The Only Hope For Me Is You

The next few days passed by agonizingly slow. There wasn't a whole lot of things to do in the cave, it was nice having some protection from the brutal sun, but other than that it was quite boring. Kobra spent most of the time sleeping. To say that I was curious about Gabe was an understatement. When I had asked Poison who Gabe was, Poison simply said that Kobra should be the one to tell me. I wanted to ask him, but I didn't want to hinder his recovery. I was scared that Kobra might be cheating on me, that I didn't mean that much to him.

Kobra meant everything to me. I prayed that I meant something to him. That I wasn't just some distraction, a distraction from the desert life. I wanted to mean a lot to him, because I would die for him. I would jump in front of a bullet for him.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when I felt someone sit down next to me, I looked over and saw Kobra. He wasn't looking at me, the cut on his temple was healing nicely. I took a deep breath, “Kobra…who's Gabe?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

Kobra’s head snapped to face me, “What? How…how do you know that name?”

“The night we rescued you and Ghoul…y-you were sleeping and you had a nightmare. You were screaming a name. That name was Gabe. W-who is he?”

Kobra was silent for a few moments before drawing a shaky breath, “I suppose it's only right that you should know. Gabe....He was…he was my first love.” Kobra's voice cracked, “We grew up together, we went to school together. He was one of my only friends, and when I turned 16, we got together. He showed me was love was supposed to be like. And when the Pig Bomb happened…we ran away together. He was everything to me, he kept me sane and he made me feel safe.” Kobra adverted his eyes to the floor, I looked away as well, it was really hard to hear this.

"For a while it was Poison, Ghoul, Gabe and I. The desert didn't seem too bad. It was us against the world. B-but that didn't last for very long.” Kobra’s eyes became glassy with tears. “Gabe…the desert started to get to him. He…he couldn't handle it. He got into drugs. He wanted an escape from his life, and that meant me as well. He turned into someone else…something else. He became distant and-and he could have a short temper. But I loved him, I loved the man I knew he could be.” Kobra licked his lips nervously before continuing, “Finally he tried to commit suicide and it…it broke me. We were able to save him, and when he woke up he promised me that he would try and get better. He did try. He got off the drugs…but he was never the same.”

Kobra quickly stole a glance at me before returning his gaze to the floor,“About three months after he got clean we all were traveling, and one night we were ambushed. We were all sleeping when the Dracs took us by surprise. We all put up a fight, there were so many. It seemed as if they were never going to end. We'd kill one and two would take its place. I-I was too distracted by trying to kill them all that I didn't see a Drac aiming straight at me. Gabe…he jumped in front of it. He sacrificed himself for me. By the time we killed the rest of the Dracs…there wasn't anything we could do. He had been shot in the chest. I-I held him until he passed. He told me that ‘I was the best thing that ever happened to him’. He died right in my arms. He died because of me. He was killed because I lost my focus, had I been more aware he wouldn't have had to jumped.” Tears were rolling down his cheeks now. I could see that his hands were shaking.

“After Gabe died…I kinda lost it. I felt that, without him, there was no reason to live. I had nightmares almost every night, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. I knew that I was slowly killing myself…I just didn't care. And then I met Cola. He was so confident and he helped pick up the pieces. You saw how that worked out, I guess I'm just a bad omen for relationships.” Kobra muttered.

I grabbed his hand and his eyes met mine, “That is not true. It wasn't your fault that Gabe was killed. And it definitely wasn't your fault that Cola turned out the way he did.”

“I'm scared Jet.” Kobra admitted, more tears falling from his eyes.

“Why are you scared?” I asked.

“Bad things happen around me. I-I can't lose you. I can't lose what we have. It means everything to me. You saved me Jet, in every way possible.” Kobra stated, his voice cracking again.

I kissed his lips gently, “You won't lose me. I promise to stay right here.” Kobra smiled a small smile, and kissed me again.

“Thank you.” Kobra whispered into the kiss.

Notes