CH19 - Missed sensation

[Lyon's POV]

Everyone else had filed into the room after they noticed that I was no longer moving. Being presented with the same sight that I had been, my other companions moved their hands to cover their wide open mouths as their eyes grew wide. Chisato and Ren left the room a few seconds later, leaving me alone with Alyssa inside the room who moved closer to the bed.

I pull her hand back, she doesn't resist much but she turns her head back at me and slightly shakes her head. I reluctantly let go of her hand as she moves closer to the bed, she kneels and opens the table desk beside the bed. She closes the first drawer and opens the second one, taking out a blanket from inside before pushing it close once more.

She stands back up before throwing the blanket over all of their bodies, making it seem as if the family was merely sleeping peacefully. She walks out afterward, waiting for me to leave as well by standing close to the door. I look around the room one last time before going down on my knees to check on the underside of the bed for anyone hiding, there wasn't anyone there though so I leave the room and close it shut behind me.

I look around the second floor and quickly notice how Chisato and Ren were nowhere to be found now. I start moving toward the rope that was dangling from the ceiling and pull it down which causes the entrance to open up as a thin ladder falls alongside it. I put both of my hands on the ladder, gripping it tightly as I slowly pulled myself up, using the ladder to slowly rise before turning back to face Alyssa.

"Alyssa, I'll handle this one on my own. The attic might be a space that's too tight for both of us to fight effectively. Don't worry, I'll be fine." I tell her as a worried expression finds its way to her face. She nods at my words though but she remains standing beside the ladder, looking up at me as I returned my attention to the situation at hand.

I reach the top of the ladder, a portion of the attic becoming visible to me as a bit of light pierced the window's dusty curtains. It was still a bit too dark though so I take out my phone from my left pant pocket and turn on its flashlight feature, keeping a tight grip on it with my left hand as I point it all over the room.

'Looks like it's just a bunch of old furniture, no signs of any recent movement or changes in the position of the furniture too...' I think to myself as I glance at the dust markings on the floor. A telltale sign of the furniture remaining untouched for more than a week at least. I look around the room and spot a small pink wooden chair, the kind you'd find when a child is having a tea party with their dolls.

I kick it over while gripping onto my machete tightly, the sound of it falling with its flat top hitting the surface of the attic echoes out all around the room. I wait for a few seconds, listening for any movement only to hear none come out. It seems there were no zombies here, but that didn't mean I was about to stop looking for a person since there is a possibility that he/she might've just faked their escape and chose to hide here instead.

I take a few minutes to check the entirety of the attic, pulling off box tops to check for anyone hiding inside while also checking each corner of the room. Satisfied with my thorough search, I position myself in front of the ladder and put away my phone back into my pant pocket before gripping onto the ladder tightly. I slowly descend and see only Alyssa waiting for me, smiling as her worried expression turns into relief once she saw me going down unharmed.

"Hey, have you seen the others yet?" I asked Alyssa who shakes her head in refusal. I move closer to the stairway, intending to go down so I could begin giving out our tasks early. Alyssa pulls me back before I go down though as she tightly grasps the fabric of my hoodie, her action manages to catch my attention as I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"I... I think they're still letting everything that's happened settle in. How are you doing though, are you sure everything's fine?" She asks me, her tone laced with worry over my mental wellbeing. I smile at her words, though I felt no guilt in killing the father, the thought of having to leave those children to their fates made me just feel a tinge of guilt.

'Well, not enough to really hinder me though.' I think to myself while looking at Alyssa who waits for my reply to her question. I sheathe my machete and put my right hand over her head, patting it as a way of non-verbally saying that I'm fine.

"I'm fine, don't you remember what I said back at the car? I'd do it again if I had to, thank you for worrying about me Alyssa." I thank her as I move my hand from the top of her head and to her cheek, lovingly caressing it as she puts her hand over mine. I put my other free hand behind her before pulling her closer, our two lips meeting in the middle as I felt my heartbeat accelerate with both of us refusing to part from one another.

The feeling of her lips over mine was one that I missed, I craved it both before and after I had lost her once. It was a thirst that I had chosen to hide deep inside me, and yet these actions of mine merely served to further strengthen that desire. I push her back to the wall, causing a quiet thud as our bodies pressed together heatedly with her back to the wall.

My hands wandered all over her body before moving down to her thighs, one finger slowly rose higher and higher from its side which caused the fabric of her knee-length skirt to rise bit by bit while earning a shiver from Alyssa who steadfastly kisses back, deeper this time.

I could feel her breath weakening as she unintentionally focuses her entire being on our kiss. I reply in kind, becoming more aggressive with my kiss which was a stark contrast to my gentle caress of Alyssa's hair. My hand had moved earlier from her thigh and back to her hair as I position my hand behind her head as a sort of cushion for her head while I pushed deeper into our kiss which meant our bodies were more tightly close to one another.

