They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 22

Jason and Tate came back for the other log to find the tents down and all the sleeping bags neatly stacked by the fire. Cassie and Thalia sat together in a patch of green grass, picking the longer strands and chatting. They sat cross legged and weaved the strands of grass together to make grass bracelets. Jason was surprised to see how quickly they'd completed their jobs and felt his heart fill a little more at the thought of Cassie having a possible best friend other than him. Tate nodded over at the girls as he bent to pick up his side of the bench. "What do you think is up with them?" He wondered aloud as they lifted the log up together and started the slow waddle into the woods. Jason smiled at Tate's naivety, "have you never seen girls chat before? They call it girl time." He explained as he tried to watch where he was going and where Tate was going as he was blindly walking backwards. "Yeah but i thought girls had to be like best buds for that or something." Jason raised his eyebrows as his tongue began to peak through his lips due to concentration, he lifted his side of the log a little higher as he stepped over a rock. "Nah, most girls can have girl time with most girls. I know from when Cass used to invite all sorts of random girls from our school back to her house." Tate hadn't seemed too interested int he conversation up until that point but now his back straightened, his eyes focused more on Jason and he looked genuinely shocked. "You knew Cassie before the apocalypse?" He cried and a murder of crows shot into the air above them. "Yeah, we dated back in high school. Though we were more grown up than we needed to be. Had our whole lives planned out you know. But that never works out right." Tate nodded in agreement as they reached the area where they'd first found the log and dropped it down with a puff of dust. "You know, i wish we got boys time." He said as he brushed aside a plant that was sticking out in their path.
"What? With beer and pool?" They both smiled at that, fond memories flooding back.
"Yeah," Tate seemed lost in thought for a few seconds and Jason waited patiently for what he was coming up with, "perhaps when we get to the resting place i can take you for you're first pint."
"What are you talking about I've already-"
"No, you haven't, or at least not legally. So I'm going to take you drinking." He smiled and playfully punched Jason's arm. Jason shook his head but there was a smile on his face, beaming brightly. "Alright Tate, you've got yourself a deal," he held out his hand and Tate took it to shake, only hearing the last part once it was done, "But you're buying."
"Aw, come on!" He cried as he snatched his hand away and Jason laughed.

They emerged from the woods onto the road to find the girls sat in the grass, "Hey, you two, come on or we're leaving you." Tate yelled to them as he selected his tent and pop corn bag that he hadn't quite finished and heading on down the road. Thalia trotted over and grabbed two sleeping bags, she jogged after Tate then slowed her pace to match his, blabbering on at him about something. Jason waited for Cassie, taking up his tent and sleeping bag and allowing her a chance to grab her corned beef and own sleeping bag. They set off at a slow pace after the others, trialing just behind. "So what were you talking about with Thalia?" He asked casually, as they wandered along the road. Cassie shoved a mouthful of corned beef into her mouth then chewed rapidly, she swallowed it then turned to speak to Jason, "Oh, not a lot. She did my hair, do you like it?" She showed off the lone daisy in her hair and it made Jason smile
"Yeah really, it seemed like you were having a good chat too." She smiled up at him as she dug around in her can to try and scoop up the remainder of the beef, "Yep, shes a good listener. I want to wear a flower crown to my grave when I die one day." Jason nodded, trying to picture what telling Thalia anything would be like but in the end he failed to picture it, only then did he freeze at what she'd said last. "No Cass, that won't be any time soon."
"I know," she said cheerfully, skipping a step forwards, "thats why i said one day."
"Well, don't be so morbid, but it does sound like you had fun and I actually had a talk with Tate."
"Oh yeah?" Cassie teased as she cast aside her corned beef tin.
"Yep, he's buying me a pint at the resting place." He smiled smugly as if he was proud of himself for hustling Tate the way he had. Cassie smiled too at the sight of his goofy grin. "Tate doesn't seem like the type to have any money..." she giggled, signalling to him with her eyes and the look of realisation hit Jasons face like a frying pan. "Oi, crookshanks!" Jason yelled, running after Tate, who turned, looked very confused then started running himself. Thalia turned back to Cassie and started to laugh and Cassie was still giggling when the ground started to vibrate with their laughter. She stopped, staring down at her concrete beneath her feet and watching as a rock bounced across the surface on the vibrations. Her eyes widened and she reached for Thalia ahead only to fall forwards as the whole road lunged backwards and forwards beneath them. "Earthquake!" Cassie screamed as she fell, trying to protect her head. She hit the floor hard, jarring one of her shoulders and begin thrown straight back up into the air again as the world shifted around them. Loud noises sounded from inside the forest around them and Cassie finally hit the floor again, rolling sideways and coming face to face with falling tree. She heard Jason calling her name from the distance, "Cassie!" And then she was surrounded by darkness.

