Chapter 422: Finally... Bedtime
The movie wasn’t finished when I decided I was done being awake.
I had no idea what time it was. The rain had stopped, the windows had gone black, and the man on the television had been running through the same casino for so long that I was beginning to think he lived there.
Lingyun was asleep beneath his blanket. Yuche had stopped pretending to watch the movie and was slowly rubbing the back of Lingyun’s neck, while Chenghai sat in the chair with his eyes closed and his head resting against one hand.
Only Zhenlan still looked awake.
That was probably because he was insane.
I had hunted green cores, gone to the black market, been attacked by people, dealt with zombies turning toward me, returned home with a bite twin, watched another zombie find the house, reached through a disgusting flesh string connected to something beneath the city, discovered that Zhenlan and Chenghai had been planning to turn my home into Warlord Headquarters: The Sequel, watched them tear those plans apart, gone on a date, watched two movies, and somehow ended up back on the couch again.
All without sleeping.
That couldn’t be healthy and I was pretty sure that I was minutes away from either going psycho or crazy.
And if you were asking what the difference was... psycho involved blood and potentially a knife while crazy just meant a soft room with padded walls.
I pushed myself away from Zhenlan’s chest and sat up. His hand slipped out from beneath the edge of my shorts but stayed on my knee.
"I’m going to bed," I announced. I was serious. I was going to bed come hell or high water, and nothing was getting in my way.
Let the world end...
Again.
Chenghai opened his eyes as Yuche looked toward the clock near the television and frowned. "It’s after three."
That explained why my brain felt like someone had filled it with wet bread.
"Why did no one tell me that?"
"You didn’t ask," Lingyun mumbled without opening his eyes.
I looked at him. "You’re supposed to be asleep."
"I was until you started talking."
His voice sounded thick and tired, and he didn’t move anything except his mouth. The blanket had slipped low enough to show the bandages around his ribs, but there was no new blood on them. That alone made the evening more successful than most things he participated in.
Yuche slid one arm behind Lingyun’s back and helped him sit up. Lingyun’s face tightened as his ribs pulled, and most of his weight dropped against Yuche before he could pretend otherwise.
Chenghai stood and cleared the bowls from the couch. He stacked them on the coffee table, moved the water glasses out of the way, then bent to pick up the crackers Lingyun had dropped beside the sectional.
I watched him put everything together and wondered whether any of us had enough energy left to walk upstairs.
Probably not.
I reached toward Zhenlan so he could help me stand. Instead of taking my hand, he slid one arm behind my back and the other beneath my knees.
The room moved.
I grabbed his shoulders. "I can walk," I grumbled.
"You’re falling asleep sitting up," he chuckled softly.
"I was resting my eyes."
"You were staring at the same spot on the wall for five minutes."
That sounded made up, but I couldn’t prove it.
Zhenlan lifted me from the couch and stood without making it look difficult. My legs settled across his arm, leaving the old bite in my calf away from his body.
Normally, I would’ve argued longer.
Instead, I let my head fall against his shoulder.
The bastard was warm.
Lingyun opened one eye and looked at us. Whatever comment came into his head died when Yuche adjusted his grip beneath Lingyun’s arm and pulled him carefully to his feet.
Lingyun leaned against him for a moment before looking toward the stairs. "I can make it."
Yuche’s arm tightened around his waist. "I know."
He still didn’t let him go.
Chenghai turned off the television, leaving only the small lamps near the hall. The sudden quiet made the entire house feel asleep before we had even left the room.
Yuche and Lingyun went first. They took the stairs slowly, Lingyun gripping the railing with one hand while Yuche kept him steady from the other side. Chenghai followed behind them in case Lingyun fell backward.
Zhenlan carried me last.
The mansion stayed quiet as we climbed. No radios crackled from the living room. No one shouted from the outer buildings. Even the plants had settled around the walls, their roots resting beneath the soil instead of reaching for something far beyond the property.
My scar still ached, but it had faded enough that I could ignore it until morning.
Everything could wait until morning.
Gu Han could wait.
The Devourer could wait.
The bite twin in the garage could continue being creepy inside his metal box without my help.
Zhenlan reached the second floor and carried me toward my bedroom. The door was already open, and Yuche had managed to get Lingyun onto the bed without tearing anything else inside him.
Lingyun lay near the left side with his injured ribs supported by pillows. He looked half-dead, but that was mostly because he had finally stopped smiling.
Chenghai pulled back the blankets on the other side while Yuche checked Lingyun’s bandages one last time.
Zhenlan lowered me onto the mattress near the centre.
I stayed where he put me.
Taking off my clothes suddenly felt like too much work. I stared down at my tank top and shorts, considered changing into something meant for sleeping, then decided the apocalypse had already taken enough from me.
I wasn’t giving it pyjamas too.
Yuche finished checking Lingyun and walked into the bathroom to wash his hands. Chenghai sat on the edge of the mattress to remove his shoes. Zhenlan stayed beside me, one hand resting at my waist as though I might disappear into the blankets if he stopped touching me.
I looked around the bed.
"You’re all sleeping here?"
Chenghai pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it near the chair. "We usually do."
"I know. I forgot how many things happened since the last time we slept."
That made him pause.
The same thought seemed to move through the room. Lingyun opened his eyes again, Yuche stopped in the bathroom doorway, and Zhenlan’s hand became still against my side.
It had only been one day.
One ridiculously long day that had somehow included enough shit for an entire week.
Lingyun shifted carefully beneath the blanket. "Tomorrow should be quieter."
Four people looked at him.
He thought about what he had said and closed his eyes. "Forget I said that. I will never again say the ’Q’ word."
Yuche returned to the bed and lay beside him, placing one arm across Lingyun’s stomach to stop him from rolling onto his injured side during the night.
Chenghai settled on my other side. He left enough room for Zhenlan, although there wasn’t much space left by the time all five of us were on the mattress.
Zhenlan lay down beside me and pulled me back against his chest.
His arm wrapped around my waist. His hand rested against my stomach beneath the bottom edge of my tank top, warm and heavy enough to make my eyes close before I decided whether I wanted them to.
Chenghai moved closer behind my legs, one hand settling around my ankle. Yuche reached across the space between us and brushed his fingers through my hair before returning his arm to Lingyun.
No one talked about the date.
No one talked about tomorrow.
We had already done too much talking for one day.
I felt Zhenlan’s mouth touch the back of my shoulder. His hand tightened once at my waist, then relaxed when I didn’t move away.
Tomorrow, he planned to take me somewhere before lunch.
That was tomorrow’s problem.
Right now, I wanted at least eight hours where no one screamed, called the house, found the barrier, followed my bite, drew a map, attacked a market, or asked me to save anything.
I pulled the blanket over my head.
The last thing I heard was Lingyun quietly telling Yuche that he couldn’t breathe under the weight of his arm.
Yuche didn’t move it.
Good.
Maybe now we could finally sleep.