"No." you say.
"Suzy? What?" Julie says.
"No, I'm not leaving. She's been a bully to me all my life. It ends today." You say.
"Wow! I can hardly believe you're the same Suzy that spent hiding from the rest of the world. Guess you've finally learned to stand up and be a woman." Kelly says with a smirk.

"But so what? You think because you've survived some of the horrors out there, you think standing up to me is going to suddenly change the situation? Got news for ya, it ain't. I can blow your fucking head off with one twitch of my finger. Last chance to get the fuck out of my house!" Kelly adds.
"Fuck you Kelly. I know you. You already made up your mind to kill me as soon as I woke up. I turn my back and you'll probably shoot me for the hell of it as I walk out the door."

Kelly starts laughing.

"Well like I said, you always were a smart one. Too bad you did something incredibly stupid by walking in here in the first place."
"Kelly, please! Just let us go! We won't come back! We'll just…" Julie starts to plead
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU DUMB BITCH OR YOU'LL BE FIRST!" Kelly shouts before turning her attention back to you.

Julie at this point starts sobbing uncontrollably. You continue to stare down the barrel of the shotgun like you're fearless, but that isn't true at all and Kelly knows it.

"You can give me the hard looks all you want, but deep down I know you're ready to shit your panties. Which I imagine you'll do after you're dead anyway. You ready to die little sister?"
"Sure, just a little surprised you'd choose this method. Guess you're more intimidated by me than I thought."
"What?" Kelly snorts.
"You're intimidated by me. You always have been. I really should've seen it before."
"You're fucking crazy. I've never been intimidated by you."
"Sure you have, that's why you've bullied me all these years. You've said yourself on many occasions on how pretty I am so I know you're jealous of my looks. You've just admitted that I'm smart. The only thing that I always lacked in was self-confidence and now that I have that, well I'm pretty much better than you…"
"Fuck you Suzy!" Kelly says.
"No, I get it, you want to play it safe and shoot me, because hey if I gained self-confidence, who knows I might just be able to kick your ass in a fair fight."
"Hah, not fuckin' likely…"
"Well I guess we'll never know, because you'll shoot me and Julie and then go down and hide in the fucking basement…well what do you know…we're more alike than you thought. Imagine that."

And with that taunt it's the last straw. Kelly flies into a rage. It's the kind of rage she flies into when she's participating in her underground fight club. She abandons all rational thought, drops the shotgun to the side and lunges at you with both of her hands going straight for your neck.

Julie is knocked to one side and you fall backward on the couch. You attempt to roll and scramble to escape, but Kelly grabs you by the hair.

"You're right, beating your scrawny ass to death WILL be more enjoyable." Kelly exclaims.
"Julie, grab the shotgun!" you manage to shout before Kelly throws you face first into the bookcase. Kelly then stops Julie from scrambling on the floor for the shotgun by kicking her in the side and then stomping on her back.

Still struggling to recover you grab some of the heavier books that have fallen near you and start throwing them at Kelly. A couple hit her in the head and she ceases abusing Julie and returns to attack you.

You manage to throw one more book at her face, but it doesn't even slow her down. She punches you in the stomach causing you to collapse as you feel the air leave all your body and feel like you can't breathe. As you wheeze, Kelly leans down and grabs the back of your neck with one of her hands. It feels like a fucking vice.

"A hit to the gut, fucks you all up doesn't it? Feels like you're suffocating, can't breathe, can't do much of anything really. It's how Houdini died you know. I'm gonna hurt you so badly Suzy, you don't even know…but you soon will."

Kelly with her other hand smashes a fist into the side of your face. You feel your eye almost close immediately as the rest of you hits the floor. If you could catch your breath, you probably would've cried out from the pain though you're a little dizzy more than anything right now.

"Thought you could kick my ass. Bitch please, what the fuck were you thinking? This isn't a goddamn comic book or movie…shit!"

