When August Ends

A Mission

     Just then we hear an engine roar. "Their back!" I say rising and walking to the edge. We all watch as they drive back with excitement. Excitement that vanishes when they do not slow down as they speed towards us.

"Somethings wrong," Troy states quickly. Jons car races at full speed into the wooden fence surrounding the rock wall. It splinters in all directions as the come to a skidding halt beside the wall. I sigh with relief and then watch as Rachel climbs out of the drivers seat followed by Chey and dear Liz. Stevo leaps down to help them begin climbing the wall. I wait for Adam and Jon to get out of the car, but they don't and I begin to wonder. Once the girls are up hugs are exchanged happily but no one braves asking about Adam and Jon. I hug Rachel and Chey and then get to Liz. I smile and she smiles as me. She has her prized beach scene baseball cap on and is clutching her lighter in her hand. She's fond of setting things aflame. I hug her and she opens her mouth to say something and then closes it. Small talk is made until Grace finally asks what we've all been wondering.

"Where are Jon and Adam?" she asks. Chey sighs and lookis at the ground. Liz fidgets with her lighter and a piece of wood. Rachel just looks at us sadly.

"They saved us... Sent us to come ahead... Adam got hurt and Jon stayed back to help him. They said there wasn't time and for us to just go and that they would catch up..." Rachel trails off. I look at her in disbelief. They actually left Jon and Adam behind. "I saw these... things. I want to say people, because they are and even some of them I know, but they aren't... themselves. They were horrible..." she adds. We stand in silence and then I snap.

"Well let's go." I say walking towards the edge but Troy jumps infront of me.

"Whoa now," Troy says holding a hand out. "We can't go now." 

"Oh please Troy! We can't waste time!" I snap attempting to walk around him. He steps infront of me again.

"We will go Maya, you know that. We just can't right now." Troy states.

"Troy, Adam and Jon wouldnt waste time!" I shout.

"Maya he's right!" Grace says suddenly and I look at her. "We just need to be calm and wait. Adam told them that he and Jon would make it back. Lets wait and find out." she says quietly.

"So you mean let's do nothing." I ask unhappily.

"For now." Troy says.

"I don't do well with nothing." I say walking to the back and sitting on the ground.

     We stay in the rockwall and do nothing. Most of the time we're silent. We just sit beside one another. Inside however, my mind is anything but dormant. I tried calling the police multiple times without telling the others, but all I got was static. I got the same result when I tried calling my Dad and Mom. It worries me. I hope their alright. I also wonder what it must be like outside the campus. If it's like this out there then we are worse off than I though. I also am concerned for Adam and Jon. I don't want to believe that their gone. Adams a pretty strong guy and Jons smart. Maybe together they made it out. But logic whispers in the back of my mind, that as injured as he was he would have made his way back here by now. But I refuse to sit waiting anymore. I look around at the others. Grace is asleep, leaning on Troy who is also asleep. Stevo is sleeping lying down and Mace is leaning on the wall, head back and eyes closed. Troy would try to stop me, Grace would want to come but I don't want her to get hurt, Stevo would want to come, and I have no idea what Mace would say. Chey and Rachel are also asleep. I can't go with them though. They would just try and prevent me from going, prevent me from finding them. Not because their malicious. They are just being cautious, but I can't live like they do. I get up from my place beside Troy quietly and walk towards the edge stealthily. I scan the area below but it's getting dark so I can't see much. I begin climbing down the side and when I reach the bottom I look around cautiously. I see and hear nothing until someone walks up in the dim light behind me. I start and turn around to see Rachel. Her straight dark hair looks black in the evening light. "You're going to go find Jon and Adam alone?" she inquires. Rachel knows me well.

"I can't do nothing, Rachel. Adam and Jon would go back for any of us, and he's basically leading our group. Whose going to take over if he's gone?" I whisper.

"Troy?" Rachel says loudly.

"Sh! you'll wake the rest! Rachel I'm not about to follow Troy or any of the others right now. They don't know what their doing." I say hurriedly.

"And you do?" Rachel inquires.

"No, I- No. I don't know. I do know what I'm going to do though, and wether it's wise or not I'm going after them so please don't try to stop me." I reply quickly.

"Maya, I didn't come down here to stop you, i came to come with you." she chuckles.

"Rachel, if you got hurt I'd never forgive myself." I reply though inwardly I'm contemplating the offer. Rachels cool and collected. We played a group game called smugglers during the summer, and she and I were some of the team defenders. We tag teamed and took a lot of the opposing teams 'smugglers' to jail. We make a good team.

"Girl, this isn't a question or option. Let's go." she says walking forward. I smile to myself and follow. "Are we taking the car?" she inquires.

"No. It's not ours to take." I say quickly.

"What are we gonna carry Adam and his broken leg back on our shoulders?" she asks in amusement. I pause.

"I didn't think that far ahead." I say.

"Of course you didn't. Is Jon's car ours to take now?" she inquires amusedly.

"Do you happen to have the keys on you?" I inquire.

"Of course I do," she grins swinging the key on its ring around her finger. I smile. "Let's go." she says and we dash to the car. Rachel gets in the drivers seat and I climb into the passenger side. She turns the engine on and speedily pulls out, the car bumping over the broken fence. As we drive we see nothing. No movement, no nothing. Only darkness. "We leftt them at the stairwell," Rachel begins to explain. "There were... whatever they tare, coming from upstairs and downstairs. Adam killed the few below and made a way for us to go but he was grabbed from behind and when he tried to get away he fell... He landed on his leg and that did him in." she concludes.

"I wonder if he's heavy." I say. Rachel looks at me.

"What?" she asks.

"We might have to carry him. He looks light but I think he's going to be hard to carry." I laugh.

"You don't think about how to get him to the rockwall but you worry about how you'll get him to the car. You make so much sense." Rachel chuckles. I smile and then we pull up at the CC. The lights are all on inside we notice looking throught the car windows.

"Ready?" I inquire quietly.

"As I'll ever be." Rachel whispers. I reach to open the door but Rachel stops me. "Wait, Maya. We don't have anything to fight with." she says slowly.

"I know where security keeps their other guns," I say calmly. "it's inside."

"How do you know?" she asks uncertainly.

"Trust me Rachel, they told me pretty much everything about security." I grin and she chuckles nervously. We get out quietly and close the doors softly. We walk intothe doors cautiously. I have Rachel follow me past the front desk and into the dining room. Right when we walk in there is a door to our left. Inside is an icemachine. I begin pulling it out and Rachel joins in and helps me. When we get it away from the wall, it reveals a door with a metal lock. I scan the hall for something to break it with and see a metal bar. One of the table legs that isn't in use. "Stand back," I tell Rachel and I break the lock off with several whacks. I pull open the door revealing the three small walls lined with guns. Shotguns and hand guns.

"They actually do have guns! Oh my word," Rachel says in surprise. I chuckle.

"Grab handguns, those are easier to carry right now but we'll come back and load up so we can take it all back with us." I say grabbing two pistols and sliding them between my shorts top and thighs. Rachel does the same, and then we each grab two to hand guns to carry. I begin closing the door and pushing the icemachine back in the correct position so it covers the door. "There," I say wiping my hands off on my shirt. Suddenly Rachel gasps. I look at her in confusion and the follow her rigid gaze. I see an infected and immediately take aim, but freeze when I realize why she hadn't fired yet. It wasn't just any infected. It was Jon.