we found l o v e in a h o p e l e s s place

Daniel smiled back at Philip "No worries, anything for a friend in need". He felt good that he made Philip smile, even though it was just a smile it was a whole lot more for Daniel, this was someone who finally understood him and sort of shared the problems. He felt as if that smile would be the start of a series of events between the two of them, and it would lead to a strong friendship...maybe more.

"So erm you ever had a girlfriend....or or boyfriend?" Daniel asked. Suddenly he began to regret the question he asked maybe because Philip did have a lover female or male.

Philip didn't respond right away. The question had come as a shock to him. His first thought was Amabel and how if he wasn't infected, she would be alive with him right now. Then he thought back to England. He had tried to block out thoughts of his home to prevent becoming homesick and distracted while he was in Greenland. But now he couldn't help but think of his best friend and colleague who, when Philip had left, was engaged and ready to be married and start his own family. That had all happened by now, Philip thought. Something he would never have, now.

Philip shook his head, "No." he said finally. "What about you?" he asked Daniel curiously.

"Well, no me neither" he answered. "But its not ever too late, the right person could be standing right there before your eyes". Suddenly Daniel felt a little awkawrd as he was standing in Philips eye line. "To be honest with you, i'd never find love in Brennanburg" he sighed. His thoughts then went back to this teenage years when he was sort of ready for a relationship, but there was never anyone who related to him or anyone he found particully attractive.

Philip just looked at him. Unsure of how to respond. He guessed that Daniel didn't mean what he had said literally though. That would be just a bit strange. "What do you mean you'd never find love in Brennanburg?" He didn't understand why he couldn't. Although Daniel didn't mention much about that place. "It is too late," He said gloomily. Philip had always been a pessimist. "I'm never getting out of here, what's the point of trying to think positively?" Now he was more or less speaking to himself - trying to not feel guilty about being so negative.

Daniel didnt really know what to say, but he did say something "hey always think of the positive i'm here with you and i'll stay with you". Feeling a bit awqward daniel got up and started wondering around the room waiting for a reply. He had taken a liking to Philip and he didnt want to spoil what friendship they had so he had to be careful about what he said.

"What exactly would being positive achieve?" Philip questioned. "And sure, you're here and company is great." Philip realised that the reason he had been snapping so much, and was angry, was probably due to the fact he hadn't communicated with anyone for so long, and just had bitterness bottled up inside of him, and was now taking it out on the first person he'd spoken to for god knows how long. He cleared his throat, the silence getting uncomfortable for him. "Sorry for snapping so much, and being angry and negative. It's just my personality exaggerated due to me being isolated down here for so long."

"Its ok, i understand" Daniel said. He felt good that he could provide some company for Philip, get him talking again and not feeling so downhearted about everything. "You know i like it here, better than Brennanburg. Im not alone and there arnt any brutes or grunts trying to kill me". He was hopeing Philip felt the same too.

Philip snorted. "I just told you. Forget your brutes and grunts. Whatever they are. Wait until you see Tuurngait. You'll think that being attacked by your "grunt"," he put sarcastic emphasis on grunt, "is like having a hug." He finished bitterly.

It was completely silent for a minute or so. A long minute. One that was filled with negative energy. Finally, Philip stood up, suddenly coming to a decision. "We can't stay here. Let's go and see where else we can get to." He strode over towards the door and heaved it open. "Probably not safe, so keep eyes open." Philip warned.

"Yeaah! Finally! I was getting bored in there, Monkey!" Clarence had awoken and was now celebrating the fact Philip had given into his frustration and left the room. Philip felt his patience tick away the more Clarence spoke, and he feared what kind of trouble the damn thing in his head would cause this time.

He continued down the halls, walking quickly and foolishly, in the sense that he wasn't watching where he was going, walking aimlessly without checking. He glanced back to check if Daniel was keeping up. But said nothing. Philip knew that he probably annoying the poor man to death, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to turn around and apologise again, but decided against it.

He kept going, until he came across an, surprisingly, unlocked door, which he opened, and it led towards another corridor he didn't recognise. He turned to look at Daniel. "I have no idea where I am, by the way."

