Blackout • NH

Chapter 26

Niall's POV

I am woken up to the smell of beans.

I open my eyes and smile before noticing the other half of the bed was cold. Then it all came back to me. Jodie being cut by a glazer and taken by Elliot. Never being able to see her again because if we saved her, she would have still turned and there was nothing we could have done.

I slowly got up and crawled out of the tent, not forgetting to grab her sweater and carried it out with me. Like a child with a teddy bear.

"Good morning Niall." Harry said as he was stirring the jumbo can of beans.

"Morning." I say quietly.

"Look, about last night-"

"Don't fucking talk about it ever again!" I shout. Grabbing the attention of the other group members packing up their supplies.

"Hey, sorry man I was just-"

"Just what? Sorry won't bring my girlfriend back!" I say, letting my sadness and anger get the best of me.

Nobody speaks. They continue doing what they are doing, pretending to ignore what just happened. I speak up again.

"I'm so sorry Harry." I say, my eyes glistening with tears.

"It's okay Niall. We all cope with loss in different ways."

I nod my head, grateful that he understands.

"I never properly asked her to be mine." I say, surprising myself.

"What?" Harry looks up, a bit shocked.

"Yeah. I was gonna ask her this morning before we left and continued on to Uninhabited." I say, looking at the fire.

"Oh my god. Niall I'm so sorry." Harry said, his voice cracking a bit. But not letting it fail his speech. He along with the others were being strong. I'm pretty sure we all cried at some point last night.

"I'm going to pack up"

"Okay Niall, let me know if you need help okay?" Harry says sincerely.

I turn away and begin to pull all of mine and Jodie's items out of the tent. I made sure not to cry this time. I did all the crying I could do last night. However, I still teared up.

After getting all of our stuff out I began to dismantle the tent and put it in its tiny bag. I carried it to the horses. Since Elliot took one of our hoses, I decided to take Jodie's horse and give mine to Aiden and Marion. I put the tent up on the horse and tied it up in the top. I began to grab the rest of our stuff and carry it back to the horse so I can finish tying it up and get it ready to move.

Before leaving, I made sure to wrap my geode in Jodie's sweater and put it in the sack I had it in originally. Keeping the two valuable things in my life close to me at all times.

I walk back to the camp and eat breakfast with the group. After we are done we get on the horses and take off riding. Towards the gulf coast where Aiden said we will take a boat and continue our journey to uninhabited.

After breakfast, we all be an to climb up on our horses and began riding away from the memories of the last minutes we had with Jodie. We decided to take it easy today and go slow. So we didn't make the horses run as much as we usually do.

Aiden gets in the front of the group, the rest of the horses naturally follow since his horse is the alpha. I was stuck in the back. I let go of the reigns since she would follow the group. And I began to pet the horse. I leaned back onto the items I tied behind me to the saddle to rest my back.