Hey there!
I'm not following a regular update program…at first i was thinking to release a chapter every 7 days but I'm so happy that someone is following and liking the story that I'll try up release a chapter every 5 days. However I'm under exams so i don't know if i can keep the promise…I'll do my best!
Oh, and 'Guestttt', maybe you radar is right, but maybe it is not SO right.
Love you guys!
Chapter 4:
BECA POV
10 months and 7 days since it all started
It was dark outside when I was woken up. Chloe called me.
"I…I woke you up sorry" I said trying to even my breath.
"You were having a nightmare, it was me who woke you up so it's me who has to apologize if anything"
"Yeah but it was me who was probably moving…Oh my God have I hurt you?"
I turned myself so that I could face her. I instinctively put my hand on her cheek and looked at her in her eyes. When I saw her blushing I realized my gesture and immediately put away my hand from her.
"You didn't hurt me. I was worried so I woke you up" she half smiled at me.
"You did right. Damn I probably slept more than 6 hours. It's an achievement" I mirrored her expression.
"You don't sleep much…How's that?"
"You just saw the reason. I have nightmares that don't let me enjoy a good sleep" I answered her shrugging.
"I' m sorry" she says simply.
"Don't be. I am used to it. Moreover it makes me help with the nighttime watch"
"Do you want to stand up?"
"Yeah. I don't think that I will be able to go to sleep again. But you can stay. You must be exhausted"
"No I'm not" Chloe said but I saw her covering a yawn.
"Don't lie to me Red" I said to her exiting the sleeping bag: "Sleep some more. In this world is one of the most important thing" and with that I left the tent.
It was Aubrey's turn on watch. I was relieved that it was her, at least it was someone with whom I could speak easily.
She's shaking, she must be cold.
I took a blanket, I climbed the stairs which brought in top of the bus and I sit down near the blond.
"Hey Bree"
"Another nightmare?" and taking the blanket to cover herself she thanked me with a smile.
"Yeah. Well actually, thanks to Chloe, I slept more than just a few hours so I'm not complaining" I kept looking around the camp without making eye contact with Aubrey.
"Thanks to her? What does it mean?" she asked me.
"Mmmmm well I kind of asked her to sleep with me..?" I ended my sentence like it was a question.
"You did what?"
"We slept together…Oh my God, not like what you're thinking. We just…cuddled" I said lowering my voice at the end.
Aubrey's response was just a laugh.
"She didn't even arrived in a day and you are already whipped" she smirked at me.
"I'm not!"
"Yes you are"
"No I'm…" I stopped and sighed.
She's Aubrey. I don't have to lie to her. She can read me anyway.
Suddenly the blonde became serious.
"She told me she has to go back you know"
"What?" I asked her shocked.
"When you left us earlier we had time to speak. She is not alone. She was staying at her grandparent's house near Atlanta with her 2 cousins. That's why she was in the city. She was trying to find supplies and she was alone because her cousins are 10 and 12. She can't leave them. She's staying the night but tomorrow morning she will go back to them"
Is this all real? I just found her…Am I losing her again?
"Why didn't she tell me anything?" I asked furious.
"I don't know Becs. Maybe she just wanted to feel normal again with you after such a long time"
"Normal? Seriously Bree? How can there be something normal in this new worlds? Nothing is normal anymore"
"You are so wrong Beca…"
"No I'm not. And I'm not letting her go back"
"You can't stop her! And what about the 2 kids? Do you want to leave them there? Do you want to leave them to die?"
I don't know. Yes? No? How can she do this to me? Wait…to me? I don't have any rights on her. She can do whatever she wants, even walk away from me. She did that already. How can I pretend that she will not do that again?
"How can you let this happen?" I asked Aubrey.
"I can't do anything. I'm already doing all I can"
"And what is it? Stay here and watch her walk away?"
There was a pause and then she spoke again:
"I'm telling YOU"
And what can I do?
"Yeah well she has already walked away from me ones Bree. I will not be able to stop her, not even this time"
"Who says you have to stop her?"
I was about to ask her what she meant when Jesse climbed up:
"Hello girls" he smiled at us.
"Is it time already?" Aubrey asked the young man.
"Yep. You can go to sleep now"
"Thank God" the blonde exhaled deeply.
"Ehi you have to thank me not God, it's me who's taking over not him!" he smirked at her.
"You're such a profane" she smirked back.
She was climbing down the bus when she looked at me and said: "Think about it Becs"
"What do you have to think about?" Jesse asked me.
"I don't know. I didn't understand"
"I don't believe you" he stated.
"Well if you believe me or not it's your choice. I can't make you believe me but if you have an idea about what I have to think about, well, enlighten me dude" and when I told him that I understood. I understood that I couldn't make Chloe stay, but I could go with her. I could make her do that journey with me and we could take the two kids and then come back to the camp.
A little light from back a mountain became noticeable. After half an hour all the place around the camp could be seen perfectly.
"It's beautiful" Jesse said looking at the sunrise.
"Yeah it is" I agreed with him.
At one point I saw Chloe going out my tent. Jesse noticed that too because he asked me:
"Have you two slept together?"
I could feel my face warm up.
He's not asking you if you two had sex you moron. Or is he?
"She didn't have a tent and we wanted to talk a little so I made her sleep in mine"
Way to go stupid. It sounds like you're trying to condone yourself.
