Pitch Black

The large, decrepit building looked typical for a human group to be hiding in. With that being said, I was still extremely wary of going inside, where Niall could be leading us to our deaths. He may have helped Ashling in her fit of rage and desperation, and I may have stated I trusted him, but my guard was still very much up.

Ashling stepped forward without hesitation towards the building. When she took that first step forward, I knew that I was following her. She was not going anywhere without me, that was for damn sure. Especially when I had just let her have that mental break down, one that I did nothing to help.

Shame filled me to the brim. She was working so hard to figure out a way to save us, and she had been so close when she spilled that vile on her hand, searing the skin and losing what she had worked very hard for. And I just stood their and watched, unsure of what to do.

And then there was Niall. Niall who we hadn’t even known for that long, who grabbed her and held her down, who murmured things in her ear to calm her down. It was obvious that the boy was a kind soul, which was difficult to find in times like these. But it was hard to tell how much of it was real and how much of it was fake.

The smell of rust hit my nose as we entered the building. It was very quiet and very dark, patches of sunlight shinning through the decayed holes in the walls a and ceiling. Rafters were strong along the top, old and falling apart. I grimaced, knowing that this building wouldn’t stand much longer.

It seemed like it had ounce been a warehouse. The space was very wide, it was bare save for a few random shelves here and there. Not a single person was in the building, which is why I slowly removed my gun, holding it towards the ground. He had said people were here. There was no one.

“Where are all these people you talked about?” Danielle asked very quietly, her knuckles going bone white as she held the shotgun very tightly. Her eyes were hard, but I saw the glimmer of hope in them. “See’s like an empty where house to me.”

Danielle’s thick British accent was in stark contrast to Niall’s Irish accent. Danielle had been living in the US since she was fifteen, but the accent stuck. Liam and Louis also shared the accent, having been visiting the United States together when the attacks started, making it unsafe to fly home. They had roomed together in college. As for Ashling, Sam and I, we sounded American. It was just Sam who sounded southern, being raised in a town with the accent. Ashling and I had been born in California before we moved.

“See, that’s the trick,” Niall answered, an easy grin slipped on his face, he leaned down where he was standing, feeling his hand on the hard wooden floor until he felt something that satisfied him. He gave a sharp knock on it, a pattern. Standing back, something sounded underneath it. I raised my gun and Niall rolled his eyes. “Heya Perrie.”

A girl looked at Niall and then us with wide, blue eyes. Her hair was the lightest shade of blonde I’ve ever seen, pulled out of her face, which was very beautiful. “Who in the bloody hell are they?”

“Surrounded by accents,” Ashling muttered under her breath. The girl, who Niall called Perrie, had an accent as well. For desolate America, we sure were starting to think we had wound up in the UK.

“Met them in the outskirts of the city. Figure Harry would want to me em. And they seem to be a pretty good group.” Perrie scanned us unsurely. She did not look unkind or scared, she simply looked wary. As she should be. She didn’t know if she could trust us. “Come on, Perrie, they haven’t killed me yet. Trust me, Blanket would have already.”

I leveled a glare with his grin. “Clever.”

With a sigh, Perrie dropped down to a lower floor, leaving the trap door wide open. Niall nodded with his head for us to go in. Ashling took a willing step forward and I cut her off, giving her a look. She made a face at me, and I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so worried about what was below.

Taking a breath, I stepped into the black, inky hole that Perrie had disappeared through. I landed on my feet in a gentle crouch not moments later. Perrie was leaning against the wall, her blue eyes almost glowing in the dark as she watched me. She had a gun too. “Nice hole you’ve got there.”

She didn’t reply, so I stepped aside, opening my arms as Ashling lowered Sam. Gently I set my little sister on the ground and linked our fingers. For the first time in a very long time, she didn’t seem afraid. That small fact put me on edge even more. I wish she did not feel so comfortable with other people so quickly.

The rest of my family came down easily, Niall being the last. He sealed the hidden door and bathed us all in darkness. For a split second my heart pounded and I raised the gun, ready to shoot. But then someone flicked on a flashlight, making me flinch. It was Perrie, who jerked her head for us to follow. “This way. Follow my footsteps. I’m not wasting the light, and I would rather you don’t know the way.”

