Chapter 51: Seventeen

"So... Simon's alive?"

I nod. "And apparently he's going to stay that way since, as far as we know, he's immortal. Don't really know much about where he is now, but... yeah."

"Are you glad that he's alive?" Caleb asks.

"Are you?"

He shrugs. "I'm not disappointed, but he... betrayed us. He betrayed Abel."

"I know. But he did save my life, more than once, and I know why he... he told me why he betrayed us. It doesn't make it right, but still, it makes sense."

He nods, slowly taking a bite of his sandwich. "And what about the uh... visions?"

I raise a brow. "What about them?"

"How often do you get them?"

I shrug. "It's weird. Sometimes I'll get multiple in a week or two, and then sometimes I won't have one for months. And sometimes they're of the future, sometimes they're of the past. It's like a big guessing game, really."

"Do they help? Have they helped?"

"They do sometimes, but most of the time I can never decipher it until it's already happening. And some of the visions I've had... I wish I hadn't. There's certain things that you just shouldn't know."

He raises a brow in question. "Like..."

I sigh, averting my eyes away from him. How can I tell him I've seen myself die? I've heard it... How can I tell him I'm going to die and there's nothing I can do to change or stop this future?

"It's best I don't say. A lot of these things have already come to pass. No need to dwell on them, not with what we have to deal with now."

The lie works well enough. Caleb nods, and looks down at his lap, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowing together. "I am sorry, you know, for not being able to tell me where I was-where we all have been. I wanted to, really."

"I'm not angry with you," I say. "I was just worried. We all were. After a few months of absolutely nothing, we were beginning to believe you guys had-had died." My shoulders tense, my chest tightening painfully as I think of how this could have turned out. "I... was beginning to believe that you had..."

"I'm sorry," He says again. "It wasn't fair. I know, but Diana... she's ruthless, and she'll use every single one of us, make all of us here on these ships do whatever she wants us to, and we'll be powerless to stop it."

"I know. I saw it-the past. I felt it, when Albert was telling how he worked for Van Ark. I still had my conscience through most of it, so the feelings were... diluted, I guess. But I know how it feels now. I know that you'll do anything and everything she says because of how good it feels. And I know she's not afraid to kill anyone who gets in her way. Do you know of any way we can get to her? Stop her?"

"If we did, we wouldn't be hiding out here." The redhead groans, leaning back against the wall. "I really hate this. This place is a lot like Brunswick. I'm the only person my age here. I mean, you'd think they'd have some prodigies here that are younger, but it's just me. It's... I'm alone again."

"Well, I'm here now," I say, offering a closed lipped smile. "And when we go back to Abel, you'll get to see all our friends again. I mean, Tony's gone, but you never met him in the first place. Eugene, Jack, Phil, and Zoe have gone on a tour, but they'll be back in a few months. Phil keeps calling me his fiancé on the show. That's a great story-"

"Five, wait. Wait. Just stop for a second." Caleb frowns at me, and I tip my head to the side in confusion. "What-what do you mean 'go back to Abel'?"

Now it's my turn to frown. "I mean exactly that. I mean, we haven't searched for months and gone through all this trouble to find you just to-just to leave you here. We can get the equipment to build cryo-freezers. New Canton owes us for backing this mission. They probably have the equipment or will help us find it... I'm not leaving you here, Caleb."

His frown only deepens, as does my confusion. Why is he looking at me like this? Does he not want to go back home? Does he want to just stay here in this boat away from everyone who cares about him?

"Five-" He starts, but us quickly cut off by the voice in my headset.

"Five!" Sam says. "Hey, hi. Uh, since we can, like talk to people on the ship, there's a few people that would like to talk to you and Ca-hey!"

"Mom? Is it true? You really found them?" Milo asks loudly, and I have to turn down the volume on my headset. He sounds breathless, as if he's been running. I bite my tongue and decide not to ask him if he's been running on the track since I've been gone.

"Yes, Milo, I have. They're all here and safe."

"Where's Caleb?" I hear Penelope ask, and I can picture her brown eyes wide with hope.

"I'm doing fine, thanks for asking," I say with an eye roll. "And he's here with me."

"Well, you're always fine."

"So Sam didn't tell you that I almost drowned a few hours ago?"