As Jason tried to run towards the tree the tremors got more violent, Thalia screamed and tipped sideways, hitting the floor just as a crack opened up int he space where she'd been standing. She shuffled away terrified on her hands as Tate crouched and tried to steady himself. He shook violently despite bracing by putting his hands flat against the floor. His foot started to slip into a crack that had appeared and then he shot upwards, the ground beneath him jutting out towards the sky as it broke free and took him with it. He yelped and threw himself off the side, hitting the floor with a loud crack and rolled off to the side. Jason made it most of the way to Cassie before he lost his leg down the crack Thalia had barely missed. He gritted his teeth as the ground moved around it and repeatedly smashed into his leg, pummelling the bone underneath. He tried to grab the ground to pull himself out but there was nothing there to grab.

Cassie pushed her way out of the branches of the tree, fighting her way towards the light she could see flooding through the leaves as the ground started to slow its onslaught of movement. She had to snap one of the branches but after that one was broke there was a free streak to the outside. She hooked her arms over two branches and used that to pull herself up and hop through to the clear ground. When her feet touched down she saw the damage, Thalia was staring around herself frantically as the earthquake became more peaceful. She started towards Thalia but Jason caught her eye, his pained face and grasping hands. She ran as fast as she could to him, gripping his hand tightly and pulling, he made a sound of pain, breathing all of his air out through his nose then waved his other hand in a gesture of 'no'. Cassie nodded then moved to the side to examine how else she could free him from the earth prison surrounding the majority of his leg. She nodded to herself then bent and grabbed ahold of both sides of his trouser leg before yanking as hard as she could. At first his leg didn't move but then it started to pull free and suddenly Cassie was on the floor and Jason was breathing a sigh of relief. He flipped over from his stomach and bent in half to examine the damage done to his leg. He winced as he pulled back the trouser leg to reveal red splotches all the way up. "Yep, definitely broken." He puffed then used one arm to push himself up onto one leg. He limped forwards wincing with each step until he got to Cassie then offered her a hand up, pulling her to her feet confidently. "Are you ok?" He asked, smoothing her hair away from her face, she nodded as he brushed his thumb over a tiny scrape on her forehead then he nodded and turned back to Thalia. She still seemed terrified but now she was looking up at them, "Alright, up you get." He mumbled, offering her a hand to her feet. She took it gingerly, trembling a little as she stood there then looked up at properly saw them without the shook clouding her mind. "Where's Tate?" She asked and Jason looked back in his direction to find him curled up in the brush clutching his arm. "Oh shit." He whispered before breaking out into one of the most painful jogs of his entire life. When he got there Tate had tears in his eyes and he clutched his lower arm, he rolled back and forth in pain with his mouth open, saliva stringing everywhere. Jason knelt down beside him, trying to keep off of his bad leg but not doing a very good job. He silently drew Tate's opposing arm back from his painful one and Cassie gasped, Thalia took a deep breath and never seemed to let it go. A large chunk of bloody grey bone protruded from Tate's skin, it was jagged and rough like it had been snapped through blunt force and Jason took deep breaths then looked at his friend in sympathy. He took his bag off and unzipped it, handing it up to Cassie then turned back to address the girls. "Cassie, i need you to find me a bandage and some gauze, Thalia, you're looking for a stick about the size of Tate's forearm." He lifted the broken one to show her and she nodded before disappearing off into the forest. "Alright Tate, I'm not gonna lie to you, this is gonna hurt more than you've ever fucking hurt before but we gotta get that arm back in there. So on three I'm gonna cram it back in." He took both halves on either side of the break as Tate's face suddenly became panicked instead of blinded by sheer pain. "No! Do you even know what you're do-" Jason had finished his countdown by the time Tate had got to that point and he was cut off abruptly when Jason snapped his bone right back into its original place. He took the gauze from Cassie and placed it over the place where the bone had come through Tate's skin then Thalia returned with the stick and he bandaged it to the place he wanted, making sure that it was secure before tying it off. He put a secure hand behind Tate's back and pushed him up into a sitting position. "There. Its all better." Jason muttered, getting back to his feet. He offered Tate a hand to his feet and he stared blankly at him, "Its either we keep moving or we face another one of those before we get to the resting place." Without a word and with his continued blank expression Tate let Jason pull him to his feet and then the whole group stumbled a little closer to their target destination.