Kelly's body lands on top of yours with crushing weight. You then hear a shotgun blast and some debris of the bookcase consisting of paper and cheap wood fall on you and Kelly.

"LEAVE HER ALONE YOU FUCKING CUNT!" you hear Julie scream.

You still aren't in any condition to do anything, but Kelly certainly is. She scrambles for the pistol still in the front of her pants and gets up while yanking you up with one hand to use you as a human shield.

Julie takes cover around a corner when Kelly starts shooting. Four shots are fired before clicking follows.

"Fuck!" Kelly exclaims and drops the pistol.

You're practically deaf from the proximity of a pistol going off near your head along with being disorientated. Kelly positions herself behind the couch to give herself some extra cover. She also tightens her grip around your neck with her forearm and puts her other hand on your head ready to break your neck in a second if need be.

Julie comes back out from around the corner weeping, but unsteadily pointing the shotgun at Kelly.

"No…Suzy…(Sob) Let her go!"

"Julie, you're not in any position to give orders. Now granted with a shotgun and you don't need perfect aim at this range, but your precious girlfriend here is BOUND to get hit in the process. Never mind the fact I could break her neck before you get the courage to pull the trigger anyway."
"LET HER GO!" Julie screams again.
"Not gonna happen whore. You got two choices. You try to do the impossible by trying to hit me or you walk out the door and go on with your life. Either way one thing is certain, Suzy here isn't going anywhere. Her fate is sealed and there isn't anything you can do about it. Think about it Julie. Do you really want to be the one that kills her? Just walk away now taking solace in the fact that you never had a choice." Kelly says.

Even with one blurring eye open right now, you can see Julie just standing there sobbing and looking so helpless, despite wielding a shotgun.

"Suzy…I don't know what to do… (sob)" Julie cries.

You feel like you're going to pass out with Kelly's big meaty arm wrapped around your neck right now.

You tell Julie to leave

"Julie, go…" you say.
"Suzy! I can't leave you here to die!" Julie says.
"I'm dead anyway. You aren't going to kill Kelly. At best you'll probably kill me and blow off one of her arms in the process. After which she'll probably beat you to death with it, because its obvious she's got what it takes to survive in this shithole world which is getting shittier everyday." You say.
"Heh, damn straight." Kelly snorts.

"Suzy, I can't just leave you! I just can't! I love you!"
"Yeah… well I don't fucking love you Julie! I never have and I never will!"
"But…"
"Julie just fucking stop! I'm not into girls despite whatever you might be hoping in your heart, so even if you did somehow manage to aim that thing straight and miraculously kill Kelly without hitting me, that still leaves you with NOTHING!"

At this point Julie starts crying again and barely able to hold up the shotgun. Kelly on the other hand starts chuckling.

"Julie, go on with your fucking life and forget about me." You say.
"I…I…can't. I won't be able to. I won't know how! I need you!" Julie stutters. She still doesn't want to hear the words you've said to her.
"Julie, you're far more capable than you realize. You've faced shit this week that you never expected to and survived. You'll survive this too."
"No…"
"Julie, look at me. If you REALLY love me as much as you say, you'll listen to me one last time and get the fuck out of here. Please."

Julie at this point continues to cry and nods. She slowly starts to walk towards the front door.

"Aww, ain't this some fuckin' heart breakin' shit? Hell, I think I'm about shed a goddamn tear myself…over how fucking pathetically hilarious this is!" Kelly laughs.
"Kelly will you at least let me give her the keys to the car so she's got a vehicle to drive away in? They're in my pocket." You ask.
"Sure, sure, anything to get this bitch out of here quicker."

You put one hand in your pocket and start fishing around for the keys.

"Just keep moving towards the front door bitch. Your little unrequited crush will throw the keys to you. Heh. And then me and you are going to have quality sister time." Kelly says.

You grab the key and slowly pull them out of your pocket.

"Come on, come on, give her the goddamn keys, al…" Kelly says when you blindly swing your arm backwards to try to jam the key into Kelly's eye.

