8

"So what's the plan for today?" Cooper asked Ronan with a smile on his face. Cooper has the prettiest eyes when he smiles, they're almost completely closed when he laughs. 

I wonder why he's in such a good mood.

"Oliver volunteered to stay with Luke while he works on the cure." Ronan explained. I haven't seen Oliver after I told him about our dad's message last night. 

"Hailey-Jade and I have to go on a supply run for some medical supplies. You and Ellie can go scavenge some clothes- we need to stock up on supplies while we still can." Ronan continued. 

"Fuck yeah, this shit's like the movies, right?" Cooper excitedly uttered. 

"If anything happens to Ellie I will kill you." Ronan promised Cooper who raised his hands at him in defense. 

"I'll protect her with my life, I swear." Cooper told Ronan before wrapping his arm around Ellie and she just laughed at him. 

"Luke, you wanted to talk to us." Cooper stated while frowning over at Luke and he nodded at his brother's words. 

"Yes, I just wanted to educate you guys on the infected." He said and we were all ears. 

"There are two stages of infection. Stage one of the infected is called, 'Rotters' then there's stage two, we call them 'Hulks'."

"Hulks?" Cooper asked in shock and Luke simply nodded at him. 

"Rotters are slow, use it to your advantage. Hulks are strong and fast but they can't see, however they are sound sensitive so you'll have to be quiet around them. Remember to always aim for the head, it's more lethal. These things- they don't die unless you put a bullet through their heads. So don't waste your ammo or your strength." He uttered before clenching his jaw. "I saw one of my colleagues dying in front of my eyes, three hours later he was alive again. I didn't know any better and I let him get too close to me. It almost cost me my life." He said while staring down at his arm. 

"We're gonna make this right, okay?" Cooper asked Luke and he just nodded at him. 

"Let's go." Ronan told me from where he was standing behind me, hands behind his back. 

"Hailey-Jade, be careful." Luke told me and Ronan clenched his jaw in anger. I simply nodded at Luke before quietly leaving the room and Ronan followed me outside. 

We decided to take the Jeep that we found yesterday while Cooper and Ellie took Luke's car. 

Our drive into the nearest town was quiet. Ronan seemed angry so I decided not to say anything. 

We drove through a now seemingly ghost town before stopping in front of the local pharmacy. I quietly climbed out of the car and shut the door behind me. 

I listened to Ronan's footsteps as they approached me. He handed a machete over to me before walking into the store and I had to jog to catch up to him. Ronan closed the door behind us before disappearing down an aisle.

I quickly helped him check if there were any of the infected inside the store. Once we were sure it was clear we started checking for the things on the list that Luke wrote down for us to buy. 

Bandages, gauze, cotton wool, tylenol, and some alcohol. I placed the supplies into my backpack before zipping it closed again. 

Ronan reached for the door handle but I stopped him by taking his hand into mine. His hand left the door handle and he slowly turned around to look at me. 

He frowned down at our hands so I quickly pulled my hand away from his. 

"What's going on with you?" I asked while looking into his eyes and he frowned at me before scratching his forehead with his thumb. 

"Don't touch me again, Hailey-Jade." He uttered, his voice thick and masked with something that I couldn't quite read.

"What happened to you, Ronan?" I asked him in disbelief. 

"You happened to me, Hailey-Jade. Alright?" He blankly uttered and I sadly looked up at him because his words cut me like a thousand knives. "You just disappeared without an explanation."

"Yeah, I removed myself from a situation that could've ruined relationships-" 

"By ruining ours?" He looked at me in disbelief.

"No, you did that all by yourself, Ronan." 

"Is that what you've been telling yourself?" He asked before leaning in closer to my face. 

"Yes, because it's the truth, Ronan." I angrily told him and he just nodded at me. 

"Right, I almost forgot that Hailey-Jade never does anything wrong." He sarcastically uttered. 

"I needed you, Ronan!" I burst out. "After my mom passed away I needed you but you resented me! You were too angry at me to be my friend or my boyfriend! You left me, Ronan!" I accusingly yelled before hitting his chest. 

"And I had no other choice but to act as if I was okay because you gave me no other choice! You didn't want me anymore and I wasn't going to beg you- so I got out, Ronan and I decided to treat you the same way that you treated me. You acted as if I didn't exist, you treated me like a stranger and guess what Ronan- I decided to take revenge on you." I angrily uttered while staring into his eyes.

"I left you because there was three people in our relationship, Hailey-Jade!"

"Three people?"

"Just admit that you never wanted to be with me. You've always wanted to be with Luke. And when I saw you guys yesterday, I realized that you've never looked at me like that before." He uttered before clenching his jaw. 

"That's not true, Ronan. You just don't want to admit that you were wrong or that you made a mistake. You just want to be right so now you're bringing Luke into this again." I pointedly stated. 

"I saw you last night, Hailey-Jade. You let him kiss you-" he uttered and my ears and cheeks heated up in shame.

"But I didn't kiss him back-" 

"You didn't stop him either!" Ronan angrily yelled into my face. "But don't worry- I won't stand in your way this time." He said while looking me in the eyes. 

But I didn't want to be with his brother. 

All I wanted was him but before I could tell him that, a movement outside the pharmacy caught my attention. 

It was a horde of the infected heading in our direction.

"Ronan-" I uttered in fear and he followed my gaze. 

"Let's get out of here before they trap us inside." He uttered before opening the doors so I followed him outside. There was around twenty rotters outside.

"Stay behind me!" Ronan told me so I nervously nodded at him. I stood next to him while holding the machete in my hands up in front of me, ready to defend Ronan and myself. 

Ronan started hitting his blade into the skulls of the slow moving rotters as they headed toward us. 

I ran forward and hit my machete into a rotter's rotten skull as he tried to attack Ronan from behind. My adrenaline rush kicked in and in that moment it felt like I was blinded by rage. I don't even know how many of them I killed but once all the rotters were lying in front of us on the ground I dropped my weapon. My palms were bruised and covered in rotten blood. 

"Let's get out of here," Ronan uttered before wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leading me to the car. 

He checked my body for any signs of infection and helped me get in the car once he was done. He got in behind the steering wheel before speeding down the road and I snapped out of my thoughts. 

"Stop the car." I told him and the breaks screeched as Ronan stepped on it. I jumped out of the car and the bile I've been trying to keep down came pouring out of my mouth. 

Once I was done I dried my mouth with my jacket sleeve before letting out an angered scream. I started crying in agony and felt two strong arms wrapping around me from behind. 

I turned around and cried into his chest. I didn't care how loudly I was sobbing or how I weak it made me look, at least it made me feel something. 

"You did good, Hailey-Jade. You're good." Ronan uttered while gently holding my face in his hands. 

"No, I'm not, Ronan. I killed those people! I killed them!" I cried out. 

"You can't kill something that's already dead, Hailey-Jade. The dead don't die anymore. It lives." He whispered into my ear and I just numbly stood there in his arms.

Because whether I liked it or not, Ronan was right. The dead lives...