Oblivion {n.h.}

Chapter 44.

We'd made it back safely to the underground as we planned; new guns, weapons, and general supplies now with us that we'd picked up back at the interstate.

Our large group had gathered in the living room with the 'L' shaped couches, Allison and Lydia had called a meeting with everyone invited and by the looks on people's faces; the reason for our gathering is one hundred percent serious.

"Woah woah woah wait–" Thomas interrupts Allison, mid sentence, "you're telling me Reed is back? Shit." His hand comes up to his forehead, brushing away some of his hair that sticks to it, not letting Allison breathe between his sentences.

"He didn't see you guys maybe we could stay–" Andrea tries to negotiate, failing miserably.

"You KNOW what happened last time Andrea; it's too risky for us to stay here." Lydia interrupts her suddenly, and I feel myself getting dizzy looking throughout the people of my group as they chatter over each other.

"What do you mean we can't stay here? There's a fucking blizzard outside and there's nowhere else to go." I cross my arms in front of me trying to state my point, Liam raising his fingers up to point at me and nod, a signal of agreement.

"I was thinking the country, away from the cities." Perrie raises her hand in a small gesture.

"Good idea, but I was thinking a lab of some sort, some place trying to find a cure." Steven interjects again, just jumbles of voices from everywhere I look.

"I think if there was anything like that anywhere near here we'd have found it by now." Jade tells him, trying to argue along my point from what it looks like.

Niall stands close behind me, his body barely touching mine.

"We haven't checked America." Steven says again, my eyes rolling to the depths of my head and back again.

"Okay now you're being ridiculous." Louis mimics my eye rolling also and Harry sighs loud enough to be heard over the nonsense.

"There's nothing we CAN do until the storm dies down. Let's wait until then." Jackson adds in, and I hold myself back from breaking out into an applause for his wise thinking; although Carly couldn't hold back hers and clapped several times for Jackson.

Niall's hand slides up the small of my back and stays there as I lean over a living room corner table where the chaos takes place.

"I'm not done talking about this!" Andrea tries to speak, and I step away the table, sighing just as loud as Harry did before.

Turning around I raise my eyebrows at Liam, who does the same accordingly.

"I'm taking a shower, you guys can babble on about this shit all you want but Jackson's right and there's nothing we can do." I tell them, raising my hand as if to shoo them off, and exit the living area as usual.

Making my way to the back room where I've stayed, I turn on the shower and the evening comes back in flashes once again.

Every time the water turns on and the familiar sound of it hitting the tile floor fills the room, he stands in the doorway of my mind, Grey, still watching creepily as vulnerability pulses through my veins and fear chills my bloodstream through the hot shower water.

He isn't there; I know he isn't there, but he never leaves my mind, making me incapable of washing off his horrible touch, only to see him again and again, haunting my memory.

Goosebumps rise on my skin as I hear the door to Niall and I's bedroom open and shut right after; the sound I wasn't able to hear that night.

Nearly jumping out of my skin, Niall opens the bathroom door and enters, welcoming himself naturally.

"You scared me." I talk over the wet sound, facing my head up at the shower head and letting the warm water flow down my head and hair.

"Sorry." he chuckles, removing his shirt nonchalantly.

"Niall?" I question the boy, his skinny torso pale behind the grated showed door.

"I'm taking a shower, what does it look like?" He gestures his hands sarcastically through the glass.

After removing all of his clothes, he enters the shower and he steps toward me closely, wrapping his arms around my waist so we can both feel the warm water down our faces.

"Why is the water so hot." Niall asks yet another question, his humour the slightest bit annoying yet entertaining at the same time.

Niall leans his forehead into the side of my neck and kisses the area softly, making me moan under the soothing water above us.

"Propanes running low for once, Lydia says they're gonna need to go on a run and refill it tonight if anyone else wants to shower." He tells me, lifting his face up and pressing his chin on my shoulder.

"You going?"

"Probably only if you are." I feel his chin widen on my shoulder bone, letting me know of the huge grin on his face.

"Fine, who else?" I grab the shampoo off of the shelf, a new one Allison had picked up for me the other day, smelling of coconut lime.

"Allison, Steven," the mention of the two immediately makes my heart flutter as I smile to myself, Steven's had his eyes on her ever since we first met the archer. I can still hear the little 'woah' escape Steven's mouth when Allison first entered the kitchen the night we'd met her.

"Jade, Liam, and you and I now I guess." Niall's jaw pressing into the dip of my bone every time he opens his mouth to talk.

"Great, they waiting on us?" I ask, straining my neck to the side to look at the boy.

"Yeah, but the day's still young." He removes his head from my shoulder and grabs his strawberry shampoo off of the shelf as I put mine up.

"Can you get my hair for me?" He asks, handing the shampoo in my direction.

"I would, but I've still got to talk to Jackson before we go." I tell him, stepping out onto the cold tile and grabbing a towel off of the rack, wrapping it around my body.

He pouts at me adorably before sticking his head out a bit, but not enough to drip any water onto the floor below us.

Quickly kissing him and turning away to enter the room in order to change, his arm reaching out and pulling on the towel around my body; allowing it to fall into a heap on the floor mischievously.

"NIALL." I yell at him, trying not to laugh at his boyish actions.

He laughs like an idiot, trying to keep his eyes on my now naked body in front of him; very well knowing that I will have to bend down to get my towel.

Bending down to grab the wet towel I give him a straight view of my ass, quickly exiting the bathroom and glancing at him before the door shuts after me.

"YOU'RE GONNA REGRET THAT!" Niall yells at me after I shut the bathroom door, his facial expression priceless and his eyebrows raised; I won't regret that.