Dakota's Suite

You Didn't Deny It

Five hours have passed since breakfast. I decided to step outside again to recollect my thoughts. My back had rested against the soft rug underneath me on the porch while my arms were folded behind my head. The sun had glared over at me, encouraging buds of sweat to travel down my head and over my eyes as I proceeded to do crutches, my breath hitching as my elbows came in contact with my knees. Whenever I didn't smoke, I did some sort of exercise to destress.

I stared up at the ceiling of the porch that had decorated with a few spider webs on top. Their porch was fairly wide enough to have several chairs set on each side. I was overall impressed by Baez and Mirabelle's hard work put into this house. I hadn't seen anything so warm before. It almost made me uncomfortable compared to the living conditions I had been subjected to.

Everyone had departed and went to different places within the house. Bryant had gone to Wayne to talk about weaponry and was hoping to grab hold of a rifle for the run since it was his favorite gun to use. Hannah went back up with a few leftovers from breakfast to try and feed Daphne. She asked if I had wanted to see her, but honestly, I felt that approaching Daphne right now would not only be awkward but would make matters way worse.

After all, she still thinks I'm a monster.

I could hear the screen door opening and soft footsteps following suit. I gazed past my knees that were reeled up to see Hannah standing with her hands on her hips. She looked so much like Daphne at that exact moment, other than the fact that she had those soul-piercing blue eyes of hers. Except Hannah cared  about me a little more than Daphne ever has.

Her eyebrows were knitted together, lips formed into a tight line. Her blue eyes narrowed as they made eye contact with me. "Do you just like the idea of being around things that could kill you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, resuming my bicycle crutches.

She stormed closer to me. "You're going on a run? Did you not see how we barely got out of our own neighborhood? Yet you wanna go out into the city?"

I sighed and sprung myself onto my feet so that we were properly facing each other. "Hannah, don't start."

She cocked an eyebrow. "You're being so stupid right now."

"Stupid? If I'm stupid, then what is Bryant? Because he's also going!" I snapped back. "Didn't think about that, didn't you?"

Hannah pursed her lips, and her eyes shifted to the left. "I...I..."

"I'm not a snowflake, Hannah. I can take care of myself better than four people put together." I added.

"Dakota. You scare me." Hannah admitted as her hands squeezed the sides of her arms. I could feel my heart tighten a little at what she said.

"Wow." I shot back blankly. "What a way to convince your brother not to go. Didn't think you'd be such a hypocrite."

She glared back at me. "That wasn't what I meant, and you know it!"

She reached her hand out, and her index finger pointed at me like she was ready to drag the argument out. Her eyes drooped from mine back down to the ground, along with her hand. "Every time I look at you...I get the feeling that you just want to do all of this because you still want to die!"

She may have been right. But I couldn't just let Bryant wander out there by himself. As much as I hate him, I'm sure Allen would've wanted me to at least look out for him. That had little to do with me being suicidal and everything to do with the fact that Bryant would probably panic at the sight of those flesh eating freaks.

I silently stared back at her before answering. "Did you forget who's the oldest?"

"Stop trying to change the subject and answer me!" Hannah argued back. "I see it in your eyes every single time you make decisions like this! Like back at the house!"

"Back at the house?" I repeated in disbelief. "Did you fucking see what was happening? Did you forget how one of those things had you by the hair not too long ago?"

"Exactly why I'm concerned, Dakota!" Hannah yelled. "You're constantly throwing yourself in situations you don't have to be in! We're given a safe place after all of that, and you're so quick to run off!"

"I'm not running off, I'm getting things we need for all of us!" I argued back, trying to maintain a gentle tone with her.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "You don't know these people well enough to care about them, Dakota! I know you!"

I raised my eyebrows and folded my arms together. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean, Hannah?"

"As I've mentioned before, you still want to die!" Her voice raised as she exclaimed, I immediately shuffled forward to clamped my calloused hand over her mouth. She's upset, but those things that could be shuffling around in the forest could probably hear her, and the last thing we needed was for any of them to get to the fence.

I pressed my finger to my lips before removing my hand, glancing at the long lawn before us. "If you're pissed, fine. But things aren't the same anymore. Stay quiet."

Her eyes glistened. "You're not saying I'm wrong..."

"God...I hope you would say that I was wrong..." Hannah mumbled in a whisper-voice, her hands shakily folded together over her chest as her bottom lip wobbled.

I wrinkled my eyebrows down at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't care what happens to you, don't you?" Hannah retorted as she looked down to the ground, her hair curtained the sides of her face as her body slowly convulsed. "You don't care about how I would feel?"

She raised her head, rivulets had started to rain down both sides of her face. "This feels like the time back when you were in Maryland..."

I could feel my stomach twist once again, this time, not from fear, but from regret. I'm such an asshole. She was still hurting from that day, from what I did. Not only because of what happened, but because I didn't want her to know.

Hesitantly, I reached my hand out towards her, and my eyes half-liddedly gazed down at her. "Hannah..."

She shifted herself away from my hand at such a speed that she almost stumbled over her feet to avoid me trying to comfort her. Her head faced the ground still as she spun on her heel, starting her dead sprint with her long ponytail flicking behind her.

"Leave me alone!" She spoke in a whisper-sob, her voice cracked on the last word before she disappeared back in the house.