Gerard's POV
As soon as we left I wanted to go back.
Why did I leave him there alone? I thought. I should have gone with him. I should have kept him from going.
We had only been driving for about a minute. I still had time to go back and save him.
"Stop the car," I muttered. He didn't. "I said stop the car."
"We can't go back Gee," said Mikey. "We're gonna meet him in the city. He'll be fine on his own."
I struggled with the door handle, ready to jump out of a moving car if it meant I could go back to Frank. I heard the click of the automatic lock.
"Let me out!" I yelled at Mikey, struggling with the door handle even though it was locked. It felt like one of those dreams where you couldn't really comprehend what was happening, and no matter what you couldn't stop it. "Let me out!" At some point I had started crying. I lost all control of myself at that point, flinging myself against the door to try to break down the door of a moving car.
Someone-probably Hayley- grabbed my arms and pulled me back to keep me from hurting myself.
"Gerard, you need to calm down," she said soothingly. "He'll be okay. We'll see him soon. Okay?"
She let go of me, but I didn't move again. It was like all the strength had drained out of me. I just slumped against the door, pressing my face to the cool glass and watching the trees go by as the truck carried me farther and farther from Frank.
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Frank's POV
I hate fire. I've hated it since I was a kid and I witnessed the store down the street go up in flames. And yet here I was, fighting my way through the seemingly endless mob of growlers, trying desperately to make it to the burning house.
Over the roar of the flames and the snarls of the growlers, I heard a sound coming from the house. My eyes scanned the second floor windows, until they landed on Helena, who was banging on the window and screaming for help.
As I continued slashing my way through the growlers, I found myself thinking about how much easier it would be if Gerard was here watching my back. Tears threatened to fall when I thought of him, so I pushed him from my mind, focusing instead on the growing inferno that used to be my home.
I sprinted across the porch, finding the most flame free path to the front door and into the world of fire. My throat burned, my lungs ached, and my eyes stung, but I pushed through, finding the stairs and taking them three at a time.
The hallway was partially blocked by a section of the ceiling that had caved in.
"Helena!" I coughed. There was no response. "Helena!"
I squeezed past the burning rubble, cursing when I burned myself.
I made my way into the corner room where I had seen her begging for help. The whole room was illuminated by a sickly orange gold as I discovered her curled up on the floor, unconscious.
I picked her up as gently as I could. She was still breathing small shallow breaths. Putting her over my shoulder as gently as I could, I started walking out of the house and back down the hallway. I was carrying her down the stairs when I heard a sickening creak, and looked up to watch the ceiling collapse and fall towards me.
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Gerard's POV
"Gerard, you have to eat something."
I turned around slowly to see Mikey standing there with a plate of food in his hands, looking concerned. I shook my head and turned back around to stare out the bookshop window again. I just wasn't hungry.
Mikey sighed and set the plate down next to the other plates of untouched food that had accumulated in the past few days.
"Gerard..." he said slowly. I didn't look at him. "It's been a week." I already knew this, but hearing Mikey say it seemed to make it more real. Tears started to well up in my eyes. I continued staring out the window to keep Mikey from seeing. "Ray and I were thinking we should leave the city. There are too many deadheads-"
"No." I muttered.
"Gerard, it's dangerous, we need to get out-"
"No." I cut him off. "He could still come back. I need to be here when he comes back."
"Gee, I'm sorry, but he's not coming back."
Before I could help it, a strangled sob escaped my lips. Mikey put his arm around me, letting me sob into his chest. This was the first time I'd let myself cry about it. Before, there was always the possibility he could come stumbling back in; we'd kiss and I'd tell him I love him and everything would be okay. But now I knew he wasn't coming back.
"It's not fair," I sobbed. "It's not fucking fair."
"I know," said Mikey, but he didn't. He had no idea what it was like to lose the person he loved the most. "I know it hurts, but we have to leave. If we stay here, we're gonna die. Frank wouldn't want that."
Hearing Franks name stung, but I knew Mikey was right.
"We can leave," I finally said. We all made arrangements leave the city and find another abandoned farm. The next morning we packed up the truck and left, leaving behind no trace.
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Ahhhh guys sorry this took so long. I've just been really busy ugh. It took me like a month to write this chapter and it's not even that great sorry.
In other news, I did this thing where I write a play and then there's like a competition and there are like 100+ entries and 6 were chosen to be professionally produced and they picked my play so I guess that's pretty cool.
Anywho, thanks for reading.
xojenna
