~•~ Chapter 39 ~•~
“Take these,” Liam handed me four large guns, one on top of the other, his voice tight. I held the guns in my arms and jogged all the way back to the white Jeep, where Zayn and Kate were also doing the same job as I did.
I threw the guns at the space behind the back seats, knowing we'll be able to grab them instantly if anything happens. Kate leaned over the seat and grabbed my forearm, stopping me from jumping out. My eyes flicked to her blue eyes to find her smiling excitedly, confusing me.
“Oh shit, that is not a good sign.” I murmured, leaning closer to her.
She rolled her eyes. “Shut up and listen.” she spat, her cheeks flushing red slightly. “Chris and I had a long conversation last night.” she said, gaining my curiosity. “And we decided that we don't want to keep it a secret, and that we are going to take this further.”
My eyes widened and a squeal came from my lips. “Oh my God! Well done, Kate!” I said, reaching for her arm to give a gentle squeeze.
She beamed, “I told him that if he wants me, we will have to make it official. Not just hooking up and wasting time for fun.” she said, moving her free hand.
“You did the right thing.” I said, nodding once.
“I know. I like him a lot, but I'm not going to let him treat me like trash.” She stated, shaking her head to push her free blonde hair away from her shoulders.
“Yo, girls,” I suddenly felt someone tap my hip, making me gasp and turn my head to see Zayn staring at us. My cheeks blushed when I realised I was practically bending over in front of him. I moved back and stood straight up, “We got stuff to do, so enough with the gossips, okay? We got the whole ride for that.” he said seriously, his eyes amused though.
I rolled my eyes and pushed his shoulder with my hand, making me chuckle. “We were not gossiping.” I said, him raising a brow.
“Oh really? Were you talking about the raid, the rescue plan or the guns?” he said, moving his hand in the air.
“Uh, no.” I said, Kate appearing beside me.
“Totally gossiping.” Zayn huffed and walked away. I made a face and Kate chuckled.
“Sharing secrets isn't gossiping!” I claimed, loud enough for Zayn to hear. He moved his hand dismissively in the air, meaning he didn't care.
Kate chuckled and looked at me, “He's just messing with you.” she said.
“I know,” I shrugged. My eyes moved to Liam who was talking to a soldier, his face dead serious, making nervoussness rise into the pit of my stomach.
I then looked at Thomas and Louis, who were checking up some guns on the other corner. Then, my eyes caught Harry, who was walking through the room, wearing a beanie, carrying a backbag over his shoulder, his head lowered, face drowned in deep thought. Suddenly, all the worry and anxiety I tried to ignore came crashing back to me.
“Kate,” I said, turning to look at her. She raised her brows, “Do you think we'll make it?”
She frowned at my answer, her blue eyes covered in worry. “We can.” She nodded. She patted my shoulder, “Don't worry, we'll be okay.” she gave me a small encouranging smile.
I crooked a smile back, although it must have been obvious that it was a forced one. “Okay.” I murmured.
We went back to our job and helped the others fill the car with enough weaponary and medicines in case someone got hurt. When we were all done, we turned on our bracelets and jumped in the car. Zayn jumped in the driver's seat with Harry sitting at the passenger seat, while Louis was sitting next to me. My stomach churned when Harry turned to glance at me and Louis, his green eyes worried and uncertain.
The large gates opened and Zayn pressed on the gas. A few soldiers nodded at us as we drove past them and left the parking lot, the bright sun illuminating against the windows. It was warmer than usual, thankfully. I shifted in my seat and adjusted the belt around my chest. I was trying to get comfortable and although the seats were leather and puffy, I felt as if I was sitting on rocks. Probably because I was not feeling good about this mission.
I glanced behind us to see the red Jeep following us closely. I pinched my lips and looked down to my hands. Underground. It's going to be very difficult, considering we won't be able to run to different directions or hide.
“Ah, great.” Zayn murmured sarcastically and I looked up, my eyes widening slightly when I saw two zombies crawling on the ground towards us, blood trailing behind them.
“I got them.” Harry said firmly, raising the gun in his hands. He lowered the window and popped his head outside. He aimed and pulled the trigger twice, making the zombies' heads snap backwards and fall on an awkward angle.
Louis huffed, “More and more are coming towards the hideout.” he noted.
“I know, but this is not a subject I want to deal with right now.” Harry said tightly, eyes focused ahead.
His tone was cold and I bit my cheek, knowing he is against this, too. I know he hates the fact that we will put ourselves in an unknown danger, because he feels a great weight of responsebility on his shoulders for us.
“How far is it again?” I asked, looking outside the window.
“Three miles.” Zayn answered cooly.
“Once we find them, you call the helicopters.” Harry ordered.
“Roger.” Zayn nodded.
A couple of minutes later, we entered the city. More buildings were crashing down and the level of danger was rising up. Less hiding spots, more chances to get killed. I eyed down the empty streets, confused as to where all those zombies that chased us down the last time were at. Harry killed a few zombies we found our way, but it felt off seeing the city so empty. I had lived six months in this city, chased by zombies almost every day, and I knew how things went. And this..this wasn't normal.
“Niall said we are crazy fucks, you know.” Louis broke the silence a few minutes later, arms crossed over his chest as he lazily sat in his seat, head leaning against the window. “He said we are practically suiciding.” he added, chuckling lightly.
“Can't say he's wrong.” Zayn shrugged, agreeing with Niall's words. “Going to a cave under the fucking Earth will probably be our ticket to hell.” He said, turning the car on the left.
I flinched at his words, but I knew that he was partly right. None of us felt good about this and none of us really wanted to do it, but we knew that we can't just give up on the people down there.
“Don't bring anyone down, the last thing they want is someone to tell them we're going to die in their fucking faces.” Harry said firmly, his words making me look at him in awe. He still didn't want us to back down. He obviously hates cowards.
