Ash left the campfire early as he was starting to feel sick of all the groping from the drunk, unreasonable harassers. He planned on seeing Emma first thing in the morning and for that he needed to wash out the several glasses of alcohol from his body. You don't want your little sister to see you as a mess. Remembering the girl, worry rose up in his heart as he recalled that she had been sick the past week. If it wasn't the middle of the night and that Emma was highly likely to be fast asleep, Ash would have rushed over to make sure she was alright. Ash felt like he now had more control over his power. Even if he didn't have much inside him, he would try to draw the energy from his surroundings and try to cure the little girl no matter what.

He had drunk too much, but not too much to make him disoriented. In fact it looked like the alcohol had made him wider awake than ever before. Or maybe it was because of the infectious atmosphere of the campfire. Although he had been dispirited before due to the betrayal, Ash was starting to feel better after seeing everyone who cared about him again. While thinking about all those people, Ash arrived at the tent that he hadn't slept in for several weeks now. He was actually surprised that no one had taken over all his properties yet. Well it wasn't like he had much to begin with anyway. Seeing it empty and dark made his heart slightly clench. Ever since he adopted Emma, he had been constantly snuggling to sleep with her. Now he started to feel a bit lonely without her here. He was loitering outside for quite some time before he decided to put aside his depression and go in to sleep.

The tent was indeed dark. No one had bothered to light a lamp or fire inside in a while. And thus it was cold as well. The night was not making it easy to see properly either. As he walked in, Ash felt like he saw a faint silhouette leaning against the support beam of the tent. He became instantly alert. He had been constantly on the road for the past week and his sensitivity and reaction to even the slightest hint of danger was very high. Unconsciously he reached down to his boots were he had hidden away a small dagger but realized that his weapon had been taken away during quarantine for disinfection. So now he was completely bare handed. Ash slightly panicked when he realized that. He was debating if he should go in or just turn and run, when the blurry silhouette moved with a slight groan. 'They didn't seem to be here to fight. Are they injured? Sick?' Several scenarios flashed through his mind as he settled on stepping forward to investigate. "Who is it?" He asked carefully. But only another pained groan sounded from the person as a response. 'It doesn't seem they have any malicious intentions.' If it was a comrade who was in trouble then he had the responsibility to help them or at least report it.

Ash fumbled through the dark until he reached the small shelf he kept at the side and looked for matchsticks inside. He struck the match and the flame spread a small soft light into the surroundings. Before the stick completely burned out he quickly turned towards the position that he had seen the silhouette in. As the person's face came into his view, he had a shock and accidentally dropped the match that he was holding. 'Rhys? What the hell is he doing in my tent? Is this were he stormed off to from the party?' Ash now really regretted not having ignored the person and just run off before. As if feeling his thoughts the completely drunk person who was half passed out started mumbling under his breath, letting his presence known. Ash sighed in defeat and crouched down beside the man and struck another match to see if he was alright. After all he had to get this guy out of here so that he can get some sleep.

Feeling the orange glow through his closed eyelids, Rhys scrunched up his eyebrows in annoyance. "Hey Rhys are you okay?" Ash asked cautiously. As if rousing from a fantasy Rhys opened his eyes, dazed to his voice. He looked a bit disoriented as he blinked a few times to clear his vision. As Ash's worried face filled his eyes, an indescribable feeling filled his heart. "Are you just drunk or are you sick?" Ash asked as he placed the back of his palm on the other's forehead. The temperature seemed to be fine. Except for the light tint of red on his face, Rhys seemed to be completely okey. He seemed to be in shock as if having seen a ghost. His eyes were as wide as saucers as be unblinkingly stared at Ash's face. He was unresponsive even when Ash tried to talk to him again. Rhys was lost to this world as soon as he say the dead person's face that was haunting his dreams.

"Yo-You are ...alive." A hesitant voice filled with confusion, surprise, joy and even pain finally tumbled out of his mouth. Rhys seemed conflicted at what emotion to portray in front of the boy. The match Ash was holding burned to the tip and got extinguished. Ash was in an internal debate as soon as he heard Rhys talk. 'Did he interfere too much? Should he have not come back? Did he want him dead? What was Rhys going to do to him in the future. How should he avoid running into him and so on. Ash was conflicted as he considered if he should waste another match on such a person or not.