I wanted to find a way to escape Jesse's questions so I decided to face Chloe regarding her imminent departure. I stood up and when I saw Jesse opening his mouth to speak, I spoke first:
"I have to go tell her something. See you soon J" and with that I left him.
The redhead went to the lake, probably to clean up a bit, so I decided to wait for her. When I could locate her she was returning at my tent.
"Good morning Chlo" I smiled at her: "Have you slept well after I left?"
"I have, thanks. And good morning to you too" she smiled back.
I hesitated a little. I did not know how to face the subject. The redhead probably noticed that because she asked me:
"Aubrey talked to you, didn't she?"
I could see nervousness in her eyes.
"Yes she did. Why didn't you tell me yesterday?"
"I was in front of your tent to talk to you about it but then…I don't know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you" she looked down.
"You said you gave me the guitar because you wanted to hear me play again. How can you if you'll go away?" I asked her remembering the previous night.
"I...Wait...you heard me?" she asked shocked.
"I was nearly asleep but I heard you, yes" I simply answered.
"You have to play the guitar Beca. You can't stop playing"
"I will not play it if you're not around Chlo"
"Don't be a child"
"A child? You're the one who's running away again" I snapped at her.
"Again?!"
I sighed.
She wants to go away. This is not the time to speak about what happened before.
"I'm coming with you" I stated all at once. My mouth spoke all alone yet again but I didn't regret what came out of it.
"You are not serious" she simply says.
"Oh no, I've never been so serious in all my life. We can take a car and go back to your grandparent's house. We'll take the kids and then we can come back here. If we hurry up we can make it in one day. Hell, we can come back for dinner even!"
Please, please, please say yes.
"I don't think it's a good idea Becs…"
Shit. C'mon Chlo.
"And why's that?"
"The kids will never survive out here. They can't kill anyone and they can't be useful for the group. I don't even think that the others will want them here"
"I don't give a shit about the others!" I half screamed. That's when Jesse stepped in:
"Girls! What's going on?"
"Jesus Christ, what are you doing here?" I yelled at him.
"You were yelling Beca. Hell you're even yelling at me now! Something's wrong?"
"It's none of your business Jesse" Chloe stated.
"You are making her shout, of course it's my business"
"No it's not. You're not her boyfriend, not anymore" it was Chloe's time to raise her voice.
"And you're so happy about it uh? It's all you ever wanted, isn't it Chloe?"
Jesse what are you saying? Why're saying this?
"Not even this is your business Jesse. Now leave us alone!" the redhead pushed him away.
What the Hell?
"Guys!" I put myself between them: "Stop it, right now! Jesse, I'm sorry I was yelling, it won't happen again. I'm talking to Red about something. Please, leave us alone and keep watching". His eyes were pure hatred while he was staring at Chloe. He turned around without saying another word, not even to me.
"Chloe, the others will understand. You have 2 kids out there who are waiting for you to come back. We can call a meeting in 30 minutes at most and I will say my plan. We will vote and then we'll see what'll happen. Ok?"
The redhead didn't seem won over. I reached for her hand and I squeezed it. I wanted to make her understand that I would never let her disappear from my life again.
Why do I want her so bad? She's already left me, why do I still crave her like this.
She will hurt me again. And this time it will be all my fault, fool.
"All right. But if the majority votes for me to not take the kids back with me then I will not come back at all" she said with a confident gaze.
I smiled at her and I left her hand so I could go call the group to discuss the issue.
I could see pissed off faces looking at me when I started speaking. If it wasn't for the meeting, they would have slept some more hours.
I explained Chloe's story to everyone and I even explained my plan. Oddly, the group listened to me without stopping me so I was pretty worried that they didn't like the situation. When I said my last word, Jesse was the first who spoke:
"You can't be serious Beca" he simply said.
"Yeah Mitchell, you're just going to waste fuel. They are already dead in my opinion" Bumper shrugged off the circumstance. I could sense Chloe stiffening at his statement.
The meeting went on for almost half an hour when we finally decided to vote. We placed two large leaves side by side with the one on the left representing the vote "Don't go" and the other on the right symbolizing the vote "Go". Everyone had a pebble and the vote consisted in placing it on the leaf he wanted. It was Aubrey who counted the votes and when she stated that it was a tie I almost hurt myself by closing my hands in fists with too much strength.
I didn't think about the possibility of a tie. Our way of voting always worked. There was always an idea which triumphed on the other.
Fuck this! Fuck everyone. I'm going. I will not let Chloe walk away.
While I was thinking these things I heard Stacy speak:
"Chloe didn't vote yet!"
Yeah great. She'll vote against my plan. She's so happy about walking away from me again. I'm so tired of craving her presence.
There was another little discussion about Chloe's right to vote. She was not part of our group yet after all. However, Jesse convinced everybody that the redhead had to vote.
I knew he did that because he most probably overheard the previous conversation between me and Chloe so when he looked at me I just exhaled deeply knowing what would happen next.
Chloe grabbed a pebble and approached the two leaves. She hesitated a little but then she made her decision.
When she walked away from the temporary voting station, her vote could finally be seen by everyone: while there were sighs of relief or expressions of surprise on their faces, I just kept staring at the pebble in a blank look asking to myself:
Why Chlo?
I know, I know…No zombies…but you'll see them I promise. I just have to give them a good entrance.