I brush my tongue against her lower lip, teasing it while asking for permission to enter as her lips slightly parted. It enters through the small opening, her tongue surrendering to mine before a fight could even begin as she hugs me in an attempt to further pull our bodies closer. I, in turn, complied by granting her wish as I pushed her body further into the wall with my own.

A few seconds pass like this before the need for air arose, causing the two of us to part our lips while our faces remained close to one another. A single strand of glistening saliva connected the two of us as it refused to disconnect itself from both of our lips.

The world felt as if it had chosen to stop just for the two of us, the only sound around us being our panting breaths, both of which had mixed in a symphony as our faces chose to remain unmoving from their close proximity. Alyssa was panting breathlessly, her eyes lovingly staring back at mine while longing for more. I go in for another kiss, this one quicker than the last as I felt her soft and warm lips against my own.

We part once more, this time having been satisfied with the results as her eyes opened wide, realizing everything that had just happened. How she had instinctually just kissed deeper and deeper as soon as our kiss grew more passionate with each second that had passed. Her face turns redder than ever as she kisses my cheek before running off downstairs without even looking back at me.

'This isn't really the most romantic setting but it'll do I guess.' I muse to myself as I savor the feeling of her lips while trying to calm my breathing down, choosing to go back to my usual self before going down to not garner Chisato and Ren's attention and curiosity. A few seconds pass as I aimlessly wander around the second-floor lobby before choosing to go down the stairs as well.

Both Chisato and Ren were sitting on the opposite sides of the couch, their focus missing from their eyes as it seems like their thoughts were wandering around. I glance to my left and find Alyssa who walks in circles near the countertop in the kitchen, her eyes coincidentally staring back at mine only to then look down in an attempt to avoid my gaze, causing me to form a grin over how she was acting.

"Ok, that's enough moping around. We need to finish securing the entry points so we can sleep for the night." I tell the others while clapping my hands, earning the attention of my companions as they await their orders.

"Chisato, move the small round desk and the shoe cabinet in front of the door, make sure it's locked as added protection. Once you're done, check the windows on this floor and make sure they're locked too." I tell Chisato who absentmindedly nods to my words before propping herself up as she starts moving the desk.

"Ren, I need you to move the couch in front of the glass sliding door that leads to the backyard. We can use the chairs back at the dining table later to weigh down the couch after we're done using it for dinner." I tell Ren who doesn't react to anything until I snapped my fingers in front of him.

"Huh, oh Uhm... sorry could you repeat that?" Ren asks, causing me to sigh inwardly before repeating my words. He apologizes again before he began moving the couch one by one in front of the glass sliding door. I turn my attention to Alyssa who tries to avoid looking at me while she fidgets with her skirt, her actions convincing me to move closer to her instead.

"Alyssa, can you go check the cabinets for any leftover supplies? Try to check if the stove on the countertop is working too since they might not have gas for cooking." I whisper to Alyssa, moving close to her ear while making sure that Chisato and Ren are too busy with what they're doing to see us.

Alyssa, who was already fidgeting with her skirt had her face turn a deeper shade of red before nodding to my words as she runs off to the kitchen, opening every cabinet to check its contents. I quietly chuckle to myself before I began moving up the stairway again, intending to do my tasks which were to lock the windows on the second floor and scavenge the rooms for any supplies.

I reach the door to the child's room, gripping the door's handle and opening it as I am presented with the same pink color-themed room. Various toys were spread about the room's floor before I stepped inside, opening the small bedside table only to find nothing inside but a notebook with random drawings and art materials like crayons and pencils.

I leave the room empty-handed before going for the master bedroom where the bodies of the family remained. I ignored the other room since it was devoid of anything as not even a single piece of furniture could be found inside. I open the bedroom door before getting assaulted with the familiar smell of rot and death that we were forced to bare earlier.

The room had two cabinets, one of which was smaller than the other and most of its inside laid bare to my eyes, discouraging me from prioritizing it in the process of me looking for valuable supplies since it seemed too empty to care about. The bigger cabinet had two drawers on its lower half, most likely containing underwear for the couple.

I scatter the clothing cabinet's contents on the floor, emptying the drawers in search of anything to take with us. I found myself disappointed with the lack of anything important though so I drop the drawer on the floor before moving closer to the small bedside table that had the bottle of wine on top of it.

I pick up the bottle and shake it around as I try to feel around its weight to see how much of it remained inside. A few shakes later and I turn it over, a few drops falling to the floor and wetting the carpet with its red hue before I gently dropped it to the floor. I turn my attention back to the first and second drawers of the desk, both of which had nothing of value to our survival.

I didn't know if this house once had any loot but if it did then the person that stayed here yesterday must've picked it clean of anything because I moved on to checking the smaller cabinet's inside for anything of value. The cabinet was most likely used once as storage for medicine considering how I found a single box of gummy multivitamins for kids inside a makeshift medicine box.

