A School Apocalypse

Chapter 33

Edit: July 7th, 2017.

Jada's POV

Well, so much for listening.

They couldn't have gone far. I really know we're on bad terms, but I need her to know that what had happened wasn't our fault.

Okay, so maybe pushing her away and not sticking up for her or letting her leave without any sign of mercy is our fault, but what lead up to it wasn't!

Man, this apocalypse is ruining my life. Oh, right. Because it hasn't already?

I sigh, clearing my head from the thoughts that are frustrating me. "We need to find her, guys."

"Well, if you hadn't started it, we wouldn't of been here."

"Cut the shit, Ryanne. You practically owe me your life considering I saved it."

"Whatever." She grumbles.
PMS? Possibly. She couldn't be any more bitchier than she already is unless she's on her period.

"Alex! Please," I holler out a few moments later, ignoring Ryanne and not caring about the walkers anymore. I need her to listen! And if it attracts walkers in the process, then so be it. But I need her to listen.

I hear the snaps of twigs behind us, and out pops a few walkers. The smell of death grows more with each step the Deadlings take, their mouths coated with dry blood and flesh. Someone hasn't had a meal in a while.

I roll my eyes and walk up to the closest one and stab its temple. Rayne gets the one beside me, and Ryanne the one behind the one I just killed.

More crunches of gravel come from behind, and I hold my knife up.

Alex walks angrily to us, her eyes filled with... no surpise, hurt and madness.

"Alex, I-" I sigh, but she interrupts me.

"No. You will tell me what happened, I will only listen, and after that I'm leaving. Done, gone."

"No, please-"

"No! I'm done keeping up the tough girl act if all you people are doing is trying to hurt me even more than you already have. I can't be with people who treat me like I'm an animal. Yeah, I have little-to-no feelings, but since this fuckin' apocalypse, I've been the most emotional wreck ever."

"I understand! Really, I do." I say, with true sympathy. A silence falls between us, and I clear my throat, gesturing for the attention of them. "I guess now is the time for me to do the talking?"

She nods her head then crosses her arms. "I'm all ears."

I nod my head, before clearing my throat once again. "Ahem, um, can he um-is-does he have to stay here? I'd rather this be private."

"No." She answers simply.

"Okay then," I mutter. All attention is drawn on me, and I feel embarrassed and exposed. "Um, I know you think that we just let you leave like that," I begin, snapping my fingers at the last word. "But Alex, none of us wanted you to leave-"

"Bullshit." She sputters rudely.

"Shut it! I talk, you listen. That was the deal."

"I never made you a deal, Jada. I made an agreement."

"Whatever," I mumble. "I froze. I tried to move, I tried to stop you, but my body wouldn't let me. It was like I was paralyzed and all that I could do was just stare and watch my best friend walk away from me and disappear forever. Watching and not doing anything, think that 'wow, this could be the last time I will ever see her again', but I knew I couldn't let you leave me like that, leave us."

"But you did." She scoffs. "Face it, you can't keep a word to yourself, I had the advantage to go, so I took it. You didn't fight for me, so I left without a word. A trace. How you figured I was camping here, I have no idea, but if Freddie wasn't here, there's a one hundred percent guarantee that I would have never come to even listen to you. Jada, I am done, okay? I'm done with all of you. The lies, the bullshit. It's all too much for me to take in, I'm not going to be in a 'family' when I'm treated like a damned dog. No." I frown at this. I mean I got it, I got where she was coming from, I still do. But she needs to realize that I tried, but I was so shocked with what was happening that my body couldn't do anything. If it had she still would have been here with us, never have left.

"Look, I know what you're saying, I'd be pissed if that happened to me-"

"Well then why are you here? I'm pissed aren't I?" She cuts in. I'm tired of her interrupting me. I've had it.

"Shut up!" I bark at her. "I talk, you listen! That was the deal, so shut up and listen to me dammit!" I take in a breather to calm myself down. "I would have been pissed, totally. But Alex you don't understand that we came looking for you. Trying to bring you home, to us, together in this shitty world that we would fight together. Together, Alex. I'm not leaving until you forgive us. Or forget about what happened. I don't expect you to forget just like that, but at least hear us out! We left Austin, we left the cottage, we left everything to get you back."

"I broke bones for you people, I have nearly killed myself many times for you people, you know that? And what I do get in return? Four motionless bodies watching me leave and never come back. That felt just amazing."

"We came back for you, though!"

"A month fucking later Jada. Like really?"

"Alex, I needed to come find you! There was no way in Hell I'd leave without you. You left us, okay? I came back; we came back for you!"

She sighs heavily, then rolls her eyes and faces her tall boy friend who looks clueless, however involved in the disaster. "That was your mistake. Not mine." She turns to walk away, and before I get a word out, Parker's voice speaks up and stops her dead in her tracks with the most exciting proposal that I have forever hoped for.

"I want to get back together." He announces, pushing me aside and getting in view. Alex stops dead in her tracks, and hesitates before turning around. Her jaw and fists are clenched, and her tanned skin turns pale as the seconds tick by. She looks hurt and confused, but that disappears in milliseconds when her face turns red with anger.