"You almost drowned?" Milo gasps. "Woah! What happened?"

"Can we uh, can we not talk about one of my runners nearly dying?" Sam asks, laughing nervously, and I roll my eyes.

"With how many times I've danced with death, you'd think you'd be used to it by now."

"I'll never get used to the fear of almost losing you," He admits lowly, causing my eyebrows to rise up in surprise. He coughs awkwardly before I can let the words really sink in. "Anyway, um, Milo and Penelope wanted to uh, talk to you and Caleb."

"Can we talk to him?" Penelope begs. "Please?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, removing my headset and handing it over to the redhead. "Here. Milo and Penelope want to talk to you."

Caleb basically snatches the headset from me, putting it on with a grin on his face, seeming to forget about the conversation we were just having.

"Hey! How've you guys been?" He asks enthusiastically. "Anything interesting happen while I've been gone?"

He pauses, smiling as he listens to their answers. "When does Five not get herself into trouble?"

I roll my eyes as he asks about any stories from them, and I see his eyebrows suddenly shoot up to his hairline. "Woah, woah. Penelope, hold on a second. What do you mean he's not telling the truth? He did..." Caleb looks over at me, his hand covering his mic. "He snuck out of Abel?"

I nod. 'Yeah, and he got into a lot of trouble for it to.' I stand up, signing to Caleb that I'll leave him be while he talks to the kids. He barely notices, now entrances into the story of Milo's rebellion.

I leave the room, walking down the hall towards the room that's been assigned to me. I don't like the idea of staying the night, but with everything that's happened today, Janine and Albert came to an agreement that we should sleep before making our decision to stay or leave.

I scoff. As if we'll actually decide to stay. Why would Albert think there's even a possibility we would choose to stay here on this boat-this prison? We need to go home, to Abel. I didn't risk my life to get here to stay. Albert thinks he can convince us to help with the research, I'm assuming. I wouldn't be of any help, since I'm not that smart. And I couldn't stay even if I wanted to. Penelope and Milo are back at Abel. Sam is back at Abel. There's too much there for me to consider staying. Caleb knows this too, which is why I know he will come back with me.

He will. I know he will.

I sigh, flopping down on to my bed once I reach my room. The matress is hard and lumpy, and I grunt in annoyance. This not how I pictured tonight would go.

I look at the clock in the room, and 11:47 is what it reads. Eleven more minutes and I'll be seventeen years old. It's odd. I never pictured my birthday like this. But it's the apocalypse, and in the apocalypse nothing ever turns out the way you pictured it.

My eye shift away from the clock to instead stare at the ceiling. I wish I was looking at the bottom of the top bunk instead. I wish I were in my bed, home. I wish we could've just left today.

But tomorrow... tomorrow we'll be home. I'm sure of it. I'll get to see my kids again, and Caleb will get to see them after all these months as well. It'll be great.

At least, I'm trying to convince myself it will be.

Once we get back though, I'm sure we'll have to begin preparation for the attack Diana has planned for Abel. We can't let her get to those underground labs, just like we couldn't let Van Ark get to them. Going from what Albert told us, and from what I saw through his eyes, Diana's much worse that Professor Van Ark, which says a lot.

We have to stop her. At the A.M.T.B. I had my will stripped away by the Torrencers. They made me into their perfect little runner before they sold me and shipped me off. And that is nothing like what I felt as Albert. I wanted to do what Van Ark said, instead of being forced through threats and blackmail.

This mind control... it's much worse that what I was put through by the Torrencers.

I look back at the clock-11:50.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

So much has happened this past year of my life. I'd turned sixteen just a few weeks after Abel was blown to smithereens. It's been an year since then. It seems like it's been so much longer. It feels like Van Ark's been dead for so much longer than just a few months. But it also feels like it happened only minutes ago, seconds even.

I remember it all so clearly. I remember the threats, the shouts, the explosion. I remember the sudden rush of heat as the plan came crashing down, having just began to take off.

I remember it... It's been seven months since that happened. Only seven months...

With that in mind, I can only imagine what will be our situation seven months from now? Will we still be up against Diana? Will we have defeated her?

I don't know. That's what so worrying. I've had no visions of victories or defeats. It's all pieces of life or death situations that leave no real impact on the grand scheme of things.

