The Survivors I: Fresh Beginnings

A Campfire With Cole

XIII - Greg

I wished so terribly that Cole was under that shelf and not Luke. Cole had no idea who I was. He had never met me nor seen me, I assume. Besides that, I already knew he needed to leave. Something horrifying would occur, and it would be all his fault. He needed to leave immediately. I didn't know how to make him leave. I didn't know how to make him go away. I didn't know how to make him die.

Cole needed to die.

I sat at a campfire with everyone. There was ten of us left. I just set in front a fire and watch Jeremy bum out over losing his friend; Luke. I would have proven fortunate if Catherine sobbed over our fire because Cole was gone. There was only one thing I could do at that moment. Shovel the fire and throw it into him. It sounds cruel, but not as cruel at what he causes. I could just burn his existence away. Maybe I would be forgiven, but I doubt it. I didn't do it. If I did, I would be exiled; no group and no food.

"Luke, can you -" Jake halted.

Jeremy's clenched his fist as if he were going to give the zombie that took down Luke a mighty punch. He released after.

Katrina stood up and waltzed to Jake as if happy Luke was gone. She aided him in setting up the second tent, a luxury Luke could no longer provide. His leadership over his middle school crew was terminated. Was Katrina going to take charge? As we became more friendly with them, I doubted that two people could control us. I didn't even believe in having a leader. If the world was in an apocalypse, the plan was for me to be able to what I want. Besides, any leader would have to be me or Jake. Jake was always the strong one, but I was definitely smarter than everyone else.

I just sat at a campfire with Cole. Just about everyone in the group was trash; especially Daryn. Daryn thought she had everything in control, but she was just like the rest; useless and full of themselves. The fire kept going out because we were in the middle of winter, but I was the only one tending to the flames. The winter breeze was biting my nose extra hard that night. Although we were used to thirty or forty degree weather in Massachusetts, the winds were insanely quick.

Cole's body began to tremble as the sun went down. The freezing weather could have sickened him, but he refused to sneeze or give into a low temperature. Therefore, I just sat there with a dark red color flushing my cheeks, my eyebrows narrowed to my target.

The night before, the night we spent at the Lenny's restaurant, I had a dream. It described Cole, but seeming older than he was at the time. His body was more muscular to compliment his height. He had to be about six inches taller than before. There's was a girl. He had a gun, the same one he had at the campfire. He shot at me.

The fool shot bullets to me. We were on the same team, right? He calls out the name of a girl; Mikaela. He shoots at her. It was blurry and swift in my mind, but I knew he was killing everyone. They were our group and he was killing us all. Next, he calls for Ian, likely another new group member. He shot from a window. Next, all I saw was the body of Mikaela and Ian, dead on the patchy grass. Tanner was there too; he sprinted from Cole. There were others too; Katrina, Jeremy, and Zach. I trembled in my sleep. It was a nightmare to see the only people you know die. The worst part of the dream was the very end.

"Remember me?" Daryn shouted as she busted into the room I was hiding in, shivered and tearing as if I was facing certain death.

Was she the enemy too? She had too. Cole and Daryn were both my enemies, but they didn't know yet. The absolute worst part of the dream was knowing what they were plotting. With the same shotgun she has, Daryn, without hesitation, pulls the trigger with the tube facing me.

I just sat at the campfire with Cole as I watch him and Daryn plot the massacre in their heads.