Life After Death

Chapter 30

A week and a half passed from the deep and disturbing conversations and enlightenment we had all shared that night around the fireplace, which casted a soft glow among the darkness of everyone's past. And for once, I knew this as a fact, this place actually having calendars hung up on their walls which were maintained and changed monthly.

For the most part, our injuries had healed smoothly and completely after weeks of rest. Some of the deeper cuts still had scabs, and the darker bruises were still visible just in lighter shades. Axel had begun getting very used to working with less fingers, and Whitney was even beginning to embrace the shortness of her hair since the Reapers cut it all. Though it was still shorter than Jade's, who deliberately kept hers fairly short, it was growing quite quickly, all things considering. And in this time, none of us had so much as heard a Lurker, let alone encountered one.

I personally had grown quite friendly with Leesa, Nathaniel having insisted that we meet and get close as we told her stories of what we had dealt with over the last months, together.

In fact, me Jade and Leesa seemed to have formed our own sisterhood. Our ages being close enough that we seemed to click. Particularly with the distinct lack of other teenage girls around us. Even in a world as post-apocalyptic as this, we still had our own traits. Like gossip. We loved to gossip. Not in a cruel way, but between us we seemed to have tabs over everyone. Jade liked to call it 'neighbourhood watch' rather than gossip, and in a tenuous way, she had a point.

But this newfound friendship had come along with its own annoyances, for me anyway. Mainly that of non-stop teasing from Jade after it turned out Leesa had gone this whole time thinking me and Nathaniel were, well, dating. And this didn't take long to reach the ears of Jace who also decided now he wanted to take part in it too. Both of them apparently deciding that without a constant threat of Lurkers or Reapers, now was a good time to make their own enjoyment.

"Well, I mean they're basically a thing," Jade tried to persuade Leesa as we wandered along a few days back.

"No, we're not."

"Who's a thing?" Jace's voice appeared from behind us.

"Nathaniel and V."

"Oh, yeah, what's new?" He laughed with a smirk plastered on his face before he ran back along to wherever he had eavesdropped from. Clearly having had no other intention other than to tease me.

I didn't grace them with a response, mainly because I'd already used all the one's I could come up with in the days prior but deciding not to add fuel to their fire of mischief.

Besides, despite their relentless teasing, something between me and Nathaniel had been different since we'd split up in our group a few weeks back.

When we decided that day after splitting up, to go back and find the others, I had realised he was who I truly wanted to go back to see, like I had to tell him something, but I didn't know what. Sat on the tip of my tongue was something, and yet I couldn't even tell you what it was. The feeling had taken me back to months ago, before even encountering Jace and Jade, when I thought he'd been killed by a Lurker after we had a row. It was the same sort of feeling, yet deeper. But still - I put it down to the fact we had been through so much together, of course we were going to have some form of connection.

Jade kept telling me in our room after the lights had gone out, that it was because we were both scared. Whenever I asked what of, she just laughed, though I think I knew what she really meant, I just didn't believe it.

"You should have seen him when we decided to go back and find you guys, he basically told us that's what we were doing, and I don't think there was any telling him no," she would laugh.