3 | We Who Survive the Apocalypse | ✅

Chapter 7 - Moonlight

Footsteps clatter on the porch, and Izzy and Seth rush inside, Seth with his gun drawn and Izzy wielding her katana.

Kat backs onto the wall, holding Mara against her with the knife still pressed to her neck.

"Let her go!" Seth orders, marching across the wooden floor with his gun trained on Kat's head.

Kat tightens her grip on Mara, who whimpers, struggling to free herself. "Give me my things and let me leave. Then I'll let her go."

"I will shoot you," Seth says, his voice made of steel, his face set in determination.

"I just want my belongings and my freedom!" Kat thunders, grabbing a fistful of Mara's hair and titling her head back, "I will slit her throat."

"Well, it won't just be one person you'll murder," Izzy says, stepping up beside Seth.

"What, are you saying I'll be murdering myself as well?" Kat snaps, "I believe the word you're looking for is suicide."

"I don't give a damn whether you live or not, but despite my best efforts, I've become somewhat attached to Mara here," Izzy says, and with an eye roll adds, "also, she's pregnant, you idiot."

"What?" Kat's face softens slightly, her arms relaxing just a bit as they hold Mara prisoner.

"You heard me. She's pregnant, so if you kill her, you kill the unborn brat, too," Izzy says with a smirk.

"I don't believe you." Kat's eyes are reduced to slits as she regains her strong grip on Mara.

Mara's hands clutch the hem of her overcoat and pull it upward, revealing a faded green shirt the tightly hugs her protruding stomach. She looks farther along than I thought she was. Her coat hides it well.

Kat lets go of Mara as if she were just burned, and Mara stumbles forward before collapsing into Hudson's arms with a sob.

"I didn't realize," Kat says, the knife slipping from her fingers and landing on the floor with a thud. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"Well look what you did!" I shout, pointing at Mara is trembling with shock on the floor with Hudson's arms wrapped around her fragile shoulders.

"I- I didn't want to hurt anyone...." Kat repeats, her fingers shaking slightly, her eyes wide and flighty.

"You're a walking oxymoron." Izzy shakes her head, pulling a rope from Seth's backpack and heading over to Kat. "First you say you'll slit her throat, and then you say you don't want to hurt anyone."

"Just because I don't want to doesn't mean I won't if forced," Kat says, holding her hands out for Izzy to bind once more.

"Just shut up now, okay?" Izzy says, wrapping the rope around Kat's pale wrists.

"Bet you hear that a lot, don't you?" Kat asks, mischief lighting her eyes.

Izzy just tugs the rope even tighter and glares at Kat.

+++++

I sit on the porch, my feet hanging off the side and brushing the frozen grass. Mara's head rests on my shoulder as I stare up at the clear sky.

It's biting cold out here, but Mara said she needed some air and I didn't want her going out alone...so here I am.

The moon is almost blindingly bright, hard to look directly at, and the stars struggle to compete with its light.

My eyes remain fixed on the moon, its blemishes and craters, and all I can think about is that maybe, just maybe, he's looking up at it right now, too.

+++++

Did any of you get the throwback to the first book? 

(Hint: Wynne said it then, Seth said it now)

 I feel like I'm just being confusing..... 😬