Her Compound

Chapter 24

The sound of Matteo dropping his fork down onto his plate broke me from my trance and I looked up at the two of them to see both of their plates were also empty like my own.

"Zack said we'll be working with guns tomorrow, so I guess we should probably get back to our rooms and get some rest," Willow said as she stood up with her plate and empty plastic water bottle in her hands.

Matteo and I both nodded our heads and followed her over to the table where a few teens were dealing with the dirty dishes. After handing them the plates and forks, we walked out of the cafeteria and I was about to follow them down the hall when a thought came to my mind.

Willow realized that I was turning around and looked at me, confused. "Where are you going, Zoe?"

"I'll meet you guys there," I responded over my shoulder. "I just forgot something."

I didn't bother waiting for a response; I just walked past the cafeteria and then eventually the training room, thankfully not passing anyone as I walked down the final hallway coming to the staircase in which Zack and I had gone up before.

The sound of my feet hitting the concrete echoed down the stairwell as I took the steps two at a time until I came to the very top where the door leading to the roof was located. I took a few moments at the top of the steps to get my breathing under control before opening the door and stepping out into the fresh air.

My eyes immediately landed on Zack who was laying down looking up at the sky and then I heard the door click shut behind me. Zack's head snapped to the side at the sudden noise but he soon relaxed as he saw that it was only me.

"I knew you'd be up here," I said as I walked over to him.

My heart still hammered out of my chest from the previous moments sprint but thankfully my breathing was somewhat back to normal and Zack didn't notice.

"Sorry," he said with a frown as he looked back up at the sky. "A lot's been going on and I needed some time alone."

I sat down next to him and stared down, watching the way the moon's bright light showed across his face, creating shadows and highlighting his messy hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked him, breaking the growing silence.

Zack turned his eyes to my own and shook his head. "It's nothing that important."

I noticed the slow growing bags under his eyes that weren't there a couple days ago and knew he was lying. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and cast his eyes skyward. I followed his gaze to the night sky and could see a few fluffy clouds, but there was a nice open part where the moon was, along with a few stars sprinkled around the edges.

It all looked pretty... really pretty.

"Zoe?"

I looked away and back down at Zack. He pushed himself into a seated position and inched closer to me. I then watched as he chewed on the inside of his cheek while he looked down at the ground between us, thinking.

"What is it?" I asked.

Zack rubbed a hand against the back of his neck before meeting my eyes again and then shook his head. "Nothing."

My brows furrowed in confusion as I watched him stand up, but he had quickly switched up his mood before I could open my mouth to ask him again, and he extended his hand out for me.

"It's getting a little cold and before you came I was about to head back inside. Do you want me to walk you back to your room, or... do you wanna come with me and I could show you mine?"

I was still very confused on what he was going to say earlier, but I didn't want to ruin the moment, so I let him change the subject.

I took his hand and he hoisted me up easily. "You have your own room?"

Zack nodded and took my hand as we made our way to the door to the staircase. "You thought I shared one with someone?"

I shrugged. "I don't know... maybe?"

My smile grew and became more genuine as I heard his laughter for the first time in a long time, echoing around the stairwell.