Chapter 7: It's ok to be afraid.

(Hope's P.O.V)

I sat with my back to the rfont door for a few minutes before finally bringing myself to my feet, wiping my nose and taking a deep breath, keeping my weapon ready as I started walking around the house, checking for any walkers. Just like I assumed, there were none here. Seeing as my house is on the isolated parts, it's only natural. I sighed, heading into the living room and turning on the tv, hopeing to find something, but I was greeted by nothing but static. I angrilly threw the remote on the couch, cursing under my breath. But really, what did I expect? Some hope, I guess. I came back in hopes my dad would be here, waiting out for this to blow over like he would any other problem, but the house was completely empty, unscratched. I rubbed my eyes a little, realizing I'd lost both my parents now. It stung my eyes and my chest felt tight as my air failed to fill my lungs. My father and I had a fight the last time we talked, and I told him..

(A few days before breakout)

"Hope, dinner" I heard my mother's voice call from the bottom of the stairs. I put away my study books and quickly headed down, going into the kitchen to do the usual routine before sitting at the table. "So, how has everyone's day been?" She asked, smiling at both my father and I with her usual kind smile. My mother was always like that. She could sense the tension and managed to always make it better, but tonight, it wasn't enough.

"Work has been busy last couple months, but it's finally looking ahead with the new project." My father spoke up, adjusting his glasses a little.

"Oh, that's wonderful, dear." I silently ate my food as he went on about this new Bio-weapon project the Government had been working on and how in a week it's being launched. It's not that it didn't interest me, but I hated the Government and their stupid choices. They think we need bio-weapons to take care of us, but in my opinion, it's just a way to start some bad chain of events. Without realizing the convosation was over, my father cleared his throat, getting my attention again. I looked up slightly dumbfounded, making it clear I wasn't paying attention.

"I asked how school was, Hope." My father said in a slightly stern voice. That irritated me. He was always so stern and strict when it came to my school work, he hardly ever talked to me without bringing up school.

"It's, uhh, it's fine." I said, taking another bite out of my food.

"Hope, you need to start paying more attention. How do you expect to get anywhere in your school exams and make it to the high tiers I've got to in life if you never pay attention in a simple dinner conversation?" And there it was: the teeth gritting lecture I have heard from him before. He expects me to join the Government and do what he does, but that's not what I want. I'm sick of him assuming so much, sick of him putting all this pressure and high standards in me. "When I was your age, I was focused on my studies, working hard and paying attention. You used to be such a bright young kid, learning about ships, weapons. Where did all that go?" My tightened fist found themselves slamming down on the table, forcing my body up to my feet.

"That's not who I am! It's not what I want!" I shouted, making the room silent and awkward for a moment. "You expect me to be another you, but that's not who I am or what I want to be! Stop telling me to aim for things I don't want, to be somone I don't want! Why can't you just except me for who I am: your son!? Why do you insist on changing me, making me into your shadow? Why would I want to be anything like you? I hate you!" And with that, I stormed out, hiding in my room as the silenced became unbearable in the room. The next day, my mother and I left for my aunt's house in Bodhum and he didn't come to see us off.

(end of flashback)

My hands fell over my face, trying to stop the tears that forced their way down my cheeks, burning my skin as they did. My throat felt tight as my small welps became smaller, trying hard not to make a sound. I sunk to the floor, my back against the couch as the tears continued to fall. What was I expecting though? It's not like there was going to be a welcome party for me and my father with excepting and forgiving arms open to me. No, that would never happen now, and I had to live with the regret of those last words.

My tears finally stopped, weighing down my eyes and making it hard to stay awake. I knew there was no harm in letting myself sleep for just a little while, but I just couldn't close my eyes without julting up in fear there was one of those things staring at me while I slept. But as my eyes grew heavier, my mind slipped at ease, letting me finally fall into a save haven, a dream. A realm where everything was ok.

