The Wild Ones Rebellion // Black Veil Brides Fanfiction

23 - Fatal Sacrifices

"Living a life of misery, always there, just underneath. Haunting me, quietly alone; It's killing me, killing me. Dead and gone, what's done is done. You were all I had become. I'm letting go of what I once believed, so goodbye agony." ~ Goodbye Agony

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Despite being utterly exhausted, it took hours for me to fall asleep. Jake and I came back to the group eventually, and thankfully, no one mentioned what had happened.  Everyone continued to chat nonchalantly before we all just sort of stopped talking and fell asleep.

I was across the circle from Andy, laying on my side in my sleeping bag and staring at the glowing coals, the remnants of our fire.  Amongst the occasional snores from the guys, I could hear crickets and the rattling of old windows in the wind. The city was disconcerting like this, lifeless and grey. I wondered how much of America was like this now.

I couldn't stop the thoughts running through my head. Tears were running down my face from the overwhelming sorrow of knowing that Jinxx would soon be gone, and it felt like my chest was constricting every time I thought about Andy. I tossed and turned for hours before finally falling into a fitful sleep.

We spent the next few days trekking through the cities, making our way to LA. We had worked up a plan to destroy the tracker, albeit risky. It would require us sneaking into the city and Fear's research facility, hacking into the system, deleting the info, destroying the device, and making it out of the city, all without being seen. We had no backup, no one to help us if things went south. We were entirely on our own.

Everyday it was the same: wake up early, pack up, sneak through the cities, avoid patrols, find a place to make camp, eat, sleep. We stayed rather quiet during our travels, only really speaking when we had to. I guess we were all coping in our ways.

I decided to try to make amends with Andy. Knowing Jinxx's coming fate served as a reminder that we truly didn't know how long we had with each other, and now truly knowing my feelings, I couldn't keep it bottled.  He'd changed, but I knew I'd changed to and it was up to us to make it work.  But every time I made an attempt to talk to him, it felt like he went out of his way to avoid me.  His eyes weren't warm like they used to be when he looked at me, just hard and cold.  I knew what Jake had said, but I couldn't help but really start to believe that he actually did hate me, and that idea was as crippling as a shot to the heart.

"I think we ought to make camp," Ashley said after our long fourth day of traveling. We were in a larger city, filled with office buildings and fancy restaurants and hotels. I was pretty sure I'd been to that city before, probably in one of my class trips.

"I'm thinking I doors tonight," Jinxx added, looking up at the dismal grey clouds with a frown. "Looks like it might rain."

The rest of us nodded in agreement.

"Where do we want to stay?" Andy asked, glancing around at the many buildings on the street.

A fading red building at the end of the block caught my eye, and I walked toward it, leaving the group. It looked familiar, and I was curious if I knew the place some how.

When I came to stand in front of the abandoned President's Hotel, I knew exactly where we were. It was three stories high with glimmering gold trims around the many windows. Before it's been abandoned, it'd truly been a five star hotel. "I found a place!" I shouted to the guys as I walked up to the doors and wiggled the golden handles. I smiled. It was unlocked.

The others followed me as I stepped in, immediately impressed with how well the place had held up after months of not being used. The red carpets resembled belted and the granite countertops, although a little dusty, were unstained. Bag carts shone gold as they sat unattended in a line by the door, and as cc moved across the room to the switchboard, it came alight with a crystal chandelier hanging several feet above us.