Kana was busy checking Chase so I was scrutinized by a girl named Lily. She had short, blonde hair with pink highlights that matched well with her amber eyes. I was seated on the examination table, and she still towered over me. I have never seen her before but she seemed experienced, welcoming, and friendly. Kana could learn a lesson or two from her.

Bright flashlight shone into my right eye. I suppressed myself from squinting as Lily examined any signs of disease awaiting to develop. "It seems like you are all good!" she declared, her voice high and beaming "All that's left is for me to check your pulse and you'll be good to go."

I nodded, not having energy to speak. All I wanted to do was rest. I knew I couldn't until I found Jake. Commander might have been the way he was, but I had no clue how Jake was going to react.

"I gotta tell you...Kana updated me about what happened with you and Chase." Lily's voice dropped down an octave, her voice lowering. She didn't want it to reach the other end of the medical wing. Even though Chase was on the other side, the only thing that separated us in this white room was a dark blue curtain.

I furrowed my brows, Kana doesn't know about what really happened. Or does she?

"What has she told you?"

She shrugged, "She doesn't know much. Just that you two went out and completely obliterated the herd of the Infected you came across."

Is that how we looked?

I certainly thought the opposite. However, I didn't reveal much information. After all, I could tell Lily was prying. Instead, I acknowledged her by a hum, deep in thought.

"But she sure is pissed that rumors are flying around how a newbie is spending plenty of suspicious time with her boyfriend."

I almost dropped the cup of water Lily gave me on the gray tiles. My body froze in revelation. Have I heard her right?

Kana?

Boyfriend?

Boyfriend as in Chase?

As in Chase Ledger?

Her amber eyes looked for any signs of me moving. I snapped back to reality and gasped out, "Kana is dating Chase?"

She moved back, putting the pulse oximeter back into the cabinet. "Oh you poor thing..." she muttered under her breath, looking at me with worry. "They've been for a few weeks now. Chase finally found someone right for him."

How could I have not realized yet? Kana hated me from the beginning because she liked Chase. It had to be it. Him having to be assigned to train me was something that bothered her all along.

"You seem sad." Lily's words pulled me back again. Questions burned in my mind, confusing my rationality.

"I'm not sad," I denied, standing up. I figured my check-up was over once she was done with checking my pulse. I was ready to leave. "I'm just shocked. That's all."

It didn't even matter what I was telling her though. I didn't need to explain myself to her. I knew in my heart that I didn't feel sad. After all, Kana and Chase deserved each other. They both treated people horribly, always believing they were better than others. Chase truly did find someone right for him.

_______

I searched everywhere for Jake. He wasn't in his dorm. He wasn't in the cafeteria, or the gym. I knew he definitely wasn't in the learning commons but I still checked.

He was nowhere in sight.

The only place I didn't look for him was the top of Ground Zero. So there I was, climbing up the metallic stairs of the back, barren wing, my heart hammering against my rib cage.

I opened the door, and my heart instantly slowed down. There he was, sitting, looking at the front.

He hasn't heard me enter. I moved slowly, not wanting to startle him. After all, he was sitting at the edge of the fence, on the highest point of this facility. One wrong move and he might be dead.

What was he even doing?

I moved towards him, my hands resting on the railing. Our eyes met and I felt an electric spark shooting through my body, fulfilling the emptiness emitting from my chest.

Oh how much I missed those gray eyes.

"I looked everywhere for you. I got worried. What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling the sleeves of my shirt over my palms. The chilly autumn breeze swung around us.

"Really? Didn't think you cared."

Confusion swept over me. What did he mean by that? He got up, looking at me with this anger I've never seen in him. He noticed my muddled expression and spoke again.

"You sneak out in the middle of the night with Chase, unbothered to even let me know," he began. "I mean maybe I'm overreacting but what happened with you being terrified of the outside world? What happened to not even wanting to go on runs? What happened to caring about your well being and not risking your own life for something that isn't even required of you to do?"

With every question he asked me, his voice grew louder. I felt tiny under his gaze as I stood there, taking his words in. Disbelief washed over me. I expected a lot of things from him, but this wasn't one of them.

"Why are you acting this way?" I finally uttered, my voice shaken. "I wanted to show Chase that I could do this so the trainers finally start treating me like one of them. This was my only chance so I took it," I explained, "You, out of all people, should know how I feel about all of this."

"The Aliana I know wouldn't be so reckless about it."

His words triggered something in me. This red, blazing, hot fury, "The Aliana you know is never going to survive in this world. You know that.

"And I don't understand why you're so worried when Chase was literally there -"

"I'm worried because I care about you god dammit."

His facade washed off and hurt, fear, sadness sparkled throughout his gray orbs. The way he said it left me incapable of thinking.

"I'm worried because I never thought that you were going to become so important to me," he started, his words hitting me like a ton of bricks. I was frozen in time, my eyes wildly searching for his, "I'm worried because if I lose you I don't know what I would do. I'm worried because the moment I met you, I knew I wanted you but the circumstances we are in; it would never actually work out."

"Jake we are going to work out," I silenced him by wrapping my arms around his neck, longing becoming unbearable. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, in a week, in a month or a year. But I know for certain that we'll work out. That's the one, the only thing I know."

My lips met his in a moment of desperation, a simple desire that both of us craved. I wrapped my legs around his torso, my hands twisting in his dirty blonde hair.

All I could hear was my heart that never beat as fast roaring in my chest. I ignored the birds chirping as they flew by. I ignored the fresh smell of the outside world. Even the sun setting in the horizon, making the sky a flaming orange color wasn't enough.

I wanted Jake and for once nothing else mattered.

I wanted him.

All of him.

Jake and Allie are finally reunited! I wonder what the future has in store for them.

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