Mariah's P.O.V.
Location; Shopping mall
Everything is going perfect, we have electricity, running water, and nobody died today, and I hope it stays that way. It was yesterday when Katie and Levi left, it's still dark outside so I am optimistic.
And honestly, I believe that they are doing good, but I still I don't trust Levi that much, I trust his sister more. I also think that Hua is adorable like she is a softie from the outside but could pull any shit off.
"Hey princess" Leo comes and hugs me from behind while giving me a kiss on my cheek. "didn't know you had the night watch tonight" Leo continues.
"You're the one taking over for me?" I ask, he nods slightly and plops down beside me, with my hand in his, he starts to play with my fingers making the butterflies in my stomach go wild. We sit in silence, the only sound that's heard are the Zombies outside.
"do you Think they're, okay?" I ask deciding to break the silence. Leo looks at me for a second before nodding confidently and squeezing my hand. "Both of them are stubborn as fuck" He says, I smile at him before placing my head on his shoulder.
"Think we can trust Levi and the two others?" I ask as Leo wraps an arm around me.
"Yeah, they seem genuine. Levi may be a little hard-headed but it's the apocalypse" He assures me, and I nod.
"Especially Hua, she's such a cutie" I say looking up at him, Leo chuckle then kisses my forehead and I snuggle closer to his side. "Wanna play a game of 20 questions?" I ask. I hear him hum and with that we start our game of 20 question. He asks me a question I ask him.
"How many siblings?" I ask playing with the hem of his shirt.
"1, an older brother" He answers easily then seems to think about a question. "Favorite color?"
"Easy, purple" This seems to go back and forth for some time. It wasn't anything deep. We both know about each other's pasts and we know the lines we're allowed to cross. After some time, I begin to feel sleepy.
"Go, I'm fine here" He says, I shake my head and snuggle closer. "Then at least sleep" He says, I nod slowly, and I feel him kiss my forehead, I close my eyes with a yawn, and I feel the darkness pull me into its abyss.
I'm standing on the other side of double-sided glass staring at my father who's sitting cuffed to a table with a cop in front of him. I'm standing beside on myself as we watch the interrogation happen. My father lying his ass off.
"I wasn't the one who shot my wife, I would never and could never do something so brutal" My father lies with tears in his eyes as he clenches his fist under the table. "I don't know what Mariah is telling people, but I would never"?
"If that's so, why were you chasing your daughter yelling at her?" The cop asks, I take a deep shaky breath, they can't let me back with that monster. They can't.
"I was trying to make sure she was alright, unfortunately that cost the real murderer to escape" My dad says shaking his head feigning sadness. "I couldn't let my Babygirl run out so recklessly" I Scoff loudly.
"Babygirl" I whisper in disgust.
"Your neighbors didn't see anyone escape; they were all outside" The cop says, my dad's face falters just a little and the cop seems to notice. As much as my dad knows how to act, his anger issues are and will always be there.
"Well then they're damn blind! I would never kill my wife" He says raising his voice a little more.
"He did it, I swear to you he did it" I tell the cop beside me in fear. He nods at me but says nothing else then I look at my father with teary eyes.
"He's the damn murderer."
Meanwhile Katie's POV
Tw: mentions of rape/sexual assault.
I look down at my ankle and back up, just to see Levi pointing the gun at me.
"what are you doing" I ask.
And then he lifts his gun and shoots a Z behind me.
"you weren't afraid that I would shoot you, were you, sunshine?" he taunts with a smirk. He helps me stand up, while looking up the window we jumped from.
"weird" he notes then looks at my feet, "is your ankle, okay?" Levi asks, I nod. Noah stands in front of us with an anxious face, and we walk towards him. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain at the lower part of my stomach. I touch where my wound was before, only to feel my hand getting wet. Levi stands beside me and he doesn't know what to do at all.
I pull back to see my hand covered in blood, it's now that I notice Levi panicking, because of his actions not because he said anything, his expression was enough.
"come on, let's go" I say, while I take my backpack and swing it onto my right shoulder and take Noah's hand in my left hand.
"I can take that" Levi says, while pulling my backpack from my shoulder. He is already carrying 2 bags; no, he won't take mine.
"no, you wo-"
"I don't fucking care what you want, right now I know that you are bleeding, and I won't let you die, so shut up for once."
First time in a long time I feel speechless, I am shocked, and by Noah expression I can see that he feels the same way.
"now can we fucking go, those Z will find a way to us." he says, less harshly this time. I just nod and follow him. After 15 minutes we are at a secluded spot, and alone at that.
"can I get my backpack now?" as a response I only get a glare back. I don't like him carrying everything. I scan the area.
"there" I point at a shopping cart, and slowly run to it. Levi understands and puts the bags on the ground in order to pull the cart out of the bushes. I could have done that too, why is he acting all macho?
The cart is ready, and I try to help him take the bags and put them into the cart, but my attempt to help fails, just by him glaring at me. Its only now that I notice how tired and sick Noah actually looks. I look down to Noah.
"hey buddy, are you tired?"
"yeah"
"Hop into the cart" Levi says, before I could even react, at Noah's response. I don't complain about it though.
We move forward, and Noah fell asleep in seconds. It's not as dark as before, the sky is getting more of a Persian blue color instead of navy to midnight blue. The silence is almost killing me, back before the apocalypse we would have at least heard some birds or maybe cars at this time.
