What would you choose?

Chapter Twelve

The voice sounded familiar and comforting. I slowly turned around and the second I saw him; it was as if all my worries just vanished. "Jay?"

"Hello love." I slowly walked towards him. I was hesitant at first but it's really him. He's real. He's living and breathing and stood right in front of me. I jumped into his arms and he held me close. I didn't want to let go. I felt safe. I felt like everything in the world was going to be okay. I felt like I could face anything the apocalypse could throw at me. "You're here? You're really here?" I asked still not fully believing it.

"I'm here babe."

"Babe?" Aiden said almost chocking on her spit.

"Hello there. I'm Jay, Autumn's boyfriend."

They all just stood there staring at us. "Sorry... I'm just in disbelief that Autumn has a boyfriend," Aiden rudely said. I rolled my eyes at her.

"You must be Aiden. Yes, Autumn does have a boyfriend unlike you." Jay said which made me laugh, "and you are?"

"I'm Luka." Jay went to shake his hand but Luka just death stared him. Wonder what's his problem? He's usually the kind one.

"And you?" Tom just stood there with a blank expression. "Not a talker." It's weird for Tom to be quiet, he's the class clown and is always chatting. I looked closer at him and noticed a tear in his jeans and blood dripping down his legs. "Has he been bite?" I shouted.

"What?" Aiden said.

"Tell me if he's been bite!" I demanded.

"Yeah so?" Luka responded. I didn't answer. I pulled out my knife and without a second thought I tackled Tom to the ground and repeatedly stabbed him in the head. I did it multiple times to make sure he'd stay dead. "What the hell are you doing? Get off!" Aiden shoved me off and her and Luka fell to Tom's side. "You killed him! What's wrong with you?"

"He was infected. I had to kill him before he killed one of us. It comes from a hardling's bite." I responded.

"A what?"

"Hardling. That's what those creatures are."

"We just call them monsters." It was Luka this time.

"I'm sorry but there's no cure for the infection."

"Yeah, sure you're sorry." I really was but I knew neither of them would believe me. I haven't had to deal with anyone infected since my teacher.

After a few minutes, Aiden jumped up. "I want some answers and I want them now. I can look past you knowing what the monsters are, I can look past the fact you somehow have a boyfriend but I can't look past the fact that you just saved us..."

"Thank you for that by the way," Luka interrupted.

"How'd you do it?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You don't know! So, you don't know how you managed to stop a massive chunk of building from flattening us?" Aiden was getting more aggressive by the second.

"Maybe she really doesn't know," Luka calmly said.

"Well, it's not magic."

"Actually, it is." It was Jay this time. We all turned and stared at him.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Autumn has powers. Did you not know Autumn?" He's joking, right? There's no way I have powers. I'm just ordinary. There's nothing special about me. It wasn't me. There must be another explanation for what happened.

"How can Autumn have powers? This doesn't make sense." Aiden shouted.

"She has three powers: telechensis as you saw, fire magic and force field."

"Force field? So, did I make the force field around the house?"

"Yes, and might I say it's a powerful one." I don't remember creating a force field and I certainly wouldn't be able to make one that strong. I don't believe any of this.

"So, as you know about my apparent powers, do you know about how the world ended?" I asked.

"No." Jay knows something so why isn't he telling me? Whenever he's lying, he rubs his ear and that's exactly what he did when he answered. This is just adding to the confusion and chaos and I can't handle it. I clenched my stomach and chest as I could feel stress pains coming and I couldn't breathe. Aiden was shouting at me but I was in too much pain to listen and Jay was repeatedly telling her to shut up. My stomach was getting really bad and I felt like I was going to hurl. "You okay?" Luka asked.

"I'm fine just stress pains."

"It's getting late and you need to relax," Jay said taking my bag. I agreed and slowly started to walk off. I stopped and turned to the others. "You two got a place to stay? If not, you're welcome to stay at mine." Why did I just say that? I didn't even think, it just came out.

Luka went to say something but got stopped by Aiden, "we're fine."

"Aiden, they have a house that's safe. Everyone's gone. Where are we supposed to go?" Luka said annoyed.

"We'll work it out."

"What do you mean everyone's gone?" I asked.

"Every..."

"Don't tell her. Let's go." Aiden said trying to pull Luka's arm in the opposite direction from us.

"Everyone in our camp was slaughtered. There was about a hundred in our base. We were on a supply run when it happened so we're lucky. Those monsters ripped everyone to shreds without blinking an eye." Luka stated.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. No need to apologise, it's not your fault."

"Like I said you're welcome to stay at mine."

"Well, we don't want your help." Aiden shouted.

"Aiden! We have nowhere to go so stop being a child and let's go. We have no supplies, no shelter and it's almost night." Luka shouted and it's strange, he never stands up to Aiden.

"Fine." Aiden whined and rolled her eyes. She slowly started to follow.

It didn't take long to get home. I enjoyed the walk and talking to Jay. I'm still so happy he's real. It's like my dream world is slowly becoming a reality. "Nice house," Luka said.

"Thanks."

"How come it's not been smashed to pieces like every other house around?" Aiden asked.

"The force field Autumn created protected the house and garden," Jay answered for me.

"Oh yeah I forgot the freak is even more of a freak than I thought."

"She's not a freak so cram it before I fed you to a hardling," Jay threatened which got Aiden to shut up. We went into the house and my family were very happy and shocked to see Jay. My mum ran and hugged him. I think they're happy just see another human. "I've also found some people I went to school with. Mum, dad this is Luka and Aiden." Aiden and Luka looked at each other with a confused expression.

"Lovely to meet you. You hungry? I've just made some stew." We followed my parents and all sat down to eat. After dinner I showed Luka, Jay and Aiden to my room and put down sleeping bags for them. Jay's sleeping in my bed with me. Luka and Aiden didn't really talk to anyone since arriving and kept whispering to each other. I don't care. I got into bed and snuggled up with Jay and instantly fell asleep.