A Setting Sun.

“I found it laying on a counter. I got it for you.”

Nia stares at the rusted silver metal in Jay’s hand, unimpressed and bordering on annoyed at the necklace that hung between them. She imagines it was a locket at one point by it’s full heart shape, but now it’s rusted and probably impossible to open. It’s useless. Completely useless. Nia looks up at Jay’s round eyes, sighing through her nose.

“Did you get something actually useful?” He’s not that hurt by her disinterest in the necklace, Jay knows she finds little interest in things that don’t keep them alive. Jay nods at her question then nods towards the necklace, his arm still extended and heart shaped necklace still dangling in the air. Nia looks up at him with another sigh through her nose, knowing he won’t give it up until she takes the damn necklace.

Nia reaches for it but Jay jerks his hand back to keep it out of her reach, making her look up at him in confusion.

“I’ll put it on for you,” Nia huffs with a shake of her head, turning around and lifting up her coily locks up with one hand so he can get it around her neck. The clasp is rusted shut so he ties the thin string of metal together to keep the necklace around her neck. It’s been a long time since Nia’s worn any type of jewelry. It feels so foregin but a part of her likes it, feeling an odd sense of comfort from the necklace, the heart shaped locket resting just under her collarbones.

Jay turns her around to face him, smiling at her, obviously pleased at the sight. Nia let her hair fall back down,

“On to the useful shit, please,” Jay grunts in response but shrugs his bag off his broad shoulders as the pair sit on the empty sidewalk in front of the old pharmacy. Their camp is inside it, but this part of town is so barren it doesn’t matter if they’re inside or out. Some of the dead linger around in the alleyways, usually feeding on a rat or squirrel. This deep in, Nia thinks it’s been five years since it all started, the dead don’t pose as much of a threat anymore unless they’re in a pack or mutated.

God, the mutated ones are down right peterifying. Jay and Nia have only encountered them a handful of times and each time left her paralyzed. She’s not sure how or why they become mutated, but when they do something happens to their already rotting flesh, turning into what Nia can only describe as looking like a melted candle. The dead hobbled around mindlessly, groaning and moaning in what Nia felt was pain, but the mutated ran and screamed, sending a signal to the other mutated to come and help them tear apart whatever they found.

Their screams never leave you. Nia often heard them in her dreams, causing her to wake up in a cold sweat. They must be in pain, whatever they are. Not the dull pain of the hobbling dead, but a deep agonizing pain that they had to live with constantly. It’s a terrifying thought. That the dead are still alive somehow and remember who they used to be. Nia couldn’t imagine living like that, it makes her sick to her stomach.

Silently, Jay pulls out a few dented and unlabeled cans, four to be exact, a hunting knife that looks virtually untouched, a bottle of over the counter painkillers, and an empty metal canister they could fill with water. Nia nods, picking up a can and shaking it to hear its contents sloshing around.

“I think it’s green beans,” Nia makes a face at that, knowing she should be grateful he came back with as much as he did. She remembers the hopeless weeks when Jay would go into the city and come back with nothing, out of breath and sweaty from running for his life.

The city was dangerous. Really dangerous. But they’ve turned this small part of town upside down and used up most of its resources, all it had left was empty buildings for shelter. Jay takes the burden of going into the city and risking his life for a can or two of green beans, saying it’s no place for Nia when she asks to tag along.

Nia wishes more than anything he would let her go with him.

There’s a fear deep in her gut he just won’t come back one day. Due to him deciding not to or worse, him getting attacked and getting sick.

The virus is slow and painful, taking its time to build in the host’s body before completely shutting every vital organ down and killing whoever it inhabits. The process takes at least a week. A fever reeking havoc on your body before one by one your organs shut down, losing an unwinnable fight against the virus. The fever often drives people mad, leaving them begging to be put out of their misery before they turn. They often lose the ability to talk, their nervous system shutting down, leaving them completely helpless and paralyzed by the time the virus fully stops their heart.

It’s a terrifying end, Nia thinks. One she can’t imagine either of them going through, especially alone. She hates thinking about being alone, just the mere thought leaves her heart pounding in her throat and face getting hot. It’s an awful thought. She doesn’t like to think that Jay is her lifeline in surviving in what's left of this world, but she’s never survived without him in it. Through the five or so years, time doesn’t exist anymore, it’s just been them. Together. Always them together.

They were neighbors when things were normal. They used to play together in the streets when they were little. Jay was just a year older than her, attending some posh private school while Nia went to the public school down the street. If she remembers correctly, he was seventeen and she was sixteen when this all started. It was their fathers that brought their families together, telling them the bigger the group, the higher chance of survival.

Ironic now that she thinks back on it.

One by one, their families dwindled and their group was just them. Jay’s mother was the last to go, getting scratched by one of the dead as they were setting up camp on the outskirts of the city. She fought till the bitter end, slowly dying two weeks after Nia and Jay did everything in their power to keep her breathing. She died in her sleeping bag, eyes wide and mouth open, a thin stream of blood trickling from her mouth. Nia can still remember how hard Jay cried that morning.

Nia’s mom took the easy way out a month after the virus started spreading, taking her little sister with her and leaving Nia and her father to fight on their own. Years later, Nia’s still unsure if she should be mad or grateful her mom didn’t take her with her.

Grief was a weird thing now. The world was a weird place, but at least she had Jay.

“You’re staring really hard at that can, Ni,” Nia looks up at Jay, raising her brows as he knocks her out of her silent train of thought. She puts the can down, watching him pick it back up and put the supplies he gathered back in his bag.

“We should head in,” Jay says, his hooded eyes squinting as he looks at the warm setting sun. Nia looks behind her at the same sun, squinting as well before she nods. “The eaters get hungry at night,”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Nia says without thought, going to push herself up when she sees Jay’s pale and calloused hand in front of her. She takes it, letting him pull her up to her feet, feeling his hand linger on hers for a few beats before dropping to his side and turning to remove the chains and lock from the pharmacy door.

Nia watches his back closely, suddenly feeling the weight of the locket heavy on her chest. There’s very few things in this world that are permanent now, but Jay is permanent and this locket, as busted and crusted as it is, oddly proves it to Nia.

If this heart shaped chunk of silver metal can survive the world ending, sitting untouched on some country in the city for what had to be years, they can too. Both of them, together.

Nia takes the locket in her hand, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“Thanks,” Jay looks over his shoulder at her sudden show of gratitude, eyes looking down at her hand clutching the locket before looking back up at her face. She’s always had a hard time being soft, even before the world ended. She sounds awkward and clunky, but it still makes Jay smile. The next move she makes surprises Jay, she approaches quickly and wraps her arms around his torso, resting her head on his back, hugging him.

Nia was hugging him. Given, it’s a stiff hug, but she’s never touched him when she didn’t have to. He doesn’t know how to respond, just stands still and looks down at her arms. They just stand there in silence, pressed against one another, until Nia finally pulls away, clearing her throat.

“Thanks, again. The necklace is cool.”

Jay smiles down at her words, nodding. He looks down at the necklace, taking in how the silver still somehow shined under all the rust. A feeling of peace washes over him at the sight then he looks in Nia’s eyes again, a feeling of calm washing over him as well.

“Anytime, Nia,” It's a rare sight to see Nia smile, but the faintest one makes its way onto her full lips, “Anytime.”