Blackout • NH

Chapter 21

Previously

"Niall, Liam, Ellen. Should we join them?" I ask.

"Weren't we supposed to go to the safe haven bunker?" Ellen asked.

"I don't believe there's a bunker. I no longer trust Elliot."

"What?" Liam and Niall say at the same time.

Oh fuck. I never told them.

Present

"What do you mean there's no bunker?" Liam asks curiously. His eyebrows lift and he looks shocked.

"Turns out that the bunker that Elliot promised us was a damn lie."

"What?" Ellen says. Her eyes widen.

"I didn't want to tell you guys because we already had enough shit that's hit the fan. We don't need anymore than what we've already been dealing with." I say, frustrated. I put my hand up to my head, feeling a headache emerging due to he stress of having to tell them.

"I've been talking to Marc here and there ever since we left LA. He's been asking for Elliot ever since he went missing. Back when we were following the Colorado River, right before we discovered the cave, he paged me from his walkie talkie. He told me to stay away from Elliot and to make sure I'm never alone with him."

"Now why would he tell you that? Yes Elliot has some anger issues and is a bit of an asshole but he saved our asses when we were fleeing from the city." Liam said, utterly confused.

"Marion called me into her office back at the cabin. Before the blackout occurred, you know, when TV existed, she said she saw him on America's Most Wanted. He was wanted for murder, possession of stolen fire arms, assault, rape, and a bunch of other things. He's absolutely insane. She even showed me a wanted poster with his face on it."

Niall, Liam and Ellen stood quiet. Liam and Ellen looked shocked, sad and disappointed because they were a bit close to Elliot. Niall on the other hand, his expression was unreadable.

"It all made sense. When he told me to stay away from Elliot. Ellen wasn't in any danger, Elliot took a liking to me and when Marion told me more information about him, I put the pieces together. I am his next victim. Elliot going missing wasn't an accident, that's how he plays his game. He will go missing for some time and appear when you least expect it and finish his quest to basically do unimaginable things to his next victim. He isn't right in the head. He's a cold blooded killer."

Ellen starts to cry and Liam comforts her while pondering and re-evaluating his life since he's met Elliot. They look at me and Liam speaks up.

"Let's go to uninhabited."

Niall suddenly grabs my wrists and pulls me to him. He looks me in the eyes, his eyes are a deep stormy ocean grey.

"From now on, you stay near me at all times." He says, whispering while keeping his hard stare on me. He turns to the rest of the group and speaks up, his voice an octave deeper.

"Let's go to uninhabited."

We all saddle up on our horses and ride along the river and soon into the forest, heading to our new destination.

8 hours later...

Its about 10pm and everyone is getting really tired. We've rode a good 140 miles today and we all decide to camp out near a cliffs edge under a large rock for protection against the rain that's starting to come in. We mount our horses to nearby trees and crawl under the rock and into the small little cave like hole.

The boys grab some wood for the fire and large rocks to put against the edge so we are more concealed from anyone who's looking up at the rocky cliff from down below. Liam and Aiden gets a small fire started while everyone else is getting their sleeping backs and blankets out.