Blackout • NH

Chapter 28

I rode and rode. Never giving the horse a break. I don't think he needed one because that stall just blowing out like that scared him.

I rode for about two hours until I came upon a familiar area. The smile on my face rising. Niall, my sister, the group. I come up to the familiar rocks and hop off the horse carefully and wobble my way to the rocks and slowly climb over them to greet the group and tell them I'm okay. When I get to the campsite, everything is gone. The only traces remaining was a can of beans and an old campfire.

I stand there, taken back. They're gone. My eyes begin to water and I start to cry. How could they have left me. Why didn't they come looking for me?

I go to wipe my eyes with my arm when I feel a sting. Oh, that's right. I was cut by a glazer. Oh no. I was cut by a glazer. I began crying again because I'll never get to see Niall or the group again. I'm going to turn into one of those things and kill innocent people.

That's why they left, they knew I would turn.

What is Niall thinking right now? What about Ellen? Liam? Harry? Marion?

I continue crying and slowly make my way back to the horse and climb up. If I'm going to turn, I might as well be in a desolate place where I can't kill anyone. The desert.

I look over at the view of the desert and mountains miles away and begin my journey to the middle of nowhere.

I ride quietly and slowly through the forest, giving the horse a rest since I ran him too hard trying to escape from the secured town.

It's still dark out but I'm riding on an old rocky path in the side of the cliff in the forest, declining in elevation, making my way to the badlands.

The moon is shining brightly and it's a peaceful night.

I continue my ride down the curvy road when suddenly I hear a deep but soft voice. It sounded familiar but I couldn't pin point who or what it was from.

"Jodie."

I turn around and look but I see nothing. I have no weapons on me. Just the crutch I had stole and that's it.

I ignored it and kicked my horse and got him to trot down the path a bit faster.

"Jodie"

This time I don't hesitate, I kick the horse a bit harder and send him into a fast canter down this road, it a bit dangerous but I think someone or something is following me. But it's strange because the horse would have been spooked already.

I get to the bottom of the cliff and onto the flat lands of the plains, leading into the desert. I slow down and continue walking.

I began to ponder about everything that's happened. I was cut by a glazer and I was going to change within 24 hours. But wait... I was cut 24 hours ago. That's when I was taken, I was passed out in the secure campsite for hours upon hours.

Wouldn't I have changed by now? Wasn't I supposed to start turning pale and start bleeding from my cut and my skin starts to rot. Aren't my eyes supposed to bleed and aren't I supposed to have a dark cloud following me and turn into a zombie like ghost man.

I look at the cut, it's healing. Impossible. Why is it healing. It clearly cut me. Elliot didn't shoot me with the arrow because it was in the glazers head.

I shake my head, over reacting. I'll turn soon. Maybe in the next few minutes.

I kick the horse to pick up my pace to a trot and frolic thorough the tall grass here in the small plains.

"Jodie."

This time I stop and stay still. Listening for anything I can hear. I know I'm not hallucinating. Maybe I am, maybe that's a sign of me turning. I begin to move again.