Chapter 11: 11

NADINE’S P.O.V

The worst part about staying in the cave was having to swim out. I was soaking wet by the time I got out simply because I wouldn’t swim naked. Caine on the other hand only had to deal with a wet shirt.

I stayed silent, walking close behind him as he weaved through the woods like he had done it a million times before. He never once looked back to check if I was following and I couldn’t help but wonder if he would even stop if I were to get hurt.

“How far are we going to walk?” I asked, hating the silence.

“Far enough.”

“What if we get hungry or lost?”

“I won’t get lost.”

“But-”

“Do you ever stop talking?” he snapped, stopping in his tracks as he turned to me. He stopped so abruptly that I didn’t have time to do the same before I collided with his chest.

His hand reached for my waist, holding me so I didn’t fall flat on my ass. It was the nicest thing he had done for me all morning. My cheeks flushed pink as I murmured a thank you but he only seemed annoyed by me.

“Look, I know that you know what you’re doing but I don’t. I barely know you and you don’t even like me. How am I to trust that you’re going to keep me safe?”

“Wasn’t the fact that I saved you when I didn’t have to enough for you?”

“Why did you save me though? There were so many other people in there but you saved me and left the rest of them to die.”

He stared at me intensely, his eyes reflecting a stormy grey from this angle. His eyes were beautiful, I noticed them before but now, looking up at them, I couldn’t help but shiver. I had never seen such expressive eyes before. It was almost like I could see myself in them.

“We need to keep moving,” he mumbled before turning on his heels and walking away.

I sighed, deciding not to keep pushing and to follow instead.

We walked for what felt like hours. I had never walked for so long before. Occasionally, we would stop and rest, but Caine never spoke to me. I wondered if it was like this when he went out with the others.

Was it just hours of unending silence?

I wasn’t sure I could deal with that, I would have lost my mind if it were me. I couldn’t imagine being stuck outside with a group of people, knowing that my life was in their hands and not at least try to be friends with them.

“Eat,” Caine grumbled, his voice so low that I could barely hear him.

It was a slice of bread and some cheese but I was grateful for it. He wasn’t under any obligation to feed me and yet-

“Thank you,” I whispered taking it from his outstretched hands. He started to walk away, heading for a stump far away when I spoke. “You can sit here, you know? I’m not contagious, I’m not going to bite you or anything.”

“I don’t-”

“We are out here alone, for now at least. You know how to do this, you know how to deal with the silence. I have never known a life like this so please, do it for my sake, not yours.”

He was silent and I thought he would refuse, I could almost see it in his eyes, but at the last minute, he huffed and sat next to me. It wasn’t the largest stump in the world, I could feel the heat of his skin as it pressed into mine, it reminded me of how we shared a sleeping bag just last night.

I wanted to think about anything but that, anything but his presence next to me so I said the first thing that popped into my mind.

“Where were you when it happened?”

Even though it was a universal experience, I never got the chance to talk about it with anyone. Everyone treated it like it was some forbidden topic and I could never understand why. They chose to embrace the new world they were given while I seemed to be stuck in the past, in my old bedroom and my old life.

“I was at home,” I continued. “It feels like a lifetime ago. I feel like I was a completely different person.”

“How different could you have been? In both lives you were privileged, you didn’t have to work a second of the day and you got everything handed to you.”

“That’s not fair-”

“Is it true though?”

I couldn’t respond because he was right. I worked in my father’s company, I lived in his home, I had everything I could ever want and I didn’t even have to move a muscle.

“It’s not my fault I was born as his daughter. I had no control over it.”

He laughed humorlessly. “Don’t I know it.”

I had no idea what he meant by that but I didn’t want to know so I went back to the original question. “Where were you?”

“At work,” he swallowed deeply. “I saw the monsters kill two of my friends. I hid under dead bodies so I wouldn’t be found. Once it was clear, I ran. I remember seeing the people in their houses screaming and calling for help but no one came to their aid.”

“They couldn’t possibly help everyone-”

“They could have tried,” he snapped. “They let innocents die just because they could.”

‘That’s not true.”

“Ask me how I got out,” when I didn’t respond, he turned me to face me. “Go on, ask me.”

“How?”

“They only took the able bodied men and the young women. Everyone else was collateral damage.”

He stood to his feet, whatever warm moment we were having was gone now.

I couldn’t speak, could barely even look at him. That wasn’t the story I was told, I was told they helped whatever survivors they could find. I was told they left the sick because they didn’t want to risk infecting the others and as much as that hurt, I understood that it was a necessary evil.

I glanced up at Caine but he had his back to me already.

“We need to keep searching,” he managed out. “We have to be back in the cave before the sun goes down.”

“What if we don’t find anyone? What if we are alone?”

“We’re not.”

“But what if?” I pressed. “We’ve been searching for hours and we are yet to see anyone.”

“The forest is bigger than you know. If you want to go back be my guest, I’m not leaving.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep