Pathogen

Chapter 11

Sorry for the late update, its been a crazy past few weeks.

I wake up the next morning to hair in my face and someone breathing onto my neck. I remove the hair from my face and look to my right to see Shannon peacefully sleeping. Then everything hits me at once almost getting killed, Shannon saving me, the kiss. "You know its rude to stare" Shannon says smirking. "Ok" I say smirking back, "Guess I won't ever look at you again." Shannon playfully slaps my shoulder, "Idiot."

"We should get going" I say, "It's going to take us all day to walk back." We manage to find some edible food and water. We start the walk back to New Haven while eating the food we found. After twenty minutes of walking in silence I say, "I need to tell you the truth." "The truth about what" Shannon asks confused. "As you, Isabell, and Dave know I've been at New Haven for a few years now" I say, "But I never told you guys about my first several months at New Havens."

"Ok" Shannon says. "I first arrived when Richard and his posse captured me" I say, "I then met Rachel and asked if I could stay for a few days to rest and restock. She said yes as long as I went on a run the following day. I thought that was fair, so I agreed. That night Rachel invited me over for dinner. After that Rachel wanted me to spend the night. At first I refused, but she wasn't going to take no for an answer so I agreed."

"A little while later, I told her I wanted to go to sleep because I had to wake up early and asked her which room I could use" I say, "She told me I could just sleep in her room with her. I was going to refuse when she kissed me." "Then why did you let me kiss you and why did you kiss me back" Shannon asks. "I'm getting to that" I reply, "Just let me finish." "Ok" Shannon says nodding.

"As soon as I realized that she was kissing me, I pulled away" I say, "I told her that yes, she was beautiful, but that she wasn't my type. She didn't seem too happy about that and that was when I left. The following morning, I met up with Adam, the old captain of the guards, and everyone else going on the run. When we arrived at our destination, I was with Adam, Ivan, and Vera. Me and Vera teamed up while Ivan and Adam teamed up."

"While collecting supplies, we got to talking and I developed a small crush on her" I say, "But nothing is smooth sailing in a zombie apocalypse. We got surprised by a horde, Ivan was already being eaten and Adam was about to be over run before I caused a distraction. I ended up getting hurt and we ran for the vans. Vera almost got eaten, but I saved her. Everyone had already left so we ran for our lives."

"We finally lost them and found somewhere to spend the night. We ended up talking more and kissed" I say, "It took us all day to walk back because of my foot. I was looked over and Vera spent the night. The was the last time I saw her. A week later I was going to talk to Rachel about our agreement when I overheard her and Richard talking. I found out that she had Adam killed because he left me, and Vera killed because I had feelings for her."

"Oh my god" Shannon says horrified. "That's not even the horrible part about this story" I say, "After that I made plans to leave the following day. Rachel found out and had me thrown back into the prison. I was then given an ultimatum; either agree to become Rachel's girlfriend and the new captain of the guards or get tortured until I finally gave in. For the next several months I was tortured by Richard and his posse until I agreed." Shannon is shocked and has her hands over her mouth. "It took my almost a year to fully heal" I say.

"Clarke..." Shannon says, "That's horrible." "After that I swore that once I found Isabell and Dave I would make Rachel, Richard, and his posse pay and burn New Haven to the ground" I say, "I still have the scars to remind me." Shannon walks over to me and lifts my shirt up and looks at the scars on my back. She gently traces a few of them and I shiver at her touch. "That's why you said I was your cousin" Shannon says.

"That's why" I say, "And that's why Rachel can't know that we kissed and have feelings for each other...I can't have your blood on my hands too." "Ok" Shannon says, "What do we do now?" "I'm going to tell Dave and Isabell the truth about Rachel" I say, "Then we are going to sneak out tomorrow night." "What about supplies and weapons" Shannon asks. "Stocked up in my house" I reply, "Now let's go, we have a lot to do before tomorrow night."

Shannon grabs my arm and turns me around. She leans in and connects our lips. I kiss her back for a few seconds before pulling away and leaning my forehead against hers. "Let's do this" Shannon says.

Thanks for reading.  What did you think?  What do you think will happen next?  What do you want to happen next?  As always votes and comments are appreciated.