Rhys just needs to sleep off the drinks that he drowned and he should be fine. He is already starting to come back to his senses although he looks completely out of sorts at the moment. 'Why drink so much if you are gonna be a burden on others' Ash cursed him in his heart before deciding to just let it be and find somewhere else to crash for the night.

Ash ignored his half assed question and was about to get back to his feet when he felt the person before him move. A heavy weight fell and clung onto him as arms encircled around his waist holding him tight. His butt hit the ground hard from the momentum and he felt like crying. 'That hurt!' A vague shadow hovered over him before pulling closer. A head full of hair suddenly rubbed against his chest as if to get as close as possible to the other. Ash felt a bit weird being hugged like this. 'Is he trying to act cute? It's not working....at all.' Ash cursed Rhys in his heart again and tried to wriggle his way out of this prison. But he felt like the more he struggled the more tighter the ensnare became. The dark was not helping his escape. Ash stopped struggling for a moment and decided to light another match. It immediately cast the orange glow on their entangled bodies.

The hand that was holding the match trembled as Ash saw the expression on the man's face. He looked hungry, dazed and annoyed. The Feral gaze ran all over his face before setting on his slightly parted wet lips. Without warning he moved to close the distance.

"No no no no... what do you think you are doing." Ash asked panicked as he pulled back away from the guy. He couldn't get far since he was still in the others grasp. He could guess from the burning eyes what Rhys wanted to do. After all he had done it a few time earlier.

"Kiss" Rhys stated in a slurred tone as he cocked his head to the side and giving him a devilishly handsome smirk. He had no shame at all!!! Ash was dumbfounded by the unhesitant response. The smile made him gape in surprise. Rhys was indeed very handsome.

"Yeah....umm... no thanks" he replied after a beat and pulled back again. This time even using his spare hand to push against the rock solid mountain leaning on him. But of course struggling in a physical fight with Rhys, Ash was always bound to lose. He was effortlessly pushed against the floor and he could feel the cold sweep up from the ground along the length of his back. He felt a sharp burning pain on his fingers and reflexively tossed the burning stump of the remaining match away. As soon as it hit the ground and got extinguished, his lips were devoured completely without warning.

Rhys was like a starved beast out of control. His pace was fast and a bit desperate. A low moan drifted out of his mouth as their tongues collided in a frenzied fight. A sense of danger filled Ash. He was completely dazed the moment he got a chance to pull apart for a breath. He had never expected this development. Ash could feel those burning eyes above him scanning him in the dark trying to figure out his expression between the heavy pants. He could almost imagine Rhys looking down at him with a self satisfied smirk adorned on his lips. He felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought. Before Ash could get his wits together or sort out the emotions he felt a hand roughly grabbing his chin and the accompanying voice stating arrogantly "More!"

Ash rolled his eyes as he heard the demand. 'You are going to regret this so much once you sober up. Or maybe you won't even remember.' Before he could think further his lips were pulled apart and covered again. As every inch of his mouth got explored by the ravaging tongue Ash felt his body burn up. His heart picked up speed in sync with the rapid movements of the other's kiss. And all thoughts were thrown to the back of his head. The primal and savage motions made Ash scared that he was about to be swallowed whole. He instinctively closed his eyes and tried to feel out his current situation. He was shocked to find that he was actually enjoying this a bit.

Ash decided that since he was being take advantage of anyway, he should at least enjoy it as well. It's just a kiss after all. Hadn't he just been doing just that a few moments before as well. No big deal. 'But I am still angry at him!!!' Ash huffed as he bite down on Rhys's lips in punishment. This seemed to excite the man more. As if enlightened, he started nibbling and sucking his bottom lip without mercy. Soon it was red, swollen and very sensitive. He felt that if this kept on, his lips would actually be torn open. So Ash took all his strength to push the man away from him and covered his mouth with a hand. "No more. Stop now."

His hand was instantly grabbed and the palm was covered with small butterfly kisses. Ash shuttered as the sensation traveled from his fingertips and filled his whole body. A small gasp left his mouth involuntarily. The sound seemed to encourage the man more as he took his fingers into his mouth and started sucking on them like they were candy. Rhys was completely not in his right mind. "More!!" He just retorted and wanted to lean in again. The raw desire in the man's voice seemed to snap something in Ash's mind. He became calm and confident.