The only thing that actually makes any real impact is the vision of... my death.

The clock reads 11:55 now. Three more minutes. I yawn, the exhaustion of today's events finally hitting me.

I wonder how much longer I'll have. I wonder if this could possibly be my last birthday. I don't know what day it will happen, but I remember what Tony said. He said Chrysalis saw herself in an obstacle course, and she could hear voices.

I know some of those voices.

11:56

I heard Veronica. She seemed so professional, so unfazed by what was happening to me. And I heard Nadia, who was the exact opposite.

And Sam... He... hearing him broke my heart... His desperate pleas for me to keep going, his crying... it nearly killed me.

It will kill me when it happens.

There were two voices I didn't recognize, and that makes it harder to remember them. The man sounded whiny and nasally, while the woman sounded cold, powerful. I don't know who it was, but I know it wasn't.

It wasn't Diana.

I know Diana's voice, and this wasn't it. So that must mean that there's someone else.

11:57

My eyelids begin to droop, even with the swirling thoughts still pounding at my brain. There's so much I don't know. I hate it. I hate having to guess, having to work this out and hope I'm right. I hate knowing that I will die and there's nothing I can do to change it.

I hate this. I hate it all.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

The sound of the clock echoes in my ears as I start to drift into unconsciousness. I can just barely see the clock through my half closed eyes.

It turns 11:58 just as I fall asleep.

•

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick....

Tick....

Tick.

Singer straightens at the sudden change in pattern, and she looks up at the clock on the wall.

Tick...

Tick...

Tick.

The little hand tries to move, but seems to be unable to do so. It's broken.

"Just great," She mutters. Although, really, it's not like it matters. She and the others won't be staying here very long anyway. They never stay anywhere for too long.

It's day... twenty-eight. At least, that's what Singer thinks it is. Everything's been sort of blurring together since Julia and Elijah died. There's four of them left now, and Tori is the only adult.

The brunette rubs a hand through her messy hair. It's knotted, but clean. They were lucky to find some stored jugs of water in the last house they were in, and used some of them for a bath. It's been weeks since Singer could breathe through her nose and not gag at her own stench.

But she wonders just how much longer they can go on like this. In only four weeks, they've managed to lose eleven people. How are they going to make it through? They've been looking for someone, anyone who might help them, but the only people they've seen are those lunatics that killed Singer's great aunt and Bro. Reggie.

The world is in ruins, even after only twenty-eight days. Singer is beginning to lose hope. Everyone is.

She looks at the counter on which Katelyn is sleeping. This little convenient store has no bed, so the group must make do with what they have. Katelyn is the reminder that she has to stay alive. She has to keep trying to find shelter, people....

She has to do it for her.

Singer hears a groan a few feet away. She stiffens. It sounds human, but she can never be too careful. She grabs a can of peaches and raises it up, eyes wide with baited breath. She hears shuffling, and there's a shadow against the shelves of expiring bread.

As soon as the figure comes into view, she chucks the can of peaches.

Fortunately, Wesley ducks just in time.

"Jesus!" He yelps, his eyes wide. Singer gasps.

"Sorry! Sorry!" She cringes, then sends him a scowl. "Warn a girl next time."

Wesley huffs. "What are you doing awake?"

"I could ask you the same question. You need sleep much more than I do."

She's not wrong. The poor boy looks terrible. His hair is sticking up in every direction, and the circles under his eyes are as purple as the sunset. He needs sleep. He needs rest and should get it while he can.

"Stop trying to turn things around. Also, you shouldn't be throwing things. There are sensors, remember? Don't want to set one off."

"Yeah. Yeah. I... that wasn't the best idea. I just acted on instinct." Singer looks around. There multiple alarm sensors around the store, and sadly no one in the group has any idea as to how to turn them off. The only reason they haven't been set off yet is because Wesley managed to pick the lock to the door, and since the sensors are big enough to be noticed and left alone.

"Yeah, not smart on your part. Still though, you need to sleep."

"So do you."

"One of us has to stay awake and keep watch."

"Isn't it Tori's night to stay up?"

She questions, and chuckles when he doesn't answer.

Then silence settles between them, mostly because Singer knows exactly why he's still up. He's thinking about the same things she is-whether or not they'll make it, if they'll live to see another day...

