Wind rushed through my matted hair, wildly whipping it around my dirty face.

I sat alone in the middle of the city, no one to be found anywhere around me. No one was around for miles. Frantically I stood up, turning in every direction looking for someone. Anyone so I wouldn't be alone. "Niall!" I cried desperately, eyes searching the barren land. Sweat trickled down my brow, and my heart thundered harshly in my chest.

They had left me.

No, no this couldn't be possible. Turning around I searched through the piles of rubble. I found nothing though, it was useless. "Luke!" I screamed, heart twisting painfully in weak my chest. A whistling sound soared above my head, and I followed a flaming streak across the sky. My eyes widened because I recognized exactly what it was from seeing it that day in the city. A bomb.

Before I even knew what was happening, my feet carried me in the opposite direction of the flaming streak, acting on their own accords. The bomb made the impact, jarring the ground and making me stumble and fall in the process.

My palms and knees skidded harshly across the pavement, cutting deep cuts into my hands and knees. Another faint whistling was surfaced through the pounding of my heart in my ears. It hit a target again, knocking ash and rubble all over me.

Picking my shaky hands up, I looked at them horrified. Deep red droplets welled up on my hands, and pooled over the sides of them. Moving my knees, I saw that the fabric was torn, scarlet red staining my flesh and the black material of my pants.

Pushing all thoughts of my well being aside, I hauled myself off the ground and continued running away. Every bomb dropped seemed to get closer to my retreating body, following me on my heels.

I pushed myself to run harder and faster, the exertion not doing well on my weak muscles. Black flittered across my vision, and my joints started to lock up. I ran into something, falling straight back on my butt. Looking up, I was met with the animalistic eyes of someone I knew very well.

Val.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head and started to crawl back on my hands. Her head twitched to the side with an evil grin on her face. "Should've let me die," she growled devilishly. I scooted back more, whimpering, "No, Val. You're my bestfriend."

Instead of blood pouring from her open wound, there was now black goo seeping from it. Val's skin had faded to a very white, almost transparent color. Black veins were noticeable through her deathly pale skin, making her look like a demonic apparition. Twisted veins and arteries criss crossing over each other. She was a Bender in every sense of the term.

Tears stung at my eyes, as I managed to pull myself off the ground. "You hated me," she snarled, a satanic look on her face. Vigorously I shook my head again, "Don't say that. It's not true, it's not you talking." Again, her body twitched and jerked foward in an odd movement, like a skip on a CD.

This was no longer Val, my former bestfriend. It was a Bender. She barred her teeth at me, and charged at me. I barely had time to throw up my hands before a gun shot went off.

A gun shot rang through my ears, and for a moment I thought the bullet hit me. That was until Val crumpled into a lifeless heap right in front of me. My eyes widened as her whole figure fell slack on the dirty ground, and a scream of agony ripped through my throat.

I turned around to see who had done this horrible act of taking away a life, and my heart ripped agonizingly in half. Hurt and shock so crippling coursed throughout me that I thought I would collapse right then and there.

It was Luke.

But that wasn't the worst part.

Luke had a long, silver machete pressed to Niall's throat. Blood dropped slowly from underneath the threatening blade. A hand fell onto my mouth as I watched Luke press the blade to Niall's throat in horror. Luke pressed the barrel of his gun to Niall's temple, Niall unnervingly calm.

His eyes were trained solely on me, and I couldn't help but feel as if I was the one with a blade on my throat and and a gun pressed to my head. A scream was lodged in my throat, I wanted to scream, to cry, but I was completely frozen in pure horror.

"I have to do this, Tylie. He was ruining us," Luke said remorsefully. He pressed the gun tighter into Niall's temple. I took a tentative step foward, outstretching my hand in a calming manner. "What are you talking about, Luke?" I finally managed to ask incredulously.

A tear streaked down his face, and his hand slightly shook. "I love you, Tylie! I've always loved you! And I know you could love me too if he wasn't here," Luke gritted, pressing the blade tighter against Niall's throat. Niall's slight grimace was the only reminder that he was in immense pain.

