I pull her up from the crevice below. I look into her eyes. God, I never really got to know her, but looking into her eyes, I knew everything. I mean, I guess I had liked her for quite some time now, just never gave it so much thought.
Here and now. The Others' spaceship gleaming in the sunset. I wanted to kiss Cassie Sullivan. She looked at me defiantly, a stare that I had come to love.
"Thanks." She said, rather flatly.
"Yeah, uh, anytime," I tried my trademark grin out. Don't know if it worked. She half-smiled back.
"Let's hope I won't ever need it again." That made a lot of sense. But with the Others here, saving someone's life is like saying, Hey, can you pass the ketchup? Like that small of a favor. So, I guess the Others were succeeding, so far, in destroying our humanity. Whatever it is that actually does make us human.
I knew, somehow, deep down, I continued to live in part for Cassie. The other for Nugget. And Ringer. And everyone else I had come to love. I guess Cassie felt just as confused as I am.
"It was hard, wasn't it?" I stopped in my tracks. What was she talking about?
"Um, what?"
"Watching your sister get taken right from you." It was like she knew every one of my thoughts. If she did, it wouldn't be good. Because I am a teenage guy. I have some things I'd rather keep in my mind.
See? Those are the kind of things I miss. Random, silly, stupid thoughts. Worrying about tiny things. Not having to worry about humanity's entire existence. Everything going back to the way it was would be like a dream come true. Even Ms. Patrick, the cruel and unfair chemistry teacher.
Everything back except one thing. I could walk down the high school hallway with Cassie at my side.
"I know, I know this is kind of random, but I can't stop thinking about everything before the Others came. I'm not even afraid to admit I had the biggest crush on you."
I shuddered a little inside. Had. I guess that means that with everything going on, she had kind of stopped caring. That sucks. But, I mean, I understand. Evan was amazing. And I didn't even try to get to know the real Cassie, or her at all.
"Isn't it ironic," I whispered to myself. Unfortunately, she heard me.
"What is?" She seemed truly curious.
"Oh, uh, it's nothing. Just thinking aloud."
She snickered. "You? Thinking?" I could tell she was joking.
"Hey, I'll have you know, I was a really good chemistry student."
"Well of course you were. Like, every girl in the school liked you." I laughed, playfully shoved her as we walked along. It felt good to tease like that. It seemed… normal. If there even was a such thing.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure." She seemed pretty calm about it.
"What… did you define as normal? Or is there even a normal?"
She thought about that for a long moment. It seemed like it had been ages, when she finally replied: "Well, Mr. Zombie…"
"Sergeant Zombie." I cut her off. She giggled.
"Okay, Sergeant Zombie, honestly? There is no normal. Just expectations of normal." That made total sense.
"Wow. You should be like, a philosopher, or something. That's deep." Another feeble attempt to be funny. Or flirt. Even I couldn't tell what I was doing anymore. I was that lost. She laughed, a hearty, from-the-heart-at-least-I-really-hope-so-laugh. It seemed like she was about to give some sort of witty comeback when an explosion tore apart the concrete right in front of us. I took her hand. "RUN!" I scream, turning in the other direction.
"What are you doing? Let go of my hand!" I wasn't listening. I was too focused on getting the hell outta there. She tried wiggling her hand a little, but soon gave up after another explosion sent a piece of pavement hurtling toward us.
We were completely blind. We didn't know who our attacker was; most likely an Other if they have explosive devices. We didn't know where he or she was; we knew nothing. This was totally against all my training from Wright-Patterson, but then again, those were Others teaching us. So, I just sprinted, Cassie alongside me. Ran as fast as we could in the direction we hoped was farther away from the bombs.
We reached an intersection that led onto a highway. Cassie started to run the other way, but I stopped her. "This way!" She saw the highway and nodded. Even as someone who wasn't a skilled soldier, she knew we would be able to find good cover with all the car wreckages there. We ran up the bridge that led up to the highway, only slowing down a little as everything quieted, but I knew, from recent experiences, that "quiet" didn't necessarily mean safe or that the danger was done.
We slowed to a quick trot once we reached the top of the highway. We didn't really walk for long when Cassie pointed to a nearby vehicle. "Let's hide out in there." I was, a small compact car. Cassie and I were smushed together in the backseat. Every guy's dream. No sarcasm there.
We talked for a little while. It seemed kind of peaceful in that car, just sitting and talking. Peace was something I hadn't been able to feel in a long time. Just being there, all of it, triggered some old instincts. I leaned over and I kissed Cassiopeia Sullivan. She seemed shocked at first, but then she gave in, wrapping her hands around my back.