Wither With Me

CHAPTER 13 - TRAIL

"Have you lost your fucking mind!?" Nora, we can't go look for her! Where would you even go!? She could be anywhere!" yelled William.

They had searched the entire building, from top to bottom. William had even gone into the restricted areas on the lower levels, to no avail. Lilian had left... or someone had taken her away. But if someone had such ill intentions, why didn't they do anything else? If they were able to go unnoticed all the way into the living quarters of the building, they could have killed or incapacitated all of them as well. If the girl had truly been kidnapped, was there some kind of unknown purpose to it? If she left on her own... why!?

Nobody knew the answers, and everyone was losing it. Especially Nora.

"William, don't make me repeat myself, I'm going!!" she said. She had already grabbed a backpack and hurriedly packed some supplies. "I'm not going to leave her out there to her fate...! I'm going, with or without you!!"

"You're only going to get yourself killed! This is probably what they planned for... Kidnapping her, luring us out so they can claim the place again!"

"I'm telling you, she wasn't kidnapped, she had to leave on her own! She was right beside me! Claire, you trust me, right!?"

"I-I.... Um...!" no words came from Claire's mouth. She recoiled against the wall, looking at them both with a horrified look on her face.

"Cut the crap!" William gesticulated wildly while trying to reason with Nora. "I refuse to let you go out there without a proper plan! Rushing will only make us easier targets for whoever is behind this!"

"Cut the crap!? It's easy for you to say that, isn't it!? It's not like she's your sister after all!" Nora's eyes were burning with something that William couldn't identify. Was it anger? Despair? He had never seen that look on her eyes before. But that didn't change the fact that he didn't like what she had just implied. Not one bit.

"Watch your mouth, Nora. I know how painful it is to lose a loved one. And trust me, I'm pretty sure I know it better than you do."

"Kuh...! Damn it...!! Shut up...!!" she was panting from exasperation. "You don't get it...! Fine, if you don't want to help me, then you can go to hell...!!" without saying another word, and with tears in her eyes, Nora bolted for the stairs.

"W-Wait, Nora...!!! Aren't you taking this t-too far...!!?" Claire yelled, but it was for nothing.

"Nora...!!" William was about to run after her. But should he? What was he going to achieve? More arguing? Provoking her further? He might be able to forcefully stop her, but would that help? From his point of view, that kind of hurried, panicked decision-making was anything but wise. If Lilian left during the night, she was nearly guaranteed to have encountered some nocturnal shamblers. Nobody survives the night out in the streets. However, he understood that Nora wanted to go as fast as possible. What stopped him from stopping her?

'Amanda... If that were you...'

His rational side told him to stop her. His emotional side told him to go with her. He did nothing.

Claire dropped to her knees, as Nora's footsteps sounded further and further away, until only silence remained.

...

"What are you going to do...?" he asked Claire.

"......" she stared at the floor, unresponsive.

Upon receiving no answer for a while, William walked away, dubious. It was unlikely for him to hesitate, he needed to pull himself together. It was undeniable, at that precise moment both Nora and Lilian were in danger. Something had to be done. Just as he was approaching the stairs, Claire's voice stopped him in his tracks.