AS THE DEAD RISES: Book 1 & 2 [COMPLETED] {EDITING}

Cursed

Axel's POV

Guess what? I slept! Yeah, I didn't know that I dozed off and slept on Tom's shoulder. Good thing he was still awake and he woke me up after a few hours. That was a little bit embarrassing since I was the first one to volunteer to stay awake and ended up sleeping instead. But, enough about how stupid I am sometimes. The rain is still pouring outside and probably it's already a storm. It has been raining since yesterday and when I peeked outside, the area was starting to get flooded. From the looks of it, it's already up to my thigh and it's getting higher each hour that passes.

"Hey" Lacy said who just woke up from her sleep. "You can both sleep. I'll keep watch."

"Yeah. Tom needs it" I said.

"I do." He said with a smile as he laid down on my thigh.

I can't help but to play with his short hair as he sleeped peacefully.

"He really loves you" Lacy said.

I didn't know what to say so I kept quiet.

"He kept on talking about how he misses you and how he wish you're safe when we were back at the camp." She continued. "He's lucky he found somebody who can protect and love him in this world."

"Thanks" was all I was able to say.

"I know we weren't close back then but I know you're a nice person" She told me.

"That surprised me a bit" I told her honestly. "I didn't know that someone like you, who is popular and all, would be able to notice me."

"Yeah, you do stand out" she said. "But you lack something that prevents you from being popular. I don't know what it is but it's not important now."

"Yeah, popularity is now useless" I said while nodding my head.

"Agreed" she said with a smile. "I just wanted to say that...take care of him, okay? He's been through a lot and I want you to be there beside him on every step of the way."

"Yeah, I'll always will" I said.

"Well, that was a great talk and all but you need to rest" she said as she stood up and peeked through the window.

Talking with her isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Well that was nice. Although, I don't know why she said all of that. It seems out of nowhere? But hey, at least I got to talk with somebody. It's hard to find them these days.

Lacy's POV

The storm showed no signs of stopping. As time passes by the higher the flood becomes. I'm starting to worry since we were just on the second floor and it can easily be flooded as well. I sat down on the ground as I watched others sleeping peacefully. I know everything that happened this week is really traumatic and mostly are sad memories. After a few moments of staring out the window, I didn't notice Troy approaching me from behind. I jumped a little when he placed his hand on mu shoulder.

"Hey" he greeted.

"Hey"

"We haven't talked for a while" he said. "For months."

"Figured you already know the reason" I replied.

"Is it still about Roxanne?" He asked. "How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't cheat on you."

"Yeah? It doesn't matter anymore."

"Just please...tell me how to fix this" he pleaded.

"I don't know, Troy" I said. "I don't know how it'll be fixed."

"Come on, there must be something that I can do"

"Can you just...leave me alone?" I asked. "I really want to be alone if you haven't noticed."

"But-"

"Just stop!" I angrily whispered.

He retreated and went back to his place back at the floor. I'm still bothered by this storm though. If this continues, I don't know what we're going to do. To think that if we didn't leave the farm house and this storm hits us, then we'd all be a goner. Afte a few minutes, I saw Ivy looking through our supplies.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her.

"I need medicine" she answered.

"For whom? For what?"

"It's for Bryan. His temperature's high"

"How?"

"Might be the rain from yesterday" she answered.

"Oh, then, let me help you" I said as I looked through the supplies that we had.

"What are those noise all about?" Axel sleepily asked. "It's disturbing."

"Sorry"

"Here it is!" I showed her the medicine and a bottle of water.

"Thanks"

She approached Bryan and asked him to drink the medicine that she was holding. I don't know what is going on between them but I saw the change in Ivy's attitude. She's no longer a bitch and her sarcastic remarks are gone. It must be Bryan's effect on her. Axel told me that she asked her about it and she just answered, "After all the bad things that I did to everyone at our school, all the bitching I did to all of you, this is the first time I cared deeply for somebody." Shocking right? It's unbelievable that those words came from her. I'm happy for her though. She found the person that she likes or even love.

"Feeling okay?" I heard her ask Bryan.

"Honestly, no." He answered. "But since you're here, I'm fine."

"Seriously, stop joking" she said with a smile.

"Stop being such a worrywart" he jokingly said. "It's just a simple fever. It'll be gone tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, just rest up okay?" She said. "Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah, don't worry about me" he said as he fell asleep.

"Are you okay?" I asked Ivy.

"No" she simply answered.

Silence took over the both of us but she spoke after a few minutes.

"It's just that, I can't lose him" she said. "I've lost every person I cared for."

I was just silent.

"Since my childhood days. When I cared too much about someone, they'll be gone" she said. "First, my mother and father, dead. Then, my old bestfriend, Gwen, also dead. Then, Roxanne, also dead. Now, you know the reason behind all the bitching I did back when we were at school."

I was shocked on what she just told me. I didn't know that she is undergoing such horrendous experience.

"I'm not trying to cover up all the bad things I did before. I know it's wrong." She continued, now sobbing. "It's just that, I'm afraid that if I cared too much, they'll be gone too...and I don't want that at all. That's why I was like that, to you, and to other people."

I wiped her tears away and hugged her.

"And now, when I started caring about Bryan, he's on the verge of dying as well" she said. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm carrying a curse and I'll be bringing down everyone that I love to their own graves."

"Shush! Don't say those things" I told her. "Now, I understand. What you are feeling is terrible. I know it's hard but you have to stop thinking about those things and just focus on how you'll save a person from their death, okay?"

"Okay"