~•~ Chapter 3 ~•~
Don't forget where you belong..home..
Claire's POV
The iron doors opened, showing me a large place, full of people, making my eyes widen in surprise. Lights were on the ceiling and multiple tables were in the room, people sitting down and peacefully eating. A fee children were running around, playing and laughing as well. Louis even joined and started chasing them, causing them to squeal and run faster. The sight in front of me brought a smile to my lips.
It was the first time I had seen so many people after months of hiding and trying to survive. The smell of chicken and fries hit my nostrils, making my stomach grumble. I saw Niall and Liam sit at a table by the corner, joining a few more guys. Zayn and Louis were talking to the children, making them laugh with a few jokes probably. Heat touched my cold skin, making my muscles relax. This place is totally heaven.
"Wow, I never thought this could ever happen.." I admitted, muttering.
Harry let a light chuckle and turned to look at me. "Welcome home, Carla." he said.
"My name's Claire." I corrected.
"Same thing." he shrugged and walked further into the room, me following from behind. How on Earth can Carla and Claire be the same thing?
"How did you save all these people? I thought it was impossible to find more then two people alive." I said, my eyes searching around the place in awe.
"We go on raids, we sometimes find people and we take them with us, just like I did with you." he said, glancing at me from his shoulder. "At first, we were around 10 people, hidden at a supermarket, since there were a lot of zombies outside. Then the army came in and brought us here. Now I'm in charge, along with the rest of the boys that were in the car. We got weapons, we got bombs, we can keep everyone safe. We're trying to save our last hint of humanity. The infected are increasing in number and we get stronger by day." he said, leading me through the multiple tables, probably heading to the one Niall and Liam went.
"This is great." I commented, my eyes now flitting between the different dishes on the tables, my stomach grumbling again.
"We also have rules, which is to respect each other, have the same amount of food for each, and keep peace." he explained, moving his hand in the air. I noticed a few people giving a greeting nod to him, Harry returning them curtly. They all seem so respectful, so thankful, just like I am. Harry saved, after all.
"That's easy." I said casually,
He came to a halt and turned to look at me, brows pulled low over his emerald green eyes. "Easier said than done." he pointed out, before walking further by my side.
"We're now over 150. Half of them are probably sleeping, considering they're mostly children and young teenagers." he said casually, making my eyes widen.
"Over 150? In here? That's a miracle." I chuckled lightly, his lips curling into the tiniest smile ever.
"We've worked hard to make sure everyone has everything needed. It's been tough, but we made a good work." he said proudly, his green eyes moving around the room.
"Indeed." I nodded in agreement.
"Oh my God. Claire, is that you?!"
I swung around, Harry copying me at the sudden familiar voice that called for me. My wide eyes landed on the person who said my name, quickly taking in the blue eyes and blonde hair. Happiness, excitement and heat flooded through me as my hands came up to my mouth, my eyes widening even more.
"Kate?!" I gasped, feeling tears form into my eyes.
Her lips curled into a wide grin as she started running towards me, her arms open to welcome me to her embrace. I couldn't hold myself from running towards her and wrapping my arms so tightly around her neck as I hugged her to me. My eyes started stinging from thr tears as I inhaled her familiar scent, my body melting against hers.
"Oh thank God you're safe!" she sighed heavily, tightening even more her arms around me.
"I thought you were dead." I admitted, my voice coming out shakey.
We had parted ways when one night the zombies entered our hideout. We were running away from them as they chased us and just like that, she disappeared from around me. She probably had tried to sneak into a building or something, but I couldn't find her. I even ran back towards the zombies to find her but she was nowhere. I had been revisiting the same place every day for three weeks, calling out her name desperatedly, but she was gone. And then's when I thought she was dead, because there was no way she would've survived without a place to stay and food.
"That's what I thought about you, too." she breathed and pulled back just enough to look at me with teary, blue eyes.
"Where did you go? I wss searching everywhere for you." I asked, confusion hitting me again.
She sighed. "Sneaked behind a building just to hide and then's when Louis found me. He told me he was going to take me somewhere safe and I insisted that we should take you with us, but when we turned to find you you were running towards the zombies and then you were gone. I..I thought you died.." she explained quickly, making my heart sink.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Louis cut in, appearing behind Kate, Zayn by his side. Kate turned to look at him, her arm still wrapped around me to keep me close. "Reunion?" he grinned.