"did you usually visit Japan or South Korea?"
"at least once a year with Hua, she loved it there" he pauses "where are you from?"
"I think America."
"you think?"
"yeah, I kind of grew up in an orphanage, so I am not sure about my ethnicity."
"hmm, I think that you look Italian" he pauses "are you into mafia boys" he says teasingly, and I react with a laugh that pains me. I need a break from walking.
"are you okay? Sit down" Levi almost demands. I do as he says, because it really pains me.
"let me see" Levi is about to pull up my shirt, but I stop him. "don't you dare touch me." I glare at him, I know his intentions are good but I'm not too keen on finding out If they're not.
"Katie" I hear my foster father Jackson call from downstairs. I don't want to go down, but I know for sure that I will get beaten if I don't answer and go down. "I am coming". I try to walk out of my room as slow as possible, hoping that something will come up or that he just forgets about me.
After 1 minute I reached the stairs, not slow enough, but usually I would be here after a few seconds.
"what the fuck is taking so long" I hear Jackson yell again.
"I am coming" I say a little loud, not daring to yell back.
I decided to just get over with it, what does he want anyways. Should I go out and buy him something, I come into the living room, seeing Jackson watching something on the Tv, as I walk in, I can see the Tv. He is watching porn. Why does he want me to come and see that I am standing still, shocked over the porn.
"I am here now" I say uncomfortably trying to ignore the Tv now.
"do you know what I want from you?" he asks, and I just shake my head in response.
"take of your clothes" he says with a disgusting smirk. I stand still, by body feels ice cold, frozen at this point.
"didn't you hear what the fuck I said" he yells at me. He takes a baseball bat from beside him; he always has it ready so he can hit me with it, that Is already enough to make me scared.
"I heard you" I answer while doing what he demanded from me.
"I just want to make sure that you're okay" Levi says, while making sure that he isn't too close to me.
"I can look at it on my own."
I pull my shirt up, seeing more blood than I did at the helicopter. Levi is eyeing my wound, but not coming a step closer. I look down again, but Levi catches my attention, he is taking his jacket off.
"what are you do-"
"can you shut the fuck up for a second" he proceeds to take off his shirt while facing away from me, I am surprisingly calm. But now he stands in front of me with no shirt on at all, I can see his bare shoulders, and a dragon tattoo, not one of those macho ugly ones, but an aesthetically pleasing one.
"here take it and wrap it around your wound" I take his shirt, and wrap it around my lower waist, while he puts back on his jacket.
"wont it be cold? You know since its winter soon."
"mind your own business."
"could you at least try not to be a fucking jerk for once" I exclaim. He is starting to annoy me. One second he's so nice the other he's an A-class jerk.
"we should stay here, until there is fully daylight" he ignores what I just said. I just nod as a response, my intention to fully ignore him until we get to the shopping mall. We are at a street alley, with almost no light and we are sitting down, still without saying anything.
A little while later I look around to see Levi sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed, and Noah is still in his cart and is sleeping like a stone.
"I am sorry."
"huh, what do you mean?" I ask Levi. Shoot I talked to him, I'm supposed to be ignoring. Bad Katie!
"it's just that I see you as a somewhat friend, and I don't want my new friend to die, so Instead of continuing of being friends I wanted to be an asshole. I am sorry."
"I won't die, even if I did, my ghost would haunt your ass" I pause "and your apology is accepted". What was that about? Am I starting to talk like Mariah?
I should try to at least act cool around Levi, he doesn't seem like the type that wants to be friends with stupid people.
Levi only nods as a response.
"I can have the night watch, so just sleep, I will protect you" a smile is on Levis face, with those words only I started to feel warm inside and fell asleep.
Mariah's POV
"Mariah" I feel someone shake me. I hit whoever's hands it is away from me. Then I feel them shake me even more, agitating me. I push them off whatever I'm lying on, I feel a certain satisfaction when I hear that loud thud from them falling.
"Mariah, wake up before I throw you out to the zombies" Leo exclaims, my eyes flutter open and I glance behind me to see him on the floor.
"No" I say and look away from him. I feel hands on my waist before I'm pulled down to the cold hard floor. I groan loudly before glaring at Leo who smirks in victory.
"When I get my hands on you, I will turn you into a Zombie" I say but before I can even sit up, he's on his feet running away. I get up and run after him only to be stopped by Luna.
"Alright, let's calm down a little" Luna says as Leo smirks at me tauntingly. I flip him my little bird, Luna grabs my hand and pulls it down but my other one raises at the same time giving Leo the bird. Brandon comes up from behind him and smacks him across the head making me laugh loudly. I have to hold onto Hua from all the laughing.
"Thank you, Brandon," I thank him. Then I notice the things in Brandon's hands. I furrow my brows, it's Antlia's bow and arrow.
"What are you doing with that?" I ask turning serious as I walk towards him. He holds the Bow and Arrow out towards me.
"I thought you'd like to have this" He says, I look at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" I ask, he gives me a small smile. "What I mean is, Antlia wouldn't have wanted this to collect dust and I know you have a pretty good aim" He explains. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I try to collect my thoughts before smiling at him.
"I won't disappoint you or Antlia"
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Writers; Kaynad M. & Maryam S.
Word count; 2391