𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ━ 𝐭𝐰𝐝𝐠

[ 041 ]

𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.

[ amid the ruins; part three ]

━━━━━━━━━━

"Okay...Look, I hate to ask this, but...are we there yet?" Luke asked in a groan as they walked through the forest.

Jane chuckled, "We're not far."

Kass kept looking over at Sarah and Ollie, who still hadn't said a word to Clem, or her, worried about them. "Look, Sarah. You can get through this. The four of us will. I promise," she said to her.

"But....I'm not okay..." Sarah replied.

"Just try. Can you do that?" Clem asked her softly.

"She just needs a little time, kids. Leave her be for a bit." Jane said as Kass gave Sarah a worried look but turned away from her and walked ahead.

Kass sighed and looked at Ollie. "Ollie. It'll be okay. We still have each other and Nick is– safer up there. I know it might not seem like it right now. But it's going to be okay. I promise you," she told him, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze.

He looked up at her with teary blue eyes and half-heartedly smiled, squeezing her hand back.

"I don't know about this. The way Sarah is...She's gonna cause problems," Jane muttered to them.

Oliver just narrowed his eyes and glared at Jane, to which she felt and cast him a glance before awkwardly looking forward.

"What happened in there? When we went in there you were ready to help, but then...something changed," Clem asked her, confused.

"Look, I'd just...I'd seen that kind of thing before. I just didn't want to stick around for the bitter end," Jane replied before looking down at them. "Sorry, I....I don't mean to sound harsh."

"It's okay, I get it," Clem said as Kass gave her a slight nod.

"Things aren't always simple," Kassidy said, the usual frown etched onto her features.

"Just because you got her put of there today, Kass, doesn't mean you saved her. Trust me. I tried to save Jamie too. But she....gave up," Jane sighed as Luke caught up.

"I just... I can't believe it... Soon as you guys said go, I was the first one up on the roof. Like I had already made up my mind," Luke muttered.

"Luke, you can't let it eat away at you," Jane told him.

"Well, I can't forget it," Luke said as he walked up beside her, shaking his head.

"I dragged my sister across four states. And every morning, she'd say she wasn't getting up. So I'd convince her. Or push her. Or fucking carry her, if I had to. Until this time....walkers cornered us. Forced us to the roof. And then when they kept coming....I...I couldn't make her jump. Couldn't throw her. So I tried something else, I told her she could have what she wanted. And I left her there. Jumped to the next building over by myself," Jane explained and Kassidy's eyes widened in shock.

"You left your sister?" Luke asked her in disbelief.

"Jane...I'm really sorry," Clem apologized.

"Yeah, um..." Kass muttered, trailing off. How could she just leave her sister there?

Jane looked over her shoulder at them, "It killed me for a long time. But I finally realized that I'd put her on a forced march through hell, when all she really wanted was for me to let her go. Sarah was that way too..."