𝐙𝐚𝐫𝐚|𝟏| [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

Chapter 17

The past two days haven't been the same for me, probably never will be.

I haven't spoken to a single soul, not like there wasn't anyone trying, constantly asking if I was okay and if they could help with anything.

My silence was all they had been given in return.

Today was the day we buried everyone we had lost two days prior; the air was different like we had killed all the trees and gasping for oxygen.

That clean breath was nowhere to be seen. The atmosphere had certainly changed and the camp was quiet, too quiet.

Some of the guards still patrolled and a group had gone off to find somewhere else for us to go and stay safe, somewhere the A-Centre jackasses couldn't find us.

Somewhere Theo's Dad wouldn't find us.

A lot of people would stand over their loved one's bodies and sob at their loss, crying out to anyone to make the pain stop.

Someone had gone as far as hanging themselves in the shower rooms and some had just vanished from the camp, scared incase the devastation would return.

Me? Well, I haven't moved from my bed until ten minutes ago, haven't gone to see all the people I had lost.

I didn't need to see their faces, the way they were, and keep the memories alive in my mind of how they were before they turned blue, cold and empty of any soul.

I have barely slept at all since all I could do was replay the memory in my head of the gunshots and then the complete and utter catastrophe that had followed, changing so many lives including my own.

I sat next to a small tree that had lost all its pretty leaves, they lay around my feet as I pick them up and toss them back down.

Tears fill my eyes as I try to prevent the break down that I was close to having.

I feel empty, numb.

"Hey, Zara. How are you holding up? I know you want to have some privacy, but I don't want to give you that anymore. I need you just as much as you need me. We both lost people we loved." Thomas sat down next to me and curls his fingers in the leaves, mimicking mine.

He huffs, dropping his head between his knees when I don't answer and continues. "Look, I need you to keep your head clear so we can work out what to do next. We can't stay here."

When I don't answer him again, he becomes irritated and jumps up. "You know I saw Cole as my own fucking son, Zara, and guess who I have? Only you! And you can't even look at me. I lost my girlfriend for fuck sake."

Yeah... Ella was strangled while Thomas was made to watch, yelling at them to stop before slitting her throat.

I felt bad for her.