Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. This chapter features a tad bit of violence so you've been warned. Also I remember now why I hate writing in first person, I always screw up the tenses so if you notice anything out of whack don't hesitate to tell me, it's not a strong point in my writing and I'm always looking to improve. Hope you enjoy some of the Bechloe flashbacks, there will be more to come in the next chapter, thanks for sticking around. :)
Loving Chloe was like being reborn. She was my religion. Is my religion. She brings me to my knees with her presence. She's always had a strong hold on me. When no one else understood why I wanted to be in the Military, she supported me. When everyone gawked at me when I proclaimed my distaste for movies, she just giggled. She got me to watch them anyway. Chloe has always been my ray of sunshine, life is always brighter when she's around. Before Chloe I was a wreck; I didn't have many friends, I was working a shitty job, and my grades were slipping. She saw something in me that no one else saw. She helped me find my potential. She believed in me even when I didn't think I deserved to even be acknowledged. Loving Chloe was like being frozen in time with your best friend. Finding her was the utmost important thing. After walking for what felt like the entire day I finally found sanctuary in a small Sedan abandoned sideways on the road. It's a relatively shady spot, the abundance of trees means I'm getting farther North. Scouting the area and finding it to be completely deserted, I pick the lock and stash my shit in the back. After locking the doors behind me I do my best to cover the windows with the clothes I have in my pack and any papers or maps I have on me or in the car. It won't do much for shade really, but this seems a lot less inconspicuous than a very visible, breathing body in the back of a car. Using my pack as a pillow I lay on my side and close my eyes. Sleep consumes me.
"Beca! Come on, you can't stay in there forever! Please let me in, I really have to pee!" Chloe's voice spills into my room even with the door closed.
"Go away Chlo, I don't want to talk about it right now." I cover myself up further into the blankets, hoping she'll just walk away. I should know better.
"Beca Mitchell open this door up right now. So help me-"I swing the door open and she brushes past me, the scent of apples and fresh laundry wafts up my nose. It's my favorite smell, but I'd never tell her that. I hear the toilet flush a few moments later and then the sink is running. I stride back to my fortress of solitude, the blue light emitting from my screen seemingly calling me.
"I'm not leaving until you talk to me." Fortress of solitude my ass.
"Do we really have to talk about it? It was just a stupid thing that happened." I wish she would just drop it.
"Yes. We have to." She slides into my bed, one leg crossed under her. She takes a deep breath and I remain silent, knowing she needs to get it off her chest. I'll end up telling her, but I want to hear her first.
"No one's ever done that for me before. Sure Stacie has been great and Amy doesn't let stupid shit go, but Becs- you like, totally defended my honor. For God sakes you punched a dude." I smirk at that, because Chloe never says God and we both know it's because her dad had put the fear of religion into her. I suddenly feel small under her gaze, knowing she wants me to explain myself.
"I don't like him Chloe. He doesn't treat you right and today was the best example of it. What kind of boyfriend flirts with another girl and then calls his girlfriend a bitch when she points it out to him? You weren't even rude about it Chlo!" The anger inside of me is bubbling up again and I can feel my cheeks get hot.
"I know Beca. I liked James a lot but he's not who I'm meant to be with." That line makes me scoff, but I recover. I'm sure it's obvious that I like her. I bet all of her friends talk about it when they have their sleep overs, but I like to pretend it doesn't happen. I like to think they talk about boys instead and it keeps me from being too awkward when we're all together.
"Yeah, you think?" She looks at me, her azure eyes scanning my face and my eyes and my lips? Was I going crazy or did she just look at my lips? She clears her throat and I'm brought out of my own thoughts.
"Well I guess I just wanted to thank you, and make sure you're okay. I really, really appreciate you Beca, but don't get hurt because of me." Her hand finds mine and she gives it a gentle squeeze. I don't want her to let go, her skin feels too good on mine. I let her get up and walk all the way to the door before I jump out of bed. My heart is pumping faster than I care to admit and my palms are probably clammy, but I can't let her walk out of this dorm yet. She turns when she hears me and before she can finish saying my name I'm kissing her. Dear God does she taste good. Her lips feel like velvet against mine and I want nothing more than to keep her here forever. My body erupts in shivers when her hand clutches at my back, pulling me into her. I cup her face gently, doing my best to focus on the task at hand. It feels like the kiss you see in movies, the all-encompassing type. But then I remember that I have to breathe and I pull away reluctantly, hesitant to open my eyes.
"Finally." She whispers, wrapping her arms around my waist and hugging me.
A thump on the window of the car wakes me up, sweat is dripping down my face. It's hot, hotter than I'm comfortable with and there's a shadowed figure near the hood of the car and one at the rear driver side window. I can hear the groans and the thumping into the car causes my heart to beat faster. I think of my options. I can try to sneak out of the door behind me, or I can kick open the one that zombie number two is standing behind. It may be my best bet, if I can knock him down I can get out of here easily. I stay for a moment, listening and making sure that there's only two close by. After an eternity of time, I go with option two, collecting my things as quietly as possible. Two zombies I can handle with the machete, and I prepare for the attack. I unlock the door and pull the handle slowly, allowing myself room and time to kick it open.
BAM!
