Chapter 12: Burned

My body felt like it was being moved around, as if I was on the deck of a boat on a calm sea. My head hurt and my eyes felt raw and tired. My right ear picked up a beat, slow and soothing and I knew it was someone's heart.

Slowly opening my eyes, a blinding light shined down at me, causing me to squint and groan from the pain.

"Morning," A deep voice said to me. As my eyes adjusted, I was able to see Harry's face, his green eyes cast forward as he walked, his dark hair somewhat flipped to one side and the skin on his cheekbones reddening a bit from the harsh sun. "How are you?"

"Confused. W-what's going on?" I muttered, not even attempting to move out of his grip because to be perfectly honest, his arms felt so warm and comforting. Buildings slowly passed by us, their windows either cracked or fully blown out. Even some boarded up with wood.

"Last night, after what happened, we couldn't stay for long. We left at first light, like I said we would. You fell asleep on my lap and since I didn't feel like waking you, I let you sleep in. Everyone else is ahead of us." He shifted so that he could hold me better in his arms.

I turned my head to see the others walking ahead of us, Liam and Niall leading the way, the Irish boy holding a long thin rope that was tied around Tyler's good arm. Thalia was in a deep conversation with Liam and Felix walked behind her, his almighty rifle still in his hands. I saw everyone but our only blond girl, the girl that I loved so much like a sister. And that's when it hit me once more. Anna was gone. She wasn't here anymore.

I could feel the tears brimming my eyes, my hands clasped Harry's black tshirt as the pain washed over me once more. I couldn't imagine this group without her, but then again, I was glad she wouldn't have to endure this world anymore. She's free and I just hoped she was at peace.

"Harry?" I called to him, my voice almost a whisper. He hummed for his response. "Did...did you guys give Anna a burial?" I knew the answer before I even asked the question.

"There wasn't any time, but we said our prayers. Felix made sure of that. I may not like the prick, but at least he has respect," He chuckled and sighed, slowing down. "Can you walk?" He looked down at me, some of his hair falling down in his eyes.

I nodded and felt my body turn cold when I slipped out of his strong, warm arms. We were walking down a street that looked like all of the other ones we waked down, but this one held a pungent scent that filled the air that I hadn't noticed before. It smelled of complete death and something curdled.

"What's that smell?" I covered my nose as I walked beside Harry. My eyes were even watering from the horrid stench.

"Not too sure, but with dead walking around it seems kind of explanatory," Harry shrugged, pulling the collar of his shirt up to cover his nose, the machete in his other hand. "Liam, go on ahead and see what's causing that smell." He called up to the other Hunter.

Liam nodded and began jogging away from us, turning his head left and right to see if he can find anything. Above I could see black crows lining the buildings and the wires that still connected to posts. I felt like they were watching us, their black eyes catching our every step.

"I think I may vomit." I heard Thalia say in a small voice, her hand raising to her mouth as her other clutched her swollen stomach.

"Do you need a moment?" Felix asked her, making her stop and to check if she was alright. I mentally thanked him for making sure she was okay.

"Keep moving. We can't stop yet." Harry nudged Felix's shoulder once we caught up to them. Then I mentally slapped Harry for not caring about Thalia's health once more.

"You go on ahead. I'm taking care of her." Felix stood his ground, his eyes narrowing at Harry before turning back to my sister-in-law and rubbing her back, telling her to breath deeply and think of something else.

"Thank you, Felix." I said to him and he gave me a small smile before turning back to Thalia. Since Anna wasn't here to help with Thalia or make sure her baby was doing fine anymore, Felix and I would have to step up and care for her.

Harry rolled his eyes before continuing, me following closely behind. Tyler was walking behind Niall, his head down as he trudged along, watching his feet slap against the asphalt. I remembered figments of last night's small fight between Harry and him. Tyler was provoking his friend, bringing up every person that ever died in Harry's care. I didn't know who Gemma or Matilda was yet, but I was determined to find out later.

"Harry!" Liam called, rushing from around the corner of a building.

"What's up?" Harry nodded his head at him, curious as to why Liam's face was paler and his brown eyes were wide.

"The reason for the stench...it's bad." He shook his head and he looked like he was going to be sick.

"How bad?" Niall asked, tugging on Tyler's arm 'leash'. How bad could it be? I was really scared to see what Liam had discovered, but my curiosity was eating away at me like termites with wood.

"Take a look, but I don't recommend letting her come." He glanced at Thalia who leaned against Felix, her face showing the need to throw up.

"Felix stay here with Thalia," Harry ordered, strapping the machete onto his belt loop and running a hand through his disheveled dark curly hair. "You coming?" Harry's green eyes looked down to my small frame, searching my face for an answer.

