Cursed

Chapter Eight

[All chapters before chapter six were all in Lacey's POV. Sorry about that. :)]

Niall's POV________

We did it. We saved him. He's alive and now I'm kissing her. I'm kissing Lace.

I pull back and I look at her beautiful brown eyes. She smiles and bites her bottom lip. I smile back at her and she wraps both of her arms around me. I sit my chin down on her head and close my eyes. I'm so happy we found them. Found her and Luke. She's my rock.

I remember how it happened. We were out. Out in the chaos when the first biter found his victim. I saw it happen. Liam was with me. I ran for the young girl who was his claimed meal. Her screams still echo in my mind like they would in a deep cavern. Liam grabbed me from behind and stopped me. I could've saved her. I know I could've, but he wouldn't let me.

Everyone began running and screaming. To me the world was in slow motion as my eyes were on nothing but the girl. Liam was pushing on my shoulders and yelling something in my face, but I couldn't hear him, didn't notice him. I looked around for something, someone, I could help. I looked back to the girl who was now up and she was like her attacker. Evil. Cannibalistic.

The virus spread right in front of my eyes and yet I stood there. I saw a young man, my age surely, run from the lobby of an apartment building. He held her in his arms, bridal style. My eyes settled on his panicked face and I ran for him. He saw me coming and I motioned for him to come to me. He ran, her body was pale, limp, and her lips were blue. She was beautiful. I screamed for Liam, who was already running after me.

"Asthma attack?" Liam asks the boy, out of breath. He nodded and that was all it took. I grabbed the bag off the boy and we laid her down. He began the process of checking her pulse, CPR, the whole shebang. I was scared out off my mind, just praying that she would be okay. I watched her chest for some sign of life. C'mon, I thought to myself.

"What are you doing? Protect me!" Liam said and I dropped to my knees. I fumbled through the large bag that the boy brought out. Canned food, clothes, an inhaler, and- knives. Big butcher knives. I grab one and stand to watch and protect.

I spotted the girl that I had wanted to help, but I had been held back. She was eating a smaller boy. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut, like I didn't deserve to dare anymore. The image burnt itself into my mind. I'll never forget it.

Then I heard a gasp come from behind. It ripped my eyes away from the girl and turned me around like it had a grasp on my arm. The girl that the boy had brought out...she was now breathing. "Let's get her out of here!" the unnamed boy, which I now know as Luke, screams. He grabs the girl, I clutch the handle of the bag with one hand and the hilt of the knife with the other.

We ran until we reached the door to my little cabin and that's when the long days of surviving began. She slept for a day and a half. That whole time Luke and I stood by her bed, waiting. We talked about her past. I heard about everything. Her mom. Her dad. I resented her mother and I missed her father.

Then she woke up. She was even more beautiful. Her eyes glowed and her hair just sort of sparkled. When I looked at her, it sent a chill up my spine. When I touched her I felt as if I could do anything even though the world was falling to pieces. She made everything seem glorified.

•_______•______•________•______•

"Do you want to see him?" I ask her and her smile fades.

"Um, no. No. I can't. I'm the reason he's in there in the first place. I-I," she stutters and backs away from me with her eyes set on the door.

"No, it's not your fault. Harry was protecting you. And I'll never ever be able to thank him for that. He's alive and he wants to see you," I try to convince that what he did wasn't her fault. He was still unconscious so the last sentence wasn't really the truth. I just can't stand to see her this way.

She turns and runs back into the bedroom I had taken her to. It was Liam's. That was only around 3 hours ago yet it seemed like it had been days. Harry's blood was still in puddles on the wooden floor.

I don't chase after her because I know what she'll do. She'll get angry and probably yell at me until she has another asthma attack. I don't want that to happen.

Instead I walk out onto the back porch. Our back yard is fenced in so no harm can be done to us here.

It is becoming night time and the stars are sliding into place, as amazing as ever. I've always wanted to see a star up close. I think they would be beautiful. It surprises me that the sky has the nerve to be so happy and gorgeous while we live in a world that is horrible and terrifying.

I walk over and lay back on the grass. Amazing. "Hey man," a voice says and I know that it's Louis.

"Hey," I say in response. "The sky is such a jerk," I say and he laughs.

"What are you talking about? It's really quite extraordinary."

" Yeah exactly. It's so beautiful, but we are living in a world where people eat each other. I mean it's gruesome down here, yet it has the nerve to be that gorgeous," I answer, explaining myself.

"Wow, Niall. I didn't know that you were that thoughtful. To be honest I didn't know there was anything up there," he says, pointing to my head and I laugh. Louis's always been the jokester of us.

We talk for a while about the sky and many other random things. But mostly about Lacey and Luke.

"I think we should kick Luke out," Louis says and immediatley anger rises inside of me.

"Look, we can't just push him out the door because she'll go with him. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I sent her to die," I say and the anger dies a little when I look at his face. He's worried.

"I don't want him to hurt anyone else, you know? He just seems...unstable," he responds and the anger left completely.

Luke is a terrible person sometimes, but he's good for her. He watches over her better than I ever will. I trust him with her. When we first met, he told me about how he stayed with her everyday that her father was in the hospital. He said she cried almost everyday and it killed me to listen. I can't help but look at her and worry sometimes.

"Hey guys," her angelic voice speaks and my head immediately turns her way.

"Hey, you okay?" I respond and she smiles and nods.

"I'm gonna leave you guys to...it," Louis says and I laugh. He points to Lacey and me then swings his hands in circles motioning to "it" I guess.

She walks over and flops down beside of me. The moonlight makes her eyes shimmer and I can't help but notice she has one of Liam's shirts on. It's huge on her, but it still looks amazing with her denim shorts and her topknot. Silence falls over us and all of the Earth, or so it seems.

"When you were sleeping those first days, Luke told me," I break the silence with a reference to her father. Scared of her response, I look to the sky and away from her sorrowful, yet hopeful face.

"Everything?" she answers with a subtle question.

"Well, that depends on your definition of everything," I respond and I can see her nod out of the corner of my eye. Then, she stands and walks back into the house. Was she angry? If so, at who?

It hurt to see her hurt.