Haven (on hold)

7

"People inspire you, or they drain you. Pick them wisely."
-Hans F. Hasen

~Aurora's Pov~

We found out that when the clock hits zero, this whole place will blow up and we're stuck here. Jenner wasn't letting us out no matter how hard we've been begging him. I was sitting alone facing the door in shock. I watched as Daryl continued to hit the door over and over and over with the axe even though Jenner said that door could withstand a rocket launcher. I looked at him with tears in my eyes, I don't know if we were going to survive out there.

Would this be better? To stay and die like this..?

Jenner said there would be no pain at all, it would just be a second. Daryl stopped and looked back, feeling eyes on him. He looked around until eventually our eyes locked. He started pacing back and forth, twisting the axe in his hand. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes. He turned back around, hitting the door again. Trying to get it open. "Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's all we want." Dad said, still trying to get Jenner to open the door.

"A choice, a chance." Dad said. "Let us keep trying as long as we can." Mom spoke out too. There was a pause. "I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." He said. There was another pause and I heard a noise. "Cmon!" Daryl called out. "Let's go! Let's go!" Glenn called out. Everyone started running towards the exit quickly. "Hey! We've got 4 minutes left! Cmon!" Glenn called out. "Aurora- Rora let's go sweetheart we gotta go. Cmon." Dad said and put his hands on my arms, pulling me up and off the ground. I got up and he held my hand, pulling me towards the door. "Cmon Jacqui let's go." T-Dog said grabbing her hand. "I'm staying! I'm staying sweetie." She spoke out. We all looked at her. "That's insane!" T-Dog responded. "No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy." She said looking at him, wanting to stay back.

We all looked at her processing, "There's no time to argue and no point, not if you wanna get out. Just get out. Get out." She said and pushed T-Dog away from her slightly then putting her hands on his cheeks. "Dog- cmon man." Shane said going up to him. He pulled him back towards the door. Dale looked at her in shock then over to Andrea who was still standing by the computers. "I'm staying too." Andrea said looking at him. "Andrea no." He pleaded, she just sat down. "Just go!- Go!" Dale said and waved his hands towards us. Dad ran, pulling me with him.

We grabbed all our things quickly and we headed to the front. Daryl and Shane tried breaking the glass with axes but it didn't work, Shane shot it with a shotgun and that didn't work either. "Jesus." Shane said looking at the glass. "The glass won't break?!" Sophia asked, scared. "Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said going up to my dad with her hand in her bag. "Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane said looking at her, she ignored him and walked up to my dad, "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." She said and pulled out a grande. She held it out towards him, her hand shaking. Dad looked at it for a second then took it. "Look out!" T-Dog called out. We all got on the floor and covered out heads. "Ohhh Shhh-" I heard my dad's voice then an explosion. I looked back to see the window broken.

We all got up and ran to our cars quickly, the guys killing some walkers as we ran. "Wait, wait, wait! Here they come." Mom called out. I looked over to see Dale and Andrea running towards us. Dad looked at his watch then honked the horn. "Dale get down!" Mom yelled out the window. "Get back! Everybody down!" Dad yelled and came back to us. Mom hugged Carl and Dad came to me, shielding me with his body. After a second we felt the car shake and a loud explosion went off. I gasped feeling heat all over. We pulled away, dad kept his hands on my arms. We looked out the window to see the building completely gone. Dad put a hand on the back of my head and we all watched what was left of the building go up in flames. "Alright.." He said softly and rubbed my back a bit. We pulled away and Glenn went to open the door for Dale and Andrea.

~~~

We were staying at this building for the night. Dad said they came here before, it was a retirement home but there was no one here. Everyone was gone or either shot down. We were staying here for the night. "Hey." I looked over to see my dad coming back in the room, he was on watch. He came over and sat down against the wall with me. "Can't sleep?" he asked looking at me. I shook my head a bit, Everyone else was sleeping. It was just us now, T-Dog took my dad's place on keeping watch. "What's going on?" He asked. "I wanted- I was-" i said and cut myself off. I knew my dad wouldn't have left me behind. He would've dragged me out of the building by force. "Jacqui.." I said softly, not looking at him. "She wanted it to-" I cut myself off again feeling my heart race a little.

There was a pause, neither one of us spoke but my dad's mind clicked, he started thinking back on how I didn't get up when the door opened for us. "... You wanted to stay," he said looking at me. I looked up at him and felt tears well up in my eyes. "Daddy I'm scared.." I whimpered. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him, he kissed my head before resting his cheek atop it. "It- w-" I struggled to speak, I didn't know how to say it out loud. I just knew that it would've been better to die like that rather than to be ripped apart painfully by walkers.

"I won't let anything happen to you. As long as i'm here nothing will hurt you." he said rubbing my arm. He kissed my head. "I promise." He whispered. I pulled away and hugged him. He hugged me back. No one knows how long any of us were going to last out there. I hated the thought of losing mom, dad or Carl. I was terrified and I hated that I didn't know how to defend myself if anything were to happen. I needed to learn how. I don't want to be afraid anymore. I hate feeling the way I do when I see Carl scared, I can't protect him either.

He held me close to him. "I'm scared." I repeated, my voice cracking. He put a hand on the back of my head and closed his eyes. "I know sweetheart." He whispered and kept holding me. He closed his eyes at the thought of me staying behind. "I won't let anything happen to you." He said opening his eyes. We pulled away and he looked at me, putting his hand on my cheek. "I'd die before I let anything happen to any of you. I will keep you safe." He whispered, careful not to wake anyone up. "I will." he repeated. I nodded looking at him. He nodded too, "Come here." He said and pulled me back into him.

Word Count:1299

A/N: I can't wait for Aurora to become the badass she truly is 😌