Broken

Chapter 17

We entered a house that had a door that was wide open. We entered cautiously, not ready to be jumped again. The house was completely deserted, so we just shut the door, set up watches, and crashed on the floor of the abandoned house.

I got absolutely no sleep that night. There was no bakery to sit in, so I just laid in my spot for hours, thinking about how painfully Lux died.

I'm gonna take a quick moment to apologize if you didn't feel any "connections" with Lux or didn't feel upset that he died. He was one of my best friends, even if we had only met. You will probably never know how painful that was, so please, don't judge.

Anyway, I was there in the house, unable to go to sleep. When Charles nudged me to take watch, I sat up and kept by bat close. Cassie shifted in her spot next to me and opened her eyes slowly. She gazed up at me. I could see her eyes, even in the dark. They were shining from the tears she had shed. I stroked her hair and glanced over at Seth, who was staring at Cassie from his spot. I could see the wheels turning in his head. I heard Charles mumbling expletives as he tried to sleep.

I think we all knew no one was going to get much sleep.

Cassie sat up and rested her head on my shoulder. I put my arms around her and she wrapped her arms around my waist. I heard her sniffle and I felt my shirt start to get wet. She was crying, but I didn't blame her. No, she was probably completely devastated. She had just witnessed Lux's death, along with a man she thought loved her.

Cassie cried herself to sleep. Seth rose and crawled over to me.

"You can go to sleep. I'll take the rest of your watch and mine."

I shook my head. "I won't be able to sleep."

Seth sat next to me and kept his gaze on Cassie. I watched him watch Cassie sleep. He finally said something.

"I'm going to protect you both."

I started crying at that moment, wishing for my mother. Seth took me up in his arms, and I cried into his shirt, just like Cassie did to me. I think I felt tears drop on my head, but I didn't care. The last thing I remember was Seth placing his hand on top of my head.

I woke up to a loud clap of thunder. I jumped up, startled by the loud noise. I had unconsciously pulled out my bat and had it in a defensive position. I heard Seth snort and shuffle over to me. I realized that it was only thunder and I relaxed. Everyone was up. Charles was poking around in the living room of the house.

"Let's search the house for supplies. We shouldn't travel too much in the rain."

Charles stayed downstairs to search while the rest of us went upstairs. Cassie tugged on my sleeve and pointed to the end of the hallway.

"Bethy, can I look in that room?"

I walked down there and peeked inside. There was nothing out of the ordinary or insane inside.

"Yeah, you can. We'll be in the main bedroom, okay?"

Cassie nodded, brown curls bouncing. "Okay!"

She rushed in and began looking at the Barbie dolls, something she had never owned. Seth and I checked out the master bedroom and bathroom. All we found was some aspirin and Tylenol in the bathroom. We were about to leave when I found I journal in the corner of the room. I picked it up and summoned Seth. I opened it to a random page and began reading.

"'Day 14: The Outbreak Begins

The tests have all come back positive; the shot is causing an epidemic. The government has decided to keep this on the down low. My theories are starting to make sense now that we have more test subjects. The eyes matter. I'm not sure how or why, but that's what keeps people sane. I've never seen any of this in my entire life. Now that the population has been exposed and is beginning to react, we can now see the full potential of humans, and how that strain of the flu shot has made so many turn. But, only an estimate of 16% of the population will survive the effects of the virus and will continue on as normal humans. The government wishes to collect these people, but-"

My reading was interrupted by a shout from Charles. I heard insane talking downstairs. I yanked off my bat and whirled around, and found Seth missing. I heard him grunt in the bathroom. I ran into the hallway and heard an ear piercing scream. I knew it was Cassie's voice. I rushed into the room where she had been and saw a man stuffing her into a trash bag. I snarled and raised my bat. Someone came at me from behind and covered my mouth with a piece of cloth. I struggled against their grip and reached out to Cassie. My senses started to nullify, and I knew that the cloth had chloroform on it. I heard Seth shout again and a body hit the floor. Then, everything went black.