𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦

✮17. Watchtower✮

I was not looking forward to going back for round 2 but we don't always get what we want. Although I felt better knowing James was with me. To give you a little background, Yara and I had met James at a college party in our first year. We both talked to him a lot that night about how the party was a bore, no proper snacks, a very messy dorm and a karaoke machine that wasn't even working. I remember saying, "Oh we could throw a much better party than this, this shit blows" and Yara agreeing with me when a person walked by and said to James, "Hey, could I use your oven to toast the pizza real quick" and that's when Yara and I had realised that it was none other than James throwing the party in his dorm. But that little incident just became an inside joke and made us closer, making him one of our very best friends in college

I imagined loads of stuff that I'd probably would've done with James; skydiving, parasailing, rock climbing. We both loved adventure but running through a base camp filled with blood thirsty monsters searching for Yara was a bit too extreme. 

James was leading the way and I was following him. We both were screaming her name and looking around every where but there was just no sign of her. We were about to change routes and go in another direction when a guy, not more than 16, came running towards us with a little girl in his arms. I remembered seeing him before, his bunk was right behind Yara's. "Please help me, my little sister and I can't find our parents and don't know where to go", he spoke with a fearful tone. James spoke, "We have no idea where to go either, just try and find a safe place and hide there, alright?" The boy looked scared, and was clearly expecting more from us. I looked at James, signalling him to say something else. He said, "Ok, how about you run to the dock okay? We don't know if the rescue will happen but your parents might be there too." 

The boy nodded and was about to start going in the dock's direction when I realised, "Hey, you were coming from the bunks right? Did you happen to see a girl, a little taller than me, brown skin and curly brown hair? Her bunk was in front of yours." The boy thought for a second and said, "Wait, ya I think so. I saw her running towards the watch tower." 

James looked relieved and I gave him an encouraging nod. I turned to the kid to thank him but something struck my mind. He was essentially alone, with his little sister and had no weapons. "Take this", I said as I gave him my gun from before, "It doesn't have a lot of bullets left so use it well and try to stay hidden."

The boy looked at me in a grateful way and looked as if he was going to say thank you but couldn't. I gave him a reassuring smile and James and I took off. Thankfully, I had that knife Dylan had given me back at the south clinic. I had to be extra cautious now since knives don't work as well as guns when you have a ravenous undead coming at you with full speed. 

We were pretty confident about heading where the guy told us, besides we didn't have really that much of a choice either and this was our best bet. I was thinking about how much time had passed since we needed to be back at the dock by 4, keeping that in mind James and I were wasting no time staying low but running as fast as we could. The people still ran around like crazy and I could sense the atmosphere getting sinister, since the undead were beginning to rise in number. James had to shoot a couple and surprisingly had good aim. I stayed close to him and we were trying our best to dodge the undead and outrun them. I was dehydrated and a headache was slowly starting to emerge but I couldn't wait and rest because my mind was set on one thing and one thing only: finding my best friend. 

We were getting closer to the watchtower and I thought Yara could be any where here, so I had to keep my eyes and ears open. Now, we began yelling her name even more, slowing our pace while our eyes scanned the whole place. "DIANA, JAMES!", we heard our names being called. A surge of happiness flood through me. It was Yara's voice. James and I both started looking at where the voice came from until we heard her shouting again. We both turned our heads a bit upwards and saw Yara, kneeling against the railing of the watch tower. 

"OH MY GOD! YARA", I yelled. "GUYS, UP HERE", she yelled, waving both our arms making sure we could see her. James and I started practically leaping towards the watch tower. As soon as we reached the foot of the tower, we yelled for her to come down. "I'M INJURED", she yelled back. We both began climbing up the loosely bound ladder and soon I was reunited with my best friend. I lowered myself and hugged her tight, James did the same. "I have gone through hell to find you, you had me worried sick", I scolded her. She gave me a soft smile and said, "Everything just went batshit while I was coming back to the bunks. I couldn't find any of you guys and so many undead started chasing me" she started talking frantically when I interrupted her, "Woah woah woah, slow down. Dylan and I had passed this watch tower but you weren't there." "I came here only a few minutes ago. Otherwise  was hiding in that tent beneath it. That's how I got injured anyway, I started climbing up here when an undead found me. He began climbing as well and I tried to kick him off. He did fall but I accidentally banged my foot on the metal plank and I think a muscle tore or something", she said, rubbing her foot where she was hurt. I realised that Dylan and I had seen two guards up here earlier, shooting the undead down but I guess that they had fled too. I gave her another tight squeeze and said, "I'm glad you're safe." "Me too but right now we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm sorry Yara but you'll have to climb down. We'll try and help you, of course", James said. She nodded. 

We both helped Yara up and as we walked over to the edge, I felt all our hearts drop a thousand feet. 

Six undead were making their way up on the ladder and slowly to us.