The Art of Death Vol I

Chapter 44 (Part 1)

The next day...

We ended back up at the safe spot we found when we got here. We would've been gone by now, but we didn't find what we were looking for yet: A map. And I mean a map, maybe an Atlas. But I would be good with a map. So I knew where exactly we were going. Me and Naomi left the building for the search. We closed the door shut while taking the horse with us.

"About yesterday..." Naomi spoke up. What about it? There was nothing that needed to be talked about. We all know what happened, we all know what we saw. Just like with Elias. I didn't want to talk about him for the same reason.

"What about it?" I replied, while we both walked down the street. Strange, there were no signs of Beasts in this vicinity at least.

"Well... Is everything okay?" She questioned. Sure everything was fine. The reason I didn't want to talk about it is because I didn't want to be reminded of that place. More about the events that happened.. I didn't want to remember being kidnapped and almost losing Naomi. She is my rock. 

"It's okay, I just don't care to talk about it right now," I explained. 

"But-" Naomi got cut off by me.

"I don't care to talk about it," I slightly raised my voice. The only thing I cared about is if she really loved me or not, or if she was saying it in the heat of the moment. I did love her. We confessed our feelings to each other. Now what? What was I supposed to do? "Naomi..." I spoke up, then turned to face her. She looked up at me, then I added, "Did you really mean it when you said you loved me?"

She just looked at me for a second, then started talking, "Well um I-" She was then cut off by a familiar voice.

"Well, well, long time no see," The voice interrupted us. We looked up, and to our surprise it was Rain, with two other people behind her. We just saw her yesterday, and honestly I thought we would never hear from her again. She was very upset yesterday... And I did feel bad about it. Rain didn't deserve all that pain she had to go through yesterday.

"Rain?" Me and Naomi both spoke at the same time.

"W-what are you doing here?" Naomi asked.

"Getting our survival needs," She explained. Made sense.

"Look, Rain I'm so-" I started to express then got cut off.

"Don't apologize," Rain cut me off then put her hand up. Then she continued, "It's not your fault. You felt scared at the time. I would've done the same thing." So Rain knew all that happened? Every detail on how Autumn got bit?

"Well, you have my condolences at least," I told her. She shook her head. She wasn't over it completely. Not this fast. You could see the pain and sorrow in her eyes.

"What are you guys out here for?" She questioned us.

"Well, we are looking for a map. A map of the United States and Canada," I articulated.

"Why?" She pressed. What is this? Twenty questions?

"We are travelling across country. We have Cannibals after us," I told half of the truth. Thing is I didn't want Rain knowing where we are going. Naomi looked at me, but didn't say anything.

"Well, we have a few maps back at the base, we can go there now if you want, and I'll have these two get supplies," She offered. Of course I was going to take it. Any less work for me, was ideal. Needed to save energy anyways.

"Let's go," She announced, and we walked off. I know, I didn't want to be reminded of the fucking place, but we would be in and out in a jiffy.
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An hour or so later... 

We arrived at the old prison base. We followed Rain and she led us in. We went down the same, long corridors that we did yesterday, but this time without restraint. We ended back up at the same office that Autumn used to be in when she ran it. She opened the door and led us in. I looked around to see Autumn's corpse gone, which was good. Though I looked down to see a blood stain right where her head laid just yesterday. This was all too weird and surreal. Just as long as I didn't see the jail cell I was in, I would be fine.