"Yeah." I said, my voice almost a whisper. It looked like he wanted to say something else to me, but turned his head and followed Liam instead. My heart pounded as I followed close behind him, my mind thinking of different possibilities of what the stench could come from.

"It's just up here." Liam nodded and made us turn down a narrow path that led to a back alleyway. Brick walls surrounded us with a gate blocking us from one path and the smell was stronger than when it was on the street, but what caught my eye was what was on the ground.

I gasped and stepped back, almost tripping over my own feet as my grey eyes widened. Before us were charred corpses layered on top of each other, black flesh flaky and bones protruding from the ash that sat around in a circle. Some bodies were halfway burnt up while others were piled on top, barely burnt to a crisp. There was one Infected, a Stalker, underneath a few corpses, a raspy, gurgling sound leaving its mouth as its weak hand clawed out at us.

"Whoa." Niall said, breaking the silence that was cast over us. Tyler glanced over at the pile but didn't say anything, his eyes showing he's seen something like this before.

Harry glared down at the singed and blackened dead bodies, moving his boot to push against a few bones and rummage around in the remains. A hand was placed against my mouth as I tried not to gag from what he was doing. He wasn't phased whatsoever.

"This is sick." I mumbled against my hand. So much has happened in the past few days; more than what has happened during the past five years of this mess.

"This is a precaution," Harry walked around to the other side, to where the still moving Infected laid. He raised the machete before bringing it down and slamming it into the skull, a squishing noise filling the air and I had to lean against the wall to make sure I didn't pass out. "You burn the bodies to make sure they don't come back. It's a Hunter thing." He pulled the blade out, wiping the dark blood on the cuffs of his skinny jeans.

"What should we do with this?" Liam asked, motioning to the black bone pile before us.

"Leave it," Harry shrugged and walked around to where Niall, Tyler, and I stood. "It's not our problem. Instead of worrying about a smell, we should try and find some form of transportation. We need to get out of this area soon before someone or something finds us." He glanced at all of us before leaving back the way we came. "Hurry up!" He called back to us when we didn't follow, causing all of us to immediately move.

Once I caught up to him, I had to know what was wrong. He seemed tense and agitated and of course, being my prying self, I had to know.

"What's wrong?" I raised a brow at him. He pursed his lips and looked away from me.

"Nothing. We just need to stay on point," We finally made it back onto the street, the smell of the burned bodies less putrid than it was before. "Everyone keeps getting distracted." He glared at Tyler as him and Niall passed by, the blond Hunter keeping his eyes away from Harry's.

"And you don't?" I said in a whisper. I was referencing to yesterday, when he decided to kiss me for no reason.

He rolled his green eyes, a hint of annoyance in them. "Like you said, it was a mistake," the way he said that made me seem like he didn't mean it, but I pushed that away. "Don't worry, won't happen again. It was a moment of weakness that I won't allow to show anymore." With that he turned away. I still didn't know if that was the cause of his anger or not.

"So, find a vehicle?" Liam asked Harry as he walked up to him.

"Anything that will get us quicker from point A to B. Staying in the streets forever isn't something I want. We're too exposed." Harry rubbed his chin in thought.

"What about the old outpost our group stopped using?" Niall shrugged. "There's bound to be one of our jeeps still there."

Harry's eyes seemed to light up from his friend's suggestion and he smiled a bit, slapping a hand to his shoulder. "Good idea. Although, we may have to deal with a handful of Infected."

"Nothing we can't handle." Felix spoke up, his arm wrapped around Thalia's shoulder, my sister-in-law having her head on his shoulder for support.

Harry chuckled a bit at him, out of agreement or humour, I didn't know. Harry's eyes looked to me for a second and they held an emotion I couldn't decipher. I was confused by him. One moment he showed pure sincerity and kindness then the next he's pushing away any form of emotion.

"You do remember our main camp is close to that outpost, right?" Tyler spoke up, his voice monotone. His full blue eyes looked towards Harry's green ones.

"We'll be careful. We'll wait until it's dark and go." Harry nodded.

This should be fun.
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After a few hours of waiting inside an old store that used to be filled with clothes and other necessities, we finally fled out into the night.

Shadows crowded us left and right as we cautiously followed Harry, all of us on our guard. My mind was on full alert as I held Thalia's hand. After the sun sets, I couldn't trust her with anyone else besides me, including Felix. He's willing to protect her, but I had to make sure I had the upper hand in her life.

"Wait," Harry whispered, holding up his hand to make us halt, his arm muscles flexing as he closed his hand hard to tell us to stop. I rolled my eyes at myself and shook my head. This isn't the time. "Infected up ahead." He nodded to a trio that stood there, groaning and whimpering, their claw-like hands pulling at their weak hair.