Kate nodded. "She's my sister. Who found her?" she said and my eyes moved to Harry.
"Harold," Louis smirked. "Our golden boy."
Harry scoffed. "Shut up." he said gruffly. "I still have a lot to show her, so Kate, would you mind?" he said casually, cocking a broe at my sister. He wasn't actually asking, he was more of like being rhetorical. "You girls will talk later." He said and started walking, Kate seeming a bit disappointed.
Jesus, it feels so unreal to have my sister next to me, alive, safe and sound.
Louis shared grimaces with Zayn and they both shrugged. "Kate, come join us at the table. Leave Claire with Harry." he said simply and Kate nodded before half-heartedly let go of me.
"I'll see you later." she told me and I nodded, giving her a small smile.
"I'm glad you're still alive. I missed you." I told her.
She grinned. "I missed you, too, Claire." she gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and walked away with Louis and Zayn.
I jogged to catch up with Harry, quickly wiping away the tear that rolled down my cheek. Harry glanced at me before speaking. "It's been a long time since you last seen her, huh?" he said.
"Yes." I let a small sigh. "So, what else is there you have to show me?"
"Right." he nodded, refocusing on the previous subject. "We have rooms for everyone, around three hundred rooms. Everybody has its own room so we could all have our privacy." he said as he pressed a button next to another iron gate, making it open.
We stepped into a long, large hallway, with blue lights on the ceiling and windows on the walls, showing the rooms inside that had well made beds, dressers and small mirrors. My eyes widened as I looked around at the clean place. This is so cool. This is like a dream coming true.
"I'm going to show you your room now. Unfortunately it's not next to Kate, but at least you two are here so you will spend time every day together." he said casually, carelessly. "We have the windows just to make sure everybody is okay. Some times the chemical ingredients that are used to clean our rooms infect our systems, and we need to be prepared just in case." he explained.
I nodded. "You have the same room as us? Or do you, the leaders, have different ones?" I asked.
"Same rooms for everyone, Carry." he said flatly.
"Claire." I corrected, giving the side of his face a blank look.
"Don't really care." he shrugged, sending a jolt of frustration through me. "Your room is number 151. And here is your key." he said, pressing a button on the white wall.
A small dresser opened from the wall, making me jump. A key was placed in it and Harry quickly took it before handing it to me. "Don't lose it." he ordered.
"Also, we have a few shifts. We clean the kitchen, do the dishes, stuff like that. No big deal, but we have to do it so it will be fair for everyone."
"You do the dishes?" I raised a brow.
He shrugged. "Whenever is my shift, yeah." he glanced at me. "I'm going to give you the same shift as Kate so you two are together."
"Alright, that would be nice."
I mean, if doing the dishes and mopping floors is what I have to do to stay here then I'm totally fine with it.
After a few more minutes of walking, we approached my room. I turned the key into the lock and the circular door opened, letting me in. The fresh smell of lemon hit my nostrils as I stepped inside, my eyes taking in the bed covered in white sheets and pillows. A dresser and a small mirror. A small smile pulled at my lips. My room. I will finally sleep in a bed after all this time.
"The restrooms are on the other side, but I'm sure you're too tired to go there. You're also injured and probably hungry." Harry said as he leaned against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. "I'm going to send Liam to take care of your wounds, and bring you some food."
I gave him a small smile. "Thank you."
He nodded, green eyes studying me. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to see your skills on that gun." He wasn't even asking me if I wanted to do that, but I knew that I had no choice.
"Okay."
"Sleep well." he said and turned around to leave.
"Wait," I called and he turned around, raising a questioning brow. "Thank you, for saving me and for bringing me here." I said, feeling his eyes read my soul as I said those words.
He stared at me for a few seconds, lip tucked between his lower lip. "Yeah, no problem. Welcome to your new home." he said casually and left the room.
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A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long but I had been quite busy lately *huffs* Hope you liked this one tho ;) Now please vote/comment/fan/share :)
A picture of Claire (Gigi Hadid) on the side :D
Thank you for reading! Love yaa x