FULL ECLIPSE (Book #2)

𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

I also hear the faint sounds of a nearby chopper but I can't see it when I look up at the sky. No point though because the sounds of the lurkers are ten times louder and I can also see them too.

I blink. The blink – right at the perfect time or the worst time; I don't even know at this point. All I know is that it gives me enough time to process what the fuck just happened. And the very first person Ima go to is not Ella or Bray. I was too focused on the wrong people. It's Carmen. I need to go to Carmen because she was right there with my dad when the gunshot went off.

It's Tuesday morning, around 11 AM, and there's someone banging on my front door. It's so loud that I can hear it all the way from my room. I run down the stairs 'cause those bangs are gonna wake Mum up and I've already gotten done for by my dad for fucking up her days off. I open the door to slam it shut again, thinking it'd be some Jehovah's Witnesses but it's,

"Carmen?"

"Dean, hi!" she's sorta outta breath.

"Carmen, what are you doing here? Did you run here?"

"Doesn't matter, I needed to see you," and her scan drifts to my bare chest.

"I actually needed to see you too. Uh, wait here, lemme grab a shirt. I'll be right back."

❖

"What the fuck happened, Carmen?" I'm standing in a park while she sits on top of a picnic table in front of me. "Why'd my dad shoot knowing that-"

"It wasn't your dad, Dean," she informs me.

"Wait, what?"

"He saw something move in front of us, maybe a lurker. He told me to wait for a sec and he went in front of me. That's when someone sniped a lurker creeping up behind me."

"Oh my days."

"I would've been bitten if it weren't for them."

"Could that be.."

"Your uncle, Emmett. I think so too."

"He's not actually my uncle, by the way."

"Yeah, sorta guessed that from his accent," she rolls her eyes.

"Right, I'm stupid. So the checkpoint is right there, which means, those sounds from above were coming from the chopper."

Carmen nods.

"Fuck," I run a hand through my hair. "We're right there, like right there, but the amount of lurkers I just heard before we both jumped is... nah fuck..."

"Wait..." Carmen thinks for a sec.

"What?"

"You need a gun. Jace got one, your dad does, but with the amount of lurkers that are about to close in on us, you definitely need one too."

"Bray's got one," I reveal to her. "It's one of the ones we found at school. Still has ammo. It's in his backpack."

"Why didn't yous use it?"

"'Cause emergency only and I think this calls for an emergency. You need to grab it out of Bray's backpack and pass it to me, your 5:00. You're right next to him."

"5:00, got it."

"Don't miss, Carmen."

"Touch wood," she knocks on the picnic table.

It gets sorta awkward after the business part of our talking is done.

"'Kay, see you later, I guess?" I scratch the back of my head.

"Lol, yeah, I gotta go anyway," she jumps off the table. "Oh, wait, Dean, meet me behind the gym at lunch today."

"Why?"

"It's important. Trust me. You'll thank me for it."

❖

It's kinda weird that Carmen wants me to meet her behind the gym. If it was really that important, why risk waiting? Anyway, I sit in the shade behind the gym with my knees up. It's really warm today, about 30 degrees. It's lunchtime, the oval is next to the gym and all the kids are playing on it. Dragonflies fly around me and-

"Dean?"

I look up to find, "Ella..." and Carmen standing next to her.

"Carmen explained everything to me. At first, I still didn't believe it but then it slowly started to make sense. I'm sorry for doubting you," she cringes. "And all that stuff I said about you. Forgive me?"

"Done," I accept her apology with a soft smile.

This whole time, I was so caught up on trying to make her believe me, that when she finally does, it's like, at what cost? Like, I already got humiliated for it and all. She's probably the reason why my summer is ruined now. I still feel relieved though, don't get me wrong. But I wish she had taken my word for it sooner.

Could she possibly learn to love me again now that she knows most of everything? Or was that just a feeling I'll never feel again? I don't wanna get my hopes up, I know how that turned out for me last time.

"Alright, now, what the fuck?" Ella looks at Carmen. "What the actual fuck for real? How is it even possible? I still can't wrap my head around it."

We tell her everything in detail from the beginning – the lockdown, the ticking timebomb, the part where she dies, how my dad comes for us, and just as we were about to finish up the part about the checkpoint, Carmen and I, jump.