SURVIVORS

Ch. 29~ Chase

Lana, Vicky, Leila, and Hank came back when the clock on the stove said 3:45am, which actually meant 7:45am. Everyone else was in the basement except for me, either sleeping or just hanging out down there. I decided to come up here for some air. It got pretty hot down there once the furnace was on for a couple hours. They file in the door, huge grins on all their faces.

"What are you guys smiling about?" I ask, their grins spreading onto my face too.

"Oh nothing," Vicky says as she passes the couch and opens the basement door. "Just because we found the cure." I have to admit, my jaw dropped a little. I just couldn't believe it. Everyone but Lana files into the basement. The door shuts behind them.

"... You found the cure??" I say incredulously. She trots over, amused by her own cockiness. She plops down next to me, sending up a poof of dust.

"Oh please it was nothing! It only took us-- how many months was it? Four?" She laughs, her eyes smiling. To see her so happy makes me absolutely ecstatic and I laugh along with her too. I stop laughing to let out a cough. She gets serious all of a sudden and I'm not sure why. "We can actually launch an attack if we need to now. Vicky made a small bacteria producer and she brought it with just in case the creatures try to steal it from the lab, God knows how much they found out when they bombed us. Who knows what they did to Myra and Taylor..."

"... I'm sure they're okay. They're smart kids. They know what they're doing."

"I don't think so."

"The cure's in the small bacteria producer too?"

"Yeah." There is a long, awkward pause. My eyes drift out the window for a minute and when I look back, the corners of Lana's mouth droop and her eyes hang with sadness.

"How... how are you holding up?" I ask. Damn this has got to be hard for her, I think.

"I'm..." Suddenly her eyes fill with tears and her breaths go in short spurts. "This is all my fault," she whispers.

"What? No it's not!" I reply. She starts breathing heavily and crying harder.

"The bacteria- it was in my basement!" She sobs. "The broken bacteria producer was in there! My dad was working on a project for three years and-- he did this! My dad created the apocalypse! He killed all those people and..." She melts into a puddle of her own tears.

"Lana that's not your fault."

"I should have seen it coming, I should have stopped him."

"No Lana no," I whisper, pulling her head against my chest. "You can't see the future. This is not your fault." My words have no effect on her emotional state whatsoever, she just keeps crying into my chest.

"And Sam... I should have stopped him too... he jumped off that railing and I could have stopped him... I could have convinced him not to...

"You couldn't have stopped him. He wanted to go."

"You make it sound so simple." I pull away from her for a second to look her straight in the face.

"Lana, this is simple. This is just... a freak... apocalypse," I laugh a little at my loss of words. "I don't know about you but I know I don't have the power to stop the apocalypse. Okay?" She sniffs and nods, trying to collect herself. Her hair is in a bun on the back of her head, her bangs in little springlets all around her beautiful face. Her eyelashes are wet with tears and her little nose is red. "Come 'ere," I say, hugging her again. She nestles into my chest and I hold her until she stops shaking. And, with the rising orange sun outside, and her head against my shoulder, we both fall asleep.