesitating would mean death. Jeremy raised the rifle and pulled the trigger. Nothing. He tried again, but it remained jammed. The creature that had been Pam grabbed Jeremy’s arm tightly enough to bruise. He saw the marks later and was unspeakably thankful she hadn’t broken the skin. In desperation, he turned the gun in his hands and struck her with the butt.
It was enough to send her reeling back, at least momentarily. Jeremy looked towards the house, but it was too far to make a run for it. Even if he did, that would do nothing but bring the danger closer to his family. With another inhuman groan, Pam staggered to her feet. If she reached Jeremy, she would turn him into a creature, the way someone had turned her. The way people were being turned every day, every hour, all over the world. Desperately, Jeremy tried the gun again, yanking on the trigger in a way his father told him never to do, and shot her in the face.
Jeremy wakes up panting, the image of the creature’s blood and brains so vivid, his stomach lurches just as it did on that day when they splattered all over him. He’s so preoccupied with this gruesome image, he doesn’t realize someone is with him until a gentle voice says, “Jeremy.”
“I…What…” He looks over. Daniel is sitting on the bed beside him. The only light comes from the moon outside, but it’senough to see Daniel’s expression of heartfelt concern.
“You were shouting in your sleep.”
“Oh.” Jeremy wipes a hand over his face. It comes away sweaty. “Just memories. Sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize.” He doesn’t say anything else, but he doesn’t get up, either. Instead, he very slowly reaches out and puts his hand over Jeremy’s.
He can’t remember the last time he was touched, even casually, by anyone other than his family. It sets something off, a sudden cascade of emotion that brings everything to the forefront. More memories crowd into Jeremy’s mind, one coming after another: seeing the news reports of a strange illness in faraway countries. Hearing politicians assure them that illness could never take hold here. Then, very suddenly, receiving the order from the highest levels that everyone should take action, that they should move quickly to a less densely populated area if they had somewhere to go or barricade themselves in their homes if they didn’t. Jeremy had been on his way to his parents’ house within an hour.
“It happened so fast,” Jeremy says aloud. One day, everything was normal. The next, nothing was.
Without thinking about it, he leans in to embrace Daniel. He’s met immediately by Daniel’s arms and then by his mouth, soft and eager and desperate against Jeremy’s. Jeremy returns the kiss in kind.
“I don’t normally do this,” Daniel gasps moments later, pulling away a little. He looks shocked, like he can’t quite believe it. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Jeremy says. It is, in fact, the firstall rightthing that’s happened in two years.
“I assumed you were dead,” Daniel says, breathlessly, like he’s admitting to a long-held secret. Then, “And I always fancied you.” Maybe that was a secret. It needn’t have been.
“Really?”
“You don’t have to…I mean, just because I’m here, it’s not like you need to…”
Jeremy cuts Daniel off with another kiss.
This sudden run of luck doesn’t last long. The lone condom in Jeremy’s bedside table is three months past its expiry date.
“It’s been years since I had anything resembling sex,” Daniel says, when Jeremy shares this discovery. “But if you’re worried about it, there’s plenty of other things we can do.” He trails a hand down Jeremy’s chest and over the bulge in his briefs. Jeremy twitches and gasps, feeling like he could come just from that.It really has been too long, he thinks, but this is Daniel. Jeremy has a feeling he could get him this worked up even if the world had never ended.
* * * *
Afterwards, Daniel clings to him, his head on Jeremy’s chest and his arm across Jeremy’s stomach. There are scars there from where Jeremy tripped and fell onto the branch-littered forest floor fleeing from a creature. Daniel doesn’t ask about them. He has scars too, on his shoulder and on his thigh, although that one is faded enough it might predate all of this.
“What’s going to happen now?” Jeremy’s not expecting an answer. Nobody knows, clearly. This has never happened before.
“I would tell my patients to take one day at a time,” Daniel replies. “And not to be afraid to be happy. We’ve been through a lot, but we’re still here.” He swallows. “That’s what I would say to a patient,” he repeats.
Jeremy blinks up at the ceiling. “What would you say to me?”
“Stay with me,” Daniel says without hesitating. He turns his face up to press a kiss to Jeremy’s jaw. “Please.”
That’s a promise Jeremy has no trouble making.
* * * *
Jeremy was never one to celebrate anniversaries. A lot of things are different now.
Two years to the day after he came home and found Daniel, Jeremy is wearing his best tie. Even now, after everything, Daniel loves surprises, and Jeremy knows he’ll be thrilled with the evening Jeremy has planned. Dinner at a posh new restaurant, a walk in the park, the popping of a question that will likelynotbe a surprise, since they’ve been talking about it for months, but which will hopefully make both of them very happy indeed. All things Jeremy would have thought could never happen just a couple of years earlier, when they were living in hell.
“Hi, honey.” Daniel steps out of his office and comes over to Jeremy’s desk. Something else Jeremy would have thought impossible: the investment company never did get back on its feet, but Jeremy has found more fulfilling work as an office manager for Daniel’s busy psychology practice. “Just give me a moment, and I’ll be ready to go.”
