Willie

I need to clear my head after the week I've had. Some ways I do this usually include going for a run, painting or drawing, or swimming in the lake a few miles away from the house. I debated my options and ended up choosing painting. I didn't want to leave the house again today, and I don't plan on leaving again for a long time.

I make my way to the bedroom that we had turned into an art room (I'm not the only one who enjoys it). This happened after a couple of survivors and I had begged Rose to let us do it. She eventually gave in as the room hadn't been anything except for an office.

As soon as I walked in, the smell of paint fumes filled up my nostrils, making my face squint. Who had been painting in here? And what did they even paint? I noticed the back wall had been painted a light blue when I approached the canvas I wanted to work on. That would explain the smell of a freshly painted room.

I walk over to the corner and grab some paintbrushes and a can of paint. I don't need this much, but someone had moved all the other kinds of paint that I usually use, and I don't feel like asking where it had been moved to.

I move back over to my working spot and dip the paintbrush into the paint and onto the canvas. I'm not really sure what exactly I'm painting, I'm just letting my brush do its thing at this point.

I let the brush glide across the canvas and eventually, a sky appears.. As well as a handsome boy who's standing at the doorway.

"Hey, pumpkin," Alex says when I turn to him. He beams at me and I smirk at him. "Hotdog!" I reply enthusiastically and turn my attention back to my canvas. I hear Alex starting to make his way over to me.

"Whatcha painting?" He asks and leans his head over my shoulder.

"No clue, I'm just kinda going with it," I express, hoping he might understand what I mean.

Alex hums and nods. "I used to do something like that, but with drums."

"You play the drums?" I say and look over at him. Alex had started walking around the room.

"Used to. They didn't allow them in the bunker. Or well, my parents didn't allow them," Alex shrugs slightly.

"I used to skateboard," I state and paint a sun. "I haven't in a year. Didn't want to go back to my house. Still don't want to."

Alex looks at me with an expression of understanding. "Have you always been a painter?"

"Nah. I drew a lot. I wasn't a big fan of painting.. I don't know, too messy," I glanced over at Alex to see if he was still listening. He is.

"But then I ended up here, and I became fond of it. It's not like we have much to pass the time with," I explain. "What did the bunker have to do?"

Alex groans. "Literally nothing! They had a teen club, but all they did there was sports and crafts. They also made all of us teens do a ton of chores. Didn't get paid for it either."

"That sounds miserable."

"It was. I'm happy to be out. I've missed everything, especially my bed. Though that is not here..." Alex mumbles the part about his bed.

"We can go to your house if you want," I imply and dip the paintbrush into the paint again, backing up from the canvas again. I look over at Alex to see what emotion was on his face.

"I mean.. if it wouldn't be too much trouble?"

I smile a little. I wasn't planning on leaving the house again, but for Alex.. Of course.

"It's no trouble at all," I say and fling the paint from the paintbrush onto the painting. I hadn't even noticed I accidentally had gotten some on Alex until I heard a sarcastic 'Oh okay.'

I looked over at him and hold back a laugh. It's all over his face. "Sorry! I guess I threw it with more force than I intended to- AH!" I yell and start running around the room. Alex had dipped one of his fingers in red paint and charged at me.

Alex continues to chase me around the room as I continue to run. He eventually caught up to me and smeared the red paint on my nose. "Now you look like Rudolph." He grinned as he referenced that.

I could watch him grin for ages and still feel like I've had a productive day.

I wiped the paint off my nose, which probably smeared it more, but I don't care to check. "So.. Your place?"

Alex's house is in the neighborhood next to the Molina's, but it was still ways away. I had no idea how big the neighborhood was until this very second as Alex led me to the place he used to live.

Or maybe it's because we're walking. Either way, still big.

We arrive at Alex's house shortly. I realize straight away that the Mercer's old house is bigger than the Molina's.

I look over at Alex who is lifting the welcoming rug off of the ground. "I'm surprised this is still here. Angelica and I hid this in the most obvious spot." He explains and turns to me, holding up a key.

I grin at him and pull a string out from under my shirt. "I wear mine around my neck."

"I should've done that! Would've lowered our chances of being robbed," Alex mumbles and unlocks his house door. Alex's house is just as big on the inside as it is on the outside. It's possibly the biggest house I've been in.

"It's so.. clean," Alex says from beside me.

"Definitely cleaner than mine."

Alex makes his way to the kitchen and starts searching all the cabinets.

"Do you think anything in here might've expired by now?"

I shrug a little. "Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'll eat it."

Alex made a disgusted face. "That's gross."

