FULL ECLIPSE (Book #2)

𝕱𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

Carmen does exactly that – she unzips Bray's backpack, takes out the gun, and chucks it to me. With my finger already on the trigger and a firm grip on the pistol, I blast a hole in the head of each and every lurker that gets a little too close to my liking. Jace picks Amber up while I cover them both.

Up ahead, Dad is shouting something and pointing somewhere but we don't know what. Lurkers are weaving through the forest rather too quickly, no longer 'lost puppies', but raging bulldogs with an objective. Bray meticulously recedes from Dad and Carmen's location to ours.

"Your dad said to head west!" Bray informs us. "There's a big opening there, the checkpoint. It's where Emmett will be."

"Woah! Watch out!" I hold the gun to his head.

He ducks down and I pop the lurker that was right behind him.

"Nice shot!" Bray breathes out.

We head west. You can tell there is an opening because the trees are getting fewer and fewer aka no more papercuts from skinny sharp branches as we run through them, thankfully. The ground is becoming clearer too. Fresh patches of green grass break through the muddy leaves. The sky's becoming a cyan blue with white cotton candy clouds blanketing some spots. It's like a nightmare turning into a daydream.

But we're not out of the nightmare yet.

"Grab my gun!" Jace tells Bray while holding Amber in his arms.

Dad's the first to break through the end of the forest, followed by Carmen and Bray, then me, Jace, and Amber. The lurkers get caught in between the branches of the trees and only a few get out. They get shot down like breadcrumbs with the help of Uncle Emmett who's sniping them from the chopper that finally comes into our view. It's up ahead, a mile or two west, just like Bray said.

We're in a field now, a hilltop with no trees but freshly cut grass. Jace puts Amber down because she starts to feel better. The firing also eventually ceases when the space between the lurkers and us grows. Dad's already at the checkpoint, holding the ladder that's dangling from the helicopter for us. He's got a good vantage point on us with Uncle Emmett while we all catch up to them. Amber closes into me like as if she's cold or something but it literally just turned into summer a second ago. Her blonde hair is in a mess, splotches of mud on her face, and she looks exhausted.

"You cold?" I ask her. "I've got a jumper in my-"

"No, I'm not cold," she mumbles.

"What happened back there with Jace? Sick?"

She comes to a full stop now.

"Amber, we can't stop. What's wrong?"

She looks up ahead and I follow her line of sight. It's at Jace who's now with Carmen and Bray. All three of them have now gotten a fair bit of distance on us due to Amber slowing down.

"Amber, you gonna say something or not?"

"I'm scared, Dean," she hugs herself and stares at the ground.

I sigh, that's the problem? She's 'scared'? "We're all scared, Amber. But look," I point at the helicopter in the sky, "we'll be on that in like a minute. Safe."

"No, it's not that," she shakes her head. "You don't get it-I-you-I'm.."

I get irritated, the scorching heat melting me, "What is it then?"

She refuses to talk again and continues staring at the ground.

"T-minus 14 MINUTES," Uncle Emmett hollers from up ahead.

"Let's go, we're running out of time," I start to jog.

"No, Dean..."

"Fuck's sake, Amber, it can wait whatever it is. Let's go now."

"I'm pregnant."

"What?" I stop jogging and turn back around. "Say what?"

She hugs herself tighter and a tear drops from her emerald green eyes.

"Brah, if you don't start talking now-"

"You heard me!" she exclaims.

"Okay, how? When? Why?" I clench my jaw, then I scoff and pinch the bridge of my nose when it hits me, obviously I know the answer to the 'how'. "Jace? Fucken Jace, you serious?"

"Mutual," she mutters as if that's gonna save him somehow.

"Please tell me this is one lame-ass joke and that you're fucking with me," I keep my eyes shut.

"I wish."

"Ima kill him," I turn away from her.

"No!" she grabs my arm. "He doesn't know yet. And-and-and it's not like that, I really like him!"

"He doesn't know?" It just keeps getting worse and worse the more she talks.

She shakes her head. I heave, how stupid can she be first of all? It's an apocalypse. And even if it wasn't, she's 17 and I'm 18. She can't even take care of herself, much less another human being. Dad's going to fucking kill her, but before he kills her, he's gonna kill me! I tried warning Amber about Jace. Fuckkk.

"I'm going to tell him," she utters. "But only when we were all safe in that helicopter. But please don't be mad at him, it was a mistake. I just wanted to tell you because you're my brother and, and..." she breaks into a river of tears.

I roll my eyes, "it's okay."

"Is it really?" she sobs.

"It is."

"It isn't. Don't lie," she sniffles, "Dad's gonna flip."

"He will, good luck to Jace. Looks like I don't need to kill him after all."

"Dean!"

"I love you, shithead," I chuckle. "Don't worry about Dad, I'll handle it."

"Love you too, egghead," she comes in for an embrace.

"T-minus 10 MINS," Uncle Emmett hollers again.

"Let's go now, for real," I give her a jaded smile, just enough to boost her energy.

She smiles back, just as jaded.

I blink.