Desinence. (The Beginning Of The End)

.24.

George.

Once a young, innocent teenager. Now a strong, caring man, at the age of only sixteen.

Sixteen years. Only sixteen years of life.

I could feel the emotions pressing in the very back of my mind, like cold, prodding fingers. The force was strong, and I struggled to keep my them contained, although I could feel my eyes brimming with tears. I blinked, and the wet liquid spilled down my cheeks. I quickly whiped my face.

It must have been Haddon's people. They had said they were coming for us. And they had. They took my best friend, and our leader. They weren't going to get away with that. 

I could already feel the webbing of thoughts begin, the start of a plan forming.

I felt the weight of dissapointment drop onto my shoulders. I had failed. I was given second leadership at this camp, to keep everyone safe. And we had lost five people tonight. Kathy, Erica, Tamara, Detri, and Todd.

Todd was only eight years old.

It was sick. How could someone lead a horde into a camp, knowing that children slept here? Didn't they know that they were stealing their life for the second and final time?

I wanted to sleep. I wanted to drop to my knees and cry. Weep for everyone, cry for anyone who had ever died. But I couldn't. Not here, not right now.

I had a plan. And I had so little time.

Camp was depressing. Our loved ones had died, and everyone sat still, some weeping, some staring off into the distance, feeling numb, thinking of nothing. The only ones who seemed to keep a straight head were Oz, Keenan, Eli, Jericho, Cade, Alyssa, Matthew and I. Everyone else was completely and utterly destroyed.

My friends were dead. It was sad, it was devistating, but I couldn't let myself think about it now.

I stood up, slipping my hand out from Alyssa's, and I began walking towards the truck where the weapons were held. She stared up at me, uneasily, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice hoarse. She stood up to follow me.

I didn't even hesitate. "I'm going to find him." I glanced back at her. "I'm going to find George, and I'm going to find Micah, too. We aren't loosing anyone else."

Her eyes widened, and she quickened her pace to keep up with me. "What? Evan, no." She grabbed my arm. I stopped, turning to face her. "You're hysterical. You're not thinking straight, you can't...You..You need some rest. Listen," Her voice was low, uneven. "The best thing we can do for everyone right now is be here for them. We can't leave. Not after this. You have to let them go."

I jerked my arm away from her, and, ignoring her hurt expression, I snapped, "I. Can't." I could feel anger boiling inside me, burying any other feeling. "I can't. Not if there's a chance that they're alive and I could save them. I won't lose anyone else."

She bit her lip, and I could see her eyes gleaming, wet with tears again.

"We don't even know if they were taken by Haddon's people. They could have been dragged off by the dead," She whimpered, looking as if she wanted to take my arm again. But she knew better. "We could be looking for walking corpses."

I stared at her in disbelief. "You will give up on George and Micah this quickly?"

She froze, taken back by this. "I loved them."

I felt my hands begin to shake, so I tried to stuff them in my jacket pockets. "Then you would let me go find them."  I stared into her electric green eyes.