Part 34 (1/2)

She was staring at the oncoming undead.

”Amy!” Melissa shouted. ”We have to fight-”

”Go,” Amy said.

Horror covered Melissa's face. And Carly, although lost in the moment, backed up against the metal bar of the walkway behind her, guessed her face wouldn't be all that different.

”We can't go,” Melissa said. ”We can't leave you.”

Amy turned around then. And for the first time in a long time, she looked totally at peace.

”Go,” Amy said. She smiled. ”I'll always be with you.” She lifted a hand to her heart. ”I'll always be right here. Right here. Sister.”

There was a moment of confusion, then. A moment where Carly didn't understand. And she figured Melissa didn't understand either.

But there wasn't much of a chance left to understand.

Amy looked at Melissa one final time, tears filling her eyes.

”No!” Melissa shouted, as if she was realising something; a secret that'd been buried for so, so long. ”No!”

”You be strong,” Amy said, lips quivering despite her smile. ”You be brave. It's your turn to be brave now. For everyone.”

”Amy-”

As stunned and horrified as Carly was by all this, she found herself reaching out for Melissa.

She found herself pulling her back, away from Amy, because she knew that's what Amy wanted, and that was their best chance right now.

”Amy,” Melissa spluttered. ”Amy, please. Please.”

But it was too late.

Amy had closed her eyes.

A large, beaming smile had stretched across her face.

And then she'd walked into the ma.s.s of the undead.

There were no screams. There were no yelps of pain. There was nothing.

Just Melissa's sobs, as the horror of losing a sister she didn't even know she'd been reunited with welled up inside her.

Reluctantly, she joined Carly at the edge of the barrier, and for a moment-just for a split second-she thought about just throwing herself down into the dark ma.s.s below.

But she remembered Amy's words.

It's your turn to be brave now.

For everyone.

She closed her eyes and forced a smile, just like Amy had.

And then she eased herself down, dropped into the unknown, down to where Carly had gone.

She could grieve later.

Right now, she had one thing on her mind.

Getting out of this place.

Getting her and Carly to safety.

Then doing what Amy would've wanted her to do all along.

Getting Kesha out of that p.r.i.c.k's hands.

She landed beside Carly. Carly grabbed the door and opened it, revealing a clear path, except for a few straggling undead.

”You ready?” Carly asked.

Melissa took a deep breath and focused on the moment. ”Ready.”

She lifted her knife as the undead noticed her and, with Carly by her side, she stepped out into the unknown, towards whatever horrors lay ahead.

Chapter Nine.

”Why so d.a.m.ned bashful all of a sudden? We've known each other for months, Ricky. You don't just get to wander away from our camp-from everything we built together-and go silent on me all of a sudden.”

Ricky stood with his back to the wall of the hatch where the woman had brought him. She was still out, clearing the immediate area of undead. Part of Ricky clung to the hope that she'd come back fast and help him out here, mostly because he didn't want to be the one to have to deal with Mattius.

But mostly, Ricky hoped she didn't, because he'd seen what kind of a monster Mattius really was. And he dreaded to think what he might put her through, too.

Mattius leaned back against the chair on the far side of the hatch. To be honest, the hatch was more like a cabin inside. It was hardly the high-tech kind of place you might expect from Lost. It did have that old war feel to it, though. It was some kind of bunker, but it had been long disused, evidently.

Mattius held Kesha in his arms. She was crying, like she could sense the tension in the air.

”So, what've you got down here?” Mattius asked. ”Food? Water? We're going to need plenty of it if we're batting down the hatches.”

He walked past Ricky, who stayed totally still, other than his shaking fists, which he clenched together. Ricky knew this was a game. A game of chicken. He was waiting for Ricky to crack. And Ricky wanted to crack. He wanted so badly to crack for what he knew Mattius had done to his mother.

But he had to wait for the right moment.

The moment where Mattius wasn't holding a pistol.

”See, there's water here,” Mattius said, pointing at a load of bottles stacked on top of one another. ”A whole lot of it. Good. That's good. Glad to see you've been putting provisions in pl-”