These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

13.

My head rest on Nick's shoulder as Maddie drove us towards Strand's place. Like Nick said, we had no other option than to trust the man.

He said he had a house by the water. Food and supplies too but I was still skeptical. I would believe it when I saw it.

My mom had decided to ditch our car, instead hopping into the back of Travis' truck with Liza to help take care of Ofelia's arm.

I don't really understand what happened there except that she had gotten shot by some army guy who was apparently her secret lover or something? I don't know.

The cool air coming in through the open window felt nice and I watched Nick move his hand in a wave like motion before getting comfortable.

We were taking the underpass since it was likely that the roads and such would be jammed and Strand said something about following the river down to the sea.

Driving under the bridges, it was rather scary to see all of the abandoned cars littering the roads so I nuzzled my head further into Nick's shoulder to try and rid my brain of the haunting image.

Strand continued to guide us until he told Maddie to pull into what looked like a driveway.

"Woah," I whispered, climbing out the car after Strand, "This is your place?"

"Yes," he answered, moving towards the keypad that I'm guessing opened the silver gate behind him.

"Grid's down."

He smirked at Nick, "Generators kick in when the power goes out."

"This place is beautiful." my mom gaped as she and Maddie broke off from the rest of us inside to go take a look around.

"It's nice to see how the other half live." I murmured. Compared to our places, this place was a palace.

"Taylor," Daniel said from behind me, "Could you help get Ofelia comfortable?"

"Of course," I said, moving some cushions from the sofa, "Here, let me help you down."

She gave me a grateful smile and I squeezed her uninjured hand. She had gone through so much in the past twelve hours. Her mom was dead and now, now she had a bullet wound to deal with.

"I'll get you some water."

"Thank you." Daniel said for her as he sat down and I entered the kitchen to find Chris and Alicia raiding the fridge.

"What?" he shrugged when he saw the look on my face, "He said to help ourselves."

Speaking of Strand, where was he?

Ignoring that for the moment, I filled a glass for Ofelia and returned through to where they were sitting, smiling at Liza when she passed by me.

I fell down onto an empty seat with a sigh. The whole event that was last night was crazy. It honestly felt like a dream but I was so tired that I just wanted to melt into this ridiculously soft cushion and take a nap.

My eyes opened at the sound of a gunshot and Daniel was looking around confused.

Chris and Alicia who were on the balcony started running towards the rocks that led down to the water.

I looked to the man beside me, "I'll go see what's happened."

The wind from the sea sure woke me up as I carefully made my way down to the shoreline, seeing Travis and Maddie kneeling in the water. It looked as if she was comforting him.

Up ahead, I could see Alicia staring at something, my mom not too far away and as I got closer, I realised that what they were staring at, was Liza.

"What happened?" I asked softly when I reached the scene, "Did Travis do this?"

"She was bitten." my mom explained and Alicia ran her hands through her hair.

Chris was obviously distraught; hovering over his mother's body as he sobbed into his hands.

My heart broke for him, it truly did. I couldn't imagine having to go through this without my mom and I quickly closed the gap between us and hugged her torso, "I love you."

She sighed and kissed my forehead, "I love you too."

**

Darkness began to fall and we were using full advantage of Strand's generators.

Most of us had taken the time to rid our skin of blood except for Nick and Chris. He had refused to leave his mother's body so we brought it up to the house, much to Strand's dismay.

I found Nick in one of the many bedrooms, spread out on the king size bed, his eyes opening as I closed the door behind me.

He kept watching as I made my way over to the bathroom, "What are you doing?"

"Well," I said over the running water, "Since you're not making the effort to clean yourself up," I climbed up onto the bed beside him, "I'm going to do it."

He gave me a small smile when I hovered over him, dabbing away a the blood on his neck.

"We have to get you some new clothes too." I murmured, "Theses ones...I don't like them."

"Oh, well if you don't like them I'll definitely need to get rid of them." he muttered, giving me a soft kiss, "But the jacket, can't I keep that? I kind of like it."

"No. That really has to go."

"Is this how things are going to be now? You telling me what I can or can't wear?"

I shrugged, "Pretty much. You up for taking a nap?"

"With you? Always."

"Good answer." I said through a yawn and scooted down so I could lie under his arm whiich was folded behind his head.

Finally, I could sleep.