Daneil followed Philip down the hallway. He started to feel as if he was annoying or frustrating Philip, he wanted to say sorry but he figured he'd say somrthing stupid so he kept his mouth shut. The hall ways all looked the same to Daniel, he swore he'd been down most of them but wasn't sure.

When Philip told him he had not idea was they were, Daniel started to feel nervous, he'd felt these nerves before, they made him feel sick and do stupid things. He began shifting about and breathing heavily, he kept cheaking behind him for this Tuurngait, but each time all he saw was his own shadow. Then he wispered "im scared".

Philip acknowledged what Daniel had said, but said nothing in reply. Part of him wanted to tell him it was okay, and to not be scared, another part wanted to be cruel and tell him to man up, but he told himself that would be an extremely stupid thing to say, and kept his mouth shut.

He began getting nervous as he continued down the hall. It was a wide hallway, but so far there were no other doors on either side, and this made Philip anxious, as if anything decided to try and attack, they had no where to run.

The hallway was a long and narrow one, the fluorescent lights above were flickering, and slowly began to go out the further one travelled down the hall. Once it became almost too dark to see more than half a meter in front of you, Philip pulled out the flash light. The light from the flash light revealed the blood stained floors on which they were walking. This hall was completely empty, as in, there were no boxes, no shelves, no doors, no notes, no nothing anywhere. This only unnerved Philip more as he couldn't figure out what the purpose of this place was.

Philip had no idea how long they had been walking, it could've been five minutes, or an hour. But he froze suddenly as he heard something he hoped to not ever hear again. A high pitched howl could be heard from somewhere nearby. Philip switched the flash light off and turned to Daniel. "Dog." He whispered. "It's nearby." He had no idea what to do. A dog was nearby and there didn't seem to be anywhere to hide from it. Cautiously, Philip continued, praying to find a door that was unlocked, a box, a hammer, beef jerky, basically anything as long as it wasn't the dog.

At the sound of dogs Daniel began to panic. He saw Philip searching for things so he used his common sense and started searching himself. He didnt really know where to start or what to look for maybe some food or a weapon.

He got down on his hands and knees and scanned the floor. Daniel then came across some beef jerkey but he didnt know what it was. He smelt it and was taken aback by the strong beef smell. "Here this might get us by them" he told Philip.

Philip was shocked at the sight of the jerky. How had he missed that? "Right. Good." He grabbed it from Daniel, and held it, and threw it as far as he could, it landing at the corner. Not ten seconds after he threw it, a dog that had fur falling off it, blood dripping, and ribs showing, completely dead looking came around the corner. The only that made it seem alive was it's vivid, yellow eyes. Philip didn't move, one move and it would see or hear them.

Okay. It was eating the jerky. Now what? That was the only way to go. Around that corner. Philip realised his mistake and felt like smashing his head on the wall. Idiot. So that left one option. Running. He turned slowly to Daniel. "I'm an idiot, and because of that, we need to run for it." He whispered to him. Why couldn't he just have that fucking pickaxe anymore?

Running. Now Daniel was no stranger to running for his life. So instead of being worried about himself his thoughts turned to Philip. "When we run I want you to go first. You have taken me in and not abandoned me when I came to this strange place. To tell you the truth I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you".

Realising what he just said may have shocked philip he added "if tge dog attacks I'll try to fight it and give you any chance you may have". Then he smiled at Philip and turned away. He hurt a little inside as what he said was true and if one of them didn't make it, it would all be over.

Philip felt his stomach flip at Daniel's words. He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he simply reassured him. "We'll be fine... They dogs, they... They aren't as horrible as they look." What a lie.

Taking a deep breath, he walked slowly towards the dog, maybe they'd be able to sneak past? By a stroke of luck?

Nope.

The dog looked up after just a few steps. It growled, his ears flattening back against his head, teeth bared and showing, the little part of his hair was raising on his back, the dog's eyes glowing bright and livid, ready to attack them.