"Well, it's that or starve to death."

"Still gross," He repeats. "There's nothing. Do you want to go to my room?"

I tried my best to hold back the blush I could feel creeping on my cheeks. Why am I blushing at that?

"At least take me out to dinner first, " I joke.

"I mean if you happen to know any places that are serving.."

"Sorry Hotdog, I don't."

"Then my room is going to have to do."

Alex and I make our way up the spiral staircase. I intend on reenacting a dramatic stair scene on these later.. Like when Cinderella ran away from the ball. I will play the role of Cinderella and Alex can be prince charming or the glass slipper, whatever he decides.

As Alex walks me to his room, I notice a whole other room that has a mini kitchen. How big is this house?! How many people lived here?

"Alex, how many people lived in this house?"

"Just me, Angelica, and my parents."

I might've just had the most dramatic jaw drop of my life right there.

Alex's bedroom was as big as I had been expecting it to be. Honestly, the only way I know how to describe it is that it's the same size as what my parents' room was... but maybe just a tad bit bigger.

"It's probably not as colorful as you were expecting." Alex interrupts my thoughts and I look around. Yeah, he's right. I was thinking there might be a bit more color in here, but the walls are a tan color, and all his furniture is black. Except for the set of drums that are in the corner of the room.

"Yeah.. It suits you though."

"My room would've looked very much different than this if I could've had it my way."

I frown a little. "What do you mean?"

"Uhh, let's just say Angelica is the favorite. And my parents got mad when I told them I wanted to paint my room pink."

"I would've fought them for you," I say simply and open up Alex's closet because why not? There were a lot more clothes in there than I figured there would be.

Alex laughs a little. "Don't worry, Angelica did it for you." He moves up beside me. "Dang, I didn't realize I left this much here."

"Why do you have so many clothes?"

"I dress according to my mood."

I look at Alex up and down. "And what does.. sweatpants and a hoodie mean?"

Alex looked at me for a little too long before answering. "Bad mood, but I'm not in one right now. I haven't been able to change."

"If you want to change right now you can. I won't look."

He shrugs and lays on his bed. "It's fine."

I shut his closet door before laying on the bed next to him, turning to face him. "Did you ever come out to your parents?" I ask without really thinking about it.

Alex made a face that made me regret it immediately.

"How did you..?" Alex asks, confused.

"I'm gay, so.. Call it a sixth sense or something."

"Ah," Alex breathed in response and nodded. "No, I never came out to them. I do think they know though because I dated Luke for a little bit. Did you meet Luke?"

I think back on it, was Luke the brunette or the Harry Potter looking one? "Was he the brunette?"

"Yes."

"Ohh, then no. I mean I saw him from afar but never actually met. He's cute."

Alex laughs. I could listen to his laugh all day.

"You're not wrong about that."

I chuckle slightly and just end up staring at Alex. I didn't mean to do it, but I couldn't take my eyes away from him.

I always thought he was pretty from the moment I first saw him, but now..

Right now he's on a whole other level of pretty... Beautiful. He's beautiful.

It's then I realize that he's staring back at me.

And then it happened. I wasn't sure which one of us moved first, but I felt his lips on mine. His lips are so soft.

I'm not sure what to do with my hands, so I ended up putting them on Alex's waist while Alex was twirling a strand of my hair with his finger.

Alex was the first one to pull back and turned slightly away from me. "Sorry," he mumbles.

"Don't be sorry. I'm not complaining, you can even do it again if you'd like," I ramble and Alex looks back at me.

He did end up kissing me again, this time smiling into it before sitting up on his bed.

"How about I show you the drums now?"

I grin and get up off the bed.

Carrie Wilson

My body woke up before I even dared to open my eyes. All I can feel was the coldness of whatever floor I'm currently on.

The last thing I can remember is a military guy chasing me. He said Caleb Covington wanted to see me...

Oh, God. Am I wherever Caleb Covington is living?

I opened my eyes as soon as I thought that. I look around and see what I'm in a room. All the walls in here are white and the only thing keeping me in here is a door.

I start breathing heavily as panic arises through me. It's okay... I tell myself. The others will notice you're gone.

But will they? Their priority is with Julie Molina right now.

I shake my head and begin to form a quick survival and escape plan in my head. Whatever Caleb wants, it can't be good.

But Caleb also definitely knows more than me, so why does he need information from me?!

I formed my escape plan. There isn't anything I can use in here, so I'm going to kick the door down. When I walked to the door, it opened, which made me jump back so I wouldn't get hit in the face.

