Legend of The Guardians: The Ghost + The Darkness//FINAL

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Long Run

Blaire POV
We made it to the next house close to Los Angeles, it has been 24 hours since Dylan’s passing, I didn’t even talk to anyone, I couldn’t even open my mouth and tell what happened between Dylan and I, every time I thought of Dylan, it made my heart heavy even more, it felt like the screaming inside my head never stops, it felt like everything around me was starting to fall apart, like time was suspended. It was breezy at this house that we were at, Andrea came out to the back porch and sat next to me, there was only a silent moment until,”Pete told me what happened, he knew about it” I felt like I couldn’t opened my mouth then I finally got the strength to talk,”He knew?”
“But Pete-” Pete came out,”I wanted him to tell you, but he couldn’t do it because he didn’t know how to tell you” I sighed and looked out,”I didn’t want to be right about this”
“What?” Andrea asked and I answered,”I had a feeling, but that was the time that I didn’t want to be right, but….” I didn’t even finish my sentence and Pete said,”And Dylan wanted you to do it because it was better for you to know what happened to him than having one of us do it” I nodded,”It was supposed to be me, I’m the one with the stomach virus, not him”
“Blaire” I took a deep breath,”I loved him, ever since we met in The Organizatio and I never thought that he would go and find me then stay by my side after all these years….I was 17 when we met and here I am, as 24 year old woman going after a place that feels like it’s impossible to reach without Dylan by my side here and….now I don’t know what to do without him” Andrea held my hand,”It’s okay, we can stay here for as long as you need to”
“No, no absolutely not” I got up and walked to the rail,”We can’t take any more delays Andrea, we need to keep moving now, we came this far, we’ve lost too many people….we need to get them to safety, the walkers are coming here, the raiders knows us now, the looters are everywhere, this place isn’t safe for Sarah, Trey and Emery” Andrea and Pete couldn’t even respond on what I said,”B-But Blaire, you….lost him”
“I know….I know that, but his mission all along was to get me back to The Organization and I’m going to complete his mission and our mission together was to go back there, that’s what we should do. We can’t stop because of me, we have to keep going” She nodded,”Okay, very well then, I’ll let the group know” I sighed and turned around, Pete was next to me and I looked over at him,”How long have you known?”
“I knew for a couple days, he nearly passed out and it exposed his bite” I nodded knowing that I should be angry, I should be hurting Pete right now, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that to him,”He wanted me to give you this” It was a box and he handed it to me, when I opened it, it was a….necklace with a ring around it,”He uh said that you don’t wear rings, but you wear necklaces like the one you have on now” I nodded,”I’ve had this necklace since I was 14” I pulled my necklace out of my shirt to expose it,“I can see why he would...you know” He said as I was putting this necklace around my neck,”He really loved you, I hope you know that”
“I know and Skylar loved you too” He sighed and nodded,”Yeah I know, I guess you and I are on the same boat”
“From the looks of it, yes” He put his hands in his pockets,”Well Dinner is gonna be on the table, we’ll save some for you and we’ll discuss the quest when you come in”
“Thank you” He walked away and I put my head down and closed my eyes then I felt this sudden wrap around my waist, this warmth felt very familiar, I looked behind me and it was,”Dylan?”
“Hey Blaire” My heart stopped,“What are you doing here?”
“I just….had to see you” I sighed and turned around,”You’re not really here Dylan, I know that” After saying that, I felt a lump forming in my throat and a tear, he wiped it away, he smiled lightly,”But I am in here” He touched my chest and my heart started beating fast,”You know you have to keep going….for us and for them, you’ve proven how strong you are, keep fighting” He walked away and I opened my eyes, here I was still in the same position, I held onto this engagement necklace and I said quietly to myself,”Something tells me that you’re gonna be around me for a long time, you’re with your family now and it’s time for me to go back to mine” I looked back and went back inside knowing that I can never hold onto Dylan forever, he only exists now in the heart of my necklace, Andrea pulled out the map and we weren’t too far from Los Angeles,”So what did Dylan say that where The Organization is gonna be?”
“He only said that it was only gonna be in Southern California” Cayden had his arms crossed,”Well shouldn’t have we found it by now?”
“It takes time Cayden, we’ll find it, with Kavanaugh in charge, there’s no doubt that it’d be destroyed” Andrea said to him and he nodded as he scratched his nose,”Should we still take the highway?”
“Possibly, we’re over here now, so we shouldn’t be far from it and when we get to the highway, we should follow it” Gwen put her hand up,”Just one question, we’ve spent almost the entire month with this quest, what happens when we get there? I don’t think that they’ll welcome us with open arms and warm cookies” Chloe, Michelle and Andrea looked over at me,”Blaire is the key, she knows that place, her family is in there, they won’t hurt us, Kavanaugh wouldn’t allow that”
“Plus the Scavengers, I was one of them and whenever we found a stray, we take them back, I’m sure that they would do that to us, Kavanaugh doesn’t harm anyone unless needed to” Taryn was confused,”What do you mean ‘Needed to’?”
“We always had strays who come in who’s infected and there is a possibility that I may be one of them” She shook her head as she looked down and cursed under her breath,”But this is for all of you, always has been and I don’t care if I die when we get there, I’ll die knowing that you guys are safe and that….I get to see my brother and sister. We shouldn’t worry about what is happening to me now, we should be worrying about this quest now because as of now, the raiders has increased, the walkers has slowly been increasing and the looters are new now, we have to limit our supplies” Andrea grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side,”Are you crazy?”
“Look what happened over at the village back there, they ambushed us because it looked like we had a ton and we had to defend our territory, Michelle almost died, but Dylan died, we can’t lose any more people, I can’t have that, we need to limit down to 3 duffle bags, one for blankets, one for medical supplies and one for food and water” She had her hands placed on her waist,”Okay you have a point Blaire, 2 trucks, 3 supply bags, we can make it work” I nodded and Andrea agreed to limit it

