The Dead, The Living and The Broken

Chapter 14: Gone

Neither Cassandra nor Damien said anything as they drove down the narrow dirt path and towards the cabin. When they pulled up to the cabin, they saw it was still standing surprisingly. Cassandra jumped out of the vehicle and Damien trailed behind her.

"Kiara?" Cassandra called once she got inside the building. "Erin? Oliver? Elijah?" She was met with silence. She called their names again but there was still no response.

"Help me look for them," she said to Damien.

The searched through the house but their was no signs of their friends or where they might be.

"I don't get it," Cassandra said. "They cabin is still pretty solid but they're gone."

Damien shrugged. "Maybe they tried to come after us?" he suggested.

"There's no way Oliver would let them follow us, nevermind him going too," Cassandra said.

"You would be surprised what he would do for you," Damien mumbled and scuffed his shoes across the wooden flooring.

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"Nothing," Damien replied.

"No, what was it?" Cassandra pushed.

"It was nothing, it wasn't important," Damien insisted.

Cassandra nodded, clearly getting that Damien wasn't going to repeat himself.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Damien asked.

"I don't know," Cassandra said.

"Should we go look for them?" Damien said.

Cassandra shook her head gently causing her golden hair to sway around her face. "We have no idea where they could be," she said.

"So what, we just sit here and wait, hoping that they're alright?" Damien furrowed his eyebrows together.

"That's all we can do." Cassandra collapsed against the couch and let her head fall backwards into the rough material.

Damien paced across the floor running his hands nervously through his hair. The sole sound was of Damien's shoes thumping against the ground.

"Damien, just try to relax and sit down. I'm sure they're fine," Cassandra told him.

"I can't relax because just an hour or two ago, my best friend was eaten alive in front of my eyes and I could've helped!" he screamed.

"It wasn't your fault, you couldn't've saved her," she said in an attempt to comfort Damien.

"I could've! I could've insisted that we had enough water bottles. I could've be watching closer and been able to see that zombie reaching towards her. I could've gotten the water. There are so many things I could've done that would've saved her life!"

"I tried to tell her that we had enough but she was too determined, and there is no way you would've been able to see that zombie soon enough before it grabbed her. And if you would've gotten the bottled water than you would be how she is right now, and she would be the one blaming herself and suffering. She was too gentle and she couldn't kill. I know that you knew deep inside that she wouldn't make it." Cassandra and Damien now both had tears in their eyes again, tears of sadness, anger, guilt and regret all mixed together.

Damien let out a choked wail but no tears fell. He stumbled towards the couch where Cassandra sat and fell down next to her. She pulled him into a tight hug.

The front door quickly opened and both of the teen's heads snapped to face the door.

Kiara, Erin, Oliver and Elijah all cautiously entered. Kiara breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Damien and Cassandra safely sitting on the couch.