if we survive

t w e n t y f i v e

r o r y

Jade was still upset with me. She didn't understand why I had my brother locked up in a room, the only person that could really understand was me. I just needed him to believe that I wasn't the bad guy, I needed him to kill Anon. I couldn't do it, but I was convinced Ash could. I know I sound like the bad guy I know I'm not, it's not my fault if nobody decided to believe me.

I walked up to Jade who was cooking something over then campfire, she didn't even glance my way when I sat down on a log beside her. "We could use Ashton's friends, you know." I began. She stayed quiet. "We need someone to test the cure on, we
could—"

"They're children." Jade cut me off, I could hear the anger rising in her voice. "Colman is fifteen, the others aren't too much older than that. What if someone wanted to put Asher in line for the tests? He's a baby, he's got nothing that could help us survive right? Why not just test it on him?"

"Asher is the start of another generation." I mumbled. "Ashton's friends are the same age as hundreds of other survivors, just one would not hurt our chances of survival. It could even increase our chances. Adrian is already hurt it wouldn't—"

"You do realize that forcibly testing something that will most likely kill them is murder. You'd have the blood of a seventeen year old boy on your hands, not to mention that Ashton would never look at you the same. Do you really want that Holden? Do you really want that to be incorporated in Zac's stories about you?" Jade was furious. I knew why, but I didn't understand how she could pass up a perfectly good opportunity to possibly save the human race. Then Jade said something I'd never forget. "Why not just test it on Ashton if you're that desperate? He'd willingly try it, but you don't want to do that because you know it will most likely kill him. So why is it any different with the others?"

"He's my little brother, Jade. I won't watch him turn into one of those things." My voice was a little over a whisper and you could barely hear me over the crack of flames from the campfire.

"Yeah, and it's okay if you watch Adrian, or Colman, or Ashton's little girlfriend die in front of your eyes but god forbid you watch Ashton," Jade stood and stomped away without giving me another look. I felt like needles were being pushed into my heart one by one with each step Jade took walking away from me. I suddenly saw Ethan sweating and frantically walking towards the garden out of the corner of my eye. He looked shaken, nervous, and I could've sworn his eyes widened when he looked at me. Something wasn't right. I stood up and made my way over to him, he picked up his pace and made his way down the exit trail towards the garden tripping over his own feet more times than I could count. It was obvious he'd planned to go see Carlee, I thought maybe the two had a thing and they didn't want anyone to know but that didn't explain why he looked like he was about to pass out from anxiety.

"Ethan! Is everything alright?" I yelled but he pretended not to hear me and continued speeding down the trail. The more he ignored me the more I was beginning to suspect he'd done something wrong. When he made it to the garden I hung back in hopes of hearing him admit something to Carlee so I could decide what was actually going on. I couldn't hear much, only a few words were loud enough for me to hear.

"Brother...walkie...Ben...shut up."

I couldn't tell which voice belonged to Carlee and which one belonged to Ethan but eventually I gave up trying to ease drop and stepped into the garden. Immediately, Ethan moved closer to Carlee and shut his mouth.

"What's up? Most of the crops were harvested yesterday but if you're here for Mika—" I cut Carlee off by holding up my hand and looked directly at Ethan.

"Why do you look like you've just murdered someone? Are you alright?" I walked closer to the two and Ethan's eyes grew wider by the second.

"I-I'm fine. I just had a really close encounter with a monster that's all, I killed it though don't worry." Ethan nodded but his words were shaky and his western accent was a lot more noticeable now. I knew he was lying but I decided to play along.

"Alright, it didn't scratch you at all did it?" I questioned. He shook his head and I noticed a huge backpack resting by his legs. "What's the bag for?"

"Upgraded medical bag," He answered almost too quickly. I narrowed my eyes at him, I wanted him to know that I wasn't buying his lies for a second.

"Uh, Holden you're making my plants nervous so if you don't mind—" Carlee began but I cut her off once again.

"Don't lie to me Ethan." I said.

"W-What? No I-I'm not lying, I'm just shaken up from that monster is all." Ethan moved back behind Carlee like she'd be able to protect him if he slipped up and told me the truth. I wasn't the best with people but I knew how to tell when someone was lying straight to my face. I was going to regret what I was about to do but I wasn't going to let a seventeen year old lie right to my face. I pulled my pistol from its holster and aimed in towards Ethan but I had it pointed behind him so that I wouldn't actually kill him. He immediately put his hands up in defense and Carlee froze.

"Hey, watch where you point that thing." Ethan was visibly panicking.

"What did you do Ethan?" I said in a low demanding voice.

"I-I don't know!" He was panicking and his ability to lie was dying. The more scared he got the more his lies were easy to point out. I pointed my gun into the air and pulled the trigger before turning it back on him.

"Safety's off dipshit, what did you do?" I asked again. Ethan glanced at Carlee and she shook her head mentally telling him to stay quiet.

"I gave your brother a note from Benji." He spoke so fast I almost didn't catch what he'd said. He cringed away from me afterwards waiting for a bullet to pierce his skull. I lowered my gun and put it back in its holster.

"What did it say?"

"He told me not to look at it. I don't know what it said man, I swear!"

I nodded and jogged back to camp leaving Ethan to calm down. I'd completely forgotten about the backpack he'd been carrying but at that moment all I wanted to know was what was on that note.