Is it worth trying to live another day?

These are not thoughts a twelve-year-old should be thinking, but the thoughts pass through Singer's mind more and more often with each passing day. Is it worth it? Is it worth living in a world where the people you love turn into monsters? Wouldn't it be better to just... die?

She doesn't want to die, not yet. There's a lot of things she hasn't done yet that she really wants to. And she can't leave Katelyn, and she most definitely can't let her sister die... but still, the thoughts are there. Is staying alive in a world like this really the best option?

"How long will we stay here?" She asks, breaking the silence. "I mean, there's enough food to keep us here for a few weeks, possibly longer. Maybe if we stay we'll meet people passing through, find a permanent place to stay after that, ya know?"

"I don't know," Wesley sighs, raising his shoulder in a half shrug. "The only people we've met so far were lunatics. I'm beginning to wonder if finding others is a good idea."

A scoff leaves her lips. "What? Do you think we'll run into weird cannibals or something?"

"The majority of the world's population has turned into weird cannibals, if you haven't noticed."

"True, but not everyone that's still alive are murderers and crazy-heads."

Wesley purses his lips and crosses his arms. "And how do you know?"

"Because we're still sane." She pauses. "At least, we're somewhat sane-as sane as we can be. And if we can be sane after losing eleven people within the span of four weeks, then there must be other people out there who are normal too. Well, as normal as you can be in an apocalypse."

Singer misses normal. She misses the feeling of being normal. It's a feeling she knows she'll never get to feel again.

The sound of footsteps pulls her from her thoughts, but before she can reach for another can of peaches, Wesley grabs her wrist and shakes his head.

"It's just Tori," He murmurs.

"You can never be too sure," She replies as she stands. But sure enough, Tori appears. She doesn't look surprised at seeing the two awake.

"Hey," She says, receiving a nod from the two.

"See any zoms out?" Wesley asks, and the brunette nods.

"They're about five minutes away. The windows are already boarded up, but if we can maybe move some boxes or something in front of the doors, we'll have a better chance of not being seen. I saw like twenty of them out there and we don't have the power to take them out right now." She looks at a box filled with canned peaches-the box Singer keeps beside her just in case she needs to grab one. "A box like that would work. Well, we'll need a few more but... can I use it?"

She nods. "Yeah. Best not be seen this late at night."

Tori nods, and starts making her way over to them, when Singer realizes just how close she is to the wall...

And how close her feet are to the sensor.

"Wait!" She jumps up, running and slamming into Tori pushing her away from the sensor and into the wall. There's a loud bang, and Singer becomes aware of a loud ticking.

Tick...

Tick...

Tick...

Tick...

She looks at the clock on the wall, and how loosely it's hanging onto the nail that keeps it in its place. She tries to reach for it, but it still falls.

It falls right onto one of the sensors.

Singer's heart stops when the alarm goes off, the sudden noise so loud it jolts her sister from her sleep.

"Run! Now!" Wesley says as the twelve-year-old grabs Katelyn and pulls her off the counter, sprinting towards the 'employees only' area that she knows has a fire exit.

Katelyn stumbles behind her, confused, afraid, barely able to keep up with her pace. Singer hears glass breaking and loud growls from the other room, and mutters a curse.

Apparently Tori overestimated how far they were away from them.

She pushes the door open, glancing over her shoulder only once to see Wesley racing behind her, and Tori behind him.

Tori grabs a wooden crate and slams it into a zombie, giving her just enough time to get away. Singer and Katelyn are already outside, running down the dark street, trying to get away from the sounds of the alarms. But the damage is already done. The zombies have heard them; They've seen them.  They have to hide.

Hearts racing, thoughts hammering into their minds of what do to, where to go.

Then Singer sees it, a large mansion up ahead. It's sturdy. Even from here she can see the door and how large it is. They can barricade it, seal themselves inside. They'll be safe.

She looks behind her shoulder once again, sees Wesley only a few steps behind her. But Tori... she's at least forty feet behind the younger brunette. She keeps slowing down to hit at the zombies with a crowbar. Why isn't she just running?

