The Walking Remix: Book 2

Chapter 15

Nani's Point of View:

After Venus and Kyle left, all of us made the decision to stay awake and wait for them to come back, just to make sure they were safe.  Seeing as though this is the apocalypse, and we have no caffeine or anything to help us stay awake, all seven of us were slowly getting more and more tired.  Scarlett decided she couldn't take it anymore and went to bed about two hours ago.  By the time Kyle and Venus came back with the directions to the organization, most of us were too tired to even talk to one another. 
"How come you guys are still awake?  It's two in the morning." Kyle asked. 
"Waiting." Caden replied simply with his eyes closed. He was leaned up against the wall beside the couch.
"We wanted to make sure you guys got back okay and all that tacky stuff."  I answered.  At this point, I could fall asleep right where I am, I'm just that tired. My head is resting against Tyler's shoulder, and were both sitting on the couch. 
"Awe, that's sweet of you guys!" Venus smiled. 
"Well, it sure wasn't easy staying awake this long." Tyler stated.  The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"How was the trip?" Fawn asked tiredly. 
"It was alright.  Kinda boring, we weren't allowed inside of the building or anything." Kyle explained.
"Yeah.  Although the girl- Sophie's her name- told us some pretty interesting stuff... If you guys don't mind staying awake a little while longer to hear it." Venus added.
"Alright, maybe just a few minutes longer." Mika sighed, rubbing her eyes.
"Sophie's job in her group is to study zombie patterns, as in where most of them are and where they seem to be coming from.  She and her other teammates I guess you could call them, have been stretching their research area more into these woods, and they noticed something..." Venus began, then she looked at Kyle.  Both of them looked concerned. 
What can possibly be worse than whats already happening? I thought curiously. 
"Their numbers are getting bigger, and the zombie mobs are getting closer.  Soon they could force us out of the woods entirely." Kyle finished.
"Oh no..." Fawn sighed.
"Can't we stop them?" Allena asked.
"Not this time, kid." Venus answered sadly.
"Well, what are we going to do? We can't stay here, otherwise they'll kill us." Tyler stated.
"I think we have no choice but to leave.  Find a place far, far away from here and stay there." Kyle replied. 
That's when we all turned to look at Caden.  The only reason why he's still here is because his brother told him to stay put at the start of the apocalypse, and we've all had a difficult time of convincing Caden to someday leave with us if we had to.  By difficult, I mean he has his mind set on living in this old cabin. 
"Not this again..." He groaned as he placed his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry, Caden.  I really am, but we all knew that we'd all have to leave at some point.  I think that moment has finally come."  Venus added. 
I personally felt terrible for Caden.  Staying here was, and still is, his only hope of his brother coming back.  Even though it's been months and the only reasonable explanation for his disappearance is that he's seriously hurt, in danger, or perhaps already long dead...  I can't even imagine losing Mika like that, and having no idea what happened to her, and never getting to say goodbye and tell her just how much I love her. 
"I don't care what you say, there's not much you can say that'll convince me to leave this place." Caden retorted.
"Well, we all are, so deal with it." Kyle snapped.
"I never said that you guys had to stay, I'd never force you guys to stay in a place where you could potentially end up getting hurt, sick, or even dying, but I can do that to myself." Caden explained tiredly.
"Caden, no.... Please..." Allena cried quietly.  She almost sounded scared.   Caden could barely even look at her, he only shook his head in reply.  I decided that I should speak up again.  Even though I don't know him that well I could never let Caden allow himself to suffer in that way.
"Caden, I know this place has a lot of meaning to you, and I wish I could understand, but I don't.  And I'm sorry, it must feel horrible.  Especially if you're willing to basically let yourself die in this place if Sophie, Kyle and Venus were right about the zombies coming.  I've only known you for a few months, but that's enough time to learn that you're an awesome person, and you don't deserve that... Just think about it." I said. 
Caden sat in silence for a minute or two, considering.
"I'm not saying no... But I'm definitely not saying yes either.  Can I have a day to think about it?" Caden asked.
"Alright.  We'll talk about this again tomorrow night." Kyle answered.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm calling it a night." Venus stated in between a yawn. 
"Me too." Fawn replied as she got up and stretched.  Then we all got up and went our separate ways for the night.