"Not if you do this, Luke," I reasoned carefully, shaking my head. Tears had tipped and fallen over my bottom lashes, coating my grime covered face. They seemed forever plastered on my face because of the ash and grime, leaving jagged streaks between them.

Luke's lip trembled as he readjusted his grip on the gun. "You'll understand one day, I know you will. And we will be together," Luke smiled, slightly nodding his head. "He's hiding something from you, Tylie," Niall struggled to say against the blade. Luke tightened it more, "Shut the fuck up!" Luke was insane, he had to be.

"Niall," I whimpered, lips and body shaking. He looked up to me, and flashed me the most devastatingly handsome, broken smile in the world. "It's okay," he mouthed, showing no fear. I turned my gaze back to Luke. "Please, please. You don't have to do this!" I screamed, losing my composure.

"It's already been done," he said. With that, he swiped the blade across Niall's throat. Niall fell to the ground, body spasming and choking on blood. I fell to the ground, sobs wrenching from my chest. Blood pooled out, further staining the already tainted streets.

Niall's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the life literally drained from him. Never again would I see those beautiful, kind blue eyes. I pulled myself off the ground and barred my teeth at Luke. "You bastard! I hate you!" I screamed, rage lacing my every syllable.

My feet carried me toward him, taking in the heartbroken look on his face. I rammed my fist into his face, his chest, anywhere I could reach. He locked his arms around me as I thrashed around. I hated him, he killed the man I was in love with.

"Tylie."

"Fucking let go of me," I growled, kicking violently.

"Tylie, wake the fuck up!"

A deep breath rushed into my lungs as I looked around wildly, still trying to fight away the demons within me. My eyes immediately focused in on the one persons face who was floating in front of me, making me go completely rigid.

Luke.

I cowered away from him, ripping my hand from his cold, clammy one. Tremors shook my body as I stared at him in horror, hurt clearly all over his face. Split wires seemed to be strung throughout my body, making me twitch and jerk under everyone's scrutiny. He killed Niall, he killed Niall, he killed Niall. My whole body shook as I glared at him with the most hatred I could muster.

"Tylie?"

My heart almost broke in relief as I immediately knew whose voice it was. Someone who was very much alive and not dead because of a slit throat by Luke. Niall's worried, beautiful blue eyes assessed me through the middle mirror in the van. A relieved smile overcame my face as I soaked in every detail.

"You're alive," I whispered in awe, feeling my heart swell with an undeniable happiness. "Erm, yea. Where have you been?" Niall asked curiously, staring at me through the mirror. I sighed in relief, and then immediately felt guilty for the way I acted towards Luke. I had just given Luke a total unfair treatment. It wasn't real. All of it was a dream.

Without a minutes pause I turned to Luke and wrapped my arms around his neck, taking in his familiar minty scent. Luke hesitated for a moment, and then wrapped his arms tightly around my slim waist. My shirt had rode up a little bit, and where my skin met his skin lit up electrically.

I sighed into the skin of his neck and pressed a light kiss to the crook where my face was buried. The skin was warm beneath my lips, melting away the darkness I had just succumbed to. I brought my lips up to the shell of his ear and whispered, "I'm sorry. I didn't think it was a dream. But it was, and none of its real."

We pulled back and his usual lopsided grin was back. "It's okay. We will talk about it later, yeah?" Luke asked cheerfully, pushing away the unhappy thoughts for now. Nodding along, I didn't want to talk about it as for now. Maybe I wouldn't want to then either, but he deserved some kind of explanation for my outburst of hatred.

Rubbing my face harshly, I turned to look at Val who was still sound asleep leaning against the window now. She was fine, this would be okay. It had to be okay. Turning back, I found Niall staring at me through the mirror still. His stare alone sent shivers down to my toes and back up, the good kind. Gulping, I returned his stare equally as deeply.

