Chapter 16 (Catch and Keep)

Chapter 16: Catch and Keep

Ethan Warren

May 2028

About 6 years after outbreak

Arizona

Season 5/The Final Season

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"Give me my fucking daughter, you asshole or I swear to God I will make you hurt so much that you'll beg me to kill you! Don't turn away from me, bitch!"

I woke up to the sound of Rudi yelling as I watched Addie stare at him even though my vision was blurry. Rudolph's voice was horse, he had been at this for a while. Apparently no progress had been made.

I groan from the pain in the back of my head but my hands were bound so I couldn't feel what damage had been done. It felt swollen, I was 99% sure that it was. Clara and Grahme laid next to me, they both were still out cold. Rudi continued to scream, his voice was giving me a headache.

" Rudolph, you're like a brother to me, but shut the hell up."

"They have her, Ethan, do you really think I'm just gonna shut up?"

"We're gonna get them back, we're gonna get all of them back."

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Perfect."

"Don't give me that."

"Ethan?"

I thought I was hallucinating, I looked to Rudi for support, his face softened while he nodded in reassurance.

"Khai?"

"Holy shit, I though you were dead."

"I could say the same thing about you. Did Evelyn find you?"

"I found her. They took her while I watched."

"I'm so sorry, Khai."

"It's not your fault, Ethan."

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Leah Souixer

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I decided I didn't want to find the others, they didn't want me anyways. At the end of the day, we'd all be better off. I didn't want to know what happened to them. I choose to believe they all found a common ground and lived peacefully for the rest of their days. Just how I would have wanted. But that is something I could never have. I didn't need anyone anymore. I needed no one to protect me. I never did need that. I felt that it was good I finally recognized that. Amyas was enough. I could have been making a huge mistake but I'll never know because I never want to think about it. Mistake or not, this is what I had to do.

So we went East.

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Ethan Warren

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It's been three days since we arrived at the camp. I haven't seen my sister the whole time which made me worry about my people even more. The only meal we've had is rat jerky and a singular rotten tomato split between the five of us. Rudi finally stopped yelling yesterday, he wore his vocal cords out so much that now he could hardly speak. I've never hated zip ties more in my life than I did right then. Occasionally you could hear the voices of the people we were missing, it was agonizing.