Broken Dreams(99)

“Ah, yes, there it is. The great divide. Suit yourself.” Sophie shrugged. She grabbed Henry by the hand and dragged him out of the bathroom, otherwise known as the “unofficial-official meeting zone”. She yelled for Nick and Claire to come into the bathroom.

Henry looked back at me with a pained expression on his face. I knew then that he truly felt he was losing me forever. I loved him with everything that I had, but I wasn’t sure where we were going in our relationship anymore.

Nick and Claire walked into the bathroom, and I slammed the door closed.



***



“Let’s discuss this quickly and quietly.” Nick and Claire nodded their heads. “Tell me what you think.”

I looked at Nick. “Well, I don’t know. One part of me says what do we have to lose, besides each other? The other part of me wants to stick around and make our way back to our families homes to see if there are any survivors.” I felt the same way.

I looked over at Claire for her opinion. “Elaina, whatever you decide, I will have your back one hundred percent. But let me just say that I think this is it, guys. I think this is all we have. Our other option is we stay, they go.” My body went rigid with fear. I was pretty sure that I couldn’t handle being away from Henry, regardless of our relationship status.

“Would they just leave us unable to protect ourselves, though?” Nick asked.

“I doubt that.” Claire pointed at me. “Henry loves her dearly. I don’t think he would leave her high and dry. Or leave her, period…even if they are, seemingly, on the outs right now.” Nick raised his eyebrow at me, and I looked down. “He’d probably drag her out kicking and screaming.” I wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

“Are you okay, Elaina?” Nick reached out and touched my arm. “Did you two break up?”

“I gave him back the ring.” I held up my left hand. His eyebrow jacked all the way up his forehead. “I can’t handle his lying anymore. And I know he’s hiding something.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and clenched my teeth together so that I wouldn’t cry again.

“Wow. I don’t know what to say.” I think he was having trouble deciding whether he wanted to hug me or kick Henry’s ass.

“Me, neither.” It was killing me as much as it was killing Henry. A part of me thought that Henry would just stay there with me, and the other part of me feared that he would go off into the sunset with Sophie. I was torn.

“We need to decide,” I said. “What’s left here? If anything, we will eventually need to travel just to get supplies. I think we looted nearly every building here that we could get into, minus a few apartment buildings.”

“Right.” Nick tucked his hands in his pockets as he spoke. “Valid point. Let’s vote. Majority rules.” He was ready for a decision.

“Is this even a democracy anymore? I feel like King Henry and Queen Sophie are calling all the shots here, and we are the jesters that are providing them with entertainment.” Nick and I looked at Claire. This whole fucked up situation was even turning the most proper people into cynical, snarky bitches.

“Do we stay?” I asked. The three of us looked at each other. I could see that Nick and Claire were still working it through in their heads, much like I was.

“Travel?” There was a pregnant pause. Then we nodded at one another, and that was that. We were traveling.

We headed back out to the kitchen where Sophie and Henry were checking over the guns and stuffing the packs with necessities. Henry looked up when he saw the three of us coming down the hallway.

“Well?” he asked, with some apprehension in his voice. We locked eyes for a moment.

“We will travel.” Henry dropped the supplies that he was about to put in the pack and ran up to me. He reeked of booze.

“Really, love? I am so relieved. You have no idea how worried I was that you would want to stay.”

I wanted to be angry with him. I wanted to punch him. I wanted to kick him in the tomatoes, but my heart just wanted me to continue to love him.

I was so scared to lose him, but I was also scared that I would be leaving someone behind. I feared one of our family members was out there, hiding out, waiting for someone to rescue them.

“To be honest, I have mixed emotions about this, Henry. We want to stay, but we feel it is best for our survival to go. We feel like we have no choice in the matter.”

“Elaina…,” Henry whispered, “I understand. Sophie and I want what is best for the group.” Nick laughed, and Henry whipped his head around to glare at him. “For all of us. We are a family now.”