We All Have Our Sad Stories

Chapter 3

Back in the room, Ness continued to sit with Liam, gently nurturing him and getting him water from the short supply they had. They were so unprepared.

"Are you okay?" Ness asked, taking hold of Liam's hand. She had found that he calmed down more when she did that.

He just looked at her, not answering. She took it as a no. Wanting to keep an eye on the girls, she turned herself around using her legs so she was facing the room instead of the corner. Liam tensed before he saw what she was doing and relaxed.

She ran her thumb over the back of his hand, helping to return him to a somewhat normal state. He started shaking after a few minutes and she glanced over at him.

He looked straight at her and said, "I miss her."

"I know," Ness whispered.

"I want her back."

Ness wondered why he talked to her so much when he apparently hadn't talked in days before she arrived.

"I know," Ness repeated.

"Do you think she's dead?" he asked solemnly.

Ness hesitated. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to tell the truth. The truth was that she didn't know. But, as Niall had said before, he went insane because he didn't know whether or not she was alive. The what if's ate away at him from inside his mind, slowly munching on the thin thread that connected him to his sanity. If she said she didn't know he might collapse even further. Yet she didn't want to lie to him; he didn't deserve that.

"Why don't you tell me about her?" she concluded. "Then I'll tell you what I think."

He looked up at her in wonder, obviously thinking that she was going to answer with an 'I don't know' like she had before. That was the only answer he'd ever received.

He gulped in lots of air before starting. "Her name was- is Danielle. And she was the most gorgeous woman on the planet."

Ness grinned at the miraculous tone he used to describe her.

"She always told me she loved me and kissed me all the time. She had brown hair and pretty eyes. She was strong, too. One time she fell and cut herself and didn't even cry when she got stitches. She was so brave..."

His talking ceased as he returned to the daze that he had been in for such a long time. Ness didn't even have to think before giving him an answer.

"I think she's still alive." He returned at the sound of her voice. "I think she loves you too much to have left you. And like you said, she's strong. She's a big girl, so she should be able to protect herself, right?"

He nodded enthusiastically, smiling. She smiled right back at him.

"Yes, she'll be okay. She'll be okay." His low, crazed mutters returned, but this time they were on a happier note.

The other girls in the room marveled over the victory that Ness had achieved and walked over, patting her on the shoulder out of appreciation. They didn't talk to her, though, her looks and disappointed glares quite intimidating.

While things in the back room were going pretty good, those in the front weren't as well off...

The boys struggled to close the door to the building against all the walkers trying to get in. Lilly fired her gun at the creatures that made it inside, hitting them all in between the eyes. They fell to the floor, dead for a second time.

"Lilly, come help us! We can get this shut if you come kill this zombie that's stuck in the door," Niall called. Lilly whipped out her knife and stabbed the thing through the skull. The boys then shut the door as they began hammering the wooden planks they had found onto the door.