"How long?" I said, casting my glance back over to Val. The blood hadn't seemed to leak through the makeshift bandages yet, which was a good sign. That meant the wound wasn't as deep as I thought it was, but it still didn't mean it wasn't as deadly.

"About an hour or so," Niall answered gruffly, his gaze now back on the road. "Is it safe there?" I asked brazenly, looking out of the dirty windows. It was something I had been wondering for a while. Was this just happening in our city or was it everywhere?

I know Ivanna said something about them taking down her home in Russia.. Ivanna. My heart throbbed painfully in my chest at the thought of the kind, old woman. I missed the old, wise woman who was so like the grandmother I never had only though it has been two days since I had seen her. Ivanna was like a caring mother figure that I never seemed to have had.

"Honestly, I don't know. All we can do is hope and stay low profile," Niall answered lowly. It seemed so evident that none of us new what was going to happen on this trip, yet we were hoping for the best. That we were all just waiting for the storm to strike.

It's like planning for death, there was just no way you possibly could plan for someone leaving this earth. No one can prepare for something they have no idea when will happen because it just the guessing game. Who will die first? Who will give up and walk away and say this just isn't worth fighting for anymore?

I wanted to leave.

I wanted to run far, far away into a safe bunker away from this nasty world that we lived in. I wanted to climb into the dark depths of the earth and never return. And to possibly find something great down there, and be content for the rest of my life by myself.

But that would all be pointless, irrelevant without the people I love. It would be isolated, lonely, and cold without their light in my life, so even I couldn't do that for my own selfish needs. Even saying that, I didn't want to do this anymore. All this death, brutality, I couldn't  take much more.

But I also wanted to fight for these people I cared about that I had grown accustomed to over these past three months. I wanted to fight for them because I felt as if this was all my fault, although I did nothing.

It was all my father, the despicable man I couldn't even stand to think about without wanting to stab him. If Val died... No. I'm not even going to exploit those possibilities because there's no way on earth I'm letting that happen.

Not to her, not to any of these people. I'd die before I let any one of them die. Call me crazy, but they were my family now. They had taken me in, some unwillingly, and accepted me nonetheless. And I had a feeling that was just how my life was all supposed to play out, no matter how sucky it spiraled out.

"Can you make it in 30?" I questioned, analyzing Val closely now. Her skin seemed to be sunken in, dark bags already appearing under her closed eyes. Val's once tan skin had now fallen into a white sheet color. Everything about her screamed sickness, and I wanted to help her now. "Tylie, she's sick," Niall stated lightly, hinting at something else. I scoffed, that was a stupid statement. "Obviously, Niall." Why was he acting like this?

"She got bitten by a Bender," Niall said, yet again stating the obvious. "I know this, Niall," I stated stiffly, crossing my arms over my chest. Of course she had gotten bitten, but why was he freaking out about it so much? I knew to a degree what would happen if we didn't get her cured. But I'm sure the doctors could cure her. She would be fine I had no doubt.

"She's going to change, go through the Bend," Niall initiated further, seeming to egg this on. "No she's not because the doctors are going to fix her and cure her. She will be fine," I said defiantly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. My hand ran lightly over her blood matted hair.

An audible, irritated side was released from Niall, and he pushed a hand through his hair. Waiting for his response, I didn't get one from him. Instead, out of no where, Calum ripped around and looked dead at me. "There's no cure. She's as good as dead. Sorry but it's the truth," he said bluntly, not quite meeting my eyes.

My heart dropped deeply into the pits of my chest. Any chance of hope I held for helping Val just quickly diminished. Like a flame of darkness just swallowed up the only bright solution left. Involuntarily, my hand gripped Luke's.

He gave me a reassuring squeeze, but I just felt flat and empty inside. I would lose my bestfriend of my whole life, it was only a matter of time. Yet again a hollow pang rang throughout my entire being.

"Is there anything else any of you need to tell me?" I asked mutely, my eyes and face void of any emotion. Nobody said a word, and silence overtook the suddenly small feeling car. "Good then," I stated, bringing my eyes to meet Niall's through the mirror.

"Drive."