"Were you really able to run from it? Wouldn't it be quite fast? Since it's part wolf?"

She had her face scrunched up again, like she doesn't believe me.

'I mean, she's right. I died and came back to life. Not like she is going to believe me if I tell her that anyway…….'

"I thought that too. I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it, but obviously I did."

She arches her eyebrow, but she relaxes after she asks me a question, " And you were able to make it all the way to Kayla's house? With three backpacks?"

"Yeah, it was difficult, but I made it here with all three somehow."

Michelle suddenly hugs me, "I'm sorry that I made it seem like I'm mad at you…. I'm not, even in the slightest bit. I'm just glad that you're alive and here with me." 

She hugs me even tighter as I feel my shirt getting wet. I start to hear her sobbing softly against me.

I wrap my arms around her and hug her, rubbing her back to help her feel better.

When she lifts up her head and rubs away the tears on her face, and smiles slightly towards me.

"Sorry, Ethan, my emotions are just all over the place."

I lift my lips lightly and turn them into a smirk, "Crybaby".

"I'm not a crybaby!" she says, as she gasps and hits me lightly while laughing. I started laughing with her a second later.

She then stops laughing and starts smiling and giggling. Afterwards, she had asked a question that caused me to almost have a heart attack.

"Oh, Ethan! Where are the backpacks?"

Her eyes widened abruptly when she didn't hear me say anything. When she saw me start to slowly stand up from the bed, she asked me the same question again, but more fearfully.

"Where are the supplies, Ethan?"

I ignored her question and ran down the stairs to the first floor. Passing the living room to the front door window, I see Kayla and her mom sitting on the living room couch. 

Kayla's mom, Casey, stands up and walks to me, asking, "Ethan? What's wrong?"

"I left the supplies I brought on the porch……"

"On the porch!?!" Michelle says, coming up behind me. Moving the stacked cabinets away from the windows, she looks outside to see the three backpacks lying languidly.

"Well, we can't get them now. The herd just made it to the house. We can't go outside."

Turning around, I head toward the couch, with my head down, and sit.

Kayla pats me on the back, smiling slightly, saying, "It's all right, we have about a week of food for all of us anyway. The hoard will pass throughout the night as long as we stay quiet. When they are gone, we can get it in the morning."

I sighed and turned to her, "That's true. Alright, we can wait til tomorrow."

I look away from her to see Michelle slowly putting the cabinets back on top of each other. She turns to me and smiles happily, "Well, it's not that important. I'm just happy you're here. Even if you weren't able to grab anything from the house, I would still be grateful that I at least still have you."

My eyes had started to tear up, but I rubbed them before they could form. 

"Whatever, love you too, Michelle."

She giggles softly as she comes to sit next to me and pulls me into a side hug.

"Love you more." 

Casey comes to sit back with us on the couch, "I wish my siblings had the same type of relationship y'all have with each other. We wouldn't have to live so far from each other if we did.", she says, laughing quite heartily afterwards.

I smile towards her, nodding in an understanding way.

I sigh while thinking of Mom.

'Hopefully she's someplace safe where the monsters can't touch her.'

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I hoped for the wrong thing that day…

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