Picture of Jack on the side ---> 

            Four

          “Get back, Sloane!” he calls, moving quickly towards his blue pickup truck. “Just go back in the house and go back to bed!”

            “Dad,” I whimper, slowly walking down the front steps. The bricks on the walkway feel cold on my feet but that and the fact that I’m in my pajamas are the last thing on my mind. “Don’t leave us! Don’t leave me!”

            Tears are rushing down my cheeks and I’ve never felt this upset before. I feel like I’ll never stop crying; like my heart is breaking in my chest. And maybe it is, because it actually hurts. It feels tight and throbbing, like my heart really is broken.

            “You don’t understand, sweetheart,” he whispers, his eyes sad as he gets inside his truck. “I have to do this. If you knew, if you only knew…”

            I start sprinting towards him as he slams the driver’s door. My palms hit the glass with a thump and I start banging my fists on it, trying to stop him from leaving me. His eyes barely glance my way as he struggles to fit the key into the ignition, too overcome with what’s going on beside him.

            “Dad, no! Please, Dad! Just stay and I’ll be good, I’ll do whatever you want, I swear!” I beg. He doesn’t say anything; doesn’t roll down the window. As soon as the truck roars to life, he rips backwards out of the driveway and I collapse on the pavement. “Dad, no,” I cry, my hands covering my mouth in disbelief.

            He doesn’t even look at me as he drives off. It’s the last time I’ll ever see him.

☣

            “Sloane,” someone whispers. I feel something moving me by my shoulder and I groan. It hurts, my whole body hurts. “Come on, get up.”

            My eyes blink open and I come face to face with Jagger. He’s crouching in front of me, leaning down so he can be my level. Once I’m awake, he doesn’t let go of my shoulder but rather holds it tighter.

            I look around, my neck hurting with the movement. I’m in the gym, leaning on the wall. I must have fallen asleep.

            “What’s going on?” I ask groggily. I rub my eyes and feel my bandage on the bottom of my forehead. “Where’s Bullet?”

            As if to tell me, a whimper sounds from a few feet away and I’m reassured.

            “Let’s get you to bed,” Jagger says, reaching for my hand.

            “We’re in a school, there are no beds,” I mumble, my eyes fluttering closed. “And I’m okay riiiight here.”

            “How many Tylenol’s did you give her, Jack?” I hear Jagger ask, but I’m already drifting off, the sound of their voices making me more tired.

            “I don’t know,” Jack responds. “Four? Five? I don’t know.”

            I hear someone sigh and then there’s a small smacking sound. Jack grumbles something about Jagger being an idiot before I feel arms wrap around me.

            “You’re only supposed to give her two max.” The arms lift me up and suddenly I’m in the air. I move my head against their soft chest and nuzzle my left cheek into their warmth. They smell like home, wherever that may be.

            “She was in pain,” Jack replies defensively. “I thought she could feel better for a little while.”

            I hear Jagger sigh and I feel like I’m moving back and forth. Before I wanted to sleep, but now I’m quickly waking up. When my eyes open again, I see we’re in a hallway. Its pitch black but Jagger, who I now realize who’s carrying me, seems to know where we’re going.

            “Go back to sleep,” he says softly, looking down at me. I meet his eyes sleepily and shake my head. “Why not?”

            “I’m waking up now. You’re noisy.”

            Jagger laughs quietly as he turns to the right, silently pushing open a door. I can’t see the inside as he carries me through the room.

            “I’m sure she could have walked,” I hear Emily say. She’s mad already and I suddenly wish I was asleep again.

            “She probably has a concussion and she wasn’t going to get up, anyways. We don’t want her as zombie bait, do we?”

            I shudder at the thought and Jagger’s arms are replaced with something soft underneath me. I still can’t see so I close my eyes, listening to the sounds around me.

            “There’s something we need to talk about,” Cole says. I hear his footsteps across the floor. “Or rather, something I need to show you.”

            I listen to them talk as they head out of the room and then I’m replaced by darkness and silence. I expect Emily or Jack to say something, but they don’t. It isn’t long before I fall asleep again with Bullet licking my hand.

☣

            “Fort Sanders is safe. Repeat, Fort Saunders it safe.” The woman’s voice barely breaks through the static of the old radio. “We are a large group of survivors. We have food, water and other necessities needed to survive. We will be broadcasting this message over the next month and then we will be putting out emergency plan for survival into action.”

            “What plan do you think that is?” Jack asks, but Cole slaps his shoulder, silencing him. This is the fourth time we’ve listened to this message and no one can believe it yet.