I took the couch since there were only 2 bedrooms, Michelle and Andrea need it more for their children, all those times before, there were enough for all of us, but now not anymore, I closed my eyes and I felt a kiss planted on my forehead, I opened my eyes and Emery was next to me,”I’m sorry to hear about Uncle Dylan” I sighed as she hugged me,”Thank you Emery” She let go and said good night then ran off to bed, I turned around and went to sleep while Gwen was taking first watch with Cayden

Michelle POV
I was taking off my jacket while Taryn was taking off her shoes,”Do you think Blaire’s gonna be okay?” I sighed as I thought about it,”I’ve known her and Dylan since she was almost 19, I don’t think that she’ll fully heal from this like how I lost Leo” She knows about my history with him and she knows that I can never forget about him then Taryn said to me,”And Andrea lost a husband, the connection between those was undeniable, they were….magic together, they were able to do things together and get the job done while looking out for each other” She was sitting on the side of the bed and Emery came upstairs,”Hi Mommy” She came in and sat next to Taryn,”Blaire can heal, I know she can, she’ll probably won’t fully recover, but she’ll make it through” I know that because there is a part of me that hasn’t fully recovered from Leo, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be hung up on him for the rest of my life,”Alright monkey, hop to bed” Emery went in the middle between us and we went to sleep

Blaire POV
I was facing the ceiling and I had another feeling, this feeling was familiar,”Where’s Howell?” I looked up and there he was, he jumped down, I remember Craig smirking,”Okay, you guys got your things?” We nodded,”Of course you guys are quite a team to make it this long without Dempsey or Kavanaugh, now go out there and I never saw you” These flashbacks keep coming back and I felt restless as I put my hand on my stomach massaging it to at least make me feel better, I grabbed the cordless CD player and grabbed one of the available CDs that wasn’t completely destroyed, I played a song and it was what I definitely thought it was. The Long Run by The Eagles,”Heyy that’s a nice beat, what song is it?”
“The Long Run by The Eagles, my parents were the ultimate retro parents you could ever meet, they had a collection of different bands in the 20th Century…..” Voices overlapping in my mind and I took a deep breath to get rid of the lump in my throat, I still couldn’t believe that I was only 17 when this happened,”When I first saw you, I thought you were kinda intimidating, but I also thought you are...beautiful and a woman who knows her ways in this apocalypse” I pulled my necklace out and looked through the circle then had more flashbacks,”Look Blaire, I do care about you, really I do and I think I always will because...all I’ll be seeing is you”
“Are you sure? I think you need to think about this throu-”’
“I did Blaire, every single day….” I grabbed the pillow underneath me and hugged it tight that my arms felt like they were going to break and I silently cried just thinking about our history together, now I know that we have a long run ahead of us.