The Corrupted (Completed - editing)

Chapter 7 - "They're here."

**Unedited

I awaken to see Ethan was no longer in the room, and a dim light shone through the window. Sunrise.  It takes me a while to wrap my head around things, but from what I can remember, after the woman – my mother - spoke in my nightmare, it just cut off into darkness. I don’t remember what she said, I just remember her face. I try not to focus too much on the dream – after all, it was just a dream – as my head starts to rush at the thought of those ‘strangers’ faces.

I’m quickly snapped out of my thoughts by the smell of bacon. Before I know it, my feet are dragging themselves out of bed. It’s like they go on command when they sense food. As I walk down the hall, I can quickly hear chatter coming from the kitchen.

“I don’t know Ethan. I just, I don’t want you getting hurt.” A fragile voice speaks, which I instantly know is Sarah.

“I’m not going to get hurt! You don’t get it Sarah. She’s different, you just don’t see it-

“You know what I do see Ethan? I see this random girl walk into our house and put some sort of trance over you! You barely know her-

It’s at this point that I decide to walk into the kitchen interrupting the screaming match. Both pairs of eyes instantly snap to mine, and I see a small shade of red appear on Sarah’s cheeks.

“Come on, Eve.” Ethan storms over to me, grabbing my hand, dragging me away from an unusually quiet Sarah.

After a silent trip down the hall - Ethan’s grip continuing to tighten I might add - we finally arrive back at his room, followed by a rather dramatic slamming of the door.

Ethan looks at me, his face red in fury. I can see the veins throbbing on his neck. I wince slightly, as his grip continues to tighten. Ethan finally realizes what he was doing, and quickly releases me.

“I-I’m sorry… Did I hurt you?” He gently grabs my wrist, turning it over slightly revealing a bright red mark.

“No, it’s fine. Just a mark.” I pull my sleeve over it, quickly dismissing the subject. I look down and realize that I was still wearing Ethan’s sweater. Talk about the cherry on top of the cake.

“Are you sure? Eve… Sorry, I just… I get mad and I can’t really control it…” He rubs the back of his neck anxiously, looking away from me.

“Ethan,” I say, softly grazing his shoulder. “You didn’t hurt me. I’m okay.” His eyes look up at mine, before sighing and turning away.

“When do you want to head out?” His words take a few moments before they finally register in my brain.

Simon.

I had completely forgotten about him. Here I was, sleeping in some strangers home enjoying warm cooked meals while Simon was out there, probably starving and cold and… and dying.

“Hello? Earth to Eve?” Ethan’s sarcastic voice snaps me out of my panic mode, slightly calming me down.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You want to go out to find Steve?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you sure are quite the descriptive one today.” Ethan mutters, wondering about his room, picking up weapons and items of clothing.

“Simon. His name is Simon by the way.” I say under my breath, continuing to think about how selfish I’ve been.

“Right.” He says, continuing around his room until he finds a bag and stuffs the weapons and such in quite angrily. He looks back up at me, his face slightly red and muscles tense.