"AAARGH! FUCK!"

You're successful and the piece of metal sinks deep into the orb.

Kelly releases her grip just enough for you to slip from her clutches and drop to the floor.

"SHOOT HER NOW!" you yell.

You see Julie pull the shotgun back up to her shoulder and point it at Kelly. A loud booming noise fills the room when she fires followed by a sickening squishy sound. Blood splatters on you from over head and the slumping of a body falls partially on you.

Julie drops the shotgun and rushes over to help you up.

"Suzy! Oh my god, I was so…" Julie starts to say in between the sobbing.
"Julie, don't fuss right now, I'm fine. But right now the pair of us need to get our asses into the basement and look for that shelter entrance. With all the gunfire that went off in here, I'd hate to think what kind of crowd we may have attracted."

Julie helps you up, but in reality, she's hurting just as much as you, so you basically prop each other up. You stumble down into the basement and fortunately you don't even need to search. You see a hatch in the floor that you've never seen before wide open and a fluorescent glow of lighting coming from within it. Apparently Kelly didn't even bother to close up the hidden door.

You take a look inside and see a long ladder down leading to another floor, which you imagine that's the main shelter. You can't believe how close it was to your room and how you never knew about it!

"How the hell did you brother do this with you hearing or knowing about it?" Julie asks.
"I dunno. I mean he managed to routinely change the entrance all the damn time too. Ben had a gift I guess." you say and you and Julie start climbing down the ladder and you close up the hatch.

Eventually you get to the bottom and you and Julie open up a metal door, which is fortunately not locked.

And there it is, you're in the shelter proper. Before you is a dimly lit living area with various furniture and even a TV. Other rooms include a bathroom, kitchen area, a couple of bedrooms and A LOT of storage rooms. One such room is huge, as rows and rows of canned food and bottled water are found.

"Well looks like we'll be fine for sustenance for awhile. Doesn't even look like Kelly put a dent in the supplies." You say.

Another storage room contains a goodly amount of ammo and weapons of all kinds. Mostly rifles. Medical supplies are in another.

One thing that stands out is that Ben's shelter has solid steel walls. You have no idea how the hell he did this and you guess you never will. You do notice on several of the walls something has been repeatedly scratched out though not entirely successfully everywhere.

At one point you make out most of it.

Pr-p---- o- th- Gr--n- -er- Cor---at-o-

"Well Julie, guess we didn't have to spend a bunch of money like those fucking commercials always said. Ah, damn it!" You say and hold on to your head, which is still throbbing.
"Suzy are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just need to lie down."

Julie escorts you back to the bedroom where upon you collapse on the king sized bed.

"Oh Suzy, your eye, your face…its so bruised and swollen."
"Yeah, I probably look like hell. Guess I'm not very pretty right now." You laugh.

Julie holds your hand and looks into your one good eye.

"You'll always be pretty to me." She says and strokes your hair with her other hand.

There's a moment of silence between the pair of you.

"Suzy… when Kelly was holding you hostage, I know you said what you said to trick her into letting down her guard, but… was it really true? I mean it's fine but I just…"

You don't answer her, you instead just grab the back of her head with your other hand and bring her lips directly to your own and kiss her passionately. And this time this isn't one of those fake kisses to trick the National Guard; you genuinely mean it, because you do have deep feelings for Julie.

When you and Julie stop kissing, her eyes are closed and she exhales like a wave of euphoria has just washed over her.

"Well…I guess that answers my question." She says.

"Ow. Ow. Get up, get up." You say feeling another wave of pain exacerbated by the fact that Julie is partially on top of you right now.
"Oh. Sorry! Sorry! You okay?" Julie says getting off of you.
"Yeah, just still really hurt." You groan.
"Yeah so am I actually. Why don't I try to go find a compress or something for your eye?" Julie says.
"That's a good idea. Maybe bring back some painkillers while you're at it. I'll just lay here and hurt."

