The only Hope

Gerard’s pov:

“Hey Gee, what’s wrong?” Mikey had followed me.

“Nothing…” I was sitting on the couch.

“Oh something’s up, alright.” He sat down next to me.

“Mom’s on your mind, isn’t she?” Mikey looked at me.

“Yeah…” He was right, but the situation with Hope was also bothering me. “I am afraid I can’t protect her. Korse will be back, we know that much.”

“Yeah, but back then we were at that abandoned hotel remember? He had hacked the cameras and everything.” Mikey was right. Out here, Korse had little control.

“Still…” I sighed. I couldn’t get too attached to her, knowing she would leave or that Korse would get to her again.

“I see the way you look at her.” Mikey got up again.

“I swear nothing is going on. She’s underage for god’s sake…” I answered him a little too quickly and he noticed.

“Whatever you say, Gee.” I got up now too and faced him.

“I’m only protecting her, got it?” Mikey saw that I was angry.

I walked away towards the kitchen. I saw Frank getting real close to Hope, damn it Frank.

Suddenly she noticed me.

“How… How do you want your egg?” I forced a smile.

“Scrambled, please.” She nodded.

We woke up Ray and after we had breakfast we discussed the plan for today.

“So yeah, looks like we’re going to need more supplies, ‘cause Hope made us breakfast.” Mikey joked. Luckily she laughed about it.

“You’re welcome by the way…” She smirked.

“But guys…” I interrupted. “How about some training today?”

“You could…” Ray started. “But I’m gonna check on the car and the tank outside.” He got up.

I nodded. “Okay, what about you Frank?”

“I need to fix this over here, so maybe later.” He pointed at Hope and smirked. She rolled her eyes.

“Mikey?” I drank from my coffee.

“Sure, but shouldn’t you fix the barn? The rainy season is coming, you know.”

I nodded and swallowed. “Yeah, I’ll do that later today.”

Mikey tilted his head a bit. “You’ve been saying that for weeks.”

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll start with that and later, when Frank is also done, we’ll do some training.”

Hope spoke up. “Why train today anyway? Looks like it’s going to be hot outside.”

I got up and walked over to the counter. I placed my cup and plate there.

“Because we need to stay in shape. Dracs don’t care about heat, they could attack every hour of the day.”

She nodded slightly.

“Okay, so meet you outside in one hour?” I pointed at Frank, Mikey and Ray. They nodded.

“What about Hope?” Frank asked.

I thought for a moment.

“Uhm, she can entertain herself, can’t she?” She looked at me with her eyes narrowed. I sighed. “There is some drawing stuff in my room, help yourself if you like.”

She nodded again, but I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t satisfied with my answer. “Look, I would be happy to train you, but first you should recover properly.” Then I left.

She was way too weak, still. I walked over to the barn and entered it. I searched for the ladder and found it hidden behind a stack of hay. Oh my…

Was that blood?

In my head the wheels started turning. So that’s why we couldn’t find her… This was her hiding spot.

I covered up the blood with some more hay and walked outside with the ladder. I looked around and saw some plastic boards placed against the barn.

Perfect. If I could place them over the open spots on the roof and attach them, it wouldn’t leak anymore.

I placed the ladder firmly onto the ground and started climbing with a plastic board in one hand. Better get to work then. I repeated this quite a few times and took a hammer and some nails with me the last time. After I finished attaching the boards I looked around and sighed. The view was breathtaking. I mean, it’s just desert everywhere you look, but it gave me a safe feeling.

I sat up a bit to get a good look at the diner.

Oh shit!

I lost my grip on the roof and started sliding down. I embraced myself for the impact.

Notes