~•~ Chapter 64 ~•~
My bloody stained clothes were collided to my skin and my hair was messy as I walked back to the Jeep. I couldn't help but feel good and relieved after taking all my emotions out. The zombies I stepped on felt like the red carpet for me. Like I had just won an award.
I actually had won a war.
I saw Louis and Liam talking in the Jeep and when they looked at me, shock and anger was written across their features. Harry was basically a moving angry body. I know he is furious at me for disobeying his orders, but to be completely honest, I didn't care.
"You almost got yourself fucking killed and you wouldn't stop even for a damn second." Harry hissed as he rounded the car. Zayn jumped in and I followed.
"Here's our psycho," Louis greeted, giving me a judging look.
"I thought that was you," I shot back.
"Have you ever seen me running like a fucking maniac towards the zombies – like literally commiting fucking suicide? Nuh uh," He sassed back, giving me s strange look.
Harry jumped in and his green eyes were glowing with anger. "What the hell got into you?" he hissed, glaring at me from the passenger's seat.
"I did my duty, kill the zombies." I stated, trying my best not to laugh at their angry faces. I know what I did shocked and scared the hell out of them, but I wouldn't do it if I wasn't sure that I could make it. Besides, it felt right.
Louis scoffed and Liam rolled his eyes while Zayn handed me a backbag with clothes. "Are you fucking kidding me? Your duty is to fucking obey my orders!" Harry spat, making me shiver.
"You broke the damn circle and you ran away like you wanted to die! And you didn't even listen to me fucking shouting at you to come back! You could've gotten yourself killed!" Harry stated angrily, throwing his hands in the air.
As much as his angry side scared me, I felt completely calm. "I didn't though, did I?" I said, pulling out from the backbag a clean sweater.
"Oh my God," Louis muttered, shaking his head in frustration.
"Claire are you dumb?" Zayn gave me a weird look.
"I already lost a soldier a few minutes ago — fuck knows what I would've done if I lost another one!" Harry scolded at me.
"I'm fucking okay, I wouldn't do this if I didn't know I was going to make it!" I stated, growing slightly impatient with their behavior.
"Yeah but you could've gotten some of us killed as we were fucking running after you to stop you!" Louis shot, pointing at me.
"I know and I'm sorry, but you guys are making a way bigger deal out of this," I claimed, causing them to look at me in disapproval. "I couldn't control myself okay? I've lost so many people, like so many," tears started to form in my eyes but I tried my best to push them back. "I was just so angry that I couldn't hold it anymore. It was either that, or staying in the car crying, and I hate crying, so I picked the first one." I said, sniffing at the end.
Their gazes seemed to soften, but Harry was still glaring daggers at me. "That is not an excuse." He spat.
"What did you expect me to do?" I growled, suddenly angry again. "You told me to go out there and fight and so did I! What's the problem now?!" I raised my voice.
"I wanted you to fucking listen to my orders! You could easily do the same job by staying here!" He snapped back.
The tension started to build again and the rest of the boys seemed to become awkward.
"What's the matter if I did my job and came back safe? Why do I only have to listen to your orders to make my job right?!" I yelled. I have to say, I don't like this whole 'I'm the soldier and I need to obey orders' thing. After Casey's arrival, I feel like I don't want to obey any fucking rule and just do my thing.
"Because I'm the damn leader! You don't just go and do what you want! You can't be that selfish and think only of yourself for fuck's sake!" He roared, making the boys look at each other awkwardly. "You can just do what you want and let others try to protect you from getting yourself killed!"
"I was out there without any of these fucking things you got and survived! I think that says a lot, huh?" I sassed, raising a brow. "And it felt right! Unlike you I follow my insticts and don't just do what the others tell me to do!" I snapped, causing Zayn to cover his mouth with his hand.
Harry's eyes widened and I know he was about to explode. I felt slightly bad for what I said, but it's the truth. If it wasn't for me talking to him that day, he would've left without thinking of staying.
"Oh you think I don't want to follow my insticts and do what I want? You think I'm a damn robbot following orders?!" He shouted, a vein bulging out beneath his skin on his neck.
"You would've left us, Harry! Don't try to come on top now!" I scowled, blinking away the tears.
"Yes but I fucking stayed because I love you!" he burst, making me gasp.
And silence followed. Awkward silence as the boys stared at me and Harry in shock. My heart was now reacing with anticipation, warmth and nervoussness. Harry shoved his hand through his hair and looked away. I noticed a grin breaking on Louis' face but he looked over to Zayn and shook his head, his eyes wide.
