The Last Plague

Chapter Fourteen: Returns

I heard a small crackling fire near me. I blunk the sleep from my eyes, and start to rub my eyes. I looked into a small fire in front of me. I suddenly feel my face burning. I pulled my face back from the fire and felt the heat leave me, but it still burned. I was almost certain somebody had placed me that close on purpose. My face felt fried all over and my eyes were dry. I started crying to moisten my eyes, not because of the pain.

"Ah, you're awake," the voice came from above me.

My eyes snap open. The voice isn't Mellisa's at all. I felt scared at the voice I knew it was. Nick was the one that saved me, and killed William, and, I assume, killed Mellisa. I felt fear come over me, but a strange calm too. If he saved me, surely he wouldn't kill me. Then again, Nick saved me from the creature, so Nick might try to kill me too.

"Why are you burning my face?" I shouted at him, not knowing what else to say.

"You felt the burn? That's good," he said calmly.

I knew at that moment he wasn't there to save me, I knew he wasn't trying to help me in any way. I knew he was trying to torture me, but I wasn't sure why.

"What do you want from me?" I said, turning my face away from him. I didn't want him to see my tears, and I especially didn't want him to know I was scared. I felt my back, worried of what he did, but I didn't feel any pain. I felt a bandage over my cut. I breathed a sigh of relief it wasn't still bleeding, but then wondered why Nick had taken the time to bandage it if he was going to torture me.

"You left me for dead, and I want revenge on that."

"Did I have a choice?" I shouted at him, not caring that he could kill me at any moment. "Should I have rather gone for you and towards the creatures, or tried to have saved Bethany?" I shouted at him, wondering how he would react.

"When you say it like that, you sound like you didn't have a choice. The zombies were actually held off pretty well, you just didn't want to check on me," he responded.

"Stop being stupid!" I shouted at him. "It was trying to save you or Bethany, and—"

"Then where is Bethany right now?" he yelled, interrupting me.

I finally turned around and looked at his face. The sun had just come up, and I could see him. His eyes showed that he was tired, and he looked weak. But in his left hand, he clutched a gun, so I wouldn't be able to take it from him. As tempting as it was, I had to wait for a good moment to try to fight back, if I did fight back. I sat up, ignoring the brief pain I had from my back. I stared into Nick's eye as harshly as I could.

"Bethany is dead," I said angrily. "Is that what you wanted to hear from me?"

Nick stared at the ground for a second. "Where is Bethany?" he asked again.

"Stop it now," I grumbled under my breath.

"Where is Bethany?" Nick demanded, standing up from where he was sitting. He clutched his gun tighter as he stared at me more harshly.

"Shut up and listen!" I shouted at the top of my breath. "What are you trying to do? I told you Bethany was dead and that was hard enough. I watched it happen. She was laying in my arms as she died. I watched every moment of her death, okay?"

"Thank you for making my point," he responded.

"What point are you talking about? That Bethany is dead? Because I already knew that."

"My point is that Bethany is dead and you went back for her. If you went back for me, maybe I would be alive," he said, clutching his gun even tighter.

"You are alive!" I shouted at him. "What point are you trying to make here? If I had gone back to you the exact same thing would have happened? That Bethany still would've died and we would still be on this road?" I stared at him in disbelief.