Oblivion {n.h.}

Chapter 49.

JACKSON'S POINT OF VIEW

"Oh SHIT!" I yell, shielding my eyes from the explosion as I get blown away, far from where I was just crouching in the street.

I hit a brick wall forcefully, the wind knocking out of my spine as I hear several cracks, seeing Harry in front of me just a few feet away, wasting no time to scramble off of his feet and pick back up his gun to shoot at our attackers.

I can hear the walkers around the corner and my back aches as I stand up against the wall, immediately looking around for my sister.

"WHERE'D THEY HIT?" I yell, shaking my machete in fear, desperately calling towards Harry for an answer, removing myself from the brick wall behind me and pacing around like a child.

"THERE'S NO TIME LET'S GO!" Harry screams, shooting once more before running towards the rest of the group.

My world almost freezes as I anxiously look between the street walls and back towards the group; I have to make this decision.

"JACKSON COME ON!" A voice screams in my ear; Carly's.

Butterflies erupt in my stomach as I look at the blue-eyed girl. I nod my head, feeling the drop in my gut as I leave my sister and her soulmate, for if not already; dead.

"Keep running North, there's a park up this way with a lot of brush, we can hide there for what time is needed." Allison peeks through the scope on her crossbow, making sure the behind us is crystal clear.

We follow orders and I make my way around with the group, all diving and ducking behind the large trees and bushes at our feet.

"Everyone alright?" Louis asks everyone, panting wildly, his hand set on Harry's back.

Steven looks around violently panic coming over his face while he checks through all of our members. "Where the fuck is Danielle?!" He whispers harshly, not wanting to be too loud, yet still whisper-screaming into my ear.

I stutter a cough, playing with my fingers and my mouth open while I pant and squint through the snow that covers my eyelashes.

"She and Niall, they–" I pant more, wildly trying to find the words to say, "–they,"

"We tried to pull her away with us, we did; but there was no way she was leaving Niall okay, we tried." Harry speaks, a harsh tone in his voice although Steven hadn't freaked totally out yet.

Carly's hand brushes mine from where she crouches behind me, her petite fingers intertwining with mine tightly.

"Steven–" Perrie starts, looking him dead in the eye like he was a child, "Steven she's gonna be okay. There is nothing and I mean nothing some tiny bullet would do to stop Niall from saving both her and himself, okay? Nothing. They're alive I know that much." She soothes him, and he shakes his head at her, not making it clear wether he totally believes her or not.

"Let's go write her a note for my jeep, take the ammunition truck and get the hell out of this city." Perrie tells everyone, her leadership showing far from anyone else's for once.

"Jade?!" Liam asks, his eyes wide as he stares down at the girl crouching beside him in the dirt.

"I know." She says quietly, her tiny voice a disruption between the chaos in all of this.

Dark blood stains the jeans that cover the side of her shin, the red drips making their way down to her ankle.

She lifts her jeans, revealing a large scratch from her calf down to where her combat boots start up her tiny ankles.

"Happened in the sewers, nothing I could do about it. One washed right past me and snagged me on the way." Her quiet voice cute and scratchy at the same time.

"You're infected." Liam speaks again, stating the obvious.

"I know." She says a bit more sternly this time, the sadness filling my face in the moment; one by one they go, more people dying right in front of my face.

"Here, if you want to go ahead and take my gun–" Kaya tries to hand the girl her pistol, the easiest way out to do it yourself.

"I don't want to." Jade tells her, her sorry chestnut eyes looking up at the older girl's bright blue, "I want to let it happen."

"Jade, are you sure?" I ask her, squeezing Carly's hand once for support.

"I am." She tells me, looking into my eyes just as she did to Kaya, "Go," she starts, "Go kill Reed and save Danielle and be the heroes you all are, you're already letting oblivion get there first." She smiles while sniffling, a single tear falling down her face as she looks up at Steven, as he's the one who taught her what Oblivion meant.

"Jade–" he tells her, gripping her hands and looking out through the trees to make sure we're in the clear, "we will NEVER forget you." Steven sternly looks at the girl, standing up and motioning for everyone to follow.

We're writing Danielle that note; and I'm just hoping the cars will be the first place she looks, if she even can anymore.

Making our way down the street quietly, everyone's weapons cocked, ears open, and eyes peeled. Reed nowhere in sight we stay in a line, best for protection as we run through the open city.

"UNGH!" A grunt alarms me as we run past an open alleyway back toward the storage unit.

I keep running, turning around backwards and seeing a man there, who's just hit Andrea straight across the face with a sledgehammer, her skull is smashed if not seriously damaged after that kind of hit.

Andrea falls reluctantly and I hear Steven grunt in front of me as we sprint further.

"Oh hell no." Steven speaks angrily, running the other way, leaving Carly, Allison, and I in the lead.

He shoots his gun several times, the machine wasting about fifty bullets while he chases the men away all of them running in fear to safety.

"THAT'S RIGHT MOTHERFUCKERS!" He screams at them, continuing behind the group to watch where our attackers came from, Kyle and some others now crying due to our fresh loss; Andrea would've never recovered from that hit, suffering severe brain damage and possible blindness.

Perrie runs as quickly as she can, shoving her keys into the backseat of the jeep hopping in the front seat to write her note on a piece of notebook paper.

But just when I thought it couldn't get worse; I hear the moans of the dead joining us once again, on all sides this time, and a man yelling; Reed.

Reed was letting them loose at us.