Chapter 12

It was weird, talking to my new brother. It felt wrong, like he wasn't supposed to exist. I felt that weird connection with him, similar to the one with Ryder, but more... caring than intense. I couldn't handle thinking about it for long.

"Let's go find a way out," I said. I started crawling forward, feeling for any sort of draft.

"What makes you think we'll just magically find a draft? Luck hasn't been on the human race's side, lately." I rolled my eyes and mocked him.

"We'll just have to look and feel hard enough."

Sadly, luck didn't return. We must've spent hours looking for a way out in the stupid ducts. It was getting more stuffy and hot with every move we made. I was getting claustrophobic by just crawling through these passages with Derek, never mind the ideas of us never getting out setting in. Eventually, I sat down and gave up.

"I'm done, Derek." I muttered. I slumped myself against the side of the duct. "I'm ready to face fate, and die already."

"What the hell, Cynthia?" Derek yelled. "What about that guy you're looking for?"

"He can go to hell for what he's gotten me into."

"What about the human race? We need to survive."

"I'm not human, remember? I'm a dirty mutant." I got him there. An awkward silence followed. Derek bowed his head in disappointment.

"What about the little girl? You promised her you'd find her brother. Are you just going to let her die without knowing? I'm disappointed, no, ashamed of you, Cynthia." My head snapped up. If I was sure about one thing, it was that I would never let Lori down. I grabbed the collar of Derek's shirt, and pulled him about a half inch from my face. I could smell the sweat on him.

"Listen, don't you dare talk about Lori like that! Granted, Ryder's a dumbass, but I will never let Lori down!" I threw him against the wall, and started crawling again. The adrenaline rushing through my veins was the only thing pushing my aching muscles forward. I heard Derek laughing behind me. 'What are you so happy about?"

"I know how to drive you now! Just tell you I hate your attitude," he said. I growled at him, and kept moving. So this is what having a brother was like: annoying as hell. Gotta love it, right? Wrong.

After another few hours of looking for a way out, we sat down for a rest. I looked around at the endless pathways, all inter connecting. My eyes were red, swollen, and tired. It must've been at least a day without sleep. I yawned, and leaned against the duct, feeling for a draft.

"Cynthia, I think I found something." I looked over for Derek, and saw him picking at a seem. He was officially crazy.

"What are you doing?"

"This is a weak seem. If I can pick it away, maybe we can get out of the duct, and into the building, maybe outside." I criticized him, called him nuts, the whole thing. Suddenly, the whole panel of metal fell back with a thud. A blinding light hit our eyes, making us cringe back like vampires. The warmth on my skin felt so good, it was the most pleasurable thing I had felt in years. I crawled out, still blinded, and felt concrete on my palms and knees. I opened my eyes slightly, adjusting to the light.

We were outside. My brother had actually saved us! We hugged for the first time, almost crying. However, our happy ending was cut short. The groaning of a mob of Fleshies was dangerously close. We stood up, and sprinted as fast as we could towards the woods. We climbed up trees, over hills, and through valleys. The groaning slowly distanced itself from us, and we were able to break behind a boulder for a few minutes. As we got our breaths back, a familiar smell struck my nose.

It smelt like a cesspool. The airport! I grabbed Derek's arm, and bolted towards the polluted water. I quickly saw it as a brown blur, and saw R's plane. By this time, Derek was being dragged behind, cursing me out and calling me crazy. I ran around to the front of R's jet, and almost cried.

The door was ripped open, and strips of metal were torn and bitten from the side of the plane. The windows were all shattered, if they were even still there. I slowly walked up the stairs, into the trashed cockpit. The seats were mangled, and the panel board was destroyed. The seats were worse. All of R's memorabilia from the city was on the floor, demolished. The mini fridge wasn't even in one piece, and shattered bottles of Coca-Cola and Bud-Light were everywhere. Tears were running down my face with each new picture of destruction. Dark red blood was splattered on the walls and what was left of the seats. It was too thick to be human, so I assume R had a battle royal with the Boneys.

"What the hell..." I heard Derek say.

"R... and Julie.. and Lo-" I couldn't say her name without choking. I collapsed, and cried for the first real time since I was quarantined. My stomach hurt from how hard I was bawling. I felt Derek pick me up, and bring me outside the ruined jet. He made it into the airport, where nothing was living. No humans, no Boneys, no Fleshies. He sat my pathetic self down in the food court, and rubbed my back. No one said anything.

"Cynth-"

"Be quiet." I said. "This is it. I'm done now."

"Don't talk like that, Cynthia. You don't know if they're gone."

"Where else would they be?" I snapped. I was so full of rage, I smashed an old, moldy martini glass on the counter. "They're gone, Derek!"

Suddenly, we heard a huge bang. A set of metal doors from across the room fell down. A mass mob of Fleshies were standing behind them, lead by R's friends from the first meet. They slowly marched across the room, and halted before us. They didn't seem as... dead as they did before. Their eyes gained some color back, as did their skin. They walked smoother as well.

"What's going on?" Derek asked. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"Healing... We found.. the cure," the leader said. He walked over to Derek and myself.

"You know R, don't you?" I asked. He nodded, and held out his hand.

"M," he said, as in the letter M. I guess that's what his before name started with. I took shook his hand.

"Cynthia; and that's my bone head brother, Derek." M chuckled, something I've never seen before. "Where is R? And Julie? And Lori?" I said Lori's name with nore desperation than usual.

"City... R started the cure with Julie... The little girl is with Nora..." My heart skipped a beat. I smiled so big, it felt like my face was ripping open.

Lori was in the city. She was okay.

"There was a bigger kid..." M continued. "Little girl loves him..." I looked at him in disbelief.

"God Damn Ryder Maas!" I slammed my fist on the table. Derek and M jumped out of their skins.

Author's Note:

OH MY GOD I AM SOO SOO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOO SORRY!

As I've said before, I've been loosing my inspiration to write ;-; But I'm getting it back! I went through a rough patch when I left ^^;;; I'll do my best to update as regularly as I can, I promise!