I tuck it away into one of the small pockets in my bag alongside the first aid kits that we had taken with us from the nurse's office. I close my bag and put it back on before locking the windows in this room. I was just about to leave the room when the thought of looting the dead family's bodies entered my mind, I mutter a silent thanks coupled with an apology and pull the blanket off of their "sleeping" bodies.

'Nice.' I think to myself as I take off a set of car keys that were dangling in the openings of the pants that the father was wearing. It was secured in place using a keychain, I chose to ignore the bodies of the mother and child since the mother was wearing a white sundress whilst I doubt a child would carry anything noteworthy.

I drape the blanket over their bodies once more, muttering another set of thanks to their already dead bodies only to get reminded by myself of my initial reason to come back upstairs. I lock the windows in the master bedroom, doing the same thing to every window on this floor before going down and seeing everyone finished with their task as well as I join them at the round table.

"I'm not even going to ask if you managed to find any food. Is the stove usable at least?" I asked Alyssa who shook her head in refusal. I inform everyone that we're gonna be having cold canned food for tonight, receiving depressed sighs that served as replies from everyone as we sat around with nothing to do.

None of them were really in the mood to talk about anything so we just sat in silence, awkwardly waiting for time to pass until it was finally time for us to eat. Chisato, who found the silence unbearable, decided to use sleeping arrangements for tonight as a topic for our conversation to finally get all of us.

"So... who gets to sleep on the bed tonight?" Chisato asks us as we were eating, earning the attention of everyone here. She specifically mentioned the word bed and not beds, probably excluding the one that the former owners were "sleeping" on.

"I think we shouldn't use any of them, you know, out of respect though I guess it doesn't really matter anymore huh?" Ren asks no one in particular as his words trail off. These were the first words that he had spoken since I told him to barricade the glass door so he could at least still hold a conversation.

"No, it's fine if we don't use any of the beds. We can use the couch's cushion as pillows and sleep on the vacant rug. It'll make the job of whoever's awake during their night shift easier since we'd all be in one room." I shrugged in reply, receiving nods of agreement from everyone.

"So... speaking of nightshift. I volunteer to be the fir-" I mentioned to them. I wasn't intending on handling Alyssa's shift anymore to avoid earning her annoyance again, but she still chose to interrupt my words with her own.

"No, I'll take the first shift. Chisato and Ren, can you guys handle the second and third shift respectively so Lyon can have the last shift?" Alyssa asks everyone, earning the nods of my two other companions before they turn their faces to me as they snicker at my expense.

"Looks like you won't be able to play the gentleman this time." Chisato jokes, earning the low chuckles of everyone here. I was pleasantly surprised with how they were acting now considering what they had just been through in a single day.

'Whether or not it's forced is of no concern to me. They'll get used to this kind of thing sooner or later, rather they'd have to if they plan to survive.' I think to myself, choosing to play along as I didn't want to ruin the vulnerable mood everyone else was in while we finished eating our cold food.

We left the empty tin cans on the table, opting to just prepare our sleeping arrangements while Ren began moving the chairs and placing them on top of the couch as an additional inhibitor for anyone to enter through, leaving only one chair for the guard to use during their shift. I was ineffectively trying to make myself comfortable when the thought of how to further improve our barricade for the glass door came to me.

I go to the bathroom near the glass sliding door, looking for a plunger or whatever sturdy rod-shaped item I could use to place in between the roller tracks of the stationary and sliding glass door. I managed to find a plunger and a toilet brush, both of which I take with me as I left the bathroom and moved closer to the glass door.

I remove the rubber plunger from its wooden handle and place it in between one of the roller tracks before cutting off the brush portion of the toilet brush with Gray and using what remained of it on the opposite side of where I had placed the plunger stick.

Alyssa, who had tonight's first shift was looking for the perfect position to place her chair, ultimately deciding to just leave the chair in its position near the dining table since it was a spot where she could watch both of the main entry points.

I head back to the living room wishing her a good night only to then be stopped in my tracks as I felt Alyssa's hand pull mine back, causing me to look at her in confusion since I was unable to ascertain the reason for her sudden pull.

"I want... a goodnight kiss." Alyssa whispers to me before facing her cheek toward me, I managed to hear her whispers but I chose to fake deafness over it as I ask her to repeat them. She attempts to comply by repeating her whisper as she turns to face me once more only to then have her lips be sealed with my own, a pure kiss compared to the one that we had earlier but it was still a kiss nonetheless.

"Goodnight." I tell her as I head back to the living room and finally sleep for the night, leaving her blushing in embarrassment as she puts her hand over her lips in an attempt to hide it. I lay down on the carpet, forcefully pushing myself to sleep while being inwardly happy after being able to feel this missed sensation of mine.

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AN: First time writing a fic so it's obviously my first time writing a kissing scene as well. If you found it cheesy then go blame the guides/research material that I had read in the past hehe. I also have some bad news but that can wait until next week's Friday chapter.