The person who opened the door.. is Caleb Covington.. And why on earth is he wearing a cape?

"Hello, Carrie," He says as if he's speaking to an old friend.

"President Caleb," I greeted. This isn't the first time I'm meeting him, but it's my first time meeting him since I found out what a god awful person he is.

We both stand there in silence for what felt like hours. I'm waiting for him to speak, but I guess he's waiting for me to speak as well.

"Why do you need to talk to me?" I eventually ask, with a bunch of bitterness behind my voice.

Caleb fake gasps. "Such hostility. I just wanted to ask you more about your..." He swishes his hand in a circle, "little survivor group."

I scoff. "What? Your brother couldn't do it with Flynn?" I say with sarcasm but Caleb looked angry. Dang, guess I was right.

Caleb starts pacing around the room, and I'm starting to get a headache from watching him.. or maybe it's because of the walls.

Caleb stopped abruptly and put his fingers together. "What all do you know about the sun situation, Carrie?"

I make a face. Did he seriously just call what happened with the sun a situation?

"That you lied to everyone about it.. Oh and the bunkers," I say smartly and cross my arms.

"From your dad I presume."

"Doesn't really matter who I know it from-" Not sure why I said this, the only person I would've heard it from was my dad, which is true. "Just matters that I know."

Caleb chuckles as if he's amused. "How about we play a game?"

I raise an eyebrow. "A game? What are we, five?" I'm hoping the attitude I'm portraying is pissing him off. He deserves it.

Caleb disregards all I just said. "You answer one of my questions, and I'll answer one of yours."

"What makes you think I have any questions?" I argue and Caleb just smiled at me. Honestly, he's acting as if this situation is the game.

"Oh, but I know you have this one. I know how you all survived."

My face falls and I can't tell if he's joking or not. I contemplated what I should do.

"Fine.. What do you want to know?" I'm going to lie straight to his face in hopes that he'll tell me the truth. I just hope that whatever I say is whatever Flynn told Malachi Covington.

"How many survivors are there?"

If he knows how we survived, why does he not know how many people actually did? Hmmm..

"73, at least in our group. Now tell me how we survived."

Caleb smiles brightly at me. "Well, it all started when the sun started showing its signs..."

Mia Peterik. I am going to kill her.

Caleb let me after I didn't tell him anything useful. All I said was how we survived, and lied about why Flynn had gone to Malachi's bunker. I wasn't sure my lying had worked at first, because Caleb seemed very hesitant about letting me go, but I'm assuming he realized I wouldn't actually tell him anything.

I storm into the Molina house and scan the premise for Mia. I spot her on the couch talking to some blonde girl. I put a very angry look on my face and rushed up to her.

"Carrie!" She smiled and stood up to greet me, but all that happiness she might've felt from seeing me drained when I slapped her across the face.

"What the hell?!" The blonde girl says in shock.

"Why would you do that?!" Mia yells at me.

"I know what you did!" I yell back, getting up in her face, ready to hit her again when Willie pulled me back and Flynn pulled Mia back.

I rolled my eyes. We weren't even fighting.

"Oh yeah? What did I do Carrie?!"

"Carrie, what's wrong with you?" Now Willie is yelling at me.

"What's wrong with me?" I express, offended. "Mia has been lying to us!"

Rose and some other girl ran in after that. I didn't care to figure out who that other girl is and just start growling at Mia.

"Okay, why, are you growling?" Willie mumbles.

"Because Abigail Peterik experimented on us! That name ring any bells to you, Mia?!"

Mia's face falls and Willie hesitantly lets go of me.

"I-" Mia was about to tell the truth when there was a roar of a car engine outside. Horrible timing!

Then it dawned on me. The government followed me.

I run and look out the blinds, just to see that my theory was proven correct. I should've known Caleb wouldn't let me go that easily.

"Everyone needs to hide!" I yell, mostly at Rose. They won't listen unless she orders them all to.

Rose nods a little. "Everyone listen to Carrie!"

Some of the other survivors were yelling about why they shouldn't trust me, while others were running all around the house.

But none of that mattered when the door was kicked down, and gas started filling the house.

The gas filled up my lungs as I tried searching for something to grab onto, only to hear sounds of people collapsing around me.

It's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's not my fault.. I repeatedto myself before I joined the others in passing out.

A/N: Sorry for taking years to update this fic again (and the rushed chapter)! I've started to lose motivation for this fic, but there are only three chapters left now so I plan on finishing it, it might just take me a while and I'm sorry for that

Also, I published a new jatp fic that I'm co writing with my friend! It currently has two chapters so read it if you would like 3