"Shhh!" Ash placed a finger on the lips of the approaching figure. To his surprise the man didn't push forward like he thought he would. Instead Ash felt like those dark eyes were piercing the darkness to observe what he was going to do next. Ash felt his heart tremble at the sudden silence and lack of movement. The usual instinctive fear that he felt towards this man was greatly covered up by the few drinks that he had before. Ash didn't know what had taken over him as his finger traced out the shape of the lips it was pressed against. Rhys really had a set of perfectly shaped lips. At least they seemed perfect to him. They were slightly swollen at the moment from the intensive make out session before. Contrary to the fierceness it showed before, they were very soft to the touch. Ash couldn't help but to rub a bit harder on the soft skin to see if it was a mask covering up the fake.

Rhys growled softly. He was impatient. The sound made the exploring finger freeze. As Rhys was wondering if he should attempt again to plunder some more of that intoxicating honey, the figure under him sat back up. The finger moved on to cup his face. "Slow down." A voice whispered against his lips before connecting with them softly. Rhys froze. A small wet tip slowly started tracing his lips before deepening the kiss at a relaxed pace. Rhys's mind went blank. He felt restless as his blood started to boil with desire. All he wanted was to grab this person and devour him whole at the quickest pace. Yet he felt an incomparable satisfaction from the slow burn he was

experiencing now, that was warming up his entire body bit by bit. It had an entirely different sort of satisfaction which was no less than before. Rhys even thought that it would be nice to keep going at this pace forwards. He quickly proactively matched the other's speed and felt his heart tighten with an insatiable itch. He encircled the other person tighter in his arms and pressed closer until there was hardly any gap between their bodies. 'More!' He wanted more.

Rhys was about to pull of their cloths and indulge in skin-ship when a faint light entered his peripheral vision. He wanted to completely ignore it and continue savouring the person beneath him but the light just kept getting brighter and brighter until it was accompanied by an annoying shrill voice. He couldn't really place where he had heard it before but knew that he was familiar with it and that he disliked it.

"What are you doing!!!" The voice screeched near his ear before a set of sharp nails dug into his skin as he was pulled away from the startled person underneath him. Although Rhys felt deeply annoyed by the sudden pull, when the light lit up the boy's features, he couldn't help but grin foolishly. Before he could realise what was happening through his drunken state. He was already pulled out of the tent and told to go back to his own place. Rhys was momentarily confused. 'Wasn't this his tent?' He had been crashing here on and off for the past months that he was muddled about the reality. But in his confusion he obediently walked off to his 'other' home.

Ash felt like he was waking up from a stupor. A red haired woman had barged in on them and pushed Rhys out of the tent. He should have been glad by it but he couldn't help but feel a bit lost by the sudden feeling of emptiness. The The warmth that had been pressed against him was no longer there. He felt a bit chilled. A soft blush crept up on his cheeks as he recalled what they had been doing before. Before he could completely re-dwell into those memories the woman came back. He believed her name... was Stephanie? She had a murderous glare in her dark blue eyes as she looked at Ash.

"Who the hell are you?" Stephanie roared at Ash who was getting back to his feet and dusting himself off.

Ash was a bit sour and dissatisfied so he said mockingly "None of your business." He remembered this girl from the campfire. She was the one that was all over Rhys before as if he was her property. His words seemed to snap something in her head. Without a second thought Stephanie charged at him with an angry scream. She didn't hesitate to raise her hand and slap him across his cheek. Ash was unprepared for the attack. He was completely stunned when he felt the throbbing pain on his face. It hurt. She didn't hold back at all when she assaulted him.

"Try to get close to him again and you will know my wrath. You shameless s***" She spat at his feet and stormed off inelegantly.

Ash watched her leave with a stunned expression. 'How dare she hit me!' His mind churned with negative emotions towards the girl. But when he took a moment to calm down, he realised that the one in the wrong was himself. He had no right to get intimate with a taken man. It was like he was the mistress trying to ruin their relationship. Ash scoffed at his own folly and decided just to go to bed. He still had important stuff to do in the morning.

————

Rhys woke up feeling a bit cold and having a terrible headache. He rubbed his temple in annoyance as he tried to recall what had happened after the party. He was already completely out of sorts by the time he left the campfire. The rest was a blur. Suddenly a face with blushed cheeks, pink swollen lips and moist eyes appeared in his mind and he was completely stunned for a second by the mental image. 'What was that, that I just saw? Did I have such a vivid imagination?' He wondered as he felt his body react to the image him mind had brought up. Suddenly he panicked, 'Wait.... Did I.... yesterday... with Ash?' His shock intensified, but suddenly he didn't know if it was because he had been together with the guy or because he couldn't completely recall exactly what had happened. All of a sudden he felt a sense of loss. He wondered if he had been dreaming up the scenario or god forbid if not, how it had felt like.

