Jupiter

C H A P T E R|| N I N E T E E N

Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks gonna,
Come back and take you home

E l l i e

Sometimes I could almost picture the sound of a busy street, a city littered with everyday people. Mothers and children laughing in ice cream stores. Lovers kissing on sidewalks with sweet never ending I love you's lingering in the summer breeze, leaving each others insides  feeling warm and invincible. I was not invincible, I had to remember— and my insides where churning together in a harsh mix of nervousness, uncertainty and plain terror.

The university was as tall as the City's skylines, it seemed. The brick walls of the building caved in some places, while others looked strong and sturdy. This was typically what Jessie would call a suicide mission. Not going in there would be worse.

I had slipped out unnoticed during the dark whisper of the night. Joel and Noah would be furious and unhinged when they woke to find me gone, but— they'd understand. They'd have to understand. Out of the three of us, I was the strongest. I knew how to get in and out and not make a sound. I had only learnt from the best, anyway. Joel, please understand.

The sky was now a labyrinth of soft pink and orange as the sun threatened to break over the horizon. I honestly hadn't been counting the hours since I left— all I had in mind was my destination, and I could feel that as the earth moved on its axis... I was getting closer. Almost as if a magnetic pull was tugging in my gut. I couldn't explain it fully, and I wasn't sure that I completely understood it— but I could just feel her.

Scared, alone, exhausted.

My legs were burning as I trudged through thick tuffs of dead grass, the shotgun strapped to my backpack clicked and thudded with every move I surged through my body. My lips were dry, cracked and begging for just a taste of water— but that had run out about an hour prior, and there was no body of water between me and the other side of this university.

Looks like I'm going in.

I tried desperately to stay away from buildings I had never scaled before, not knowing what lurked beneath the darkness. If there was a way around, I'd find it. But I was growing weak as the day trudged on, and there was a possibility that inside held something I needed... or wanted for that matter. I had to be smart about it, I had to think a little deeper and not just burn a hole through the wall to save time. I would find Jupiter, I knew I would... but I couldn't kill myself trying.

Each echo of my boots down the first hall scent a jolt straight to the beating pulp in my chest. I hadn't come across many infected on my travels as of yet, but my luck would soon run out. I was merely counting down the seconds until that time came. The air grew thicker as darkness crept in, giving me no other choice than to flicker my chest torch to light. It lit up the space shockingly well, but almost immediately I wished that I hadn't turned it on. Still, after years of witnessing the most brutal things this world had to offer, my stomach still churned.

At first, I couldn't exactly make out what it was that littered the walls around me when I finally made it through a large crack in the University's exterior. The stench was horrendous, and it was only when I walked closer to the sodden hallway wall that I realised. My face paled, my palms felt icy and the last few hours without food nor water seemed to finally catch up to me as I stumbled back a step, and then another step.

Human remains littered the wall. Fresh and oozing with sticky blood in their wake. Pinned to the decaying remnants of the building with arrows and spears. I doubled over and heaved but nothing came to the surface. With one hand clutched to my stomach, and the other pinching my nose shut I tried my best to continue down the hall and away from the gory scene. And there– a door. Thank god.