The End is Near

Chapter Thirty

~Cassie's POV~

Two weeks It's been two weeks since I started reading Blake's journal, two weeks since I became the only girl in my group, in the world. I haven't gone through any of the entries in the journal since that first day, I've been too scared to open it. We made it to California, but we have yet to find one boat that works, and if it does, it's too small for all of us. I'm starting to lose hope.

"This is impossible." I sigh, flopping back in my seat. Keith chuckles, looking over at me from the drivers seat.

"Have hope, Cass, we'll find something. We just have to give it time." I nod, rubbing my face, and look out the window.

"At least we have a good view." I say, looking out at the ocean. Keith laughs.

"Yeah, if you don't mind the occasional wandering walker walking the beach." He jokes.

"Hey, you don't know. They may like long walks on the beach." I say, putting a serious expression on my face. He laughs, loudly, throwing his head back.

"Very true." He pauses. "My family would always take trips out here during summer, we'd spend all day at the beach and then go out to dinner. My parents would pick the fanciest restaurants and we'd go all dressed in our beach wear. We'd get the weirdest looks, but none of us would care." He says, a sad smile on his face. I cover his hand with him and rub comforting circles with my thumb.

"My family would always take trips to other countries, one time we went to Australia, and my sister was so terrified she didn't even want to leave the car to go to our hotel. She said that the kangaroos would sense her fear as soon as she stepped outside. She was convinced they would surround her as soon as she stepped out. I had to carry her all the way to our room." I laugh, smiling at the memory.

"Is that before your parents died?" Cody pipes up from behind us. I tense and turn to face him.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. He furrows his eyebrows, confused.

"You told me about your parents' deaths. How they died trying to get dinner that one night." I raise an eyebrow, then the memory hits me. It'd been the night we had to hide in the trees.

"You remember that? You believed that?" I burst out laughing, clutching my stomach as the laughter pours out of me. His face scrunches in confusion.

"Are you telling me that you lied about that whole story?" I smile, holding laughter back as I nod. "You were so convincing! You even got teary-eyed!" He exclaims, laughing.

"What can I say? I'm a born actor." I say, flipping my hair. The car erupts into laughter, and I smile, just watching them. This is what I want for them, happiness, carefreeness. This world is slowly taking that from everyone. You can stop that, my subconscious pipes up, all you have to do is go to the government, they'd fix everything. I push the voice away and take a deep breath, trying to push guilt away. I'm stopping them from living their lives, they'll never be able to have normal lives. If I turned myself in, they could live happy, carefree lives, without the pressure of surviving everyday. I bite my lip, frowning.

"Cassie? You ok?" Keith asks, looking over at me. I smile, nodding.

"Yeah, just thinking. So, Cody, tell me, how did you believe my story? Does it look like I'm from Brazil?" I say, motioning to myself. He shrugs, chuckling.

"I don't know, I've never seen a Brazilian before!" He defends, throwing his hands up. I laugh, shaking my head.

"Well, they aren't pale. They live in the sun, they'd be tan." He just shrugs.

"Well, I was never good in geography." The car erupts in laughter again.

"I'm not really surprised." I joke, turning back around with one last laugh. We just pulled up to the gate of an extremely wealthy community. I turn to Keith. "What do you think? Could we loot them? Or will they already be bare?" He thinks for a minute, gazing at the houses.

"We can give it a shot, there's no harm in looking." He says, smiling at me. I nod and turn to everyone.

"Ok, stay here, I'm going to go open the gate." I jump out before they can say anything and I can almost see the protest resting on Keith's lips. I walk up to the gate and look at the small keypad on the pole. I try a couple of random codes then step back, looking at it. I pull my gun out and take another step back. I look around to make sure there aren't any walkers around, and aim at the pad. But just as I'm about to pull the trigger when the gate slides open with a creak. I look at it wide-eyed and look around. I can't see anyone in sight. I run back to the truck and jump in, keeping my eyes on the gate the whole time. "Pull forward." I say, quietly. Keith jerks his head to look at me.

"What?! People are in there, that much is obvious, why would we want to go in there?" He exclaims. I turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly, people are in there. They might be able to help us, or we could help them. We have no idea who's in there. Yes, it's dangerous, but it could help us in the long run." He sighs, nodding, and starts pulling forward slowly. My eyes scan the area as we enter, the gate closing behind us. We stop at the first house and look at it for a while. "Ok, I know you guys are going to hate this. But I need you to stay here, I'm going to go in. I have a feeling that whoever let us in is in there. It's less threatening if only one of us goes in. I'll have my weapons, so I won't be unarmed. Stay here." I say, looking at all of them. Their eyes widen and they open their mouths to protest, but I had just put of my cold front, and I'm a different person when that happens. Still, they tried.

"Cassie, that's dangerous. You should take some people with you." Wyatt protests.

"Cassie, please let me come with you. It'd be safer." Keith pleads, grabbing my hand.

"Cassie, come on, think here, it's dangerous to go in by yourself." Cody says. I look at him and raise an eyebrow.

"You think I don't know it's dangerous? I know that there's the chance things could go wrong in there, and that's why I need you guys to stay here. If anything were to happen to me, you'd be the ones to help everyone. Keith, you'd be the leader, and you two would help! I know it's dangerous, that's why you can't come with me." I say, meeting each of their eyes. I lock eyes with Keith last and see the desperation in his eyes and it breaks my heart. "Keith, you have to understand. If I could, I'd take all of you with me. But I can't. So just stay here, no matter what. I don't care what you hear, don't leave this car, and don't let anyone leave." He sighs, but nods, gripping my hand tightly.

"Please be safe." He pleads, tightening his grip on my hands. I smile at him.

"When am I ever not?" He raises an eyebrow. "Don't answer that." I say quickly, making him laugh quietly.

"Promise me you'll be safe."

"I promise." I lean forward and kiss him, not caring about the audience of two we have in the back seat. Then, I jump out of the car and signal the rest of the group to stay, and walk up the steps of the large house slowly.