A soft gale drifted into the tent making Rhys shiver again. He looked down in confusion and realised that he was completely naked. And then he noticed the slight bump under the blanket beside him. An outrageous thought flashed through his mind. 'Did I and Ash....yesterday....sleep together?' Unknown to him his heart started to beat faster. He was filled with complicated emotions - Anger at the fact that he would do it as well as pity that he didn't remember any of it. One thing he was sure was that this could not go on. If he had made such a mistake, then he would have to dash any hopes Ash might have and tell him clearly that it would never happen again.

As he pulled off the blanket from the other, he completely froze. This wasn't what he had imagined. Instead of the blushing boy in his memories, who lay next to him was that red haired woman. And naked to boot. A surge of thoughts filled his head as he hurriedly pushed back the covers in order not to face this ugly truth. 'Have I really slept with this woman again? Why do I feel like its very unlikely? So does that mean I was thinking of Ash while I was fucking her?' Rhys groaned into his hands. How could he be so disrespectful? Kyle would be very disappointed if he knew about this. For some reason he felt disgusted with himself. His body felt dirty. He was really scum, if he actually had done what he thought he did. No one deserved such treatment even if it was the Stephanie who has been annoying him constantly. Suddenly another thought entered his mind. 'Doesn't that mean that his mind made up that entire encounter with Ash? So they never... Kissed???' Annoyance consumed him at the realisation. 'Oh God, I am so pathetic.' He cursed himself a thousand times before he slightly felt calm again.

'It's her fault.' Rhys glared at the sleeping figure next to him and just wanted to toss her as far away from him as possible. He wondered what had come over him to get together with this girl in the first place. She was not his type at all. And her character was miles apart from his ideal. As he wondered, Stephanie stirred beside him and lazily cracked open her eyes and gave him a sly half asleep smile. "Good morning."

Rhys was struck by lightning. Now he knew why he had picked her out of all the people out there. He reluctantly realised that the shade of blues of her eyes were the closest match he could find to...that guy. 'I am complete scum.' Even though he was self reprimanding himself, he had the sense to question the girl, "You, tell me what happened yesterday?"

"Yesterday? Well we left the party and came here to have some fun. Were you too drunk to remember?" She asked with a shy smile as she sat up and leaned into him.

Rhys raised an eyebrow in distrust, before pushing her aside and standing up in all his glory "Is that really what happened?" He saw Stephanie's eyes widen and then her lips fell into a downward curved arc as she was distressed.

'Of course that is not what happened. You were already completely passed out by the time I came over. But I would rather die than say out loud that I was left in the dust due to a frail looking boy.' She still remembered the scene she walked into yesterday. Rhys had never looked at her liken that. Every time he was together with her she had felt like he was seeing someone else in her. It was not a good feeling. But it was her who kept clinging onto him. After the first time together, Rhys had already told her that they should stop but she hadn't wanted to. She had been able to drag it on until now. But seeing the expression full of undiluted desire in his gaze entirely focused on that one person, she knew where his heart lay. 'But if its him that he likes, then what was with all the secrecy and reluctance.' She was certain that there was something that was holding him back from just going over and claiming the boy for himself. In fact even now Rhys looked like he was tortured about his own feelings. A small seductive smile graced her lips as she came to this conclusion. She could still have him. Until the day comes when the man is able to freely express his feelings for that boy, she still has a change. "That's exactly what happened."

'If I am not wrong, that boy should be Ash, who just came back from the dead?' She wondered. If she hadn't guessed wrong then that was the boy that has half a foot in the lab. There must be several people who are dissatisfied with him due to this involvement. She laughed in her heart, 'It's just a matter of time. And if I am not wrong, then THAT guy wanted to deal with the boy soon. He might be out of my way sooner rather than later. I just have to keep Rhys's attention off him until that happens.'

As Rhys was frowning over the truthfulness of her answer, a very angry shout echoed in from outside. "Rhys!!! Where is she!!!" Rhys was confused on what the issue was. He was about to get dressed and step outside when the other party just barged in without warning.