Julie leaves and you're left in the room alone. You mainly just lie there, but you do occasionally have the brief thoughts of just how fucked up this week has been. At least you've sorted out your feelings for Julie though. Despite the pain, you're also tired. Really you haven't even been up that long today in the scheme of things, but being held hostage and getting the shit kicked out of you is enough for you to want to go back to sleep.

Besides, it isn't like you've got anything else to do immediately. You're safe down here and you'll have plenty of time to figure out what to do next after some rest.

You drift off…

Next day…

SATURDAY


You wake up to total silence for once. No sounds of annoying commercials and no sounds of psychotic family members pointing a gun in your face. Even Julie is still asleep. She's right next to you on the bed as you sort of figured she would be when you woke up.

You instinctively reach for your cell phone to check the time, but you don't currently have it on you. Fortunately there is a large clock on the wall in the room that you're guessing is accurate.

"Holy shit, why the hell am I up this early?" you say to yourself, but then you remember you fell asleep pretty early yesterday. Really you're sort of surprised you didn't wake up in the middle of the night.

You get up and you're still hurting, but you're compelled to go wash yourself since your clothes are caked with dried blood at this point and you've been wearing them for a couple days.

Just as you're about to go test the shower, Julie stirs from her sleep.

"Suzy, what're doing? You shouldn't be up and around."
"I'm stinking like a dog here, I need to wash up."
"You smell fine, I like the way you stink." Julie says.

You start laughing.

"Well I'm sure you do, but I really feel like I should… (Sigh) shit."
"What?" Julie asks.
"Don't have a change of clothes. We got just about everything in this thing except clothing."
"So? You don't need clothing, just go all natural, it's just us after all. I'll even join you."
"Heh, while I'm sure that kiss from yesterday has got you all revved up, we still need to talk about us in more detail before we start taking it to that level. In the meantime I guess I'm going to have go upstairs to get some clean clothes."
"Wait, are you serious?! Those things could be up there!" Julie exclaims.
"Well that's why I'm going to be taking some weapons with me."
"But you're wounded! You really shouldn't be going out there!"
"While it's true I ache, I can at least see out both eyes clearly again. Surprisingly I'm feeling slightly energetic. I'll be careful."
"Oh Suzy, (Sigh) I can't let you go by yourself! I'll come with you!"

You and Julie grab a couple of the lighter assault rifles and some ammo and head up the ladder. Really the most nerve-racking part is going to be the initial opening of the hatch since anything could be lurking around ready to attack as soon as you pop your head up.

You open up the hatch and scramble to the basement floor, looking around in all directions.

"Suzy? Is it safe?" Julie whispers from the ladder.
"Well if it wasn't I'm sure they would've attacked by now. I don't even hear any noise from upstairs."
"Good, Now your room is right there, just get your clothes and let's go!"
"Okay, okay, come on up, I need someone to watch out."

You head into your room and Julie climbs up and keeps a nervous eye out. You start going through and grabbing clothing.

"Hey Julie, what about you?" you ask.
"What about me what?" Julie says.
"All your clothes are still in your bags upstairs, what are you going to wear?"
"I don't know! I'll wear your clothes or go naked! I'm not heading up there!"
"Like I said, I don't even hear any noise and I had quite a few favorite belongings in one of the bags. Fuck it, I'm going up there, I wouldn't mind seeing Kelly's body anyway." You say and pass Julie to head upstairs.

Once again Julie follows reluctantly.

You go up the stairs cautiously, once again expecting something to pop out at you. When you finally get up stairs, you expect the same thing, but after checking a bit, nothing is out of place from when you left it yesterday. No broken windows, no kicked in doors, and your bags are still in the same place where you dropped them when you got here.

Then you lay your eyes on Kelly's body which hasn't been disturbed in anyway. You didn't see it when Julie did it since your back was turned, but part of Kelly's head is splattered on the wall and the rest of it is all over the floor.

