BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Sixteen |

Sixteen |

As the moon rose, we headed north. I must admit, having a horse would have been a lot easier than walking, but at least I wasn't being shipped back to the island. Eventually, we came across a river, a different river from the Town of Roses one (probably, I had no idea) which lead the same way we were going. As we went, Cerci lead the way with her flashlight out, which provided little guidance to our journey. I kept stumbling over fucking branches where both Cerci and Valen seemed completely fine.

"Should we stop and take a break?" Cerci asked, stepping over a rock.

"Do we need one babe?" Valen asked.

I looked towards the river, my eyes drawing together as I tried to peer at the dark surface. It was eerie, as if a terrible creature could crawl out of the water at any moment and eat us. I shivered slightly, leaning away from the water.

"Eero?"

I looked over at Cerci, "What?"

"Do you need a break?" she asked politely.

For a moment I paused. I didn't want a break, I wanted to reach the walls and come face to face with whoever was behind all this, but that wasn't logical. We had been walking for hours, and I could feel the tiredness in my bones—I'm sure they felt it as well.

"Yeah," I sighed, "We should."

"Should we build another fire?"

"Sure baby girl, I'll help you."

I said nothing as they went off to find wood. Instead, I moved over to a tree, sitting against the trunk as I looked up to the dark leaves, and the moonlight that trickled past them. I thought of Rose—was this what she saw in her final night as well? I rose my hand, towards the leaves before dropping it. We should relax for now, there was nothing for miles, and we'd hear any zombies before we saw them.

"That's going to backfire."

My eyes widened, "What?"

Cerci flinched, "I-I asked if you know how to make fire?"

I breathed slowly, rubbing my face. Fuck, I was going insane. I thought I had heard Rose's voice again. Ever since I had that weird dream, no it was before that. Ever since I murdered that girl Kat. I've been out of my damn mind.

"Yeah," I whispered, "Do we have any rocks?"

"I'll find some!"

She hurried off, and I began building a fire. As I did, Valen dumped a bunch of wood into it before sitting on the grass beside me. Cerci returned with a handful of rocks. My body tensed at our closeness and I distracted myself by trying to spark the wood pile.

"Want me to do it?" Valen asked with a smirk.

I sent him a glare, "Fuck off."

"Could I use my taser?" Cerci asked curiously.

"Would that work?"

"Unless you also have a source of lead most likely not," Valen yawned, "The charge on it's own won't be enough to cause a fire. If that was the case tasers wouldn't be functional against people and their clothing."

We stared at him for a moment. Flash let out a yawn, thumping her tail against his leg.

"Valen," I said slowly, "Are you...smart?"