Ash's was very furious. He had woken up with a burning blush on his face as he recalled the happenings of the previous night. Then he remembered the pain of the slap he received and had frowned at his bad luck. He decide that he wasn't going to be the thorn in their relationship and was planing to stay away from Rhys. After his morning routine Ash had immediately rushed off to find Emma. It was just the crack of dawn, so he was certain that the girl would still be asleep with Mrs Nolan. Ash didn't mind waiting till she woke up, in the mean time he could check her condition and see if he could come up with any solution. But all his expectations crashed through when he found an empty bed with sleeping too heavily against her nature. Emma was missing. And no one had any idea where she might be. Everyone had been to engrossed in yesterday's party that no one was in their right mind last night. Ash was actually the first one to realise her disappearance. He had fought through tides of zombies just to get back to that girl and now she was gone before he could even lay an eye on her. When he calmed down from his initial panic and started to think things through, he started to blame Rhys.

Rhys had a responsibility to him to look after Emma and hand her over to him safely once he got back. He had not only been irresponsible, he had also went on to get drunk on a stupid party that he hosted and forced Ash to attend. If it hadn't been so, Ash would already have met the girl yesterday evening. Maybe he had planned her disappearance. Even if he wasn't directly involved, Ash would still blame him. Worry started seeping into his hurt as he remembered that she was sick. She was already weak to begin with and now being missing when she hadn't fully recovered from her fever was not a good situation.

Ash was boiling with anger as he marched towards Rhys's tent. All the shy feelings from yesterday's events vanished without a trace. He only wanted to get answers from him and vent his frustration. This led to the current situation. Ash's eyes first landed on the bare chested girl who was sitting up under the blanket and scoffed. Then his eyes scanned the rest of the tent before landing on an equally naked Rhys standing before him.

Rhys was surprised at Ash's arrival. Suddenly he felt self conscious about his lack of clothing and the very ambiguous scene that was presented in front of the boy. He was suddenly worried about the misunderstanding this could bring. He was slightly flustered as he looked around for something to cover himself with when he noticed the scornful look in the other's eyes. Ash's eyes quickly traveled down his length and looked back at him in distain. There were no positive emotions in his gaze.

Rhys felt out of breath. Those eyes had burned their path down his figure which made his heart race. But then the lack of emotions and the slight trace of distain in the latter's eyes was like a cold bucket of water dowsing the fire in him. He wordlessly found a towel and wrapped it around himself before facing Ash's angry eyes. "Where is who?" He finally asked in a suppressed calm voice.

"Emma!" Ash hissed as his eyes seemed to boil with rage he was bottling up inside.

"With Mrs Nolan?" He asked it like a question. Although he had been a bit irresponsible, he knew that the girl was safe with that elderly woman. Even if he wanted he rout of his sight, he couldn't get rid of her because she was important to 'this guy' standing before him.

"She isn't there." Ash half screamed at him.

"Then she must have gone out to play!!" Rhys was also starting to get a bit annoyed and one could hear it from his voice.

He seemed to have said the wrong thing as he saw a fist flying at his face and smashing it hard. The pain was unimaginable. He never knew Ash had that much strength in him. Rhys was certain it was going to leave a bruise. He was angry. He was certain that Ash was just over reacting about this matter and he was about to say his piece of mind when he noticed that there were tears in the guy's eyes. The sight of them made Rhys freeze and re-evaluate what he said before. Suddenly he remembered vaguely that someone had informed him that the girl was down with a serious fever for several days. She was always in bed, hardly moving around. How can such a child go out to play? He wanted to smack himself on the head. The anger he felt a moment ago completely vanished and was replaced with guilt.

Ash was both angry and sad. He felt his heart would burst from the indifference shown by the other party. He had really not cared at all about her situation when he was gone. Ash shuttered to think what might have happened to her if he had been gone for a few more months. Maybe she would have starved to death. Maybe no one would even notice when she went missing. Or maybe they would personally chase her out of the gates to be zombie fodder. After all who other than himself would place such importance on a sickly girl. He was very disappointed in Rhys. The respect he had for the man seemed to wash away with this action. He knew that his tears were threatening to fall any moment. He didn't want to show such a weak image in front of the other party anymore. The visit this time had already given him the answer he was seeking. He quickly turned to leave.

"I will help you look for her an-" he heard the voice drift from behind him and wanted to laugh with anger.

"No need" Ash interrupted his sentence ruthlessly "You have already done enough!" He strode out without a backwards glance.