The End is Near

Chapter Thirty-One

~Keith's POV~

"Am I an idiot for letting her go in there on her own?" I ask, watching as she carefully makes her way up the steps of the mansion.

"We're all idiots if you are. She's smart, she knows what she's doing." Wyatt says from behind me, sounding like he's trying to convince himself instead of me. Well, that's reassuring.

"Wyatt's right. Cassie's smart, she'll be fine." Cody sounds more sure of himself as he talks. I take a deep breath, ignoring the dread pooling in my stomach as I keep my eyes trained on her. She's only halfway up the steps and it's just making my anxiety about her going on her own even worse than before.

"Why are there so many steps?" I almost groan, throwing my head back. Cody and Wyatt chuckle.

"Because that's the only exercise rich people get on a daily basis. Usually, they're too busy recounting their money and sitting on their asses all day." Cody jokes, laughing. I chuckle, clenching my hands together as Cassie reaches the door. She tightens her grip on her gun and slowly reaches for the handle of the door.

~Cassie's POV~

I take a deep breath as I reach for the handle of the door. But before I can reach it, it jerks open and I'm yanked inside the house. My heart jumps at the possibility of it being a walker, and quickly grab the guys hand, flipping him over and onto his back. I train my gun at his head as he groans in pain, holding his back.

"Damn, girl, do you work for the MMA or something?" He groans, slowly standing up.

"You have two minutes to tell me who you are and what you want before I put a bullet between your eyes." I threaten, my voice low and deadly. He raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back.

"My name is Steven, I live here and I want to know why you're here." He says, keeping his hands up.

"I'm just trying to find somewhere safe for my group. What's safer than a gated community?" He nods in response, glaring at me.

"Well, leave, this is my territory. I make the rules around here and I'm telling you to leave." He says, glaring. I raise an eyebrow.

"You really think you have the upper hand here?" I ask, amusement lacing my voice. His glare deepens, then he smirks.

"Have you not looked around, yet?" I narrow my eyes and take a quick look around. What I find terrifies me. Walkers are chained to the wall, to every available surface without touching anywhere near the middle of the room. I don't know how I didn't hear them. My eyes widen briefly, but I hide the expression, putting the cold exterior up when I look back at him.

"They're chained to the wall, there's nothing they can to do to stop me from killing you." I say, my voice cold. His eyes widen. He's surprised I'm not showing fear. He doesn't know I'm terrified inside.

"Well, you may not be scared, but I did distract you, didn't I?" I narrow my eyes as he smirks. I look around again and see two huge guys standing by the door, both pointing guns at me. I clench my jaw, but turn back to Steven and smirk.

"You think I can't take them?" I say, my voice full of confidence. He scoffs, shaking his head. My smirk deepens as I take a few steps back, so I'm closer to the guys, within sword length of both of them. Then, quick as lightening, I grab my sword and turn, slashing across them both. They're heads splatter to the ground, blood staining my clothes. I quickly put the sword through their brains and turn back to the man shaking with fear. "What was that?" I smirk, wiping my sword off and putting it back in it's sheath. He takes a step back, then runs forward, shoving me into the wall of walkers. Hands grab at my clothes and hair and groans sound in my ear. I pull away from their grasp just as one bites my jacket, tearing the fabric instead of my skin. Immediately, I run after the man, bounding down the steps after him. I run past the car, yelling at Keith to stay put. I quickly catch up to him and tackle him to the ground. "I know you don't live there. You were way too uncomfortable in there. So I'll ask one more time. Who are you?" I growl lowly at him, holding him to the ground.

"Fine, fine, my name is Albertson, I work for the government. I was sent to get you to come back with me to find the cure." I narrow my eyes and shove him harder into the ground. He groans in pain.

"Never going to happen." I hiss. "You can go back and tell them that I'm never going to go to them. Never." I say, harshly standing him up. He nods frantically and starts towards the gate. "Wait! I have a question!" He turns back to me. "Am I only immune to the virus or am I immune to the bite and scratch as well?" He sighs.

"We don't know!" He calls back, then puts the code into the gate and leaves. I walk over to the pad and look at the code before it disappears. I quickly put it back in to close it and memorize it, then turn and walk back to my group. I take a deep breath before motioning for them to come out. Keith immediately jumps out and runs to me, scooping me up in his arms. I throw my arms around his neck and pull myself tighter to him.

"Are you ok? What happened? Why are you covered in blood?" He asks quickly, holding me tightly.

"It's not my blood. I'll explain later, there's something we need to take care of in the house." He nods and we lead everyone into the house. Before we enter, I turn to everyone. "Ok, before we go in, don't go near the edges of the wall, go immediately into the middle of the room and stay there, got it?" They all nod and I lead them inside. Their eyes widen as they take in the walkers chained to the wall. Keith, Cody, Wyatt, and I all start walking around the room, killing the walkers chained to the wall. As I'm killing the walkers, my arm starts stinging really badly and I drop my sword, looking at my arm. When I look at my arm, one emotion fills me. Fear. I didn't get out as unscathed as I thought. The walker got a piece of me. There's the outline of the top teeth digging into my skin. "Keith?!" I call out loudly, catching everyone's attention. He runs over to me, stopping in front of me. I had dropped my arm and was looking at him as he ran over to me.

"What's wrong?" Tears fill my eyes. I don't say anything, I'm sure if I open my mouth I'd start crying. I take my jacket off, leaving me in a tank top. I close my eyes briefly, then open them, meeting his eyes. "Cassie?" He asks, worry and fear filling his voice and his eyes.

"Um, so, while I was in here, the way that guy got away was shoving me into the wall." I stop and he pulls me to him, rubbing my hair. He thinks I'm just scared. I pull away, backing up a step. He looks down at me, confused. "One of them bit me." I say, almost silently. lifting my arm slightly. He takes my arm, examining it, then stops at the bite mark near my shoulder. Fear fills his eyes as he tenses, his wide eyes meeting my tear-filled ones.

"But you're immune." He whispers quietly, trying to assure himself. I close my eyes, a tear trailing down my cheek.

"Before that guy left I found out who he was. He works for the government, he was sent to take me back, that obviously didn't happen. Before he left, I asked him if I was immune to both or just the virus." He looks up at me, hope filling his eyes. "He said they don't know." My voice breaks as I let out a choked sob. He pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me tightly. "I don't want to die, Keith." I sob, clutching him tighter to me.

"You're not going to die, Cassie, you're not going to die." He keeps mumbling those words, sounding like he's trying to convince himself. I take a deep breath and pull back, wiping the tears from my face while turning to face my confused group.

"While I was in here, I ran into a government worker, while trying to get away, he pushed me into the walkers. One of them bit me." A loud gasp fills the air as their eyes widen. "I don't know if I'll survive this. If I don't, you are to listen to Keith, Wyatt, and Cody, they will be your leaders. If I do, then you're stuck with me." With those words, I turn and kiss Keith with all the love I have in me, then turn and walk up the stairs. I stop in the middle of the steps. "I'm locking myself in one of the rooms on the second floor, don't try to open any of them. If I don't survive, you'll probably hear it, so don't go into any of the rooms. If I do, you'll see me tomorrow. Thank you guys, for always being there, for dealing with me when I was a robot of a person. You are my family now, and I love you guys. Keith, I love you, I'm so sorry you have to deal with all of this. You don't deserve that. I love you." I walk up the rest of the stairs and barricade myself into an empty bedroom after checking it. I sit on the bed and put my head in my hands, tears rolling down my face. This might be the last day I live.