Running in Hell

Chapter 7 - Memory

Written by tikobiko333

Nathan's P.O.V

"Nathan? Nathan!" an unfamiliar hand snapped in front of my face.

"What?" I glanced at the person who had snapped, overcoming my unconsciousness.

"Your sausage; its burning!" Ella gestured frantically to my sausage burning over the fire.

I let out an inhuman sort of cry and quickly reeled in my meal; eventually stopping the fire from progressing down the stick on which my sausage was impaled upon.

Ella and several others (the dim light of the fire only illuminated few individuals) snickered at my misfortune.

"Looks like you got to eat it," she snorted again, taking a bite out of her own dinner.

Rolling my eyes, I set down my burned sausage and rose to my feet. 

"Where you goin'?" Alex, I presumed, asked, glaring at me beyond the fire's radiant glow.

"I think I'm going to get some rest, if that's fine," I awkwardly replied, still lacking that connection I had recently gained with my own group.

"All right then, 'night," several people nodded in my direction, excusing me from the meal.

Turning again, I began to walk through the darkened camp. As I trudged through the barren landscape, I could still hear the crackling of the fire, as though beckoning me towards its embracing grasp. All ready, guilt was flooding through my body, yet I hadn't even began my task. You see, I wasn't going to bed.

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Farther and farther, I continued creeping silently along the terrain. Passing the reach of the final part of camp, I officially exited our safe zone. The rustle of small rodents and night critters filled my ears, forcing my (now sleepy) eyes to stay alert. Picking up my pace, I began searching the horizon for what I was looking for.

There!

A small glimmer of light reflected off of the metal surface.

The shed. 

My journey was ended as I neared the small shed. The rusted metal soon came visible as I got even closer. The familiar panel on the front beckoned me to open it- which I did-and proceeded to enter the room. As the door creaked open, I glanced at the intimidating darkness that lay beyond, and entered the shed.

The walkway was small- small lights were scattered here and there -the width only allowing one to two people to fit in the hall at one time. A set of stairs descended down further into the darkness. I released a shaky breath as I began to step carefully on each stair. Down, further into the shed, I noticed the air get denser and colder. Soon I reached the bottom, seeing the last door in the corridor. Holding out a hand, I knocked.

"Hey! Wake up!" I spoke slightly louder than my average tone, forcing the person on the other side to stir.

There was a moment of silence, before the door opened. 

"Tanner," I greeted sternly.

He stared blankly at me.

"Tanner," I repeated, walking inside the "bunker".

The room Tanner had was small- consisting of only a bed, sink, and bucket for his waste-and one small lamp sat in the corner of the room.

"I came to ask about your incident with Lexi," I sat down on the edge of his bed, making sure to stay near the door.

He glanced down at the floor without speaking.

"Tanner, look, you can sit here in this room we made for you, which is undeniably your prison, or you could take off all of your guilt and tell us what happened that day!" My voice rose at the end of my statement.

Tanner now looked up at me, rage beginning to flow through him as well.

"I loved that girl! You think I'm happy that she died? Do you think I can just take it and be a man?" He used air-quotes at the last part.

I glanced hesitantly between Tanner and the door.

"Listen, we will let you go if you tell us what happened with the van. We just need to know if we can trust you, or . . ."

He paused a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"What will happen if I tell you? Won't I be treated as an outsider either way?" 

I rose from the bed.

"Stop playing games, and answer the question, Tanner."

He began to pace around the room. 

"I was taking the van to pick you up-"

"Liar!" I interrupted his confession, "If you were going to pick us up, then why were you driving away?"

He looked at me, puzzled. "The walkers, they were after us," his tone began to change to one of an innocent school boy.

"So you drove the truck away from the compound, just to get away from walkers?"

"Yes!" He cried defensively.

I took a moment to comprehend the information he had given me. Pondering the words he had said, something didn't quite fit.

"If you were rescuing us . . . then why did you stop driving and get on the roof of the van?"

He looked down, silently.

There was more silence.

"Tanner?" I crept back slightly towards the door.

No reply.

Worry began to flood through my timid body.

As I sat, eyes focused on Tanner, he began to stir.

"I was trying to escape," he blurted out, filling the suspenseful silence.

A weight lifted off of my shoulders. "So you do admit to it!"

He glared at me again. "Nathan, I swear to god, if something bad happens to me because of this . . ."

I didn't reply.

"Nathan, please!"

Without replying, I began walking out of the room, closing and locking the door behind me.

The last thing I heard was the helpless cries of a guilty man.

Chapter! Yay! So basically, if you got confused, here is what happened:
So after the incident with the van (Lexi and Tanner were caught "escaping" or "rescuing" the group (they don't know which one) they locked up Tanner because they didn't know if they could trust him. So Nathan went to see Tanner and get answers out of him, which leads to Tanner revealing that he was trying to escape. 

So ya! Have a happy PI day! (3.14.15)