Blackout • NH

Chapter 9

Day 11: Sunday, May 20th: 11:19am

We left our campsite early this morning and now we are coming upon something from the horizon. The city of Las Vegas. I thought the route we were supposed to take was the route that avoided all major cities!

"Elliot I thought you said this route was supposed to keep us away from the major cities." I say carefully not to upset him like I did last time.

"I thought we could take a short cut. This way saves us a couple hundred miles!" I
He explained.

"You do realize that this is basically suicide by cutting through one of america's biggest cities right?" I ask.

"Hey, if it means we are closer to the bunker then we will take this route. I am the group leader. What I say goes. If you don't like my rules then you are more than happy to leave the group." He said very annoyed.

I walk up to him, grab his shoulder and turn him around and lean in closely.

"We are tired, we need a safe place to say, we've already had a few people almost get separated from the group! If anything happens to any of us, I will not hesitate to kill you." I say very forcefully.

"Oh darling, I would watch what you say. It could get your pretty little mouth in trouble. Just like last time." He said. "Oh an whoever gets separated is just gonna have to survive on their own." He gave me a wink before walking away.

Elliot made me so fucking angry. He is going to get someone in this group seriously injured or killed. If it wasn't for Niall, I would have been killed or seriously injured by Elliot's actions back at the cave.

Elliot was stronger than I was. I know I was trained to fight when I was younger but he knows more than what I was taught so I couldn't fight him by myself and that made me feel weak.

We continue walking towards the city, passing by some cacti here, some large rocks there. Elliot was in the front following Ellen and Liam then me. Niall was trailing behind. Too far.

He had his head down and his hands in his pocket and he was walking slowly. The group was moving but I couldn't leave Niall behind. I turn around and jog to Niall.

"Niall are you okay?" I ask a bit concerned.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine Jodie." He said, not meeting my eyes. Niall was not fine, something was bothering him.

"Niall you don't look fine. What's bothering you? You can talk to me." I said sincerely.

"Jodie, I said I'm fine! Just leave me alone!" He said angrily.

"You know what Niall. I'm trying to fucking help you and you're being a stubborn asshole." I yelled back.

"Leave me the fuck alone!" He said, looking at me. His eyes were dark. They weren't the normal calm ocean blue on a sunny day. They were as blue as the ocean during a hurricane.

"Sorry for caring too much about you Niall!" I yelled. He looked up at me, his eyes drained from the stormy ocean color and began changing back to normal.

"Jodie, I..." He began.

"Save it." I said before walking away, not looking back at him.

(30 minutes later)

We finally reach the outskirts of Las Vegas. Nobody to be seen. This is weird. Usually cities like this would be flooded with people. In this case a few people here and there, scattered about. But it seems like they're hiding.

I think back to what Ellen said right before we left our apartment.

*Flashback*

"Jodie, what is going on?" Ellen asks.

"I don't know, but Marc was right about dad. Dad knew something like this was going to happen to the country. It's like the people are purging for something. When we were in the stairwell, I looked out the window and saw people attacking one another for stuff that they were holding. I couldn't make it out though since it was so far away." I say.

"Why would people randomly start attacking one another for no reason? The power hasn't been out for not even 12 hours. What's got the people so scared?" She asks curiously.

*Flashback over*

It didn't hit me until now. This is more than just a purge with people killing one another...maybe it's not the people themselves killing others for no reason, but rather something that is irreversible...