This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 38

Once reaching the top of the steps, we found the dog barking at the window at the end of the hall. Xavier had stopped, not daring to approach the window. I didn't see anything there. The dog continued to yap at what appeared to be nothing, but I had learned by now that we should expect the unexpected with these monsters. I was scared to approach the window as well, but I needed to quiet the dog. We didn't need the noise to alert one of the monsters. 

Slowly, I approached the small dog. When I was close enough to it, I carefully reached out my hand to touch him. When I did, the dog turned to me, excited to see me. I picked him up in my arms and then stood back up. I should have just backed away from the window, but curiosity got the better of me. I needed to know what the dog was barking at. If it was dangerous then we needed to hide. 

When I looked outside, I didn't see anything at first. I didn't see any zombies roaming around, nor any people. At least, I didn't see anything until something below moved. The dog saw it, too, and began to wag its tail. My eyes must have been deceiving me as I stared at the person who was now looking back at me. A girl with tan skin and brown hair looked at me. She may have had a hood up to hide her face, but that didn't stop me from recognizing her. 

"Riley . . ." But it couldn't be. There was no way. I saw her start to change in front of my eyes.  I heard the gunshot, I knew that she was dead.

The girl turned and ran away, which caused me to lose all rational thinking. I needed to go after her. I had to know who she was, and part of me hoped she was my friend, even though I knew that was impossible. I turned, handed the dog to Xavier, then ran past my group. 

"Aiden, where the hell do you think you're going?" Alex called after me, but I wouldn't stop for him. If they wanted to follow me, then that was their choice. 

I was out of the front door and following in the direction that I saw the girl run. At this point, I didn't think that I would be able to catch up to her, but I was determined to try. Who was she and could she possibly be Riley? If she was, then how? And how the hell did the dog know that she was there? It was a small dog, so there was no way that he would have been able to see her from out of the window. There was something about that girl, and I wanted answers. 

I could see her in front of me. It didn't seem as though she was in that much of a rush to get away from me. She was planning this. This girl wanted me to follow her. But why?

Eventually, I saw the girl stop at a park. I slowed down my pace, looking around me to see if there was any sign of danger. I chased after her without thinking, so I could easily have fallen into a trap. She couldn't be a monster. If she was, then she would have attacked me by now. She wouldn't have run away as she did. 

I stopped before getting too close to her. She had her back turned to me. She had to know that I was there, but she didn't say anything. She didn't turn to look at me either. I was desperate to see her face again, but I was reluctant to get too close. I couldn't force her to turn and face me either. 

"Why did you take me here?" I asked quietly. 

She was silent for a moment, before saying, "We used to play here a lot when we were kids. I wanted to go somewhere familiar, and I guess I kind of wanted to feel like a child again. A lot has happened, so I wanted to go somewhere that I could forget for a moment."

Hearing her voice made me choke up. I had to be hallucinating. That was the only explanation for what was going on right now. 

"You're not Riley. Riley died. I saw her start to change, and I heard the gunshot when she took her life. Whoever you are, this isn't funny to play with me like this." I clenched my fists. I didn't appreciate this sick game that they were trying to play on me. 

"I am dead, Aiden. My heart no longer beats, I feel cold, and there's a terrible desire that keeps trying to take over. I am clinging on to whatever humanity that I have left. While I'm still me, I did want to see you again. I don't have much time left before they come after me again," she said.

"What do you mean? Who's after you?" 

"A place called Sanctuary." She let out a sigh, then turned to face me. 

Riley looked back at me, a small smile appearing on her face. She looked sad as she stared back at me, and I felt my heart clenching. She was the Riley that I had grown up with. There were still black marks on her skin from the infection, and her head was wrapped in a bandage. She didn't look to be in pain, at least. 

She didn't give me a chance to react when she ran up to me and threw her arms around me in an embrace. Knowing that she wasn't human did make me reluctant to be this close to her. I had seen a few different types of monsters by now, so I didn't know what she was capable of. I wasn't even sure if this was a trick. If there could be different types of zombies, then who was to say that they couldn't mimic people as well? For all I knew, this couldn't be Riley. 

But at this moment, that didn't stop me from hugging her back. I missed Riley so much. I wanted to believe that this was truly her, even if she couldn't stay her old self for much longer. If she was going to change again soon, then I needed to leave before it was too late. If she turned again, then I couldn't kill her. I could never hurt my friend. 

This did leave me with many questions that I knew I wouldn't get answers to right now. I wanted to know more about the people chasing her. I wanted to know how this was even possible to talk to her. She may not have had the answer to these questions. 

Slowly, Riley let go of me. She looked up at my face and said, "I have to go now. I feel as though I will lose control of myself soon, and I don't want to hurt you. But as a word of warning, whatever you do, Aiden, stay away from Sanctuary."

She pulled away from me, then turned and walked away. I didn't want her to go. I understood the danger, but I still wanted her to stay. I wanted to talk to her for longer and for all I knew, this really could be my last time seeing her. I was lucky to even have this opportunity to see her again when it should have been impossible. 

I heard footsteps behind me, and when I turned to face who it was, I saw Alex jogging up to me. He stopped, taking a deep breath. When he regained his composure, he shot daggers at me and crossed his arms. "What the hell was that all about? When you ran away like that, it worried all of us. Why did you do something so stupid, Aiden? You could have gotten hurt."

I glanced behind me but saw that Riley was gone already. It was almost as if she was never here in the first place. The idea of this all being just a hallucination or a dream filled me with sadness. It was quite possible that she wasn't real, and I only saw what I wanted to. 

With a sigh, I said, "Let's go back to base. I'll tell you everything when we get back inside."

Alex looked at me questioningly, but he didn't pry anymore. Together, we returned to the apartment building.