            “The infected are trying to make us like them,” she continues. “Signs of a person infected are extremely pale skin, failure to communicate and failure to acknowledge that they are hurt. If you see an infected person, leave them alone and stay as far away from them as possible in order to survive. Do not, repeat, do not help them.” There’s a crackling sound and then the broadcast starts over again. “Fort Saunders is safe. Repeat, Fort-“

            Jagger shuts off the radio and everyone turns to him with angry eyes. We’ve been sitting in a circle in the gym, crouched around the radio he found in the office. Though the message is clear, it’s a wakeup call to us; to me. This is really happening. There really are people out there who want to kill us.

            “Does anyone know where Fort Saunders is?”

            Everyone is silent, except for Jagger, who’s pressuring everyone to answer him. I think he’s the only one going into action instead of sitting around, waiting for our brains to comprehend what we just heard.

            It’s been more than a few days since I came here and still no one trusts me. I’m constantly going places with someone at my side and I can’t even go to the bathroom alone. In the mornings, we eat breakfast, which consists of non-perishable food from the cafeteria. Then we make our rounds, checking the locked doors and peeking out of the windows to see if anyone is out there, waiting for us. Other than checking the doors, we don’t really do anything else during the day. After we’ve eaten at night, we check the doors again and sleep in the teacher’s lounge, which is filled with plush couches and chairs.

            “I think there’s a map in the office,” Jack says, not meeting Jagger’s eyes. “I’ll go get it and bring it back.” Once he’s gone, we’re back to thinking about the broadcast.

            “Do you think we should go?” Emily asks, looking at Cole and Jagger but refusing to glance my way. “I mean, we’re running out of supplies. We’re going to have to head out at some point or die here.”

            “She has a point,” Cole admits. Again, he’s looking at Jagger. I have no idea how they got here, but judging by everyone’s faith in him, Jagger must have been the one to make sure they survived.

            “I think that we have two options.” He looks down at the ground, folds his arms across his chest and chews on his bottom lip as he thinks. “We either head to Fort Saunders, or we stay here and head out in groups to get supplies.”

            “I vote Saunders,” Cole mumbles.

            “Me too.” Emily twirls one of her curls around her finger.

            “Yeah, I agree,” Jack says as he rushes into the gym. The daylight is fading and soon we won’t be able to see him at all.

            “Then that’s it.” Jagger still doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “I guess we go.”

            As Jack hands him the map, he looks at me worriedly. “Is no one going to ask Sloane her opinion?”

            “Does it matter?” Emily snaps. Jack looks shocked and she rolls her eyes. “We never wanted her to come here. Jagger just made the stupid mistake of getting her and now she’s making our supplies run out faster. We can go to the fort and she can do whatever the hell she wants.”

            No one says anything in response but instead all eyes are on me, waiting for me to say something. Despite her tone, Emily has a point. They never wanted me here in the first place. If they go to Saunders, they can just leave me here without as much as a backwards glance.

            “Well?” Cole’s eyes are narrowed.

            “You guys do whatever you want,” I say quietly, avoiding looking anywhere but the solid, gym floors. “What I do isn’t your concern and what you do isn’t mine.”

            That seems to Emily like a good answer. She smiles before standing up and sauntering out of the room, no one following her.

            “You’re welcome to come with us,” Jack says once she’s gone. Bullet stands beside him and he runs his fingers through his fur.

            “No, she is coming with us.”

            Cole glares at Jagger the second the words are out of his mouth.

            “Why? It’s not like she’s helpful. If anything, she’s a threat. You saw how helpless she was out there.”

            “Cole-“

            “You know I’m right, Jag.”

            Jack slouches his shoulders, agreeing with Cole.

            “If you want to bring her along, then she needs to prove herself.”

            Jagger pushes himself up off the floor and glares at Cole. Once he’s up, Cole quickly jumps to his feet and suddenly I’m the only one on the floor.

            “And how is she going to do that?”

            “Well,” Cole smiles, “If we’re leaving for Fort Saunders, we need some supplies to make sure we’re set. We need to do a raid.”

            Before he even specifies what that means for me, Jagger is shaking his head.

            “No, no, no.”

            Cole leans close to Jagger’s face. “If she comes with us, I’m not going to waste my time saving her when her life isn’t worth it. And neither is anyone else.”

            Jagger moves so quickly I barely see him shove Cole back a few feet. “Fuck off.”

            Before a fight breaks out, Jagger grunts and stalks out of the gym, his hands balled into fists at his sides. With him gone, I have no one to my defense and I can’t help but think that Cole has a point. My life isn’t worth saving.

            “If you’re coming with us,” Cole says, his tone icy. I watch as he smirks and walks past me. “Then tomorrow we’re doing a raid. Just you and me.”