These Different Times (Nick Clark FF)

14.

Burning. That's what woke me up. The smell of something burning.

With furrowed eyebrows and half opened eyes, I sat up, looking to the window where I could see a soft orange glow.

"Tay?" Nick mumbled as I got out of the bed, "Tay, s'goin' on?"

I said nothing, moving closer to the window so I could investigate.

"Is something on fire?"

I began scoping the area as soon as I reached the window, seeing that in the distance, there were several buildings on fire and in the sky, there was lights that could only belong to aircraft.

"Is that on fire?" Nick asked, coming up behind me and I could feel the heat from his chest seeping through his shirt and mine onto my back.

"Yeah," I whispered, ears picking up the sound of more approaching jets.

We both turned at the sound of the door opening, seeing Alicia enter with a panicked look on her face, "We have to go. Mom says they're bombing the city."

Nick made for the door while I turned to look back out of the window. Where would we go?

"Taylor," I turned to the sound of my mom's voice. Her face looked exhausted but she gave me the best smile she could muster, "Time to go."

Through in the kitchen area, was absolute chaos; Maddie and Travis were shoving food and bottles of water into bags, Alicia and Ofelia were grabbing their things and I decided that it was probably a good idea to do that as well.

I grabbed Nick's stuff too when I saw him helping Chris with Liza's body, which was now wrapped in a tarp, the two of them heading towards the beach.

"Where are we going to go?" I asked the question I was thinking about earlier, "We can't go into the city."

"That's why we're going out onto the water." Strand said casually as he passed me, "I have a boat out on the water. Didn't Nick tell you?"

"No," I murmured, "But at least we have somewhat of a plan."

"Yes," Maddie said quietly, "But we're running out time. The planes are getting closer."

My mom placed her hand on my shoulder and started leading me towards the back door.

"Is your boat going to be big enough for all of us?" Travis asked, directing the question to Strand.

"Don't worry about that," Strand answered cooly, "We're going to be just fine."

"Oh!" mom exclaimed, "I forgot one of our bags. Keep going." She gave me a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

Daniel's hand replaced hers on my shoulder and he continued to lead me out.

I thought that maneuvering these rocks in the daylight was hard but this, this was very near impossible and my feet did slip from under me a couple of times but Daniel was there to keep me steady.

Finally stumbling onto the sand, I saw Nick helping Alicia, Ofelia and Strand onto a small dinghy before he set out over the darkened sea.

Every couple of seconds, I'd turn around and look up at the house, chewing on my lip when for the fourth time, she still wasn't there.

"Taylor?" Maddie said, coming up behind me, "Nick wants you on the boat next."

"No," I muttered immediately, "No. I'm not leaving this beach until my mom is with me."

Thankfully she didn't push me to get on the boat any more but I did hear her telling Travis that she was going to stay with me.

I kept my eyes on the house for the full seven minutes that it took for Nick to get to the boat and back again, finally smiling when I saw my mom jump down onto the sand, holding the bag she had went back for and honestly, not a moment too soon.

The infected had suddenly emerged from seemingly nowhere; it seemed as if the brightness of the fires surrounding us was attracting them.

I approached the boat and handed my bag over to Nick, taking his hand afterwards to let him help me in, giving him a grateful smile.

Then I heard my mom scream.

I turned around so quick that I almost fell off of the small boat, seeing my mom kneeling on the sand, two of those things attached to her neck.

"Mom!" I screamed, jumping into the shallow water, "Mom, no!"

I dodged Maddie when she tried to grab me as I ran past her, I dodged one of the other infected when it reached out for me and I had almost reached her when arms wrapped around my waist.

"No!" I sobbed, trying to pry Nick's arms from around me as he pulled me to the ground with him, "Mom!"

Maddie ran by, carrying a large rock and we watched as she approached the gruesome scene, smacking the two infected until they stopped moving.

Nick let me go and I wasted no time staggering over to where Maddie was now holding my mom's hand.

"Mommy," I whispered, taking her other hand while falling onto the sand beside her.

There were two large, bleeding bite wounds on her neck and I tried to reach out to stem one of them but Maddie caught my hand.

"Don't," she said sadly, "There's nothing we can do for her. I'm sorry, Taylor."

Mom was staring up at me with wide eyes, I was surprised that she was even still awake at this point, and placed her bloody hand against my cheek.

"I love you," I croaked, wiping my tears away, "I love you. Please don't leave me."

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but instead, all that came out was a horrible choking noise before her eyes shut and she stopped breathing.

She was gone.

I buried my face in my hands and sobbed loudly, shrugging Nick off when he put his hands on my shoulders again.

"Taylor," he whispered, "Tay, we...we have to go."

"No," I whispered, "I can't leave her."

He crouched down beside me and placed his fingers under my chin. "Look at me," he whispered when I didn't meet his gaze, "Look at me. I know you don't want to, I don't either but we have to."

"But-"

"No," he said firmly, "The city is being bombed. Infected are coming towards us right now and if we don't go now, we're going to die too. You can be pissed at me for getting you onto the boat for as long as you like but please, just come."

"Okay," I whispered, looking down at my mom. I knew that she wouldn't want me to give up and as hard as all of this was going to be, I knew that Nick was right, "Okay, I'm coming."