Part blaze (On hold. Sorry)

8. Change

Everyone was eating and talking. We sat on the ground as we ate our apples and pork or beef, drinking our water. Some were washing off in a distant water stream. A few people were sleeping, occasionally twitching or moaning.

I was laying on the ground, letting my food and drink settle. I was about to let myself sleep, so I could have more energy after the break. My eyes were just closing as I heard a yell. "Break over!" someone yelled. I sighed. I lazily got up and walked back to the cave we made, pickaxe in hand.

It went like this for the next few weeks. Digging, eating, more digging. We had made a few rooms after a while, but no one wanted to stay in them. The walls and ceilings were very unstable, easily collapsing in on them selfs. This had happened a few times, yet no one was hurt. We were lucky for once.

After another day of digging, I laid on the cold ground, trying to sleep. My eyes started to shut as I watched the dark sky above me. I had only slept for a minute before I was woken by something on my chest.

I opened my eyes to see Zack's legs on my chest, with the rest of his body on the ground beside me. "Dude, you have a girlfriend. Get off." I said as I sat up. "Sorry." Zack said as he got up. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Nothing." he said. I looked at the pickaxe in his hand and raised an eyebrow. "Really. Your not mining or anything." I said. He sighed. "Maybe." he said. "Alone? At night? Why?" I asked. He just shrugged his shoulders. "Can't sleep. Might as well do something useful." he said. "Want some help?" I asked. I didn't want him going alone. He thought about it for a second. "Fine." he said. I got up from where I was and went to grab a pickaxe. I found a stone one and fallowed Zack into the mines.

We walked to the end of the cave and started digging. I lifted my pickaxe and started mining with Zack.

We continued to mine in till very late at night. We had not talked alot, trying to save are air and energy. "Whoa!" I heard Zack say. I turned to see him looking up a the ceiling, at a diamond ore. "Cool." I said. I looked at his iron pickaxe, then started mining again. "I'm going to mine it. You keep going." he said. I turned to him. "Just leave it. Come on." I said. He had already started mining it. I sighed. "Fine, do whatever you want.'' I said, and started mining again. I continued to mine in till I heard a rumble. "Zack?" I said, turning. Just as I turned, he had fully mined the ore. He looked at it and smiled.

Then a pile of stone and gravel fell on him.

"No!" I yelled, running to the pile. Zack's arm was sticking out, still holding the diamond. "Zack! Zack!" I yelled, grabbing the hand, digging at the rubble on top of him. His hand twitched slightly, then went limp, dropping the diamond. "No! Zack! Zack, please! Zack..." I said, still holding his limp hand. It was becoming cold as the stone around us.

"Help! Someone, help us! Please, anyone, help! Please...!" I yelled, before breaking down crying. I heard distant foot steps running down the cave. I just sat there, holding his hand, crying. "Please..." I said again. I felt someone lift me up. I held on to the hand as long as I could, before it slipped away. I cried into the shoulder of the person holding me. "I'm sorry!" I said into the person's shirt. They said something to me, but I didn't hear it. I just hugged the person closer.

I sat with the rest of us, just looking at the ground. I was shaking all over, and my cheeks were still wet with tears. My friends sat around me, silent. Some were crying to themselfs. Some were shaking all over. Some just tried to help all of the friends that were there. Well, most of my friends were there. Selina was gone, and no one knew where she went. Some people were still digging out Zack from the cave. They had given me his diamond. I held it in a wet and shaky hand.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a short man with no hair, pale skin and dark eyes standing next to me. "We got him out." he said, pointing to a group of people. They blocked our view of Zack. They set him on the ground and walked away. I crawled to him.

He had blood all over him, along with giant injures on him. His head was cracked open, his arms were bent at odd angles, along with his legs. Small pieces of gravel and tiny stones were still on him. He still had that smile, even if it was now bloody and disoriented. His one arm was clean. That was the arm sticking out. I put a hand over my mouth and started to cry again. How could I let this happen to him? Why didn't I stop him? I closed my eyes and looked away from the body of the zombie hybrid. I felt an arm go around my shoulders. "I know, I know. It's going to be fine." Juli whispered. I continued to cry. "It's not fine. I could have stopped him, saved him, but I didn't. I just let it happen." I said. "I know it feel's like that, but that's not how it is. It's not your fault" she said. "How do you-" I started to say, before thinking of the attack. Juli was in the same situation as I was. "Sorry." I said. "It's ok. Everything is ok."

"Look who showed up." Owen said a while later, after most of us had calmed down. Selina was walking towards me. She looked different. Her long, blond hair was now dirty and cut down to her shoulders. Her normally happy face now looked angry and determined. Her green tang top was cut and dirty, covered in mud and leaves. Her dark green jeans had been cut to the hight of her knees. Her light green sneakers were faded and basically brown. She had many cuts on her face, and a bag behind her with something in it. She sat in front of me, putting the bag between us. "Where have you been?" I asked. "Thinking. Changing. Hunting. That kind of thing." she said. I opened the bag. Inside was more meat then we could have hopped for. "Wow." was all I could say. "I'm changing. Zack...Zack got me thinking. I need to tuffen up. I need to learn to work harder, fight better and, just, kind of be more helpful in general. I need- no- I am more helpful now." she said. I nodded. "Good work." Chloe said from above me. She toke the bag. "This is an amazing amount of food. Thank you. But, Selina, I thought you didn't like hunting." she asked. "So? I need's to be done." Selina said. "Well said. Thank you. Get some rest, ok. Tomorrow, we still need to dig." Chloe said. Selina nodded. "Got it. G'night." she called. "Night." Chloe called back. Selina yawned. "I better sleep. I can't be helpful if I don't get a good rest." she said, curling up into a ball on the ground. She fell asleep instantly. "I should do the same."I said, laying down. I closed my eyes, and entered a dark, dreamless sleep.

I woke up what seemed like seconds later. No one was digging. Instead, they were all standing around a hole in the ground. Cybel was standing over me. She must have woken me up. "We're have a funeral for Zack. Come on." she said softly. I nodded. "Coming." I said. We walked to where everyone was. Zack was already in the hole, eyes closed, still had his smile. He was buried next to the dead people from the attack. Chloe stood over him, like she did with Perla and the rest of the dead people. She started her speach. "Zack Undonze, a man only in his teens. He died doing something for us, hoping for the best. He had many friends and a beautiful girlfriend too. He will be missed." she said, standing over his grave. Selina stood beside me. I saw tears in her eyes. "I'm doing this for you, Zack." she whispered to the grave. "I'm...I'm just sorry." I said to him as well. More tears came. I bit my lip and closed my eyes. Not now. I remembered that I still had his diamond with me. I looked at it. What do I do with it. Do I give it to him, or keep it? Maybe we can make something out of it. He died for this gem. What would he like to do with it. The cyan diamond glimmered in the sunlight, shining the light on my face. Suddenly, I thought of something

"Selina?" I said, facing Selina. "Ya?" she asked, voice shaky. "I...I want to give you this. It was the diamond Zack was mining before...he..." I tried to say, be couldn't finish. I toke a deep breath and closed my eyes. Not now either. Selina toke the diamond from my hand. "Thank you, Tally." she said smiling. He eyes were still wet, and her body still shaking, but she looked as happy as she could be with the situation at hand.