Rebuilding Earth

Chapter 17- We're Off!

     A few hours later, after Caitie and Marie are all cleaned up and ready, were sitting on the ground of the tank room, brainstorming what we should do next. Then, I remember something important.
     "Wait!! My dog is at home, all alone I think with nothing to eat or drink! We must save her!!" I shout, panicking. If something happened to her, dear, old sweet Lala, I don't know what I'd do.
      "Yeah we need to get Cocoa!! He's at my house still. And Russ, you should probably get Sasha's dog too, I know you liked her and her dog a lot." says Freddy.
     "TOBY!!" shouts Caitie. That's her cat, her most favorite being on the planet, well, besides Freddy.  
     "Charmaine!! And Daphne!! We need to go get them too!" says Nikki. Her cat, Charmaine is very pretty for a cat, and Nikki loves her. And her dog, Daphne, she loves her just as much as Charmaine.
"Let's go!! We must save all of our pets!!" I shout. I. Need. My. Lala!! "Yeah! But one thing... We have no idea how to get back from here. The bus ride was like 15 minutes, but we still have no idea which way we came from," says Russ, who fell asleep in the ride there. They made us be at the school by 6 am so we'd have more time to look at cool stuff, but that was really too early. Most of the people fell asleep on the way there.
     "I didn't fall asleep, I was reading..." says Kora. She absolutely loves to read. "But I was at a boring part, so I was only pretending... So I know the way, follow me!"
We all follow Kora, out the door, to the left and down the road. We walk on and on for about an hour. And then we are there. The school is right there, just the way it was before except with a very overgrown lawn, the thorny plants everywhere.
"Dang it, those hurt really badly." says Caitie.
      "But we should go in there, they have some useful stuff that we may be able to use..." say Louis.
     "And chemicals!!" replies Freddy, excitedly. He's basically a mad scientist and likes to blow stuff up.
"This is serious, not the time for chemicals!" I say. I guess that reality has finally taken its toll on me. This is the apocalypse. Any mistake could lead to death. And most likely, everyone we knew and love is gone.
     "Guys, this is the apocalypse. We may be the only survivors on the entire planet. Any mistake could be our last." I say. They all look at me. At first they seem scared, but then the truth sets in. One by one, the look in their eyes becomes one that is more serious, determined.
     "Autumn's right. This is the apocalypse. We may be the only ones left. Maybe we're not. But we can't afford to lose anyone, physically or mentally." says Russ.
Louis turns to me. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." he says, determined. "Even if it means I lose my life." I stare at him. Did he seriously say that he would protect me even if it means dying?
     "But you have to promise that you will protect yourself also, ok? And I will try my hardest to protect you." I say.
     Russ said we can't lose anyone physically, or mentally. I don't know about Louis, but if he died, we'd be down by two. I'd most likely end up losing my mind and then my life. So we can't afford to lose either one of us, or the other would possibly go insane.
     "Hey wait don't you have a dog Louis?" I ask. Her name was... Leya? Yes Leya. She was a sweet heart, reminded me of my baby Lala. I believe that they would get along very well.
     "Yeah, well I did..." he says, looking down. My heart sank.
     "Oh no what happened?" I ask.
     "Well, she got bit by a snake 2 weeks ago so we put her down to spare her the pain." he says, tears coming to his eyes. I grab him and pull him into a tight hug.
     "I'm so sorry," I mutter into his shirt.
     "It's ok," he says, but I can tell that it's not.
     "Well, we should go inside now I think." says Kora. She seems eager, probably because of the library inside. The thing about our group is that no one can take anything serious for a long amount of time. So if you were to say your grandma died, they would be all sad and hug you for a minute and then start cracking terrible jokes and puns. That is my life.
     "I'll go first!" she volunteers.
     "Maybe I should um, go with you..." says Freddy, seeming kind of nervous letting Kora go into the mass of overgrown plants and thorns alone.
      "Ok..." she says, seeming sort of embarrassed. He walks toward the overgrowth and grabs her hand. He then carefully steps in, avoiding the thorns, and pulling her through the same route so she would not be cut.
     "Let's go," says Louis. He grabs my hand and carefully does the same thing as Freddy, although I see that one of the thorns cuts his forearm. He winces, but when I ask if he's alright, he assures me that he's completely fine.
We walk through the overgrowth, getting a few minor cuts here and there, but eventually we make it to the entrance of the school. The others come out of the brush soon after us. The doors to the school are cracked open a tiny bit, like usual, and we step inside, one by one. My heart sinks. My aunt works or worked here as one of the ladies in the office. But now she's most likely gone, like everyone else.
"Maybe we should go up to, I don't know, the library? We could set up camp for the night there, it's getting dark out." says Kora. She's right. It's getting darker outside by the minute and I don't want to be trapped in a classroom when it turns completely dark.
     "Yeah, let's go to the library, we could set up camp in one of the Computer Labs and sleep on the beanbags up there." I say, completely terrified of what could be lurking outside in the other side of the overgrowth.
      "Yeah, let's go!" says Russ. Everyone else murmurs in agreement, so we head up the stairs to our little safe haven.

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A. N.  Hello everyone!! This chapter was very easy to think of, and although there was nothing too exciting in this one, the next one may have some action in it. I've said to much already. Anyway, comment your ideas, hope you enjoyed!!