This Is Not The End.

Chapter 9

A few hours later, Kai found a caravan abandoned at the side of the road, and since the sun was beginning to set he insisted we stayed in it for the night.

We made Jack go in first, his hands engulfed in flames which curled around his fingers and sent sparks into the air, and since he didn't cause another woman's head to cave in on itself, we assumed it was safe.

Thank God, there were no rotting corpses sat at the breakfast table. I don't think I would've been able to deal with that today.

I'd like to say I was traumatised by the hellish image of that Infected with her brain spilling onto the tarmac, but it only made me feel sick to my stomach. It didn't seem like it would keep me up at night, and I didn't know if that made me feel better or worse.

When I closed my eyes, she was there, but only reaching out with her mangled fingers to try and tear my skin. What we did – what Jack did – was justified. It didn't bother me.

What did bother me was the fact that she was outside before twelve-thirty-AM. How the hell was she outside before twelve-thirty-AM?

"I'll bite," Kai said, grinning at his choice of words. I couldn't find something to throw at his head quick enough, "What the fuck happened earlier?"

"I proved how you two wouldn't last five minutes without me," Jack said nonchalantly, opening a cupboard where he pulled out three cans of beans. At least we wouldn't be eating the food supplements.

"I meant about the Infected even being around in the day, but it's good to know your head's not getting bigger or anything,"

Jack slid into the table booth next to Kai, who shuffled closer to the wall.

"Maybe it's a new mutation," Jack shrugged, "Beans?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," I said, accepting the tin once he'd heated it up in his palms and using my knife to open it. I'd washed the Infected gunk from it earlier.

"Please tell me you're not going to use your knife to eat that too," Kai pulled a disgusted face at me. Sheepishly, I set it down on the table.

"Not anymore I'm not,"

Jack passed me a metal fork too, which I thanked him for.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand," he said, reaching to take my knife before I snatched it up and opened his tin for him. My knife. "Does that mean the Infected can come out in the day too?"

"I mean," Kai thought about it as he ate a forkful of beans, "Apparently, but that woman didn't seem all that dangerous,"

"Didn't seem all that dangerous?" I echoed, "Are you forgetting how she grabbed for Jack and I had to stab her in the arm?"

"That's nothing," he said, "She should've been bloodthirsty,"

"She just wanted Alice – her daughter?" Jack frowned, "D'you reckon that's just parental instinct, or...?"

"Must be," I said, shrugging and eating my beans.

Kai shook his head, his blond hair falling in front of his eyes. He looked different when he wouldn't meet my eyes, darker. "I've never seen anything like it,"

I studied him, and with a mouthful of food I asked, "How'd you know so much about them?"

He didn't answer me for a little while, just stirred his food absently. I wondered if I'd struck a nerve, I'd never seen him so quiet. Kai always had an answer for everything; it didn't matter if he knew what the conversation was, he'd butt in with something vaguely relevant and equally stupid. It was how we'd met.

"I lived in Australia," he said eventually.

"What does that mean?"

"Australia was one of the worst places hit – as soon as borders were shut people were screwed," Jack explained. "It was just a giant flare-up over there; the Hunters had a hard time getting in and out,"

"Damn, Kai, you never said anything about that," I muttered, tracing the edge of the table absently with my finger. "D'you wanna talk about it?"

He snapped back to his old self and pulled a face at me, "Okay, we are not gonna sit here eating these shitty beans and talk about our feelings. What is this, a coming-of-age movie?"

It didn't seem right to smile, but once he did it was contagious.

"Agreed," Jack said.

"Agreed," I said.

We fell into silence, the only sound being the scraping of our forks against the tins. I drew the curtains of the windows closest to me, you could never be too careful, and once he'd finished eating Jack did the same around the caravan. Kai clenched and unclenched his fists before shaking his head and collecting our empty tins to throw away.

We triple checked the caravan for any unwanted guests – even after sitting around in plain sight we didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night with an Infected ripping Jack's legs off – and each found a place to settle down for the night. Kai had chosen to sleep on one row of seats at the table booth, Jack had taken the other side, and I was left with the bed I didn't want, separated from the boys. I could still see them, and I had clear view of the maze of cars beside us, but I felt isolated, and isolation would be my death. We agreed on sleeping in shifts, although it wasn't going to be easy to fall asleep with the distant sound of groaning resonating in our heads. It was hard to tell if we were being gradually surrounded by Infected or if the woman's moans from earlier just hadn't left our minds yet.

I took the first shift. After a little while of sitting in the darkness, itching to jump at the slightest sound, I realised Kai was still staring at the ceiling, his blue eyes the only colour in the dark. Reluctantly, I caught his attention and offered a smile.

"Don't do that," he said, folding his arms behind his head as a pillow.

"What?"

"I don't want your sympathy, Skye,"

I played it off with a little scoff, "Me? Offer you sympathy? You must have me confused for someone else,"

"We all have sob stories, yeah? We've all lost people," he went on, "I'm over it. It was five years ago,"

"I know," I said quietly, "It's just, it's you, you know? You're important to me,"

I saw him grin, "Yeah, I tolerate you, too,"

"I mean it, dickhead,"

He nodded, "Let's just make it to Washington, at least with my knowledge and Jack's fire we might make it in one piece,"

"Hey, I'm a part of this team too, thank you very much,"

"Yeah... what's your role again?"

I thought about it for a second, "I provide a witty commentary,"

"Sureeee," he shuffled in his makeshift bed. "D'you want me to take over? I'm not tired,"

It was a shame we had to lose the watch, I couldn't tell what time it was without that or looking at the moon, and I wasn't prepared to open the curtains.

"Sure," I yawned, "Don't forget to wake Jack up in a bit,"

"I won't," he promised, "Get some sleep, Skye,"

I said I would and rolled onto my side. I hadn't been able to bring myself to get under the covers, but it was pretty hot anyway, so it didn't matter. I forced my eyes shut and ignored the Infected woman's black-red sockets, focusing on something that would get me to sleep.

Home. Before The Push and before the powers which had to come with it. I thought of my family, and I thought of Kai with his. He never spoke of them, but then I never spoke of mine, only my brother Harry. My parents and my little sister were dead. There was no point in dwelling on it. It was a shame Ariadne never found anything about him. I tried to dream of where he was now – somewhere safe, somewhere free – and, before I knew it, I was lost in the blank abyss of sleep.

Like I said, dreams were very uncommon, but it wasokay. I'd learnt to find comfort in the darkness.