𝒍𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒂 ➶ [ s. walsh ]

xi. | ❝ everything will be okay. ❞

LOLITA.
xi. | ❝ everything will be okay. ❞

✧

SHANE LET OUT a low chuckle as he watched Cassandra eat her way through four packets of Reese's Cups out of the corner of his eye. "Y'all better not be sick, now," he told her, his tone playfully stern. "We're almost there."

"I'm fine," the strawberry blonde argued, her voice somewhat muffled by the messy combination of peanut butter and chocolate that filled her mouth. She swallowed, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Do you think there'll be other women there?"

"Why d'ya ask that?" The dark-eyed sheriff's deputy shot a fleeting glance in her direction, running his tongue over his bottom lip lightly.

Cassandra shrugged, embarrassed. "Male company. It's a little much, sometimes...." She trailed off, a rosy blush dusting her soft cheeks as she took a large bite of another Reese's Cup, inwardly cringing. It was a little much, because she was attracted to Shane - as much as she hated to admit it.

An almost affectionate smile traced across his lips as he gazed at the stretch of road before them. "You missing your mom?"

"Mmh," Cassandra hummed in assent. "My sister, too."

"I'm sure you'll-" he began - biting back the urge to reassure her that she'd see them soon - before realising just how arbitrary his remark was, and reached up to ruffle his dark curls absentmindedly.

But Shane probably wouldn't have been able to finish his sentence, anyway, because when the pair caught sight of what they had hoped would be their safe-zone, they were shocked into complete silence.

Even from a distance, the wisps of smoke that made their steady decent into the cerulean summer sky were prevalent, and as they drove closer, they were able to see small figures with dismembered limbs and blood soaking their khaki uniforms, spilling out of a mangled gap in the large chain-link fence and staggering towards them.

Fort Benning was completely and utterly destroyed.

***

"So what now?" Cassandra's voice was quiet; evident notes of worry lacing her tone. The careless mask that she constantly affected around Shane - the mask that hid all the hurt, and all the panic she felt after she had witnessed what had happened to her friends in Atlanta, back when it all started - was slipping.

The dark-haired deputy, in the meantime, had pulled up at the side of the road and rested his forehead against the steering wheel, deep breaths filling his lungs. He was doing all he could to remain in control. He didn't want to frighten her, and he didn't want her knowing that he had no other plan - or that he was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

He lifted his head and turned in his seat to gaze at her, his dark eyes weary and a thin sheen of sweat gracing his tanned skin. "We drive," he said simply.

"Where? To the CDC?"

"No." Shane paused, before starting the car's ignition once more and manoeuvring the vehicle in the opposite direction. His fingertips drummed against the steering wheel as he focused on trying to find some way to reassure her, to let her know that he knew what he was doing. "If Fort Benning didn't make it, then neither would the CDC. Looks like you and me are on our own for now."

Cassandra inhaled sharply, before clenching her jaw firmly - something she tended to do when she was stressed. "If you say so," she responded tightly.

Minutes passed, with the pair enveloped in a heavy, claustrophobic silence while Shane drove. Suddenly, the strawberry blonde reached over and allowed her palm to graze the dark-haired sheriff's deputy's knee, her gaze snagging his tentatively. "Shane?"

His head snapped towards her, coffee-coloured orbs flashing and his teeth coming to rest on his bottom lip instinctively. Her touch reminded him exactly why he was on the road with her, and not someone like Andrea. He wanted her, no matter how wrong it was, and no matter how much he doubted she wanted him in return. "Yeah?" His voice was low and rumbling, cracking slightly due to the tension that fizzled through every inch of his taut, muscular body.

The ivory-skinned beauty smiled hesitantly, her eyes filled with a kind of reassuring warmth that set his heart racing. "Everything will be okay," she murmured. "I promise."

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