BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Six |

Six |

Slowly, and as quiet as possible, I got up, grabbing my bag with both hands before moving backwards, deeper into the house. I knew there was a bedroom further back that had a large broken window. Despite how old the house was, I was surprise to how quiet it was being. I reached the window with a silly grin on my face. Fuck, this was easy, I hadn't heard any creaking yet—

Creak.

Fuck me.

"Eero?" Ophelia called, then with more panic, "Eero!"

I flew out the window faster than I had ever done before, my feet slamming into the ground and I kept going. Pumping my arms as I went, dodging back into the backyard before hurdling over the fence and I just kept going, taking the most confusing route I could to throw Ophelia off. I panted hard, my lungs burning, my muscles aching with pure pressure. I panted hard as my feet slammed into the forest ground, the thicket and trees swallowing me up. I pressed my back against a tree away from the city buildings, my eyes shut tightly as I struggled to collect myself and control my breathing. I should have never trusted Ophelia, I should have never left the fucking island and I should have never hurt Ben and Idris in the ways that I did. My fingers curled so tightly, my fingers stung. My back stung against the tree, my feet stung from running so harshly, and my knees stung from jumping out that damn window. I wish I was still ignorant to the bigger plot at play now, I should have just gotten over the incident that happened on the island and I should have gotten over Rose's death.

But now I knew there were people beyond the wall, and that they wanted me for some reason. They called me a hybrid child and I had no idea what that meant. Both my parents were of the illicit blood and aside from that there was nothing abnormal about me. Hell, I didn't even have any illicit abilities and who knows if I was immune to zombies. According to Doctor Lilith I was immune, but who knows what is true or not.

I breathed out slowly. Opening my eyes and looking around. The forest was quiet, almost too quiet but I couldn't hear Ophelia's yelling which I took as a good thing. Maybe she thought I'd return to the island. My eyes looked up to the leaves of the trees, past them I could make out the beautiful twinkling stars and it brought a smile to my face. I remember Rose and I used to go to the beach, she'd tell me stories about the stars and I'm sure they were bullshit but even then, I loved them. She was so creative, always talking about folktales and that sort of stuff.

I sighed again, she was the best person in the world.

That's why I had to do this. I had to discover the truth of what happened that day, I owed it to her. I owed it to Eva too and all the others who died that day. Whatever Ophelia knew, I would find out and whatever that voice had said on that radio I would find out. I would find out what the fuck they meant by testing.

"But for now, I need to hide from Ophelia," I muttered.

My mind went over many different scenarios and all of them showed me that I was severely under equipped for this journey. I knew the closest settlement from here without going back into the city was Wolf Cove and I knew Oz and Alpha would help me. Maybe Alpha would even let me borrow one of his wolves. Nodding to myself, I slowly got off the tree. My body was sore, but I needed to go. Pushing past the dull pain, I began moving again, this time slowly. I had to be careful for wild animals, zombies and now Ophelia and whoever would be sent by the island after me. My ears were focused as I began to move, shoving my legs through the thicket and every so often stopping to listen for danger. When I found none, I'd continue.