With no hesitation, Philip took off running, streaking past the dog as carefully as possible, as it tried to take a bite out of his leg. He kept running, and looked back to see if Daniel was keeping up, and if he was okay, if he wasn't... Philip didn't know what he'd do.

Daniel ran staright after Philip making sure he could see him at all times. As the dogs got closer to Philip he began to get angry and worried. "Keep going" he shouted. It wasnt until one of the dogs launched itself at Philip that Daniel pushed him out of the way through and door landing on top of him in a room. The door slammed shut and he could hear the dogs barking outside.

He suddenly realised he was lying on top of Philip and starred straight into his eyes. He suddenly felt the urge to kiss Philip as he felt him breathing on his face but he didnt. He got up and sat beside him. "Erm sorry about that, he said, I err...thought you were you know interested in men but um i dont think you are maybe im wrong i dont know". Daniel shut himself up before he could say anything else.

Philip didn't know what to say to that. He straightened up into a sitting position and kept quiet, afraid to say anything. "I.." He tried to speak but a lump formed in his throat. He never really thought about that. He had never really thought about girls... Or men... But it was mentioned out there now. And now Philip couldn't think of anything else. "Well..." What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to keep quiet, but he didn't want to say anything that would hurt Daniel. "I never really thought about it." He mumbled quietly. It was silent, except for the angry barks of the murderous dogs outside. "You have nice eyes." He said, trying to break the silence.

Or maybe that just made it more awkward. Stupid, Philip told himself.

"Sooo. Someone's out of the closet now, eh Monkey?" Clarence piped up again. Shit. "I was expecting it. Just by the looks of him." Now that was just rude... But what could he expect from Clarence? "You know, Monkey, after being in here so long, it's come to my attention that you don't seem all too curious about girls... It's not normal." Oh God, no. "And to be honest, it's a little boring in here without all that!" Did he mean porn? Did Clarence want to look at porn inside his head? What is wrong with this thing? "I hope you know what I'm getting at Monkey." Philip did, unfortunately.

Daniel felt a little awkward. "Thanks.. I err like your eyes too, sort of got lost in them" he said chuckling, trying not to make it sound so serious. Daniel then got up and brushed himself off. "I er sorry if i made you feel uncomfortable, i havnt told many people, he said. Earlier i said i never a girlfriend because i dont like girls in that way"he explained. "Ive never been able to find love in brennanburg, but when i do i want to care for that person, defend them and make sure nothing happens to them....even die for them".

Then he held out a hand to Philip to pull him up not realising if what he had said would have a big effect on Philip.

Philip just stared at him. Speechless. Not entirely sure how he should react to that. The slight shock of hearing what Daniel just said caused him to not realise he had held his hand out to help Philip up for a few moments. Slightly embarrassed about how slow he had just been, he grabbed Daniel's hand and quickly pulled himself up.

"So, um..." Philip wasn't sure what to say, "What do we do now, then?" He said, desperate to change the subject.

"Aaaw, Monkey, this is so cute, I love watching this, it almost makes me want to THROW UP!" Clarence yelled rudely in his head. "Please don't go any further, it's torture!" Philip felt quite offended by what Clarence had just said, and was extremely thankful Daniel had not hear it.

Philip looked around the room, there wasn't much there. If anything, it looked like sort of isolation room. Only a desk with a single mattress on the floor, with a few papers on the desk and of course, blood stains on the floor and walls.

Daniel knew he had made Philip uncomfortable so he decided to put thw whole thing about him being gay and having feelings for Philip aside.

He went over to the mattress that was on the floor and looked at his pocket watch "Its getting late maybe we should get some rest, it looks big enough for the both of us" he said smiling at Philip.

Before he settled on the mattress he wondered over to the door and peeped through the gap. There wasnt a soul in sight, atleast now they could sleep with anything disturbing them.