I seriously never felt more awkward in my entire life.
My entire face flushed and I swear the car just turned hot. Harry pulled his lips together and cleared his throat while I felt my mouth dry. I seriously didn't know what to say.
"Well, that was a shock," Louis broke the silence, a hint of tease in his voice.
"Did I really just hear that?" Liam asked slowly, his wide eyes focused on Harry.
Harry sighed and turned to look at us. "I was going to tell you guys tonight but the raid happened," he shrugged, suddenly seeming confident and relaxed.
"Are you kidding me?" Zayn said, his eyes flitting back and forth between me and Harry. "You two? Together?"
"Yeah," I muttered, shyly.
"Oh shit," Louis said, a smirk on his face. "Styles is in a fucking relationship."
"Shut up, Louis." Harry shook his head and looked away.
"You got the bravest girl in our place, well done, bro," Zayn teased, making me chuckle.
"Fuck off," Harry spat, but a smirk appeared on his lips.
"As happy as I am for you two, we totally missed the point." Liam stated. "Claire, don't do anything like this ever again," He looked at me seriously.
I sighed, knowing that they are overprotective but they have the right to, especially after what happened earlier. "Okay." I said.
"We must move, we are close to the borders," Harry said.
"Yeah, let's go," Louis said.
I quickly changed my sweater and my jeans in the car while the boys discussed about our plan when we reach the factory, without looking at the very back seat, where I was changing. I had also cleaned my skin with some napkins and water. The heat in the car was turned on so I wouldn't catch a cold. I also soaked my hair and dryed them with a towel. I was glad Harry had brought all these things with us. I tied my hair up in a ponytail and layed back, since I had the last seat only for myself.
My muscles felt sore and thanks to the many hits on the ground my back ached slightly but I ignored it. A tight knot was in my stomach as we drove closer to the factory. I couldn't help but feel odd now that boys knew about me and Harry, except from Thomas and Niall. I wanted Harry to tell them when they were alone, drinking beers or something, but it turned out this way that I would never imagine.
Harry shouting at me that he loves me in front of his friends made me feel so good yet so awkward. But I can't change what happened but to be honest, I actually liked that Harry told he loves me in front of his friends. It made me feel special in some kind of way.
"Alright, psycho Claire," Louis turned to look at me, resting his forearms on the top of the seat in front of mine. "Harry and me are in the front, Zayn, you and Liam cover us while Harry talks to the jerk up at the gate so we can enter. No running away and going all maniac, alright?"
I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Yes."
"Good. Also, I know you're holding too much inside, but please, don't let your feelings take over you while you're in a battle." he made a face. "Some times it causes the person to get over-confident and do things that cause bad trouble."
"Like Casey?" I said, raising my brows.
"That bitch is a small example of what can happen to over-confident soldiers these days." he said, moving his hand.
I pursed my lips and looked up at the ceiling of the car. "I can't believe we just lost Chris, Louis." I muttered sadly, feeling the back of my eyes burn with tears.
"Neither can I.." he murmured frowning. "At least now he gets to be with Kate."
My heart cracked and I nodded, hoping and wishing that Chris and Kate have found peace and they are eventually together in the after life. The vehicle came to a stop and I shifted, propping my body on my elbows. "Are we there?"
"Yeah, we can't get any closer by car, so let's go," Harry said, jumping out of the car.
"Don't get all psycho because I might shoot you in the leg." Louis pointed at me, eyes serious.
I huffed and grabbed two guns before jumping out of the car. My knife was in my boots and I knew I could count on that when my bullets run low. The cold wind hit me again and I knew that I was definitely going to catch a cold at least. Harry and Louis ran forward as Zayn, Liam and I covered their backs by aiming around and following them.
It was so dark and only one streetlight was working. Every noise that reached my ears turned on alarms in my mind. After such a strong and chaotic rampage I went through, I was on edge and I was more than prepared for anything. We has to climb over an iron hedge and jump over so we could win time.
I could now see the large factory a few meters away and their white LED lights around the balconys. My heart made a jump, relief flooding through me. Just as we neared a few more meters, loud screams and growls were heard. I swung around with my gun aiming at the darkness, my hands slowly getting sweaty.
"Go!" Liam yelled at Louis and Harry and they immidiately sprinted down towards the factory.
That's when the zombies came out from the darkness, storming and shouting wildly. I started firing, shotguns echoing around me. Zayn and Liam looked like pro FBI agents, because they were wearing those special outfits for raids covering their entire body in black leather and a bulletproof jacket, which made them look even more attractive.
