Michelle 27

"Do you hear that?" Rose asks, flicking on her flashlight. She stares down the corridor, looking to both sides.

I haven't been listening to anything. All I've been doing, honestly, is waiting for the right moment to knock her unconscious so I can get away. The night watch is pointless anyway. Nothing ever shows up. There isn't anything roaming around down here, lurking in the shadows. We're stuck in this cool underground, trudging along, day after day, and I haven't gotten the proper amount of sleep in what I imagine to be weeks.

"No," I growl.

"It's nothing." Hilde sighs.

They sent her to watch with us, because apparently, they couldn't just let me sleep or anything. I get that they don't trust me, and that's fine, but I would rather be sleeping. Watching Rose pace at every creak is perhaps the worst thing about being with Group B.

Like now. Rose stands up, moving further down the tunnel. "I hear something."

I roll my eyes, following after her. There is no point in arguing with Rose when she is anxious. It'll only reward her ridiculous behaviour.

She pulls out a machete from her side. With a flick of her wrist, she flips it in a circle. At first glance, the weapon looks as light as a feather. Her proficiency is only intimidating because I know that she will be one of the only people awake to prevent my escape.

I turn around, glancing at Hilde, who pays us no mind. No surprise there. She doesn't seem to mind being left alone in the dim light, and for good reason. There is nothing out here that could hurt her, besides me. In fact, it's safer that she is away.

Behind Rose, I pull out my hammer, leaving my flashlight in my belt. I jog until Hilde's light blurs against the darkness. Rose stays quiet, probably to listen to whatever non-existent sound she heard. I may be partially blind, but I am certainly not deaf.

If I wanted to, I could take my hammer and smash Rose in the back of the head. It would collide, hard, buried beneath her curly black hair. Maybe it would get stuck inside her skull. She might scream, but I'd be able to run. I could escape.

Then again, I don't hate Rose. She is nice enough to me. Nice enough that I would stay if it weren't for Teresa's judgy glare. Even Hilde isn't that bad. Doug is in the other group, and so is Dawn, and hopefully Leo too. Not that I particularly care about any of those people, obviously.

It's weird, not taking this opportunity to kill Rose. Since I definitely could, and it would benefit me greatly.

Rose freezes, and I stop right behind her. She clicks off her flashlight, before backing into the wall behind us.

"What?" I ask, leaning into her shoulder.

"Cranks," she mutters. "Ten or fifteen, just ahead."

I don't know whether or not to believe her.

She moves her hands along the wall, running along it. She stops a few metres back, flicking back on her light. Above us is one of the mysterious ceilings.

"Look," she glances upwards. "We can get out."

She throws her flashlight into her pocket, climbing up the wall. She moves further and further up, pounding on the ceiling. I can hear them now, coming closer. One gurgles at the banging.

Klunk. I jump up. Even though I'm tiny, I pull myself farther and farther up the walls. Glancing down at the sounds underneath me, I grip the walls as tightly as I can. They are coming out beneath us, muttering amongst themselves. Rose clicks off the flashlight.

There's more than ten; it's got to be thirty. Completely pass the gone. Skin peeling off, hair missing, clothes torn to shreds that hang off their bodies. They completely pass out from beneath us.

"We've got to help them," I spit out, turning to Rose.

She rolls her eyes, "when did they do anything for you?"

I don't know how to answer that since the bottom of my stomach is burning. Hilde is alright, even if Rose hates her, so I'm not going to let her die. Even Ella is okay.

I hop down, holding my hammer in one hand. Driving the head into the Crank in front of me, it slumps forward, bumping into one in front of it. I pry the head of the hammer out of its head, as the other spins around, turning for me.

Klunk.

It's quicker, charging forward. It slams me against the wall. I kick my boot up, sending it flying back off me. It hits its head off the wall across from me, and I charge over. I hit it in the head, as hard as I can. It's missing an eye, and not from my actions. I rip my hammer out from its skull like I had imagined doing from Rose moments ago, turning towards the crowd.

Rose is waiting just above me. She hasn't jumped down to help, not that I can blame her. These things move too quickly for us, even. The group doesn't stand a chance.

"Hilde!" I scream out, two turn towards me, charging forward. "Cranks!"

I don't know if she hears me.

