The Apocalypse of Plants

Morgan

Tally walks off briskly after she snapped at Marley, who bursts into tears. Nina and Preston comfort her while Laina and I stand awkwardly off to the side.

"Tally's right, you know. No one deserves to die," Laina says emotionlessly.

I look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Someone you know?" I ask. She nods.

"My brother."

"Before this whole thing started?"

"No. Vines killed him. And you know what the worst part is? It should've been me. He sacrificed himself to save me and I'm not even brave enough to try to protect someone, let alone sacrifice myself. Did you see how terrified I was when I stood in front of Tally? I was shaking. I was relieved at first when she pushed me out of the way. My brother wouldn't have had any problem standing up for her. But instead of me dying, like I should have, he died."

It breaks my heart to hear her say that. "No one deserves to die, remember?" I say, trying to cheer her up.

"Except for me," she replies bitterly, then walks away. I stare sadly at her. She's so wrong. She's the bravest out of all of us. None of us tried to protect Tally. Who cares if she was terrified? That makes her even braver.

"Hey, blondie," Marley calls in my direction, snapping her fingers at me. I instinctively run my hand through my bright blonde hair. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," I say automatically. "But, actually, can I ask you something? How'd you know about the Bermuda Triangle being the safe place?"

Marley looks confused. "What?" And that tells me all I need to know.

"So the Bermuda Triangle isn't the safe haven," I declare, proud of myself for figuring this out on my own. Marley rolls her eyes.

"What are you talking about? Of course it is," she says. "I was confused about what you were asking."

"How? I asked you how you knew about the Bermuda Triangle. What's so confusing about that?" She's avoiding the question.

"My parents were part of the raising awareness group for this disaster. They were communicating through long range walkie-talkies with scientists who were trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The scientists were studying the patterns of nature and they noticed that the Bermuda Triangle was relatively untouched. Then they started rumors that there was an island in the middle of the Triangle and it was completely safe. My parents were relaying the messages to us." She looks at Nina, and I don't miss the glance toward Cullen's body. "There's no actual proof that the Bermuda Triangle is a safe place, but it's the best shot we've got."

"My mom was a scientist. How come she didn't tell me this?" Laina asks with a frown. Marley shrugs.

"Were you traveling with her? Maybe they had no way to reach you and tell you." Laina quickly looks down then back up.

"No, she, um, well, she was at a convention in Seattle about what to do when she called us that it started and while she was there, plants basically devoured the building. No one was able to get out."

"How'd you know? About the building?" Marley asks.

"My brother, Spencer, turned his phone on low-battery mode and only used it to check the news. We saw an article about it."

"What happened to Spencer?" Marley asks. I cringe. This is a sore spot for Laina.

She shrugs emotionlessly. I can see her fighting to keep the tears at bay. "He's dead," she says in a monotone.

"How?"

"What is this, twenty questions? He's dead. That's all that matters," Laina snaps, then storms off. I run after her as Marley retreats to the fire, guilt written all over her face.

"That's not all that matters. You're acting like he just died! He saved you!"

She whirls around, her face blotched with rage and sadness. "Don't you think I know that? Every day, I have to pretend that I'm okay. I tell myself that I am okay. But guess what? I'm not. Surprise, surprise. Every night, I have to try so hard to not cry myself to sleep. My mom is dead, my dad is a dead-man walking, and my brother died for me. My brother died for me, Morgan! He died so I could what? Survive? Make it out of this? Well, whoop-de-do. I'm not going to be able to do either of those because everyone is going to die." She's breathing hard and tears are pouring down her face.

But even with the insane and lifeless look in her eyes, even with her hair all over the place, even though she has lost everything, she's still beautiful.

And because life's too short, and maybe just because I want to, I lean in and kiss her.

A buzz fills my head and runs through my veins and it feels like I've just drank six cups of coffee. I've never felt more alive and I want to keep kissing her over and over again.

She pulls back finally and smiles breathlessly. "Can we do that again?" she asks.

"You liked that?" I ask sarcastically, because the answer is quite clear on her face. Her eyes are filled with longing and she looks happier than she has in awhile.

"Ehh, I still think you can do better," she teases.

I smirk. "Is that a challenge? Because I so can."

"Prove it."

I shrug to say you've been warned, then step forward and kiss her again and everything around us falls away.

The kiss is soft and comforting, everything that a kiss should be. It says more than our words ever will.

This time, I'm the one that pulls away, the warmth that had spread through my body cools.

"So? What'd you think?" I ask nonchalantly, like we're discussing a roller coaster that we just went on.

She pretends to consider it. "It was a little better than the first one, I guess," she jokes.

I sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Just a little better." She laughs and playfully swats at my arm. Laina suddenly stares at something over my shoulder and her face falls. I turn around to see Preston staring at us, a jealous and heartbroken look on his face. Then I peer at Laina to find worry written all over her eyes.

"You and Preston?" I ask. She hesitates. I try to tell myself that I don't care, but I do. It's like a punch to the gut.

"He's kissed me. Johanna saw and killed herself." That must explain why she's worried. She's afraid Preston might kill himself because he saw us kissing.

"You don't think he'll-" I stop, mainly because I don't even want to speak the possibility.

She shakes her head. "I doubt it. I already told him that I didn't like him like that. I just kind of feel bad about it. He's a really nice guy. And you guys are kind of friends, so hopefully he won't take whatever this is too hard."

"Whatever this is? Are you saying that you want this to be something?" I ask with mock surprise.

She glares at me. "Isn't that why you kissed me?"

"Oh, yeah. That's right. Isn't that why I kissed you?" She rolls her eyes.

"Boys," she mutters under her breath.

"But, anyway, I do want this to be something. I want an us," I say. She blushes and my heart skips a beat.

"Well, that makes two of us." My heart is now doing somersaults and I do a little victory dance. Laina giggles, and then she stares sadly as something behind me and I can tell she's still bothered by Preston. I sigh.

"I'll go talk to him," I concede.