(Lightning's P.O.V)

"Shit" I cursed under my breath, blocking the beast from chasing Hope as he ran. I looked back to see he had got to safety and quickly swung my weapon, clashing it against the monster again before running down another flight of stairs, leading it away from Hope's place. I ran and ran until my legs couldn't run anymore. I found a narror ally and managed to sneak in there, watching the monster run right past. I waited for a moment, catching my breath before I took a step out, chacking to make sure it was safe. Luckily it was clear and I managed to find my way back, keeping quite and close to the walls.

Walking back felt like a long time, like I had been sneaking for hours. Did I really run that far and not realize? I just hope that Hope's ok. Of course he is, he's a good kid, he has his head screwed on. I know that even if I don't make it back, he'll be alright.

(Hope's P.O.V)

There was a thud and my eyes jolted open, scanning the room fast as I sat up quickly. It was silent for a moment before there was another thud, followed by another. I felt my heart beat pick up again. Really, this was not the best wake up call. I shuffled over to the window, trying to be as quiet as I possibly could. I peeked through the curtains, but it was hard to see at this angle. There was another thud, which made me jump this time around. It was loud and was coming from inside the house.I clutched hold of my weapon, pulling myself to my feet and snuck over, holding my breath as I got closer. The closer I got, the more readied my weapon became.

I finally reached the door, taking a deep breath as my hand fell over the handle, turning it slowly, opening the door ajar and then slowly opening it. The room was dark, and I couldn't see anything except a small area where the open sunroof window was letting in light. I saw something move and stand up, taking a tall shadowed figure. It stared back at me with it's green orbs, coming closer. My heart beat began to beat faster and faster as I brought my weapon up again. The shadowed figure stopped, seeing me ready to attack and reached out a hand in a calming motion.

"Hope, relax, it's me, Lightning." I felt a million tons of tension release from my body as her voice reached my ears. I felt the wall, feeling for a light switch and turning on the light, seeing Lightning in light now. A large smile grew on my face as my weapon fell to my side.

"Ah, thank god." I sighed, slumping against the wall and closing my eyes. I heard a chuckle come from her and opened one eye to see her smiling at me. I returned the smile before finally speaking up again. "You had me worried you were gone for good, you know. And I thought you were...one of those things just now." She shook her head and rubbed her forehead.

"Sorry for worrying you, kid. I just wanted to make sure I led that thing far away, so it wouldn't find it's way here again." I felt goosbums cover my body all of a sudden. So it was still out there? I hated the thought. "Don't worry though, it won't be coming back here." She reassured. I nodded, believing what she said, or wanting to at least.

"So, you hungry?" I asked with a smile, leading her to the kitchen. "There's still a whole weeks worth of food in here." I saw a glimps of excitment in her face as she hurried over, opening all the draws and taking all the food she could fit in the bags. The few things we couldn't fit in, we decided to cook up for tonight. Lightning offered to cook, but she struck me as the type that couldn't cook so well, so I took the wheel, making something a little old, but gold as my mother would say.

"Wow, Hope. This is great." Lightning grinned as she took another bite. I felt my cheeks turn red. I had never cooked for anyone else before, in fact, my father said a man doesn't have time for such things. That always got my mum so mad, so she'd always teach me new things just to get to my father, so I suppose she wasn't all under his shoes. And I'm glad she did do it all like that, because now it really has come in handy. Not only was I surviving, I was cooking for a girl, a girl that liked my cooking. My mother would be proud, I know it. Wait, what am I tihnking? This isn't some date, this is a survival. The world has gone to ruin with monsters roaming it. The cities that were once full of like are now nothing but empty streets filled with rotten corpse that can't find a place to rest. Where on Pulse were we to go now? "Hope?"

"Huh?" I looked up at Lightning who was staring at me with concern.

"Are you ok? You've been out of it for some time now."

"Oh, uhm. It's nothing. Just lost in thought about how life was, you know?" I smiled, waiting for her to by it. She nodded her head and continued eating, enjoying every savoury bite. It was going to be a while until we got to eat like this again. Although it was nice and secure here, it was in a city. We couldn't stay, not at all. Eventually, the electric and gas would be gone and the house would be useless. I'd have to say goodbye to my home again for the last time and look for a new one. The home I gew up in was once again protecting me, but soon, it's job was going to be done.