It was that sentence that made me decide I liked her. We moved very slowly and very hesitantly after she snapped the light off. Wherever we were smelled of damp darkness, the air thick and musty. It was very difficult to feel comfortable, the air laying on skin like a cold blanket.

Whoever was behind me shivered. It sounded like Liam, but I could not be sure. The darkness was so thick and pressing in so tight that I was starting to see stars in the darkness my eyes imagining up things. It was not a favorite moment of my horrid life.

Ahead, a gentle light met my eyes. At first, I thought that I was imagining things as we twisted back and forth down the tunnel of darkness, but then I realized that it really was a light, growing bigger. Before I knew it, I could smell less damp air.

The tunnel widened out into a very large… well it looked like a home, with doors and halls, all underground. It was the most bizarre, and the most amazing thing I had ever seen. The panic that had been working it’s way into my heart lessoned, and for the first time in years, what I saw in front of me, was touched by permanence.

“Niall, is that-“ a girls voice was cut off as she came around the corner, her light blue as widening in shock and her hands freezing as she was mid-putting up her brown locks. Her face was covered in soot, like she had been cleaning. “Oh my fucking god.”

I was to curious about her to bother mentioning we had a young girl with us. Sam snickered at the fact, and I cut my eyes at her. She sobered up, becoming serious again as Niall said, “Yes, El. People, don’t panic.”

“I’m not, this is amazing,” she breathed, her eyes scanning over us. They paused on Louis. He shifted, staring right back at her, as if trying to figure her out. I paid them no mind. “People real people. Boys! You better look at what Niall’s brought!”

“If Niall has brought back another dog, I swear I’ll kill him… oh wow.” A tall boy, who had dark black hair and beautiful tan skin paused. His eyes were liquid gold, reminding me of a lion I had seen in picture books. He glanced at Perrie and jerked his head, making her move towards him. He slipped a protective arm around her. They were a pair, which made my heart pang. “Where did you find such a large group? Unusual.”

“He decided to step on a twig,” I answered for him. Niall laughed, despite my insulting tone. He walked forward easily as he clapped the boy on the shoulder and kissed the girl he had called El on the cheek. It was not intimate, but rather brotherly. “But don’t worry, we’re just as shocked to find humans. A group of them, at that.”

“Where’s Harry?” Perrie asked, cast her eyes around the place. We were still standing in the door way awkwardly and she noticed. “Erm, you lot can sit wherever you can find a seat for now.”

For a moment, none of us moved. Liam was the first to do so, leading him and Danielle to an old, ripped couch and taking a seat. “Thank you very much. Is this place running on electricity?”

The boy shook his head. “Generators in another corner of… this place. I’m Zayn, by the way.”

“Liam.”

Everyone settled down and introduced themselves. It seemed this ‘Harry’ character was in one of the backrooms with someone else they had mentioned. I assumed it was their sick individual, for Niall took the contents he had stolen from the city out of his pack and handed them to Zayn, who disappeared with Perrie at his side.

El, whose full name was actually Eleanor, stayed in the room with us, sitting on the ground with her back against the wall. She was looking at us all with a marveled expression. It was clear she had not seen anyone else other than her small pack for a very long time. “There are so many of you.”

“We could say the same,” Ashling replied, giving her a hopeful smile. The other girl returned it. “How did you guys get this place?”

“Harry- you’ll meet him in a moment- his parents were total freaks when they disease first came to light, so they built this place. His father used to own the storage house upstairs, which is how we have the furniture and such.”

That was different. Someone who had actually prepared, who had done the smart thing. I always thought that it would be the crazy theorists who lived out in the end. Their insanity was often what saved them, when it came down to them. It made me wish I had had one in our small family.

“How’d you all come together?” Danielle asked, gesturing with her hand to show that she meant whoever was living here. Her hand was intertwined with Liam’s no longer, clutching her weapon in fear. “Did you meet or…?”

“Harry, Zayn and my older brother are best friends.” She cast her eyes down the hall, looking to see if they were coming yet. They weren’t. “And Perrie and Niall are cousins. We were docked in Louisiana during a cruise when the city went under attack. So we ran together.”

“You’ve been together that long?” Louis asked in disbelief? There was some other emotion there, regret, almost. He was wondering why he and his family hadn’t made it that long. I was wondering the same thing. “That’s amazing.”

“Like I said. Harry’s parents.”

