One Week Later

Tension still hung in the air over the house, even those that weren't aware of Niall and I's situation still felt it. People had come up to me asking why Niall was being so quiet and I didn't have the strength to tell them the truth.

Seven days. Seven days without talking to Niall once, and that killed me inside. I missed him, I missed our late night talks and most of all I missed waking up to see him laying next to me. He hadn't come back to our bed, meaning I was left to sleep alone.

"House meeting," Azul's voice bounced off the walls of the dining room and I saw everyone leave their food with annoyance and trudge towards the games room. I followed behind Gary, I could smell his strong cologne but for some strange reason being that close to him didn't make feel excited. I didn't get the usual butterflies that appeared whenever I saw him. That's odd, I thought to myself. Was my crush on Gary merely a passing mood?

Coby was standing next to Azul when we walked in which surprised me, what announcement would Coby have to give?

"Today we will leave the house for the first time," my eyes widened at Coby's words and I saw that everyone's jaw had dropped, "I will need to assess the area for building reasons which means that I have to leave the house and go into the outside world. I was wondering if anyone wanted to join me. We won't be out there for very long"

Without thinking I stuck my hand in the air, I was craving a change in scenery- even if it was only for a few hours. Soon there was a sea of hands raised and I could smell the anticipation in the room. I knew that I was not the only one who felt like a caged animal in the house, everyone was getting bored of the white walls and sterile conditions.

***
"There is something that is acting as a barricade on the other side of the door so I'm going to take the door off," Coby was talking to Jack who was helping him, while the rest of us just stood back. Zara was standing beside me and she took my hand, squeezing it tightly in excitement.

A few moments later, a gentle breeze entered the house and we were facing a world which most of us had dreamt of when home sickness became too much. The thing that had blocked the door was a metal box that looked indestructible. We all stepped over it as we walked outside, our feet hitting the dry ground.

The air was stale, and in the distance a large cloud of smoke was being let off into the atmosphere- nothing had changed. Silence filled the area, the only noise was the whistling of the wind as it ran past us. There was a city in front of us, buildings were half collapsed and I could make out the remains of houses. It was all destroyed. Useless.

Coby was the first person to move, he began measuring some of the ground and writing something down onto his clipboard. He seemed unfazed but I knew that he was putting on a front, I could see the sadness in his eyes. The worst part about seeing the remains of the city was that I could imagine what it looked like before, I had lived in the world before the war. Before its demise. It was depressing to think that some children had never seen a world that wasn't being destroyed.

"This is crazy," Niall whispered and I turned around in shock, not expecting to hear his voice. He gave me a sad smile I hugged him tightly, not caring that everyone was watching us. I felt Niall placed his strong arms around me and I basked in his warmth. Looking up with watery eyes, I wanted to tell him how much I had missed him but the words wouldn't form in my mouth.

Looking back out into the ruined city I let the tears fall slowly, wiping them away as soon as they formed. I knew that underneath the rubble, bodies would lay in distorted positions. The unlucky souls that weren't saved.

"Let's get back inside. I'm finished," Coby shouted at us, there was a strained tone to his voice and I could tell that he was suppressing tears. The harrowing sight of the city was enough to silence us all as we filed back inside, nobody wanted to work and to my surprise Azul didn't force anyone to do their job. We all walked back to our bedrooms, there was a somber cloud that hung over the building.

"I'm sorry," I murmured to Niall as he walked in and he looked up at me in bewilderment, obviously taken off guard by my sudden mood change, "Being out there, looking at destruction, it made me realise that we only have each other. There are twelve of us left, and you and I are two of those people. We need each other."

"Dara, its fine. No need to apologize. I understand now that love has no place here, I get it. I'm sorry that I made you feel uncomfortable, I have to learn about keeping my feelings to myself. Anyway, I'm sure my feelings weren't proper, I read somewhere that being around one person for long periods of time makes you think that you have feelings for them when in actual fact there is only friendship," I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not, his voice was purely monotone. Walking back out of the room, he mumbled something about songwriting before closing the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

It was like the penny dropped the minute he left. I had feelings for Niall Horan, but I had already blown my chances.

Dara- you're too late! Well they're allowed outside now, what does this mean for the twelve survivors? We'll see...

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