Don't Get Eaten

Chapter Eighty One

"If he is alive, he probably thinks you're dead."

I shift in my seat as Lacy says the words. I knew that and I was afraid of what that could mean. I know Jinsen constantly stated that he couldn't make it in this world without me but somewhere deep inside I just knew he was still out there somewhere.

"He was pushed in a raging river. I don't want to say it, but we have to face hard cold facts too." Leo's lips were thin, his features looking grim. "He may already be dea-"

"I know that." I snap, not wanting him to finish that sentence.

"We went back to the hotel too." Lacy changes the subject sensing my rising anger at the topic of Jinsen.

Snapping my eyes to her I wait for her to finish. "The place was already gone. We wanted to stay and find who we could but..." She lets the sentence fall as her eyes teared up.

Lani silently begins to cry, pulling her legs close to her as she sat on the ground where we were all huddled together.

"Did you find any bodies?" I ask in a whisper, Kyle, who came back immediately after cleaning up, looked at each of us with worry.

"No. We didn't get a chance too honestly. The fire was still raging to where we couldn't even get inside and by the time it started dimming down it was getting too dark, so we had to leave."

"Jinsen and I found Rissa." My voice trembled as the images came back to me.

"I'm so sorry." Lacy whispers and we all go into silence.

"Y-Yeah well, we all knew deep down she wasn't going to make it anyways. It was more to appease Jinsen that we could save her, right?" I snap my mouth shut knowing that deep down I wanted to do anything to try and save her, hoping that I could.

Time just hadn't been on our side that day.

Leo leans over, grabbing my shoulder in a gentle squeeze with a dismal look on his face. Clearing my throat I ask the one question I have been dying to ask. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Just a couple weeks now. At first we were just going to stay a few days, but this place is safer than anywhere else right now." Lacy starts out, breathing out a sigh as if getting her bearings now that the hard part of the conversation was over.

"Yeah, it would almost be perfect if it wasn't for you know who." Lani mumbles under her breath, looking a bit pensive.

"Lani, hush!" Lacy grits out under her breath while carefully looking around to see if anyone heard us.

I frown at their reactions. "What's going on? Who are you talking about?" I whisper because something told me we shouldn't be talking about this.

No one says anything as they all cautiously look around again. Because they were doing it I couldn't help doing it myself. No one was paying us any attention as they went about their day doing whatever needed to be done to keep this place up and running. Lacy leans in even closer, making the rest of us do the same.

"Her name is Tiffany, goes by Tiff. According to everyone around here she's been alive in this place for over three months, the longest out of anyone here. She's their leader and she shows it too."

The bitterness in her tone had me frowning even more. Then I realize what she said. "They were shocked when I told them I've been here for over five months-"

"You told them how long you've been here?" Lacy interrupts, looking grim.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I was afraid that it was. "But Lacy you've been here longer than m-"