"You know, I know why you came back here. You wanted to see if your dad was here, right? You wanted some closure." I looked up at Lightning a little shocked. She was smiling kindly at me, something I hadn't seen before. "It's ok to be upset, Hope. I think you've been strong enough for someone your age." I stared at her for a moment before shaking my head slowly.

"No, that's not it." She looked at me with a frown. "The world isn't that simple anymore. I can't just be strong for a little while and then cry because of it all, that's not how it works anymore. In this world now, you have to always be strong and never let yourself get weak. We have to except and move on fast to keep our sanity." I noded my head, content with my speech. I looked at Lightning who seemed a little taken back by it, but I'm not surprised. A kid like me saying something like that?

"But that doesn't mean you have to stop being human." Her words hit me hard the moment I heard them. "If that happens, you're no different from the monsters out there. Being able to feel, understand and except, that's what sets us appart from them." I found myself looking away, holding back tears as I realized what I had been saying. I had basically said that I didn't care about losing my mother or my father and that it was the only way to go on. But that's not what I meant. It stung and my heart hurt everytimes I thought about it, but there was nothing I could do, so I had to move on. Was I really becoming that shallow? "It's alright, Hope. You're young, it's easy to loes site at your age, especially when this is happening." I looked at her again, nodding slowly.

"And your sister? Do you think she's still alive somewhere?" I asked. There was a moment of silence before Lightning spoke up, keeping her head tilted and her eyes averted from my site.

"I hope so." Her head nodded slowly as she looked at me. "That's all you can do in this world now: Hope."

I peeked out the window, seeing it was dark outside. The city was still being lit up by all the street lights and signs everywhere, but we managed to keep it pretty dark by here so no walkers came drawn to us. We set up a small sleeping area in the lounge, not wanting to sleep in seperate rooms in case something did happen while we slept. At least this way we were both sure the other was safe and there was a quick exit.

"Goodnight, Light." I said, looking up at the cieling.

"Goodnight, Hope." I heard her whisper back, closing my eyes and smiling. Despite all this happening, I'm glad too. I would never have met Lightning otherwise and I'm glad I've met her, even in this world of chaos. It was going to be tough, but as long as she was there, I knew I could do it. How old was Lightning anyway? Probably only about 21, right? That was only 5 years older than me.

(elsewhere)

"Sir, we have managed to finally track down the missing ship." The same soldier came running over. The tall man with dark hair turned again, nodding his head.

"Good. Then bring back that ship and take out any of those things with it." He ordered and on his word, several soldiers began to get into ships and start the engines, taking off on their lead. He turned to a woman with black hair and a blue sahki around her body. "I want you to go too. Make sure there aren't any survivors there." She nodded and waved as she headed off, a red lance in hands.

"Alrighty" She called back in a thick accent.

(Back to Hope's P.O.V)

"Hey, Hope." I heard a soft voice call to me as the light envaloped me with warmed. "Hope" the voice called out again, this time a little more louder. My eyes opened slightly, seeing a figure looking down on me with pink hair that fell over her shoulder and large green orbs."Hope!" huh? I opened my eyes wide to see Lightning leaning over me, trying to wake me. She looked worried, which immediatetly made me shoot up.

"What is it?" I asked, grabbing my weapon. She shook her head and walked over to the window.

"It's not good. There's tons of them all waiting outside this place, like they know we're in here." I shot up to my feet and walked over, taking a look for myself. She was right, they were all there walking around and randomly bashing on the windows and doors.

"How do we get out?" I asked, getting slightly worried. If they didn't leave, Light and I had no way to get out and chances are that they'd find a way in sooner or later. Before either of us could say another word, there was a large roat and a couple of crashed. My heart started thumping in my chest again, fighting to get out of my chest. I knew exactly what that was. Lightning cursed under her breath.

"Alright, just stay really quite." She ordered, holding her weapon in hand as I got my bag and swung it on, Lightning already equiped with hers. There was a moment of silence before the beast rammed itself into the wall, making it shake. "It's trying to bash down the wall, it knows we're here." Lightning frantically grabbed me and pulle me behind her.

