Apocalypse

23: Stars

I sat up. "What?"

"My mom is dead. Keira killed her."

"She couldn't do something like that."

"She did. She said I had killed her so she was going to kill everyone I loved. That bullet hole is from her."

Tears filled my eyes. Now I had creepers and Keira trying to kill me.

"My mom is dead. And she is coming after you and Jack and Jane and....." His voice trailed off.

"She won't get to us. We just have to stick together."

"What if you wander off in the forest or something and she finds you? She won't hesitate to pull the trigger."

"And neither will I."

He pulled me into a hug.

"Don't die."

"You think I want to?" I laughed. He laughed back. Finally, he was back to normal.

We walked back up to the truck.

Jack was putting a large bandage on a cut on his leg.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"I think we should camp here. We have water, food, and we are away from the stampede." Ryan answered.

"Good deal. Ryan and I will go find food. You stay here with Jane. She needs some girl talk."

I nodded and walked down to the water where Jane sat, sniffling.

"Hey." I said as I plopped down in the water next to her.

She leaped into my arms and hugged me, crying into my good shoulder.

"It's ok. Let it out." I whispered.

After a few minutes, she pulled away.

"Maybe I would've been better if I didn't watch it happen." She sniffed.

"It's always better if you don't watch. I know by experience."

She looked at me, puzzled.

"I watched two people die in front of my face."

She put a hand over her mouth.

"But you know what I learned from the first time? Sometimes seeing it happen let's you know that you were one of the last things they thought of when they died."

She nodded.

"I bet he is thinking about you right now." I smiled and looked up at the sky. A bright star twinkled over her head. I laid in the water and pointed to it.

"I bet that is Aiden right now. Shining over you, protecting you."

She smiled and I saw tears gather in her eyes.

"Who did you see die?" She asked.

"My best friend and my cousin in law."

She pointed to a small star closer to me.

"I bet that is your friend."

I smiled. "See those clump of stars right there? That is my cousin, my godchild, and my cousin in law." I pointed to a small clump of three stars.

She pointed to a bright star in the middle of our scene. "I bet that is my dad." She sniffed.

There was another star next to it. "I bet that is my dad." I said.

"They are probably talking about us." She added.

I laughed. "Probably."

We sat there for the next ten minutes pointing at stars and saying who they represented in our lives. Jane had lost a lot.

The boys finally came back with a few rabbits and we made a small fire.

"If you guys haven't already noticed, Arizona and I are in a relationship." Ryan said quickly.

I guess he never got to break it to everyone at camp.

I just kept looking down and eating my rabbit.

"So that's why Kiera-" Jack started before Ryan cut him off.

"Can we please not mention her?"

We all sat in silence. Nobody dared to say anything with the mood Ryan was in.

"I'll be on first watch tonight." I finally spoke up.

"I will too." Ryan said.

"No, you need to sleep." I said.

"I'll do it." Jack said.

"Ok, me and Jack on first watch."

Ryan fell asleep the moment his head touched the makeshift sand pillow, same with Jane.

Jack and I sat in silence on the logs.

"You're lucky you haven't lost him yet." He finally said.

"Believe me, I know. After everything he went through at my camp...."

"It was kind of obvious you were together. I just didn't want to say anything."

I laughed.

"Now, the new struggle is surviving Kiera's wrath. She has a history of anger issues." He added.

"Great." I said.

We didn't say anything the rest of the night. I saw Jack's eyes close a few times and then open abruptly.

"I can take watch now." I turned around and saw Ryan holding his rifle.

Jack shot up and ran towards the sand bed so he could sleep.

Ryan slung his arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Jane seems better now." He said.

"She is."

"Girl talks never fail."

I laughed. "You would be surprised on how many do."

He lifted my chin and kissed me gently on the lips.

"I love you." He whispered.

"You better."

***

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So sad, the book is over, boo hoo. Don't cry! Of course there is a sequel! Manifestation, read it. It's a lot better than this story which had some really crappy writing in it so go, read my child.

Thank you to all of my fans and supporters! Without you this book would be nonexistent. And thank you to AMC, who inspired me to write this book. I am a HUGE Walking Dead fan and my mind was just blown with another crazy plot twist.

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