I am taken out from above me, as one tackles me to the ground. It knocks the hammer from my hand. I roll onto my back, taking my fist and punching it in the face. I collide with bone, which melts like jello with my force. My fingers reach for the hammer, just barely grazing the bottom. With the swing of my elbow, I hit the Cranks jaw. It cracks off. I grab my hammer while it slows. I break its skull before I leap off of it, turning around.

The other one which moves for me has a limp. It struggles to walk. I take it out at the knee, knocking the good one out of its socket. It crawls forward on the ground, and I stamp its head in.

One more turns for me, and then another, and Rose is grabbing on to my shirt from above me.

"Get out of there," her voice is eerily calm and more assertive than ever.

I grab her arms, using both her weight and the cracks in the stone to pull myself up above ground.

With the Cranks reach after me, I manage to break a hole into the ceiling with my hammer. We end up in a dark room and she picks the lock. Quickly, we run out of it, ignoring the Cranks in the building around us. They don't seem far enough gone to attack us. If anything, they are confused.

We get outside, and it is the middle of the night. The moon is high in the sky, and there aren't many Cranks roaming the street. If they notice us, they pay us no mind. At this point, I am drenched in blood, and Rose's clothes are stained a deep dry red.

"You're a stick," she shoves me aside, ignoring the Cranks just around the corner. "You could've gotten us killed!"

"You didn't have to stick it out," I sigh.

I took out what, four Cranks? If there is still another two-dozen headed for the group, it made very little difference. Maybe it was enough though, to at least keep two people alive. I just hope Teresa is not one of the survivors.

Rose huffs, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "They're as good as gone now. You and I are going to have to stick together."

"Shuck that," I huff, pushing past her. She grabs my wrist, forcing me to turn around.

"Not shuck that," she says. "We'll die out here alone."

I roll my eyes. How stupid does she think I am?

"You need me more than I need you," I tell her. "And I'd rather be alone."

I stalk off, moving through the dead of the night. She follows me for a few steps, and then the sounds of her shoes slipping through the sand disappears. I don't turn around. Not for a good ten minutes, or a good twenty, or however long it takes me to stalk through the night on my own.

She is gone. Only my footsteps mark the sand behind me.

I turn back around, moving away from where I came, be it towards the mountains or towards where we started. I try not to think about the hoard that will hit the girls right beneath my feet. I ignore the nagging feeling I have in the back of my mind when I realize I don't know where Leo is. Perhaps I will never find any of them again.

I'm supposed to be heading towards mountains.

Stopping, I turn towards the buildings around me. I'm looking for the tallest one. It's off just to the right, towering over the buildings above me.

I move towards the door, grabbing the handle and pulling myself inside. Taking my flashlight out of my belt, I flick it around the room. No Cranks insight; for once I am lucky. My flashlight lands on the wall behind me.

Lion. The City. 6. Morning Sun.

Dawn's writing Leo a message. When the sun rises, it will be the eighth day. Leo hasn't caught up with the pack of them, as of yesterday at least.

It's safe to say that the building will be clear of Cranks, but I hold my hammer anyway, just in case. I walk up a set of stairs, my feet darting across the ground. Quietly is the only way to do this after all. I make way up to the next level, and the next, until I am at the top.

The way to roof access is chained up and locked. Maybe I shouldn't have left Rose since she is a master at picking locks. I don't even bother trying to break the heavy black chain. Moving towards the window, I look out at the rising sun. It must've been hours since I broke out.

We were supposed to be heading North, so I have been heading perpendicular to the right direction. Walking towards the rising sun.

I sit down on the window sill, staring at the bright light. It burns my skin, but I let it sink in all the way. I even take off my grey hoodie, if only for a second, to feel the sun colliding with my freckles. My red shirt is just as bright as the rest of my hair, and the sun.

It doesn't matter, in these seconds, that I don't know where the girls are. At least, I tell myself this, since I can feel their absence eating away at my skin. I can be alone. I can live and survive here, in the sunlight.

"Michelle!"

I look down on the ground and see Gally. He is stumbling and tilting in the sand, unable to hold his own. He raises a hand up to me, as if we are at a bonfire once more, both loaded with his drink. As if none of this has happened.

He collapses, head first, into the sand below him.

I pull myself back into the room behind me. I run down the stairs, set after set, and sprint out of the front of the building. On the ground, where he once was, is the simple imprint of his body. His footsteps in the sand are obscured by the wind, which blows through them.

He's gone, again. I am once more alone.