The Dead and the Restless (Completed with undergoing editing)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Not only ten minutes later did the door click open and shut, alarming us that Darlene was done cutting off her loose ends. With the soft sound of her shoes on the pavement, she walked up next to me. The three of us stood there for a few moments, just watching the sun as it slowly began to rose, sending pink and purple rays across the horizon. It was beautiful, and I couldn't help but think back to the time when Liam took me outside to see the sun rise. We had almost kissed that day, but fate had a different plan in mind.

I felt my hand accidentally brush up against his, but then he pulled away. My heart sunk slightly, but I quickly found solace in the fact that some things never change. No, the sun rise would always hold the beauty and fire of the promise of a brand new day. But in our case, it was a brand new war that would emerge in the flames that scorched that sky and bestowed light upon the world. But no matter what it was, the light would always come out of the darkness.

And as long as I could make it to see a new dawn, I would appreciate its beauty.

Before, I would have put an arm around Darlene and gave her a hug. I would have reassured her that I was here for her. But as my eyes scanned the side of her face as the flames of the sun reflected in her eyes, I realized that she didn't need me to do that. She had finally extinguished the ashes of her past and lit the fire of her future. And all I could hope for now was that she wouldn't let that fire die.

But as she started walking ahead first, I had a feeling that, after all the struggles and all the time, she would be okay.

None of us spoke. Instead, we just followed along, taking our usual precautions. Liam took one side of Darlene and I took the other, weapons at the ready in case we had to take care of anything. But as we walked back down the street, I noticed things were quiet. Yes, the world had ended and there wasn't exactly a lot of people to make noise left, but there was the dead. And now, they sounded like they were supposed to- dead silent.

I tried not to think about it too much, reassuring myself that maybe things had just calmed down. It'd been a while since I'd been outside like this. But I couldn't help the nagging feeling that something was off. It was like the warning bells that sounded with Darlene earlier, but something was different. A sharp sensation pricked my brain for a second, sending a flash of pain to the area above my eyebrow. But just as quickly as it came, it went away. Unfortunately, unlike the pain, the feeling that something was horribly wrong still stuck.

And as we kept walking, I realized that just as those same bells had gone off with Darlene earlier, they were right again.

"Stop," I said in a harsh, exasperated whisper as my hand clung to Darlene's arm. My eyes widened as I took in the sight in front of me.

The garage that we had locked the speeders in was silent.

But it was also open.

And even worse, it was empty.

"We have to go now," Liam said, glancing around, as he held his crossbow up. My fingers wrapped around my knife tightened, but I couldn't move. I felt something stir inside me, like a light tug in my mind behind my eyes. However, I couldn't think much of it as Darlene pulled me down the street as we all broke into a run.

As our long walk back to the cafeteria turned into a run, I couldn't help but think of that weird feeling I'd had. It wasn't the first time that had happened. No, the day after the cafeteria had been overrun I'd felt a small tug in my head. I'd ignored it, though, writing it off as insignificant.

I shot down my incoming thought as it began to take shape. That's all it was. Insignificant. I'm probably just paranoid. What I should be worrying about is the fact that someone let the speeders out of their little cage. Or, my mind wandered into a dark territory, maybe they let themselves out.