The End is Near

Chapter Twenty-Six

~Cassie's POV~

     I don't think I'm ever going to find Keith. It's been two weeks and I've gone to every town I could, gone to all the places we decided on, and they never came. Not once. They probably think I'm dead. I'm just going to have to find them, instead of hope for them to find me. I take a deep breath, leaving the sports store, trying not to lose hope.

     "Come on, Keith, I know you're out here somewhere." I whisper to myself as I walk out of town. "We're going in the same direction, we'll have to run into each other sometime." I sigh, looking one last time around the small town before turning and walking away.

     I've been walking for about three hours when I find something. When I start walking through another town, I hear footsteps behind me. I turn, but there's no one there. I narrow my eyes and tighten my grip on my pistol, talking slightly faster steps. Again, the footsteps follow me. I start walking faster, looking for somewhere I can hide. I see the roof of a convenience store around the corner and break into a sprint. I can hear the person behind me speed up too, but I have a head start. I sharply turn the corner and run as fast as I can to the store. I run to the back and find the ladder leading to the roof. Climbing up, I crawl on my stomach to the edge and look down.

     My eyes widen as I see Blake running past, looking around with narrowed eyes. But what shocks me even more is that Karson is with him. Why isn't he with Keith and the rest of the group? What are they doing together? I thought Karson hated Blake? I shake my head and climb back down, looking for somewhere to hide out for the rest of the day. I find a house on the corner of the street and carefully check it before laying my stuff down and facing the door.

     Just as I start to think that they left town, two shadows pass by the door. I tense, reaching for my sword. I bring it closer to me as I watch the doorknob start  to move. I hold my breath as I hear them talking.

     "Are you sure she went in here?" Karson asks quietly. I narrow my eyes as Blake snaps at him.

     "Stay quiet! If she is in there, she'll be close to the door watching, if she is in there, she can probably hear every word we're saying." I roll my eyes as I silently stand up and gather my stuff, standing by the door. I hold my breath as the door swings open and the two creep inside. I roll my eyes as they don't even close the door or check around it as they look around. As they sneak further into the house, I silently leave my spot and stand in the doorway.

     "You know," I say as a smirk creeps onto my face, "you guys are awful at being quiet." They whirl around and I turn and run as fast as I can, knowing they're too stunned to do anything for now. I make my way around the corner and run out of town, thankful that I've made it to an area covered with trees. I run into the forest and find the tallest tree I can, then start climbing. By the time they run past, I'm already as far up into the tree as I can go. I exhale a heavy breath as they leave my sight and lean against the trunk, closing my eyes. I shake my head and calm my racing heart as I start to carefully stand on the branch I'm on. I can see the silhouette of the next town a couple miles away from here. I can also see where Karson and Blake stopped  close to the tree I'm in. I need to find out what they're up to.

~Blake's POV~

     "How could she outsmart us?!" I exclaim, looking around for where she went. Karson smiles briefly.

     "She's a very smart girl." He says, looking into some of the trees. "You've never told me why we need to find her so badly." I sigh, looking at him.

     "That's a long story, we'll need to find somewhere to stay for the night." He nods and leads me to a tall tree a couple yards back. We climb until we're sure nothing can get to us and stop, sitting on the branches. "Ok, it all started when the walkers came. I work with the government, my cover is a college student going to the same school as Cassie. Cassie is the only one capable of stopping the apocalypse. The government was trying to create a weapon, something so powerful nothing could stop it. They created a virus, something that would bring the dead back to life and create more like them. We should've been able to control them, but it went wrong. It infected the women, only the women. No one has no idea why, but it just did. The women turned, and they started infecting everyone, by biting them. No women was immune to it, and they all have it. I've seen the girls in your group, they're turning, and they'll turn soon. But, Cassie, she's immune to it, and I have no idea how. She can stop this, all of it. We just need to get her and take her to the headquarters. It's the only way." His eyes widen as I finish, full of shock.

    "What do you need from Cassie to stop this?" He asks. I stay quiet, thinking of how I can answer. For this to stop, she needs to die, we need all of her blood to cure this, every last drop. She'll become the last walker.

     "We think it's in her blood, whatever is fighting. We'd only need to take some of her blood, to figure out what she has that is able to fight the virus." I say after the pause. He nods, thinking.

     "Well, if we found Cassie in that house, she's got to be close by. She wouldn't of gone far at night, she hates traveling while it's dark, she says it's not safe and we're at greatest risk when it's night." I nod, she's smart, really smart.

     "She's a good leader, very smart. She'd be a good agent." I muse, thinking of how different things would be if we had met in a different way. We would have been good partners.

     "Yeah, she really is." He says quietly with a smile on his face. I smirk, raising an eyebrow.

     "You really are whipped, aren't you?" I ask, watching as he shrugs his shoulders, smiling sheepishly.

     "What can I say, she has every guy she meets wanting to be with her." He says, looking up at the sky. I nod in agreement, looking at the ground.

     "Yeah, she is like that." I say, quietly.

~Cassie's POV~

     My thoughts are racing, full of questions for Blake's story. I know he's telling the truth about most of it, no one could just come up with that, but one part isn't right. They don't need some of my blood. They need all of it, I'd have to die because they think something special is in my blood. I can't believe Karson believed that. But Keith's in danger, they all are. I have to find them before the girls turn.