Singer shakes her head, ignoring that for now and instead pulling her sister along. She lets go of her sister's hand, praying she can keep up good pace as Singer full out sprints up the porch of the mansion. Using the lock pick that Wes used, she manages to pick the lock of the door in record time. She pushes the door open and roughly shoves

Katelyn inside, going in herself.

"In here!" She yells. "In here!"

She waves her hands up at Wes, and he follows, rushing inside and nearly tripling over his own feet. Singer keeps the door open, waiting for Tori, but she can feel the fear clawing at her chest like a wild animal, everything in her screaming 'Close the damn door!'

Tori is just barely ahead of the zombies. She's not even ten feet ahead of them. Her eyes are wide, desperate. Singer sees it.

"She's not gonna make it," She murmurs, her heart clenching.

"Yes, she is," Wesley argues. "She can make it. She's going to make it."

"She's not gaining any ground." Singer's eyes harden as she turns her head to look at him. "She's not going to make it."

He grabs her arm as she reaches for the door. "Don't."

Singer looks over at Katelyn, whose eyes are wide and fearful.

"Don't. I won't let you."

She looks back at him, then back at Tori. She's so close now, but the zombies are right behind her. Singer won't be able to close the door when she gets through. She won't be able to push the zoms back to do it.

Tori's only a few steps away from the porch, and Singer looks at Wesley with tears prickling her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't, Cal-"

She hits him, hard. A strong punch to the jaw is all it takes. He falls back, and she slams the door just before Tori can reach it. She locks the door and hears Tori's hands pound on the door for only a second before a scream of pain and horror rips through the air, mixing the the growls and snarls.

Then the screams stop.

"No!" Wesley sobs, standing up and racing for the door, but she pushes him back. Singer looks down at him, then at Katelyn. The younger girl looks absolutely horrified. "No!"

"Katelyn, go find something to help barricade the door, and make sure any other exits are locked and sealed."

She nods frantically, darting off just as Wesley looks at her. Tears run down his red cheeks. The look in his eyes can't be mistaken for anything other than anger and hatred.

"She could have made it!"

"If I'd let her in, the zoms would've gotten in too," She replies, squaring her shoulders, trying not to show any emotion. "We would have all died. I had to do it to protect us-"

"No, you did it to protect Katelyn. She's the only one you care about. Everyone else you wanted to save because you knew she wasn't in immediate danger. Here you were too afraid because Katelyn might get hurt."

"That's not true."

He laughs bitterly. "Oh, it isn't? Then why don't I go get Katelyn right now? We can probably find a few weapons. We fought off a good ten zombies before. We can do it again."

A sick smile appears on his face when she flinches back.

"See? Maybe we should've just left you two on your own. That's what we thought about doing since you have the tendency to destroy everything around you."

Singer stiffens, hurt flashing across her brown irises. Wesley doesn't notice, nor does he care.

"You realize that you can't keep her safe forever, right? Eleven-no twelve-twelve people have died in a month! A month! Give it a few days and the rest of us will be dead too, including Katelyn."

"No," Singer says, jaw clenched, body tense. "I'd do anything for her. I'd do anything to keep her safe."

"Even kill people who were your friends," He says angrily, and she takes a few steps toward him, standing so close she can feel his breath on her face.

"I'll kill whoever I have to if in means keeping Katelyn safe. Your sister wasn't an exception." She leans an inch closer, and a whisper leaves her lips. "And neither are you."

•

My eyes snap open, but I don't get up. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, a sigh leaving my lips.

Twelfth kill...

Final kill.

Or at least, that was my final kill of my group... for a year... until Wesley...

I look up at the clock. It reads 4:22, meaning I should go back to sleep... I should try to go back to sleep.

It's raining. I can hear it. Hopefully that and the rocking of the ship should lull me off to-

I'm lurched off my bed suddenly as the ship moves in a sharp motion, and an alarm suddenly goes off, red lights flashing.

"What the-"

There's a pounding on the door.

"Five, get up! It's me, Ed! Open the door! We need you! It's an emergency!"

A/N: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait. A lot has happened this month, one of them being me getting a boyfriend! Eeeeee! Well, he's not really my boyfriend, but I like him and he likes me, so there's that. Also, I've been looking for a job which has been fruitless. Ugh. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to vote and comment! Thanks and have a blessed day!