After Death (Completed)

匚卄卂卩ㄒ乇尺 ２２(The Split Part 2)

Chapter 22: The Split Part 2

Leah Souixer

December, 2023

19 months after outbreak

California

Season 2

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We made it to California yesterday. Ethan was nowhere to be seen, but that's obviously not what bothered me. No one was here except the dead and greedy bandits that I was forced to kill alongside Airianna. I didn't want her to become a bloodthirsty murderer, but killing was something that she'd have to do to stay alive. It was something that we all had to do, as long as we only killed people who deserved it.

We stayed along the coastline. We listened to the seagulls and the waves as we slept in the sand.

Dallen's been staring at me for a while now. I knew why, but I honestly just wasn't ready for something like that yet. He was tall, kind, and caring. I loved his dark, mysterious almond-shaped eyes, and he was the only man in our group who was able to grow more than a little stubble. He's never really talked to me, though. Maybe he was nervous, and maybe I was intimidating. I wouldn't mind if he talked to me; maybe then I would be ready.

"You and Dal look like my parents," Airianna said as she made a sandcastle and decorated it with beautiful seashells. I sometimes forget how young she is. I forget how her life was taken from her, just as all of ours were. We all carry the weight of our pasts, but for Airianna, it seems especially heavy.

"Then I guess we can't be accused of stealing a child," I joked. It made her chuckle to herself, but a smile was nowhere to be seen.

"What if we never find them?" she asked quietly.

"Then we'll go somewhere safe because that's what matters."

"You don't like Ethan very much, do you?"

"I don't even know anymore, Airi. I've just always had so much hatred for him, and I don't even know why. It's stupid; it's really stupid."

"It's not stupid. I used to hate the shit out of Steve for acting like he knew everything, but now he's dead, so it doesn't really matter."

"You don't know that he's dead," I said. I hated how I believed it too.

"He might as well be because I'm never going to see him again, or Rudi."

"You could."

"No! We're gonna get on that boat; we're gonna get to an island with or without the others because that's what's safe. You said that! That's what matters!" She yelled, toppling over her sandcastle and making her way to Dallen to sit on a pile of rocks. I watched as she sat there, her shoulders slumped and tears streaming down her face. It was heartbreaking to see her so broken.

I wanted to go talk to her, but I couldn't give her false hope. After all, she'd never fall for it anyway. We might never see the others again, and I didn't realize how much that terrified me.

The next day, I decided to talk to Dallen myself. He was picking some fresh cherries off of a tree, humming a tune to himself. I didn't want to bother him, but it was kind of important. I hated how nowadays most conversations had to consist of a plan for survival. I missed the simpler days.

"Dallen?" I asked. I must have startled him because he threw the bag of cherries on the ground and reached for his knife. I chuckled to myself, but he just smiled with embarrassment.

"Yeah?" he asked as he sat on the ground to pick up the salvageable fruits.

"How long do you think we should stay here?" I asked as I assisted him.

"If the others are out here, they'll come here. I'm not just going to give up on them, and you shouldn't either. My mother never gave up on my little brother, Colin, and that's why he was able to live. Have some faith in our friends, Leah; they'll be here soon enough." He smiled and collected the last of the fruit. He left me to be surrounded by nothing but my own thoughts. Not everyone could be dead, could they?