"I'll take the left one." Niall said, looking at the Stalker that had on a bloody flannel, it's left sleeve ripped off to show only a stick of bone to peek out through its torn arm.

"I'll get the middle one. Liam, you get the other. Felix make sure everyone else stays here and hold onto Tyler's rope." Harry commanded as he pulled out the machete, it's blade covered with dried black blood.

"I'm not a fucking dog." Tyler said through his teeth as Niall handed the rope to Felix.

Harry didn't even acknowledge Tyler as he crouched his body and sneakily made his way towards the three Infected, Niall and Liam following behind.

Thalia was shaking next to me, her teeth chewing her bottom lip as she watched. She wasn't made for this world. She was so innocent and anything related to violence or the sight of blood makes her shiver in fear.

I looked away to see Harry come up behind the Stalker, wrap his arm around its neck and shove the blade of the machete up into the back of its skull, twisting it through.

"Damn." Felix said as he watched the three Hunters kill off the Infected.

Harry turned towards us, his face being dotted by small platters of blood. He ran a hand through his hair before flicking the machete to unlatch the blood that clung to it.

"Come on." I said to Thalia, rubbing her arm and helping her towards them, Felix dragging Tyler with us. Pools of blood expanded from the dead bodies, looking thicker than paint as it covered the ground and I made sure Thalia looked anywhere but the ground. Liam began searching the bodies for anything useful before we headed onward.

"How much farther?" I asked, knowing that Thalia needed more rest. She was such a trooper and I knew she didn't want to complain, so I had to speak up for her.

"Around the corner," Harry answered, looking at Thalia. He did something I wasn't expecting and I saw Thalia widen her eyes as Harry placed a light hand on her stomach. "You okay?" He looked to her.

"Y-yes." Thalia nodded, letting him feel her stomach.

"Just a few more steps and you can rest a bit more." He assured her and I watched in quiet awe as he smiled at her.

"Thank you." She replied and he nodded before stepping away and going to Liam and Niall.

"Let's keep moving." He announced to us all before leading the group again, stepping over the Infected bodies, letting his black boots step into the blood pools to leave very dark prints. Every step caused a crunch from the cracking asphalt, the sound echoing througout the whole street we preoccupied.

Since the lamplights had no electricity to power them, the sky was able to show off it's true beauty, not being shielded from the light's rays. The moon was full and a yellowish-white with many glowing stars beside it. I wished I could go back to the way it was before and stargaze with my mother, the astronomer of the family. She would always point out the constellations I looked past and find the planets we never guessed were right there. I missed her.

"There," Harry said. I looked up to see a building with a half caved in roof, it's brick walls falling in on itself as the barbed wire fence around the whole edifice suffered from a large gas tank toppled on it. "You were right, Ni, there's our transport." Harry grinned, allowing his beautiful dimples to show through his cheeks. A large black jeep sat a few inches away from the gas tank, desolate and waiting for us.

We all rushed to the destruction, being careful to not touch the fallen barbed wire that cut across our path. One notch from the wire had caught onto Thalia's sweater, having her squeal and try and tear her arm away, but Liam was nice enough to untangle her.

Harry opened the front of the car, grunting with the effort as it tried to stay stuck to the exterior of the car. He bit his lip as he looked inside, leaning in closer to have a better look. I would be lying if I said I didn't find this attractive. A man working on a car was a view to see, especially one as lovely as Harry.

I widened my eyes at my own thought and I knew I would be red in the face. He's a jerk, Aria. He's nice one second but then he'll turn into an emotionless asshole the next. I helped Thalia sit down on a stone cinderblock, her eyes closing as she rested her tired feet.

"Looks a bit dusty, but good," Harry noted. "How're the wires up in the front?" He asked. Niall was already at the front seat, under the section where the steering wheel was, his legs sticking out from the door.

"I'm hotwiring now." He called out. I knew this was going to be a while, so I decided to explore this small place that happened to be another Hunter outpost. It wasn't as big as the petrol station Louis had, but it could still hold a good amount of people. The front doors were broken in, the splinters in the wood were in fine points, but I was able to work my way around them.

Inside it was dusty and filled with ash, causing me to cough and swat the air around me. As I went inside, my stomach growled, signaling my hunger I had forgotten about because of the many problems I had faced since leaving my old camp. I'm sure Thalia felt the same. She needed to eat if she was going to deliver the baby and I promised to make sure that happened.

I searched through every nook and cranny for anything that would be useful. So far only a warm water bottle and a closed package of food that people would use in survival kits. This would have to do for now.

