The End is Near

Chapter Twenty-Nine

~Keith's POV~

I sigh, looking over at Cassie, who seems to be deep in thought. She shouldn't have to go through this, though I can't say I'm not happy about her being immune, I'm ecstatic about that. But I don't want her to turn herself in to the government, they'd kill her. I can't live without her, I won't live without her. I'm not going to let her do it. I don't care if the world dies and she's the only women left, I'd give anything for her to just stay alive. With me.

"Cassie, everything's going to be alright, you know that, right?" I say quietly, making her look over at me. She smiles weakly, the sight breaks my heart.

"I hope it will be." She says quietly, looking down to the book in her lap. She only read a few entries before she had slammed it closed, looking very angry. I want her to talk to me, she's closed herself off, lost in her thoughts, without letting me in. I sigh, looking at the sky, it's getting dark.

"It will be, I promise. It's getting dark, we need to find somewhere to stop." I say, looking back at her. She looks up and nods, expressionless. She better not be closing herself off again, I won't let her.

"Ok, we'll stop in this town, I know somewhere we can stay." I raise an eyebrow at her and she smiles sheepishly, shrugging. "When I had led the horde away, I stopped in every town and went to the three places we chose, but you never showed up. But when Blake and Karson found me I realized that you would be behind me and I was going further away from you. I wasn't thinking very much." She laughs and tells me directions. We end up at a grocery store. We all pile out of our cars and start to gather all our stuff.

"I was going as fast as I could to find you. But the girls had gotten sick, I guess they were in the process of turning, they couldn't go very far every day." She nods, sighing.

"That would've been me." I tense, looking at her. "If I was normal I would have died with them." She says, quietly, looking over at me as tears fill her eyes. My heart breaks as I look at her sadly. She never cries, and when she does, it's because she can't handle everything being thrown at her. I walk over to her and pull her to me, wrapping my arms around her tightly as our group circle around us, watching for any walkers and giving us a moment together. Gratitude fills me at the thoughtfulness they have shown. Cassie pulls away a couple minutes later and wipes her eyes, looking around and taking a deep breath. "Let's go." She says, loudly, grabbing her pack and pulling out her sword. I catch up to her and take her other hand, while I hold my gun with my right hand. She looks over at me with a small, thankful smile on her face.

"Is this the first town you got to?" I ask, looking around. She nods, scanning the area for any walkers. Thankfully, we haven't ran into any for a while. I don't know where the horde went.

"Yeah, this is where I lost the horde. I really thought I was going to die, I had been running for hours without stopping and there weren't any places to hide. I was about to give up when I saw this place. I climbed onto the roof of the store and waited until they were gone. Blake and Karson found me in the next town. Hopefully, they think that I kept going ahead instead of backtracking."

"I can't believe Karson would betray us like that!" I exclaim, shaking my head. "He was my best friend, and now he's working with the man that wants you dead." I shake my head in disgust. She sighs, nodding.

"I didn't believe it at first, but then I heard Blake tell him the story about how this all happened. He sounded totally convinced. He's one-hundred percent supportive of all of this. But Blake told him that they only had to take some of my blood. And he believed it! Can you believe that? Why would the government just need some of my blood to cure the world." She rants, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Karson really is an idiot." I laugh, smiling at her. She grins and starts laughing with me.

"Yes, yes he is."

~Karson's POV~

We lost track of her. Again. I sigh, closing my eyes against the bright son beating down on me. We have been searching for Cassie for three weeks now, we found her for one day, and she's gone again. And our packs are gone too, no doubt taken by her. I don't even know how she got them, the last time we had them, we were up in a tree. We would have seen her. There are no words to describe how angry Blake was at the time, then he just chuckled and said 'Well played, Cassandra.' He's confident that we're going to find her. I can't wait to see her again. She will be mine, there's no doubt in my mind about it. With Keith out of the picture, she'll turn to me, and I'll be waiting with open arms.

"Ok, we need to start thinking like Cassie. If we were in her place, where would we go?" I muse, looking around. We had gone to the next town, and there was no sign of her. Not in the entire two day journey.

"Well, Cassie's really smart, it's hard to think like her when she's smarter than the both of us combined." I take a deep breath, thinking.

"Wait! Cassie will obviously try to get back to her group." And Keith, my subconscious tells me. I push the thought away. "She wouldn't go forward if they're behind us. She turned back and found them again, she had to of." I say, turning to Blake. Realization hits him and he nods wildly, immediately turning around. We had gone on foot this whole time, because it'd be easier to spot Cassie if we aren't going so fast.

"You're right! You're a genius, Karson, I'm glad you're on my team now!" He says, new determination alight in his eyes. I smirk, shrugging. We had become pretty good friends in the time that we had spent together.

"What can I say, it's just my charms." I joke, he laughs and rolls his eyes.

"Don't ruin it." I just laugh, new hope bright inside of me. I'm coming for you, Cassie, you will be mine.