“What was your stage name again—when you did…you know…what you did, before all of this?” Bette decided on friendly banter, so as to distract them both from the strangeness of their situation. She was certain that the others were safe.  Beyond the door, she thought she could hear the infected off in the lobby, tossing things about. They were easily distracted, leaving Bette and Helena for the time being. “Cherry…”

“Cherry Darling.” Helena responded.

“Sounds like a stripper name…”

“No!” Helena turned indignantly on Bette. “I was a Go-Go Dancer, there’s a difference.”

“Right, sorry.” Bette smirked at her girlfriend.  For the first time, Bette realized how cute Helena could be when annoyed—even when the annoyance was aimed at Bette herself. Bette supposed that things couldn’t be perfect all the time.

“You shouldn’t take so many things so personally.” Helena said quietly. “My bad moods, my frustrations…they aren’t always about you. And even if they are, sometimes they still aren’t…you know?”

Bette nodded.  “I’m sor…”

Helena silenced her with a brief kiss. “that’s the whole problem with you…” She added another quick kiss, noting how cool Bette’s lips were, “you’re too hard on yourself…apologizing won’t make that better, maybe it makes it all worse.” She tried warming Bette with another kiss, and was rewarded when Bette’s arms snaked around her and pulled her close. “If you stopped being so hard on yourself…”

“Maybe I’d stop repeating the same mistakes?” Bette added hopefully. “I’ve wondered about that.” She nuzzled the top of Helena’s head as the other woman leaned down against her chest, Bette’s arms still around her. Outside, one of the infected had begun to hum a tune.

“Are they singing to us in order to drive us insane?” Bette wondered. “This is the song that doesn’t end…” She tried to help with infected with the next line “it just goes on and on my friend…”

“Please don’t encourage them darling.” Helena said, glancing over at the radio. Static and silence filled the air. No one had responded to her in the entire time they had been at the hotel. Once, twice, she thought she heard a human voice, but each time, the static drowned it out.  Why did she think this was a good idea now?