|Missing Love|

Chapter 23

*Alden's P.O.V*

"The group hasn't come back yet." Earl told me as we were working on some of the weapons that we wanted to use once we were at war with the whisperers.

We were making catapults and a bunch of other weapons that we could use.

"I'm worried about them." I said honestly once I looked at the gate of Hilltop.

It's been a day since I last saw Shelby and she hasn't come back yet. What was taking her so long to come back?

I honestly didn't think it would be this long that she would be gone. I thought it would be for a few hours and she could make it back by sundown. But that obviously didn't happen and now I'm left being worried.

Did something happen to her?

I don't know what would happen to me if I lost her. Shaking my head, I took that thought out of my head. I can't think negatively right now.

"We've all been through this before. Where a group would be gone for a bit and then come back after a day or two." Earl looked at me.

"I suppose you're right." I huffed, "But it's not like Shelby to be gone this long though. This is the longest that we've gone without being near each other. I had trouble sleeping because she wasn't next to me."

I probably only got four hours of sleep last night. I kept tossing and turning. It felt impossible to get any sleep.

"Shelby will be back soon, Alden. I'm sure of it."

I took his word for it at the moment before I went back to work.

We put some pieces together because Earl started using screws and bolts to put the wood pieces together and make sure that they were sturdy. We were planning on making multiple catapults for this war.

While we were working though, I had a hard time concentrating. Shelby was stuck in my head and she was all that I could think about right now.

I wanna tell myself to snap out of it but it's impossible.

I wanna hold her in my arms and whisper words into her ear while we are with each other. I want her hand in my hand as I would carefully caress the back of it. I want her hands in my hair playing with it. I want to hear her laugh and see her smile. I want my Shelby back.

I just want to see her. Is that too much to ask?

When I tried to get my groove back into working, I heard some noise and turned around to see that the Hilltop gate had been opened and only Kelly and Jerry walked inside. Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Marco walked over to them and they were chatting.

But it didn't look good either because I can see Kelly trying to not cry.

Where was Connie? Where was Magna? Where was Shelby?

They weren't there. It was only Kelly and Jerry. I stopped what I was doing and then went over to them.

As soon as I walked over to them, they saw me with sad looks on their faces.

"Where is Shelby?" I asked.

Jerry gave a nod to Kelly before it was just her looking at me.

"Alden, something happened when we were out on our run." She started to explain and I eyed her carefully.

"Did something happen to her? What's going on?"

She sighed. "The whole group got stuck in Alpha's cave. We had to try and find our way out. We got to the point where we could get out but then all of a sudden, the cave exploded. She was in there with Magna and Connie."