"Light, we need to get out of here now! We can't stand around waiting for it to get to us!" I shouted, hearing my own voice pitch. Lightning shook her head.

"I already tried the window I got in through yesterday, it's too hard to reach. There's no way out now, Hope. We have to fight." She said as the beast rammed the wall again, making a few obvious cracks. I felt like I wanted to break down and cry, I knew I was going to die right here right now. Of course, I had to have hope, but there was none. This was a suicide mission, really. There was another ram into the wall before we heard a large crash and the whole place rumbled slightly, almost throwing Lightning and me off our feet.

We managed to regain stability to see a huge hole blown out of the wall, but that was now Behemoth bash, that was an airship shot. We looked as the smoke cleared to see a clearing where all the walkers were dead as more swarmed in. There was a large airship that flew into view and a voice called out in a thick accent.

"And how are you down there? Just sit tight, we got this." And then there was another shot as another two airships flew in, smaller and setting down on the grass as at least five soldiers came out of both, shooting at the walkers and killing all in headshots. Lightning pulled me foreward, running over to the soldiers. We looked around for a moment, taking cover behind the many soldiers. Out of the large ship, a woman jumped out, running across to the Behemoth that had just regained it's stance. She jumped up above it, coming crashing down on it's head, spearing her lance right through it's brains. And just like that, it was dead. She waved her hands and some more soldiers ran out, putting up barriers to make the walker intake fewer as she walked over to Light and me. "Are we all alright?" She I could say anything, Lightning pushed me into the woman.

"Take him back with you." She said, nodding her head at the woman. I was in complete shock, was she just going to dump me on her so easily after all we've been through? I felt like crying, but I couldn't let myself.

"Light?" I was completely destroyed by her choice to leave me like this.

"Don't look at me like that. Trust me, this is the safe place you wanted to find, so go." She wouldn't even look at me.

"But what about you? You're just going to leave me? you except me to buy that?" I walked over, but she backed away.

"Listen to me, Hope. I have things I have to do before I can rest. I need to find my sister." She said, still avoiding eye contact. I shook my head frantically, almost shouting at her.

"So let me come with you! You expect me to just sit around now that I've got nothing? No family, no friends! You're all I have left now, Light." My words must have hit her as she stayed silent for a moment, hesistating to speak.

"I don't want to break up the fight, but we have places to be and fast. We've come for an airship we believe you must have took." The dark haired woman called, getting both our attention. "Besides, I'm taking both of you with me. There's no way out of the city unless you fly anyway, do come quitely or come by force." She said, giving a stern demand. Lightning turned away again before looking back at me.

"Let's go." I nodded my head and followed her over to the woman, who led us onto the large ship with her. We saw the ship we arrived in being flown by another two soldiers as the ship flew off high into the sky.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked. The woman looked at me with a smile.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know, kid." She smirked, hands on her hips.

"I'm not a kid." I mumbled. "my name is Hope." She nodded her head and turned away again, looking out the large window.

"Well, I guess you're right, Hope. If you've survived this long, then you're no kid. Well done." She gave me a glanced grin. "The names Fang. And pinky over there?" She nodded towards Lightning, who was sat on a chair playing with her gunblade.

"She's Lightning. We met in Oerba and have been together since then. We're sorry we took your ship, but we kinda needed it to survive." I added. She nodded back with approval.

"Good enough reason. And it's good you took it. We lost track of it after we sent in a rescue team to Oerba and after you turned it back on, we were able to track it again. You're just lucky we came when we did." I nodded in agrement when Lightning walked over.

"So where are you taking us?" She asked, looking at Fang. Fang smirked back at Lightning and walked closer.

"You'll find out soon enough, won't you?" And with that, she turned on her heels and walked away. Lightning scowled a little, glaring at her as she walked away. I stared at Lightning with curiosity, looking at her scowling face. Was she really going to just leave me? And we didn't spend that much time together, why had I grown so attached to her? My heart began to beat fast again and I felt my breath stop as she looked back at me with kind eyes before she also walked off, sitting back in the seat.