Philip nodded. "Are the dogs gone?" He asked as he sat down on the mattress. Taking another glance around the room he wished something more useful was there. But logic meant that of course nothing useful would be in an isolation room. Sighing from frustration Philip fell back onto the mattress. "I hate being down here," He muttered angrily. "This is literally hell on earth. Or maybe this is just hell, considering how far I've gone down. And everyone thought it would be hot but instead it's freezing cold." He felt himself getting increasingly bitter. "I hate myself for being so damn curious, and not listening, and coming here in the first place. I'm such an idiot." He felt a little better, finally being able to let out how he felt.

"Oh my God, now you're both going to sleep on the mattress? Please, Monkey, I'm begging you, this is too much for me to handle!" Clarence yelled in his head.

"Shut up, Clarence!" Philip shouted angrily, suddenly sitting up, he calmed down quickly after realising what he had just said. Even worse, now he had said Clarence's name. And that meant Daniel would ask and Philip would have to explain everything. Well fuck. Now everything ruined. Perfect, Philip thought, fucking perfect.

"Yeah, I think we should just sleep now," Philip said quickly and lay back down, facing away from Daniel, praying he wouldn't say anything.

Daniel was quite shocked at Philips outburst but he figured it was ust the frustration and the cold getting to him. He layed down next to Philip and wearily put his hand on Philips shoulder "Hey dont beat yourself up about this and dont hate yourself, your speshul Philip if only you knew, i was lost until i met you, you have made me see life in a new light".

Then knowing Philip probably was asleep and hadnt heard any of that Daniel took off his jacket and placed it upon Philips back giving him some extra warmth, afterall he'd need it, they were in for a cold night.

Philip felt thankful Daniel didn't ask about Clarence. Thank God. It would've been only too hard to explain about him the thing living inside his mind and what it made him say or do. Philip listened to what Daniel said to him, his words made him feel better. He fell asleep, just as he felt Daniel place his own jacket on him.

A low growling noise caused Philip to wake up. He opened his eyes and saw only a few feet away, an angry dog staring at him. Philip screamed loudly, jumping up and onto the desk as it tried attacking. "DANIEL!" He yelled, "How the FUCK did the dog get in!?" Wasn't the door supposed to be air tight?! The dog jumped up and down below Philip, trying to attack, but failing. Why wasn't it attacking Daniel?! He was sleeping! Philip moved further back, desperate to avoid the animal.

Daniel could hear screams so he sat bolt up right and rubbed his eyes. "Whats....what the fuck" he said confussed to see Philip attacking well nothing. He jumped up and grabbed Philip and tried to pull him back. "What are you doing, Philip stop stop....its ok im here. What are you scared of tell me" he said looking into his eyes.

Daniel became increasingly worried about Philip, if he had started attacking thin air what would he do next?.

Philip stared him, completely shocked. He was standing right fucking next to the dog! How the fuck was it okay?! "Are you mad?! There's a fucking dog trying to attack me!" He yelled at Daniel, furious he couldn't understand. The dog took one last jump at him which caused Philip to stagger backwards in order to avoid it, and fall down.

Then it disappeared.

"What the fuck!" He shouted, so confused. But a cruel manic laughter in his head made him understand what happened. Philip groaned. "Clarence." He muttered angrily. He felt like banging his head against the wall, how could he be so stupid. Of course Clarence would try pulling something off. He sighed and looked at Daniel.

"Haha! That was so good, Monkey! My sides are splitting here!" Clarence was going off in hysterics in his brain.

"I'm sorry." Philip mumbled to Daniel. "This kind of thing..." He paused, he didn't want to say often, that'd make him seem even more worse off than he already was. But he couldn't say it's never happened. "It has happened before, I was an idiot to believe it was real."

Daniel ran over to Philip to see if he was ok. He put his hand on Philips forehead " you say this has happened before" he said. "It feels as if you have some sort of temperature your very hot after that. You lie down and ill keep watch" he said. Daniel was now concerned for Philip, he felt that everytime something like this happened they became a little closer..well in his opinion anyway.

He began to pace up and down. He rememberd Philip muttering something about a Clarence. Who was this Clarence? He saw no one in this room apart from himself and Philip. But he didnt want to trouble Philip with more questions now after what had just happened.