A/N: So, I have finally decided to continue this story......sort of.....there's this chapter, but I have absolutely no idea when I'll post another, seeing as I'm currently juggling Runaways as well as another book that I'm writing and adding this onto that pile will just create a gigantic mess. So here's chapter 15, hope you like it :)
Allyson's P.O.V
My eyes snap open to see a canopy of trees above me, slightly fuzzy from my sleepy eyes. I stretch and sit up, casting my gaze around the clearing. There's no sign of Callista or Robbie anywhere and by the angle of the sun I can tell that it's coming up on noon. Did I really sleep for that long? Whatever happened to my 'always wake up at dawn' 2 year regimen? Did Robbie and Callista drug me or something? Why am I asking myself questions while those two could be missing?
I stand up abruptly and search for any signs of life apart from myself, there's a smattering of footsteps that we made last night, but other than that, no clue remains as to where my compainions have disappeared to.
"Robbie? Callista? Are you guys here?" I start, taking a step towards the tent, "Oi fruitcake!! Where are you!"
I hear a groan coming from the tent and open the flap to see a very tired looking Robbie staring at me with bleary eyes. "The best part of the dream to."
"You can dream later, it's almost noon. Besides, have you seen Callista?"
He blinks owlishly a few times, "I don't know, I fell asleep in here after the two of you passed out in front of the fire last night."
"Well she's not here."
I shut Robbie back into the tent and go over to where the remains of last night's fire are still smouldering and find a simple message scratched into the ground.
Thank You
"She's gone."
"What do mean she's gone?"
"I mean, she must have left last night while we were sleeping."
Robbie begins to rant as I allow my thoughts to wander. It's never nice having to say goodbye to someone you like -which in my case is very rare, I'm not a people person- but I have to give Callista some credit for instead choosing to avoid the inevitable confrontation. I guess we were more alike that I thought.
"She even took some of our food!"
I spin on heel, "Robbie, I told her last night that she could. What else was I supposed to do? Abandon her in the woods to starve to death? Or maybe the Z's would catch up to her first!"
Robbie takes a step back, shocked at my outburst, "Well..I...I guess you couldn't of..but.." he stutters out. "But what?" I say, surprising the both of us with the venom that has somehow creeped into my tone.
"But you never would've done that before."
I don't bother to respond, trapped instead in the whirling vortex of my thoughts. Callista's story dug up unwanted memories that I would rather stayed buried. Memories of when I actually, for the first time in 4 years, had the feeling that my life was heading in the better direction, but then he just had to go and shatter all that....no, his appearance in my life didn't shatter anything, it was his departure that crumbled the walls I had spent 5 years carefully rebuilding. I can't tell Robbie anything about that, not him, not anyone.
"Allyson? You zoned out there for a second, you okay?"
I stare at Robbie's eyes, those eyes that remind me so much of his, and I feel the memories start to surface again, "I'm fine, let's just pack up and get to San Francisco. The Immortui made us lose precious time and ground. Jay's going to think we're dead." I say, though even I can tell the seemingly normal tone in my voice is faked, and I can tell by Robbie's face that he sees it to.
"Well okay then, but I hardly think that 2 days is much of a setback, besides, your side is going to be the cause of more problems."
"It won't. He shot me with a blank."
"Wait what?!" Robbie exclaims, suddenly looking at me with a newfound interest.
I sigh, preparing to tell him something I figured out awhile ago -to be honest, something he should've to...- "Think about it Robbie, if I was shot with a real bullet at that distance, I would've been ripped apart."
He sits back, "Oh, I guess you're right then. Why did he have a blank though? It would've been easier to kill us on the spot."
"I don't know, the Immortui are fucked up. Probably wanted to see us die at the hands of their "friends."
Robbie laughs and I feel the tense feeling in the air literally vanish, "Some friends indeed."
I smile and start to go about cramming our meager amount of possessions into the few bags we have. You learn quite a few things while on the road, and one of those just happens to be the ability to pack efficiently, well, I've learned it at least. Robbie still can't figure out how to work a tent, so that job pretty much falls to me. In fact...
"Allyson, can you do this for me?"
Still not admitting defeat I see, "Sure Robbie, you get the food and weapons."
The boy sets off to do his task and I find myself slipping back down deeper into my memories, and this time, there's no ladder to pull me out.
(7 months ago)
"You know I have to leave again right? This time it's Elko."
He sighs, the slight breeze ruffling his ebony hair, "Yeah, no one can ever catch a break around here right?"
"Not if you're a Z hunter that is." I say.
"True."
We sit there in silence for what seems like the longest time, just enjoying the precious moment where for once our lives aren't completely filled with killing zombies. Moments that rarely come in this world.
"So where's your friend? The hyper one who still doesn't have any idea I exist? Bobbie right?"
I laugh, "Hyper indeed, and his name is Robbie by the way. He's somewhere in the camp, out exploring. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm sleeping."
He laughs, the sound music to my ears no matter how corny that sounds, "The brave hunter Allyson Darlington sleeping before the sun sets? What? Has the world suddenly gone back to normal while we were talking? Cause if it has then we're going to get a Happy Meal."
A smile finds it's way onto my face despite my protests, "Of course the first thing you would do would be going to McDonalds."
"What can I say? My stomach comes first." We both laugh and he settles down on his elbows, mirroring my position and squinting his eyes as the bright setting sun sends off it's rays, "But seriously though, if everything just went back to normal, what would you do?"
I stay silent for a bit, thinking about my response so that when it does comes, it's seriously delayed, "I would go back, find my family, and say that I love them." I stop, pushing back memories of That Night, "I never got the chance to you know. I was at a friend's house the night before so her parents drove us to school. And then.....it was just like I wasn't there anymore. People were crying, screaming, dying, and yet to me, none of it felt real. I couldn't think straight you know? I thought it was all a bad dream for fuck's sake! Everyone was dying and I thought it was a fucking dream!" I feel tears start to leak out of the corners of my eyes but don't bother to wipe them away, "I thought if I just went home that it would all be okay, my mom would give me hug and it would all be nothing more than a memory, but irony is sick isn't it? Because when I got home I didn't find my caring mother and father, I found 2 monsters disgracing their corpses." By now I was full out sobbing and he was trying to comfort me but I still managed to somehow choke out the story, feeling like I had to, "And then my brother was telling me to run and I just ran. I ran and I ran, never stopping when the screams covered the whole city like a woolen blanket, not when they stopped and silence came down instead, I just ran until I couldn't anymore, all the while thinking about how I never said "I love you"
"Hey hey, it's okay." He says.
I sniffle a bit, blinking through my tears, of course he would say that, he's my...
(Present)
Boyfriend, he was my boyfriend, that is, until they told me he died in a Z attack.
Damien.
I should of told Callista the truth.