"Heh, you blew her fucking head off." You say.
"Yeah, it's really gross. Let's get our bags and head back, I'm still worried that something might try to break in and I also don't want to dwell on what almost happened to you in this room. It's upsetting."
"Alright, I just think I needed the closure of seeing her corpse. I know that probably sounds fucked up of me, but then again this whole week has been." You say grabbing one of your bags.

Before you or Julie can say anything else a bright flash shines through one of the uncovered windows along with the sound of a large explosion in the distance. You can't help but take a quick glance out the window.

And there you see it in the far distance, the dissipating remnants of a mushroom cloud rising up in the sky.

"…they finally went and did it." You say.
"Oh shit! We need to get down into the shelter NOW!" Julie exclaims.
"Let's get our asses moving then."

You and Julie grab your remaining bags and head back into the basement. You don't stop the haste until you're safely inside the shelter, though Julie's still a really stressed.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! We were out there when that bomb went off! What if we've experienced a lethal dose of radiation!? I don't want my hair and teeth to start falling out and coughing up blood! Oh fuck!" Julie starts to say while pacing back and forth.
"Julie will you relax? First of all if it had been that close the impact should've at least shattered the windows of the house. From the direction I saw the cloud, I'd say it probably hit Security City and you know how far away that is. It probably wasn't even a large one."
"So we're safe?"
"Well we're safe from what you're worrying about yes. But I mean if nukes are going off, that means the end of civilization, as we know it at best. The world is going to become a lot more dangerous."
"But we're in this shelter! We've got supplies for years!"
"Yeah, if we're smart about conservation we probably can stretch out our supplies for I dare say a decade, but the thing is we're going to HAVE to explore the surface eventually, if only to gather more food and water. And if we're going to do that, we're going to need to prepare ourselves. I foresee a lot of use of that small exercise room in the future unfortunately."

Julie sits down as if this hard reality is finally hitting her.

"Suzy…I don't know if I'm gonna be able to survive this new world. I mean if what you're saying is true, and this week was just an indication of how bad its going to really be, then how useful am I going to be? I mean other than killing your psycho sister; I've been completely useless in this crisis. Even with your sister, you came up with the plan to distract her; my dumb ass thought you were being serious at first when you told me to leave. You've come up with all the plans and taken all the action. It's actually very impressive of how you've managed to cope with all this…I'm just not as strong as you."

You sit down next to Julie and hold her hands.

"Julie, I didn't say this was going to be easy, but WE can do this. You have to have more faith in yourself Julie. And whether I come up with the plans or not doesn't mean you've been useless. I mean you still needed the courage to pull the trigger to kill Kelly right?" you say.
"I wasn't brave, I didn't want her to kill you." Julie says.
"Well I'm sure there's going to be tons of people wanting to do that to me in the future. So you've already proven you've got motivation to kill when necessary. And just think you also helped in tricking the National Guard without killing anyone."
"Oh sure, just shaking my tits and ass at them. That's about all I AM actually good at."
"Hey whatever works for your survival, but look we're together now. I need you just as much as you need me. We're not just friends anymore we have a stronger bond now, one that I want to last for a very very long time. I want to survive to enjoy your company and love for as long as I can. Would you really give up on that so easily?"

Julie smiles.

"No I suppose I can't. You're right Suzy. You're always right." Julie says and hugs you. She then kisses you on the lips.

"I love you Suzy." She says.
"I love you too Julie." You answer.

A brief pause of you both looking into each other's eyes and savoring the moment.

While the next few moments are going to be filled with possibly the most fun you've had this week, you are still thinking about how difficult things are going to be in the near future. Already now, you're thinking that the first order of business is going to be to get Julie to dry out from her drug abuse. (You can't afford for her to go through your supply of medical supplies after all) She's going to probably hate you while she's detoxing, but it's going to be for her own good.

