The Corrupted (Completed - editing)

Chapter 24 - "Mairwood"

Jason sighs, inspecting my ankle. "Well, it certainly hasn't gone down..."

My body tenses up at that, before he quickly adds, "But, it hasn't gotten more inflamed, either."

I breathe a sigh of relief, as he sets my purple ankle down.

"Look, before you say it," I sigh, looking at his concerned expression, "I know what I did was dumb. I just had a moment of weakness, but it's fine now. I promise to stay off the ankle until it's healed enough for me to walk."

He raises an eyebrow, "Fully healed."

I sigh, repeating his words, "Fully healed."

He smirks, bandaging up my ankle again. Annie walks over to us, brushing her hand over his shoulder. She whispers something in his ear, causing Jason to stand up and Annie take his place. He walks off quietly into the kitchen, leaving Annie and I in silence.

"I'm sorry about Flynn..." She says quietly, staring down at my ankle as she delicately wrapped it up. Her work was cleaner, neater and gentler than Jason's.

I simply nod, still feeling unsure of everything that'd happened.

"Could I have some advice?" I say, my mind finally on something other than Flynn. But was rather on a certain golden eyed boy.

"Of course." Annie says with surprise, offering a small smile.

I don't even know where to start, so I just say, "How did you handle... Being without Jason for so long?" I see her look soften slightly, clearly remembering her experiences. Before she can start, I quickly cut in, "That was a dumb question, I know. Just – forget I asked." I sputter, not wanting to have offended her.

"No, no it's okay." Annie says slowly, a small smile gradually creeping back up on her face. "It was awful, being without him. I don't remember it all, just small bits and pieces..." She says, furrowing her eyebrows, "Some days were unbearable. Not the... 'treatments', not any of that. The actual aching pain I had in my chest, of missing someone, that was the worst of it all."

Annie sighs, placing a pin into the bandage to hold it together. "I don't know how I got through it. I guess, the fact that I knew I'd see him again... That was what kept me alive."

"But you didn't know." I say, questioning her, "How could you have known?"

"Oh Eve," She says, placing a hand over mine reassuringly,

"If you care for someone, you never truly leave them."

<><>

"You ready?" Zoe says to me, her sheet of paper in hand. I sit up, nodding.

"Uh – Zoe..." I say, before she can speak, "Do you think... you could do the talking?"

She smiles, nodding, "Sure thing."

"Right," Zoe starts, the crew falling silent, "We've come up with a plan. It may have some faults – but we'll get to those once we cross them." The crew nods along with her, as she glances down at the sheet of paper.

"Alright, here's what we have so far," Zoe says, pacing across the room, "We travel the rest of the way to North Wall –

Fallon interjects, sitting up, her arms folded, "What about Flynn? We can't just –

"If you would let me finish," Zoe glares at Fallon, cutting her sentence short. "At North Wall, we're retrieving Simon and from what I've heard, there is a group of people that now inhabit the facility. They can help us get Flynn. We can call for help at the Cave, but it is unlikely we'll be in range nor will they respond. This is our best shot. Frankly, we're going to need all the help we can get." She says, folding her arms behind her back.