The door screeches open and a body drops to the floor. I can hear skin scraping concrete as I quickly climb out, machete at the ready. It's a woman, and her body is decrepit. She moves slowly, but I've learned even the slow ones can be deadly. The machete plunges through her rotting brain, and I do my best not to get the blood splattered on my hands or clothes. I whisper an apology to her as I pull the machete out and go for round two with a man who couldn't have been more than 23. He is still recognizable as a human, and it makes me feel even worse. His hissing fills my ears and my machete slices through his skin. I apologize again, almost turning ill at the sight. Knowing it isn't safe for me here I collect the rest of my things from the car and continue on my way, ignoring the bodies on the floor. My stomach rumbles only minutes later, and then I realize I don't remember the last time I ate. I don't have time to stop though, the sun will set in a few hours and I need to make as much progress as possible. I slide my pack to my chest and pull out a protein bar and an apple that's going soft. Three months ago I would have thrown the apple away. Today, it is a God send.
As the sun begins to set I look around for a safe place to rest. I know that the woods may be safe in this area but I don't have time to set up camp. A car will be safer, but I have to hide a bit better. Luckily this car is unlocked and abandoned, which means rummaging through other people's things and taking what I want. They're dead. Or at least long gone. The thought makes me feel better about stealing their things for a moment until I'm too wrapped up in survival to care. I find enough clothes and junk to cover the windows significantly, and just in time too. The sun has set completely, and I do my best to sleep through the night. I wake up a little after dawn and I thank whoever may be listening that I slept through the night without anything waking me up. I re-pack my things and take a few useful items and hit the road again. All I do is walk. There's no zombies up this way to chase after, nothing to hunt, no one to talk to. Just hours and hours of exhausting, one foot in front of the other, walking. When I'm ready to lose my mind, I sing.
I got my ticket for the long way 'round
Two bottles o' whiskey for the way
And I sure would like some sweet company,
I'm leaving tomorrow whatdya say
When I'm gone
When I'm go-one
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
You're gonna miss me by my hair
You're gonna miss me everywhere oh
You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
The first time I sang that song was to Chloe. I had recently pawned a few of my unwanted "valuables" which were just gold bracelets and earrings I was never going to wear, and bought a guitar. Chloe was the musical one, but her love for it was easy to be transfixed to, and suddenly I was serenading her left and right. She didn't mind of course, and in the beginning it was just to learn how to play. But it gained popularity among our friends and videos were being secretly recorded and posted. You could always count on Stacie to turn any moment into a social media moment. People wanted more, they thought Chloe and I were a couple and that's when the rumors started spreading. I will never forget Amy's reaction when she saw the video of me singing Bruno Mars' Just the Way You Are to Chloe as she taught me which positions to sing in when sitting and how to angle my arms so they don't get tired.
"Eyo short stack!" I cringe at the nickname and turn to see a hefty blonde jogging in my direction. Amy had no filter, and a knack for really bad puns.
"Yes Amy?" I sighed, continuing to walk towards my class. Her breathing was hard which made me smile, Amy was not a good runner.
"You're popular. Very popular. A certain pretty redhead is head over heels for you, too." I spun around immediately.
"What?" I ask, my voice harsher than I intended. She pulled her phone out, a video loading slowly. Suddenly I see Chloe's face smiling brightly at a brunette, feeling stupid at not recognizing myself right away. I hear my voice and I feel my eyes go wide as I remember the session from the previous day. Chloe's face is radiating pure happiness and it causes my heart to melt.
"Stacie?" I ask, and Amy just nods.
"But look, you've gotten 3,000 plus views in one day. That's more views than that time I split a melon with my thighs." Her thick Australian accent makes everything she says funnier, and I laugh out loud.
"You make her really happy, smurfette. You should ask her out." Again with the nicknames. I feign innocence and reply with a snarky tone.
"I don't like Chloe like that, we're just friends!" Amy chortles and I can feel the tips of my ears go pink.
"Yeah and I'm the queen of Tasmania. Admit it Becs, you can't tell me she is not looking at you like a piece of meat." I couldn't deny that there was a certain hunger in Chloe's eyes in the video. I brush it off but make a mental note to bring it up to Chloe later. We were going to have to find some more private places to practice.
"My favorite comment is this one: 'I hope the redhead jumped the brunette's bones after listening to that.' I mean, she definitely should have." My entire face goes red and I snatch the phone from her hand, scrolling through comments.
Wow what a voice!
They make such a cute couple. I hope to see more.
The redhead is h0t1!
She culd teach me gitar any day
I can feel the protectiveness spill from my pores. It wasn't something that needed to be verbalized, but even with James in the picture Chloe was MY Chloe.
"Jeesh, horny teenage boys are relentless." We both laughed and continued on our way, Amy telling me the story of the melon she crushed.
I snap out of my memory as a green sign enters my view. I start to jog up to it, ignoring the burning sensation in my shins. SAVANNAH-24 MILES. I was getting closer. I could make 24 miles by the time the sun set. I could take a break at some point to even eat something and rest my legs. A new sense of hope filled me and I realized that I was that much closer to finding Chloe. I stopped myself mid thought. I was that much closer to almost finding Chloe. As much as the thought made me completely sick to my stomach I had to prepare myself for absolutely anything. Though I know that if I do find her and she's not herself or even alive, the thought makes my vision go blurry, that it would be more painful than death itself. Still, I hold on to the hope that she is still alive, knowing very well that hope may be the one thing that will cause me my own death.