And that's just going to be one hurdle you'll have to jump, but you're not that "good girl" that hid out in the basement from the rest of the world anymore. You're ready to face it head on when necessary regardless of the dangers it may hold.
Best Friends With Benefits Forever


The Future…

"I hate dealing with those trailer park assholes." Julie says as you both enter the shelter.
"Yeah, but unless we want to go driving all the way to the next township or waiting around for a wandering merchant, it isn't like we got much choice in barter partners." You say.
"I just feel like we're getting eye raped by all of them whenever we walk into their little enclave."
"Probably are, but Mel's pretty good about keeping his boys in line. He's surprisingly reasonable as well. Besides, they got enough problems ever since the Cult of Tiamat launched a full raid on them."
"Yeah, that's another reason I don't like going out nowadays, the entire fucking town is a war zone between those two."
"Mmm, I'm just glad we don't live where the fighting has gotten the heaviest. It's almost like how it was when all those people were running around like rabid animals. Still never learned what caused that, weird that some people just suddenly went back to normal though."
"Speaking of the cult, do you really believe they won't attack us anymore?" Julie says.
"Well like with anything in this shitty world, nothing is certain, but Bobby has always been a true believer so when he came to us that night saying that Tiamat spoke to him in a dream saying that we were off limits due to recent losses, I'm inclined to believe we don't need to worry about them for now. Personally I think it was that bitch Diana that kept targeting us specifically for sacrifice. She never did like me. Anyway Diana's dead and Bobby isn't under her influence anymore."
"What about his new first wife though?"
"His sister Helen? I only met her a few times back when I was dating Bobby, but she was always okay to me. Seemed to almost want me in the fold as it were. Probably wanted an ally because her older sister Diana was a bully to her…hmm might've had something common I suppose."

As you get ready to relax for the night, Julie ceases talking for a moment and then speaks up again.

"Hey, do you ever wonder what your life would've been like if you'd stayed with Bobby?" Julie asks.
"You're joking right?" you say.
"Well I'm just asking do you think it would've been easier?"
"I really don't see how being the member of an insane cult would've been easier and that's not even factoring in Diana who probably would've been trying to kill me at every turn."
"Ah, I think you would've been okay. You would've found a way to get over on her. Just think you would've been a high priestess with followers or something!"
"And I still would've had to have shared Bobby with Helen and whatever other sisters he choose as a damn wife. Nope, I'm not into polygamy."
"But you weren't into girls either at one time and we wound up together."
"That's a little different Julie, we had a long history. I mean I don't even see you as a female. I mean I do, but (Sigh) …you know what I mean! I'm just saying I'm not the sharing type when it comes to these things. What brought all this weird line of questioning all of a sudden?"
"I dunno, I guess sometimes I play what if and I come up with all sorts of weird scenarios."
"What do you mean?"
"Well okay for example, I can picture you still doing okay even if you made different choices in your life. Like I can picture you surviving and even thriving in this harsh world regardless of what you did. Me? I would've been dead without you around. I just wonder sometimes if your life would've been better without me. Silly I suppose for me to dwell on stuff like that."

You know Julie can still get a little self-conscious at times and would seem tonight is one of those nights. It was annoying at first, but as time has gone on, you've actually grown to find it a little endearing.

"You're damn right it's silly, because how could my life be better without you? I mean I have everything I want with you, what more could I want? To be a leader of one of the many dysfunctional groups out there? No thanks, I was already part of one dysfunctional group, I don't need to be part of another, let alone trying to lead them. I'm perfectly happy down here in our shelter with ample supplies and spending the rest of my years with you. Now come over here."

Julie walks over to you a bit demurely and you passionately kiss her and grab her ass in the process.

"Mmm. Tell you what, since the town has become rather dangerous lately, why don't we stay in for a month or two? Maybe by that time, those idiots will have stopped or killed each off by then. You know we still have lots of supplies left, we can afford a nice romantic vacation of sorts from the world." You say.
"See, you always have the good ideas." Julie says with a smile.

As the two of you embrace in the way lovers do, you realize Julie is right, you do have all the good ideas.

And your best one was choosing to be with your best friend.