We started backing up towards the factory without stopping shooting the zombies. Their red eyes were glowing and their pale skin looked so thin and damaged that you could see their bones. I tried to ignore the shivers down the back of my neck, but it was impossible.
"Claire! Watch out!" Liam said and I ducked down. He shot a few zombies coming from my left that I didn't hear and I immidiately stood up.
"Thanks Liam!" I yelled and backed away again, my gun still raised and steady.
Suddenly, two bright lights came towards us and a loud screeching noise of tires was heard, making me crigne. My heart raced with fear and shock as a Jeep came running towards us. My eyes widened and I swiftly grabbed Zayn's arm and ran towards the other side, following Liam who was currently running like a cheetah. The Jeep fell over as it tried to take a turn and the front glass was shattered to pieces, along with the doors.
I came to a halt and turned around to see the driver coughing and trying to get out of the broken window, blood running down his forehead. "Guys come on!" I yelled and ran towards the Jeep.
A zombie tried to grab my shoulder but I smacked my gun against his head, causing him to fall on the ground with a groan. Liam and Zayn followed after me, constantly firing around at the zombies. My heart was now racing with worry.
The man had barely got out of the Jeep when we approached him. "Come on man, get up," Liam said, bending down and offering his hand.
The man coughed and looked at us in shock. "What are you d-doing here?! Y-you m-must leave!" he shouted, blood covering half his face.
"We will, but you're coming with us." Liam said as he helped the man stand up. He wrapped the man's arm around his neck and handed his gun to Zayn. "I need to get him inside now." he said.
"Go first, we're right behind you," I assured, loading my other gun.
"Right, come on," Liam said, moving as fast as he could towards the factory with the injured man.
"You take the left side I take the right," Zayn said and I nodded.
The zombies went wild and grew in number. I couldn't even take a break to lower my gun and my muscles on my arms felt sore. "Go!" I yelled at Zayn when I saw that they were surrounding us.
We ran towards the factory and I could now see Harry, Louis, Liam and the man standing outside the gate. My eyes widened in anger and shock. What the hell?
"Why the fuck aren't they inside already?!" Zayn yelled, firing at the zombies behind him.
I let an angry grunt and heard the click come from my empty gun. I didn't have time to load it so I turned around and threw the gun at the zombies with force, making a few of them to fall down. An awful smell hit my senses, making me grimace. My heart sounded like fucking bombs to my ears. The adrenaline was running high and my legs felt as if they were on fire. They were too many. I started having doubts if Zayn and I were going to make it this time.
I pushed and pushed myself harder. I was panting heavily and my gun felt hot in my sweaty palm. A glance at the factory gates told me they had opened and they were waiting for us. Hope started to rebuild inside of me.
"Zayn! We need a distraction!" I yelled through the loud shotguns.
"I have nothing to use!" He yelled back, voice showing desperation.
Suddenly, more shotguns were heard and I turned my head to see Louis and Harry shooting at the zombies from the gates, helping us. My heart skipped a beat as heat grew within my chest. "Come on Zayn! We got this!" I encouranged, knowing that we had to keep each other going on otherwise we were going to give up.
I swear, I felt like collapsing on the ground. Sweat tickled my neck and my gun almost slipped from my hand. I kept shooting behind me, hoping that we would manage to create some more space between me and the walking dead. One glance behind me caused my heart to pick up its pace even more. A large wave of red eyes was after us. The chances to survive were not many.
"Come on! Come on!" Louis yelled at us.
We got closer to the gates and I took in Harry's worried eyes. Just when we passed through the gates, my body seemed to relax. I fell down on my knees and panted while Zayn layed down on the ground while the others kept killing the zombies that managed to reach inside and closing the gates. My body was so exhausted and the air wasn't enough for my lungs.
"Shit guys, are you okay?" Louis turned to us, eyes wild.
"Fuck me, that was a fucking nightmare." Zayn spat, hand over his forehead.
My heart was loudly crashing against my ribs and my ears were ringing. A few blood stains were on me but I didn't care. Harry crouched down between me and Zayn and scanned us from head to toe.
"Did you get hurt?" he asked, looking between me and Zayn.
"No." Zayn said and I shook my head.
"Thank God," he murmured, his eyes zooming in on me. "We're here now. Let's go." he urged.
Zayn and I locked eyes. "I need my bed." I said, making him chuckle.
"Let's get this over with and we'll soon be back to our beds." he said, slowly standing up.
"Now that's a motive." I said, making him chuckle.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Things will get messy, don't worry! Now vote & comment! Thanks for reading babes! Lots of loveee xoxo