thirty-eight.

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My feet were glued to the ground as I watched the church burn in flames

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My feet were glued to the ground as I watched the church burn in flames. It all felt fake. Even with Pete pulling me away from the building, my feet felt like concrete. I was floating, but not in a good way.

Michael was dead.

And it was all of my fault.

What was I going to say to Gracie? How was I supposed to tell her? I promised her that I would bring them back safe.

I promised.

"Harry, we have to fucking go!" Pete's grip around my arm tightened as he pulled me further away from the scene. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks as we rushed towards the exit where we had came from. Looking back at the scene, there were people rushing out of the buildings, screaming and crying as they all herded like sheep towards the disaster.

"No," I whispered under my breath, stopping in my tracks as I jerked my arm away from Pete's grip, "She's here. I know she is. We can't leave her here! She is fucking here! She is not dead!"

Pete studied the stressed expression across my face as I wiped away at my burning red eyes. He looked towards Niall, who was on my side. Niall stood next to me with a hand on my shoulder, letting out a sigh.

"I mean, it wouldn't hurt to have a quick look," Niall glanced back towards the crowd of people that were surrounding the burning building, "They are distracted anyways. We don't have much time, we have to do it now."

Pete nervously chewed on his lip.

"Pete..." I croaked, "Please..."

He let out a heavy sigh. "We have to be quick. I mean it. I don't want to unload my gun onto all of these people if they make any quick moves on us."

Relief washed over me. I wasn't going to leave, not this fast. Even if Pete and Niall refused to stay to look, I still would've stayed alone to find her. Turning on my heel, I faced the three buildings that still stood untouched by the fire. Anna had to be in one of them, I just wasn't sure which one she would be in.

"We should split up," I said, "There's three of us and three buildings. If anyone gets in your way, knock them out. Don't kill them."

"Is that a smart choice?" Niall asked.

"It's the only choice," My voice was stern, "Now go."

Despite possibly making a stupid decision, we split up. I decided to take the building to the right of me that was furthest from the rest. If this was anything like the church trip, the women were split from the men in their own respective housing so my only guess would be that one of these buildings had a women's building that they stayed in.

Watching the crowd of people hugging each other and crying into their arms as they surrounded the building, I felt a pang in my chest. I couldn't imagine what they had gone through, or how long they had been here. All of these people that were sobbing over a makeshift church had been manipulated and drugged into the mindset they were in now; that this was home, but it wasn't home. I had even caught a glimpse of some kids that were being held tightly by their mother's as they sobbed and sobbed. Surely the kids didn't know what was going on, but I couldn't imagine the horror they felt in that moment.

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