I brought the items outside, going straight for Thalia who hadn't moved from her cinderblock seat. "Here." I smiled, handing her both of them.

She looked up and eyed them both hungrily, but being the selfless and kind person she is, she shook her head. "Honey, you need it."

"Thalia, take it. For the baby." I reminded her and she nodded, grateful as she unscrewed the bottle and drank, grimacing from the warmth it had.

"Shit!" Niall hissed and groaned.

"What?" Harry came round to where he was, moving the door back to look down at Niall.

"Nothing. Just got shocked by the damn wire. Motherfucker." Niall sighed and I held back a laugh. Tyler and Liam were off to the side, Liam reapplying the last of the bandages to Tyler's stub. Felix was a little farther away, obviously feeling awkward to be around four Hunters. Being part of the military made him resent them and have an urge to shoot them on sight. I'm actually surprised he hasn't pulled the trigger on his rifle still.

"We'll need some petrol," Harry said, looking at the large silver gas tank behind us. "Aria, you up for the job?" He said to me, making my eyes snap to his.

"Sure thing, boss." I was definitely mocking him and he seemed to notice since he narrowed his eye before rolling them. He grabbed something from the back of the jeep-- a long clear tube.

"You know what to do?" He raised his eyebrows at me, handing me the clear tube and a red gas container. How convient that this stuff is still here.

"What do I do?" I studied the tube.

"You put one end through the outlet on the tank. The reason for this is because it may be hard to get the petrol out, so you'll have to suck it out. You think you can suck it out just fine?" He asked, making him look up at him. I couldn't tell what his expression was, but I felt like he just made a sexual joke with me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I crossed my arms and he mimicked my action.

"Can you do the job?" He leaned down, trying to intimidate me, but I wasn't backing down. I made my eyes seem cold and I leaned forward a bit too.

"What job are you talking about exactly?" I tilted my head, smirking a bit as he huffed and ran a hand through his hair, obviously flustered by my comment.

"Just do it." He sneered before turning back to Niall. I turned away with a satisfied grin on my face, pretty much skipping to the large tank. I did as he said, placing the tube inside the hole of the tank and beginning to try and bring out the gas with my mouth. It was really difficult. It was like trying to drink a milkshake that was too frozen to shoot up the straw.

I could feel the gas starting to move through the tube, but just as it was about to reach the other end, I felt something hard touch the side of my head, causing me to release the tube from my mouth and slowly look to my right.

A man with a tribal tattoo covering half his face with his hood up, smirked at me as he placed a finger to his lips, telling me to be silent. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled my back to his chest, the smell of tobacco chew on his tongue as he whispered into my ear, "Hello, lovely."

I squirmed in his arms, but he gripped me tighter. Could I ever catch a break? Since meeting Harry, I've been in way too many life endangering situations and I was getting so sick and tired of it.

The man moved us forward, still not being noticed by anyone. That is until he raised his hand with the gun into the sky, shooting off rounds like the bullets meant nothing to him. I saw everyone jump, turning around and Thalia let out a cry, almost falling off her seat.

Harry immediately whipped out his own gun, his eyes harder than stone as he looked from me to the man holding me to him.

"I'd put that down if I were you." He chuckled. His gun larger than Harry's pistol, but the green-eyed Hunter wasn't scared by the size of the machine gun.

"Let her go and we'll talk." Harry's voice was hard, clipped with anger.

"I don't trust you," The man's dirty fingers went from around my waist to hold my neck, tapping his fingers against my throat. "Plus, I rather like the smell of her." I heard his sniffing in my ear, his nose buried in my dark locks. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something other than his fingers or his nose taking in my scent.

"You're outnumbered." Harry's voice trembled, but mostly from trying to contain his anger. The click of a gun behind me let me know someone pulled a gun on the man behind me, but he only laughed a bit.

"I'll let you be the judge of that," Out of the shadows many forms showed themselves, holding large guns and their coats stitched with the gruesome red face that meant Hunter. "It's good to see you again, Harry. I've missed you." The man said before Harry let out a gasp, bringing a hand up to his neck, pulling out a small dart that had pierced his pale flesh. He fell to his knees, trying to grip onto staying awake, but the drugs on that small dart made him unconcious in a second.

"Harry," I tried to move out of the man's arms as my group started to fall from being struck by the same dart. "Thalia." I gasped as she fell off the cinderblock, hopefully not too hard to harm the baby.

"Goodnight, love." Tobacco filled my nostrils as my neck felt like a bee had stung me. I was let go only to fall to the ground and black out.

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a/n: oh my god this chapter is so long....
and some more impending drama, God...
so much has happened already, hope you don't mind :p