Blackout • NH

Chapter 7

Day 8: Thursday May 17th: 10:36pm

6 days have passed. We couldn't leave the cave because a desert storm came out of nowhere the first night we had spent the night in the cave. So we have been just sitting around, doing literally nothing, Elliot is still trying to plan our journey to the Appalachians.

We had a group come by a few days ago. A family. Elliot, Niall and Liam nearly killed them if it wasn't for me. They just wanted to stay in the cave with us, but after a bit of an argument with Elliot I realized we couldn't take that chance. They could rob us and leave us with no food or supplies.

I asked Elliot if they could join but he very angrily told me that nobody will join our group, even if they had young children or pregnant women. 5 people was already a lot for us to handle.

"Guys I have some good and bad news." Elliot said while standing at the cave entrance and watching the storm triumph throughout the desert. "Do you want to hear the good news of bad news first?"

"Tell us the bad news so we can get this over with." Niall said.

"The bad news, is that we can't go to the cabin the the Appalachians like we planned." He said.

"What the fuck do you mean we can't go to the cabin?" Liam asked furiously. He started balling his fists. "The plan was to get to the cabin and survive!"

"Liam calm down. You didn't even hear the good news." Elliot said.

Niall went up to Liam and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him a bit. It worked. Liam just shook his head and said, "Then what is the good news?"

"The good news is that my buddy, Aiden contacted me on my walkie talkie today. He said there's a bunker there in the Appalachians full of food and supplies to survive. He said we can join him and his group." Elliot replied.

"Woah woah woah, hold up. You just said a few days ago that we were not going to add any more people into this group and now you decide to change your mind?" I ask, starting to get angry.

I grabbed Elliot's shirt and pushed him against the cave wall.

"You turned down a fucking family who were willing to help us out in return for being apart of this group. A family with kids! And a baby on the way! Who knows if they're dead or hung somewhere with their limbs cut off for everyone to see!" Elliot then surprises me and gets out of his hold and pushes me against the wall and pulls out a knife and holds it to my neck.

"Jodie!" Ellen yells.

"Look here you little bitch. You're lucky I don't cut your throat and let you bleed out right here, right now." Elliot says, fury burning into his eyes. Pushing the knife handle harder into my neck, beginning to choke me.

Suddenly I feel Elliot being pulled off of me. I drop to my knees and put my hand on my neck trying to catch my breath. Ellen coming to my side to look at my neck.

I look up to see Niall having Elliot shoved against the wall with a gun pushed to his head.

"Don't you dare lay a fucking finger on her! I won't hesitate to kill you right here, right now." He yelled.

"You think you're so brave Niall, don't you? You know that if it wasn't for me, you would be dead right now, still stuck in that mob of people being beaten to death. You better think twice about killing me. Don't forget that I was the one who got you out of that shit hole of a mess." Elliot replied, cold and hard.

Niall dropped his gun but kept his old on Elliot. Staring him deeply in the eyes. "If you ever lay a finger on Jodie again, I will make sure that the last thing you see is the barrel of this gun." Niall said.

He forcefully lets go of Elliot and walks to the back of the cave. Elliot walking out of the cave, I guess to get some fresh air.

"Jodie are you okay?" Ellen asks me.

"I'm fine Ellen. Don't worry about me. Why don't you go help Liam knot the ropes?" I say.

"I don't want to leave you alone." She said. Her eyes were watering.

"I'll be fine. I just need some time alone. Later, me and you can finish counting the supplies okay?" I say trying to get her mind off of what had just happened.

"Go on, Liam said you're good at knotting the ropes so he's gonna need your skills." I say with a smile. She sighs and gets up and walks to Liam to start helping him.

I sit there and start to ponder. Is this trip worth risking? Elliot has this vibe about him that I don't like. Yeah he is helpful but something about him bothers me. I just can't put my finger on it.

I look over to see Niall laying on his sleeping bag, facing the wall of the cave. I'm not sure if I should go over there and bother him. He's never gotten this angry since we've been together as a group. He's always so calm and happy and collected.

Him going after Elliot like a lion going for an antelope is what shocked me. I didn't think Niall had a mean bone in his body but I guess I may have been wrong. We all have our dark secrets.

Hesitantly, I walk over to Niall. Scared I may set him off. He hears me coming up to him and turns his body to see me and he sits up against the wall.

"Hey." I say.

"Hey." He says back. Putting his head back on cave wall and closing his eyes. I sit down next to him, staring at the ground. We sit in silence for about 10 minutes before I speak up.

"Thank you Niall. For what you did." I say, still looking at the ground. I put my hand on his knee as a gesture of thanks.

"Anything for you Jodie." He says. I take my hand off of his knee and continue staring at the ground.

"Jodie..." Niall starts. I look up to see him staring me straight in the eyes. "If Elliot ever touches you or tries anything on you, tell me. Please?" He says in a slightly desperate tone. Still staring me in the eyes.

"Don't worry Niall. Elliot won't lay another finger on me. You don't need to worry about me. I'll be okay. I promise." I say, sincerely.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." He says. He stands up and walks away.

I sit there and think about what he said. What does he mean by that? I'll be fine, I don't need Niall to fight my battles for me.

I know Niall was never fond of Elliot but I don't know why he nearly had to kill him. I continue thinking about the events that had happened tonight as I drifted off to sleep.

(2 hours later)

I wake up hearing something rustle near me. I open my eyes expecting it to be a stranger exploring in the cave. But it was Niall. He was sitting near his sleeping back and he was facing the wall. And he had a flash light on.

I quietly get up and crawl towards him, not taking the chance to walk and have him hear footsteps approaching him. I move a little closer to see him with a paint brush and a small bottle of blue paint. He was painting in a blank area on the cave wall. I move closer to see a simple painting of a man protecting a woman from being killed.

It was similar to the painting I saw when we first found the cave. Except this painting had a happier ending. The woman survived and the man was happy.

I guess Niall heard me coming and he put down his brush and turned towards me.

"That's a beautiful painting Niall." I said, admiring it.

He doesn't say anything. He hands me the brush and crawls into his sleeping bag and goes to sleep.