Rotten ✔️

Chapter 14

"Wh-what do you mean?" My throat suddenly had a lump in it and my stomach dropped.

                "The fire started a few hours after everyone went to sleep. One of the candles had fallen over somehow and the curtain caught on fire. Garths mum, Jen, and Jacob were the first to notice since they were sleeping in the lounge. Jacob ran into the bathroom scared and locked himself in. Mum, dad and I all woke up from the racket that Jen was making trying to get Jacob out of the bathroom.

                "By the time we all got out of the bed to see what was going on, half of the lounge was in flames and part of the kitchen too. The house was filling up with smoke fast. I ran to the front door and threw it open to let out some of the smoke. Mum tried to get you guys out of your room, she was banging on the door and yelling at you both to wake up and get out. Dad was trying to help Jen get Jacob out of the bathroom. Jen went back into the lounge and grabbed Garth's bat to try to bash down the door, but a piece of the ceiling broke off and fell on her. I quickly got the burning piece of ceiling off her. Her clothes on the back were on fire so I quickly put it out.

                "I took her outside and took her away from the house, so she could recover. I went back inside, and dad passed me taking Caleb outside. The whole lounge was on fire, so was the kitchen, and my room was catching as well. There was so much smoke by then and it was extremely hot. Mum was still somewhere inside the house. She started yelling out for Caleb, trying to find him. I was crawling so that I wouldn't breathe in the smoke. I yelled for mum that Caleb was outside with dad.

                "I saw her pass me, so I crawled back outside. The house was almost completely in flames by now. Jen, Caleb and dad were all outside waiting for mum and me. I looked outside the gate and saw zombies coming from all directions towards the house. Dad, Jen, mum, Caleb and I waited outside. We were just watching the house burn. The heat that came off it was intense. That was when we heard Jacob yelling. He was yelling for his mum.

                "Jen was still too dazed to go get him, so- " Lizzie's voice cracked. I saw a tear slid down her cheek before she kept talking, "So, dad went in to go and get him. We could hear Jacob screaming and crying. I don't know if it was in fear or pain. Dad was yelling to Jacob saying that he is coming to get him. That's when the roof caved over the front door. The whole house was in flames by now. Dad and Jacob were trapped inside." I felt a tear slid down my cheek. Then another one. More kept flowing. My heart hurt and the lump in my throat grew bigger.

                "While I stood there watching the house burn with dad and Jacob inside it. Mum, Jen and Caleb had disappeared, and I saw that the zombies had made it inside the property and were going towards the house. Luckily the house was making so much noise as it burned, the zombies just went straight inside the flames and ignored me. I snuck over the fence and went over the back yard and went around the hill until I came across the road that led up here." Lizzie finished.

                "Oh my god." More tears started streaming down my face. Through the blurriness from my tears, I saw that both Garth and Lizzie were crying. "So, Jacob and dad are- ", my voice cracked, but we all knew what I was going to say next.

                Lizzie gave me a small nod before rushing over to me and hugging me. We both cried together. Garth came over and hugged us both at the same time. We sunk to the floor and just cradled each other. We stayed there for about ten minutes. Just letting out our emotions. Once we had calmed down we stood up.

                "So, how did you find each other?" I asked, my voice hoarse from the crying.

                "I went out looking for food and water for us, and I found Lizzie in one of the houses." Garth sniffed.

                "Garth and I must have seen mum, Jen and Caleb running through backyards getting away from the house. We climbed up the hill to get here." Lizzie gave a quiet "Oh", before taking her bag off and putting it on the bench.

                I quickly wiped the tears off my face. We had to be strong in this world. If we let our emotions get the best of us, we might make a wrong decision. We start unpacking the food and water from Garth and Lizzie's bags. We had tons of cans and bottles from the houses up here. A lot of them had recently been left and they left in a hurry, so food was most likely left behind.

                We had enough food to last us for two weeks at the most. I don't think we are going to stay here for that long. We know that mum, Caleb and Jen are still alive. How will we find them? I have no idea. But we need try somehow.

                We stayed at the house for a week. Every day, we would watch the smouldering house. Waiting for mum, Caleb and Jen to come back. But they never did. It was a week after the house burnt down that we decided that we are going to go searching for them. They weren't going to come back to the house to check if we were waiting.

                We packed bags with food, water, a few items of clothing, and some matches, lighters, a torch, and rope we found in the house around us. All the Rats from this area had been attracted to what once was our house. All that's left now is ashes and some charred Rats.

                We decide that we are going to leave a note for mum, Caleb and Jen if they come back to the house. We need to somehow get all the Rats away from the house so it's safe enough for someone to leave the note then get out of there as fast as they can.

                Once everything was packed, the note written, weapons in check, we were ready to go.

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A/N: So, you've finally found out who died in the fire! Sad right? Both families lost someone. RIP Spencer's Dad and Jacob. *cries* What do you think will happen next?

I uploaded this chapter an hour early because I have my FINAL EVER EXAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND THEN IM DONE!! And it starts at 9, so I thought why not post the next chapter now?

Anyways please vote and comment and stuff because I love seeing the notifications!!!!

Happy reading!

-FlatMatesForLife