A Zombie's Heart

Chapter 37

I lean my head against the cool window and the vibration of the truck makes me feel calm, but it doesn't stop me from thinking about Taehyung. The thought of him being gone or possibly even dead hurts more than anything. A tear rolls down my cheek and I hurry to wipe it away. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Jungkook asks calmly. 

I look out the window so he doesn't see me cry. I nod slowly. But I'm not okay. I had let myself fall for someone after promising not to because I was afraid I would lose him too. Now it happened, and I regret everything. I hate myself for letting me fall in love with Taehyung. I close my eyes and try to fall asleep.

***The truck slows to a stop when we reach Maine and we all get out of the truck. 

"Why didn't we go to find Tae?" Asks Karissa as she hops out of the bed. Nate looks at me and back at her and shakes his head. 

"Come over here." He leads everyone away from me and I climb into the bed of the truck. I hear their faint voices having a discussion. 

"Why did you leave him Nate?" Namjoon asks angrily. 

"It was a waste of our time! There's no way he's alive! He went toward the zombies like an idiot!" Nate pipes in. 

"But what about Celeste?" Asks Karissa. 

Addi joins in. "She can just suck it up!" 

I look over at them in time to see Karissa punch addi, knocking her to the ground. Nate rushes to help her up before looking at everyone. 

"Taehyung is dead. Deal with it." 

Him and Addi walk away. Jimin takes Kayla's hand before wiping away tears and walking in the other direction. I can hear the sniffling of those that stayed put as they cry. Hoseok climbs into the truck and sits next to me. At first he doesn't say anything. But then there's small talk between us. 

"I can't believe him...he just left Tae with no hesitation. For a doctor, he sure doesn't care about the lives of others." I nod in agreement. He turns to face me. "Taehyung was always a great man. He was funny and weird, but he was great." He pauses for a moment before continuing. "But if he really is gone....the only thing we can do is keep going...for him." 

"I know" I say under my breath. I look into Hoseoks eyes, my vision blurry with tears. "I loved him Hoseok. He was the one who helped me get this far. I will do everything to make it through this 'apocalypse' for him." 

Hoseok smiles and hugs me. "Now my eyes are all moist!" 

He draws away and we both laugh. He helps me out of the truck and we walk over to the rest of the group. We all share hugs and tears until the sun sets then we all go to the truck and manage to get comfortable before falling asleep. Once I hear the sound of everyone peacefully snoozing, I sneak out of the truck and start to limp away. 

Jimin sits up from the bed of the truck and rubs his eyes. "Where are you going?" 

"I'm just going on a small walk to get myself together. I'll be back." 

He nods and lays back down. 

As I walk in the direction of the city, I hear the sound of footsteps following. I whip around and see Ellie stop, holding up a dagger. She looks shocked at first then starts forward again. I grab a rock and chuck it at her before running away from her. I laugh at the stupidity of the whole situation. Ellie starts gaining quickly on me and I run as hard as I can. My injured leg gives out and I fall to the ground, screaming at the pain. Ellie runs at me with the dagger and I close my eyes knowing that this is it for me. I hear a loud shriek and open my eyes to see Abbi swing an ax at Ellie's neck. A beheaded Ellie falls to the ground dead. The second I see the head and the deep red blood pooling out, I feel nauseous and look away. Abbi helps me up and I jump onto her back. 

"The others might be near, we gotta get out of here!" She runs out of the city with me on her back. She sets me down near the group and under a tree. When she turns to me I gasp. Her lip is cut, her cheek puffy, and she has a black eye. She must've been jumped when they found us gone from the cell. She sighs and sits next to me. I scoot away from her and keep my eyes on her. 

"Celeste, are you afraid of me?" 

"No. I just don't trust you. How many knives are you hiding?" 

She smiles. "None. I'm not hiding any. The only weapon I had was the ax that I used to chop-" 

I stop her. "I don't need to remember!" I try to shake the memory from my head. Abbi laughs but her smile fades quickly when I hold my focus on her eyes. 

"Celeste, I'm sorry. They didn't give me any time so I did the first thing that came to mind. I was selfish and wasn't thinking. I betrayed all of you and lost your trust. But I am so so sorry. And now I don't even have Yoongi. They lied to me." 

Using the tree to help me, I stand up. "Yeah, I know." I slowly start to limp away and Abbi stands and follows. 

"So...how's Taehyung?" I stop in my tracks and I feel tears building up. I take a deep breath and continue walking. 

"Hes fine...if he wasnt dead..." 

Abbi stops me. "Wait, what!? Tae died?" I begin crying again and Abbi pulls me into a hug. "Celeste, what happened? Is it my fault?"

 I don't answer, and continue to sob. Once I pull myself together, Abbi walks me back to the truck where everyone is now awake.

 Yoongi runs up to Abbi and hugs her tightly. 

"What's she doing here?" asks Kayla, starting to pull out a knife. 

"It's okay Kayla. She saved me. We can't trust her, but she can stay." I turn to Abbi. "And if you mess up one more time, we will kill you. Understood?" 

She nods. She gives me another hug with Karissa and Kayla joining in. 

"How are we going to tell addi?" Asks Karissa. We all draw away when we hear the sound of a gunshot and turn to see addi pointing a pistol at Abbi. 

"Addi stop!" Jin yells as he runs towards her. 

"She's with us again! Don't kill her!" He knocks the gun from her hands and takes it. 

"She is a traitor!" Abbi steps forward to get closer to Addi. "Addi I'm sorry." Addi hugs Abbi, leaving us all confused. 

"I forgive you. But don't ever go behind our backs again! Am I clear?" 

Abbi nods and laughs. "Yeah. Celeste made it clear that I'll end up dead if I do it again. I promise I won't hurt you guys again." 

"Good. Now can we all go back to bed?" asks Yoongi through a yawn.