“We don't have to, they already know.” Zayn shrugged.
“No need to remind them, though.” I said, leaning forward to place my hands on the seat in front of me. My hands were right behind Zayn's shoulders and I could tell he was stiff and uncomfortable just like I was.
Silence again for a few minutes as we roamed through the city. Again, the lack of zombies moving around confused me. We found a few, but they were around seven, tops. I tightened my grip on the seat, peering over Zayn's shoulder ahead, gun in my lap loaded and ready. The warm weather made everything seem a little better.
We left the city and my stomach twisted nervously. We were reaching closer to our destination. We were going to do something good, but instead, it felt like we were making the worst mistake of our lives.
A couple of minutes later, the plane, or what was left of it, came to sight. My skin crawled when I saw how many parts of the plane were missing, thrown a few meters away, completely broken and damaged. The tail of the plane was in the air, since the front was sank into the dirt. Also, the white colour had turned into deep brown because of the fire. I could also see blood at some places, making my stomach tighten painfully.
“Do you see any cave?” Zayn asked, leaning slightly forward.
“I see a hole right there,” Louis leaned between the two front seats and pointed at a hole a few meters away from the plane, large enough for people to jump down.
“That must be it then.” Harry said. “Pull over.”
I inhaled deeply as the vehicle came to a slow stop. I jumped out of the car, the sun hitting my skin and making me squint under the light. The guns around my waist felt heavier as I rounded the Jeep to meet the others. Liam, Chris, Kate and Thomas came towards us, while Harry checked around the area with his eyes, his hand on his forehead to block the sun from his eyes.
“Shit, that plane turned into pieces.” Louis said, kicking a glass from the ground.
“I highly doubt that there will be more than ten survivors.” Chris huffed, peering around.
“Even if there's only one, we need to take him with us back to the hideout.” Harry said, turning to look at us. His green eyes were now filled with strength and power. He was determined to do it.
While a part of me still hesitated to go down there, I knew we had to.
“Let's go.” Harry said, turning around and walking away.
I locked eyes with Thomas, who was still unsure about that, and nodded at him. He nodded back before we followed the others. His shoulder brushed against mine as we walked, my eyes focused on Harry's stressed back. He walked with such determination and confidence, although I knew deep inside, he was still debating whether to do this or not. But it was too late to back up now.
We reached the 'entrance' and circled it, our heads lowered. To be honest, I was really scared to go down there. Harry looked between us before taking out a flashlight, “Don't take the whole day.” He said and crouched down. I held my breath as he slipped a leg into the hole and then the other, holding his body in the air with his hands flat against the ground. He looked up at his, his muscles on his arms flexing. “Louis you're next.” He said before dropping himself down, making me gasp as he disappeared into the hole.
Louis rolled his eyes. “See you down there.” he said before swiftly copying Harry's actions and dropping himself down the hole.
“Ladies first.” Chris said, looking at Kate.
My heart tugged as she stared at the hole, chewing on her lower lip. She then looked at me and gave me a “don't worry” look before she climbed down the hole, her hands gripping the ground the last thing I saw from her before she disappeared into the darkness.
Sighing, I followed. I crouched down and slid both legs into the hole, immidiately feeling the freezing air hit me. I held my weight on my hands, gritting my teeth tightly before I let go, causing my feet to connect with something stick underneath. The bright light disappeared and was replaced by darkness and heavy rocks surrounding me.
“Claire,” Kate's voice called and I turned arouns, my eyes taking a few seconds to adjust. She was standing next to Louis, who was looking around with his flashlight on. Harry was a few steps away, checking up the area.
My eyes widened as I walked closer to Kate. The place was like large caves connected together. There was even a small river parting two paths, but the water was into a deep brown colour. There was even a lighting inna blue colour coming from a large row of sparkling rocks. It was kind of beautiful, but also creepy.
Loud thuds followed and I turned my head to see that Thomas and Zayn had joined us. They looked around, frowning. Chris jumped down a few seconds later. He brushed dirt off his shirt and grimaced.
“Wow man, this place is huge.” Zayn mused, looking around. He turned on his flashlight, “Liam, look at these rocks.” he pointed at the blue shining rocks.
“I know right, we need to get one of those to study them.” Liam agreed, smirking.
“Guys,” Harry said, causing us all to turn and look at him. He was already a few feet ahead, “Stay focused.”
“Sorry.” Zayn shrugged.
We moved further into the cave, the chilly air causing my skin to crawl. I glanced on my right to see Thomas beside me, scanning around the area with his eyes. I kept my flashlight on, making sure I won't step on something and fall.
“Shouldn't they be here?” Zayn asked from behind me.
“They might went deeper into this cave to hide.” Liam muttered.
The dirt beneath our feet turned sticky, and I looked down to see mud. I grimaced, hating that with each step, I sunk down into the ground. “Did I say how much I hate it down here?” Louis hissed, two steps in front of me.
“We just got here.” Thomas huffed, pulling his foot out from the mud beside me.
“Still, I fucking hate mud.” Louis claimed, looking up at the ceiling. “Careful, there's something dripping over here.” he said as he walked away.
“Less whining.” Harry muttered, loud enough for anyone to hear.
“I haven't even started yet.” Louis murmured.
We moved even further into the cave, but we found no one. Harry came to a halt and raised a hand, making us all stop in our tracks. I squinted in the dark and raised my flashtllight towards Harry's direction, my eyes widening when I saw blood scattered all over a stone wall and a dead body lying next to it, arms missing.
“Well, looks like we found the first survivor.” Louis said.
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A/N: Heyy guyys! Next chapter will be MIND-BLOWING! Thanks for reading! Love youu xx