On command, footsteps were coming down the hall. From around the corner, a scowling boy came around the corner. It seemed like Perrie was muttering something to him; she actually sounded like she was trying to calm him, and from the storm of rage on his face, he needed it.

The boy, who I was assuming was Harry, was very tall with muscular arms and unruly brown girls. His face was perfect and godly beautiful, even with a scowl on his face. But it was the eyes that caught my attention. His eyes would have put emeralds to shame, if I had ever really seen any.

Those eyes landed on every single one of us separately. When they landed on me, they stayed their, the hostility not going away. I stared back unwavering. If he was challenging me, I wasn’t backing down. It was clear he was a leader here, and I was one in my own, weird way.

“Jaw set, glare on your face,” he growled, “Gun ready to kill any of us. I assume you lead this group?”

The question was directed towards me. I hesitated and nodded once. “And Louis,” I answered, jutting my chin at the boy next to me. Louis as sitting with his back straight and his eyes hard. “What’s it to you?”

An unhappy grin spread across his face. “Well seeing as you’re in my home, it’s a lot to me. I ask questions, not you.”

“That’s taking a little more than you’re giving, don’t you think?”

“I don’t owe you anything-"

“Actually, I didn’t kill your little Irish boy over there, so you owe me a lot.”

He snarled. “You dare threaten-"

“Shut up!” Eleanor snapped, her frigid tone startling me. She was on her feet, rushing to the hall where a boy who looked a bit older than her was walking out of the hall. He looked very wide-eyed and in his own world. It took me a minute to figure out that there was something wrong with him. He looked lost, like he wasn’t all there. “You’ve woken him up.”

Harry’s face softened instantly, all traces of our argument gone as he touched the boy on the shoulder tenderly. “I didn’t mean to wake you, Andy. You can go back to sleep now.”

“Sleep,” the boy answered, looking at all of us with a glazed expression. “Sleep is for exhaustiated people, not for people like me who are extrateemingly awake.”

I raised a single brow. A sad look came over Eleanor’s face as she looked at us, searching for an explanation. “He um, makes up words. He sort of… Andy is different.”

“Don’t explain yourself to them, El.” Harry’s hard gaze was back on his face as he scanned us. Looking between Louis and I he licked his lips once. The action was very beautiful on him. “You two can come with me. We need to talk.”

Louis and I both stood, following Harry. Louis leaned towards me, murmuring in my ear, “Someone’s crown is a bit tight, eh?”

I smiled a bit. “I believe so.”

Harry led us into a room with an old wooden table and chairs. There were file cabinets in the room, rusting and nearly crumbling, but they served their purpose. A single bright light was in the room, casting an orange glow as Harry shut the door behind him, gesturing for us to sit. I hated taking orders, but I did so anyways.

The chair creaked as he sat down, looking at the pair of us. He was still trying to figure us out. “Why are there so many of you? We’re the biggest group of humans I’ve ever seen. And that’s not saying much.”

My mouth didn’t move. I continued to stare at him with defiance, letting Louis glare at me before leaning forward, saying, “We met three years ago. Liam, Danielle and I were already together, and we were attacked by two ferals. Blakely and Ashling showed up right when I was sure it was over, hacking the damn things to bits. That was before Blakely stopped saving humans, anyways.”

My eyes flicked towards Louis’ face. He gave me a cheeky grin to show that he was just messing around with me. But there was a truth in his words. I would no longer step in to save someone, especially if they were being attacked by the feral vampires. Feral vampires were vampires who had been cast from the cities because the disease had taken over too much of them. They would feed on vampire and human alike, but seeing them was rare.

Harry hummed as he nodded his head. “I don’t trust you.”

“Means your smart.”

He nodded in thanks to Louis. “But.. I’m not going to crush the dreams of everyone here, at seeing another group as big as us. So you can stay for a bit. But there are rules, and you’ll have to pull your own weight. And if you risk us being discovered-“

“I have a little sister,” I cut in, causing him to look at me with annoyance. “If you think for a moment I’m putting her in danger, you’re a moron. So this is me telling you I don’t trust you either. If you give me reason to think we’re in danger, I’ll kill you. And then leave.”

“Charming, isn’t she?” Louis joked, clapping me on the back. Neither Harry or I smiled. When no one moved, Louis shook his head, standing up and heading towards the door. “Brilliant. Two people who have a superiority complex. You guys would have children to rule the world.”