Somehow, we were able to withstand the blasts coming from the hotel long enough to find shelter in the forest. 

Nugget continued to cry, flailing his arms about hysterically. 

After Cassie had calmed him down enough, Nugget had finally been able to confess that he'd lost the plastic bag holding the bomb. Apparently, Evan had entrusted him with it before we'd all dashed out of the hotel. Somewhere between running from the now-crumbling hotel and leaving Poundcake to waste away on the ground, he'd dropped it. 

Dumbo was trying to calm him down at the moment. Everyone else was too preoccupied to pay him much attention. 

Flintstone was sitting on the ground, cradling his broken arm. 

Cassie was staring wide-eyed at the burning hotel, the bottom of her lip quivering as she wrapped her arms around herself. 

Zombie was leaning up against a tree, his arms crossed and his face completely emotionless. 

And me? 

I was standing like a dumbfounded fool, unable to process anything that had just previously happened. 

I still felt Grace's threatening fingers piercing the skin of my neck, with her legs crushing my hands, rendering me utterly powerless. I could still feel the pit of dread in my stomach as Zombie fell under the weight of Poundcake. And I could still feel my heart shattering from Zombie's look of desperation and regret as we ran away from the silent boy's lifeless body. 

I looked over at Zombie, whose eyes were glazed over and whose body was still. 

He had blood coated on his sweatshirt from carrying Poundcake and more was seeping through the bottom of his shirt, probably from the extra strain put on his bullet wound. 

Seeing him so defeated made me feel defeated. Zombie was supposed to be the strong one of the group, the leader. And now, with our home for the last couple months blown to hell, Ringer and Teacup nowhere to be found, a dead soldier, and crippled squad, we needed a leader more than anything.

I tugged my jacket closer to my body, trying to keep out the biting air as I stepped over a couple tree roots to where Zombie was.

"Zombie?" I asked softly, my voice barely a murmur. 

Zombie blinked twice, dragging his eyes down to me. 

"Yeah?" he said quietly, his voice tired. 

"How about we sit down?" I breathed. 

Zombie seemed to think about it for amount before nodding slowly. 

"Yeah," he said simply, letting the tree trunk guide him as he lowered himself to the snow-covered ground.

I sat down next to him, drawing my knees to my chest. 

"I'm sorry," I said, glancing at him sideways. "For...for..." I tried to force Poundcake's name out, but my mouth ran dry, shoving his name back down my throat. 

Zombie nodded. "I know...I know," he said distantly. 

We sat there for a little while. The world pausing, with only the sound of fire crackling and Nugget's crying to be heard. 

Then Zombie's fingers grazed mine slightly. "And I'm sorry," he said. "For what Grace did to you...and for not being there..." 

I looked over at him and a sad smile took place on my lips. "You don't need to apologize for that," I said. "And I'm fine. Both of us have been through much worse." 

Zombie nodded once and I turned my head to look forward once again so my eyes rested on the burning hotel. 

We sat in silence, neither one of us uttering a word.

We didn't speak because there was nothing else to say.

Neither one of us knew what to do next or had the slightest clue of how to defeat the Others.

Neither one of us had encouraging words to tell the other because there weren't any.

Poundcake had just died, Evan Walker was surely with Grace in Dubuque, Teacup and Ringer were still MIA, half our squad was crippled, and it was just us, a couple teenagers, against the world.

I shook my head softly, confused and lost.

"Canary, Zombie," Cassie said, approaching us, the snow crunching beneath her feet.

"Yeah?" Zombie said.

Cassie cleared her throat. "Ev-Evan uh gave me this map," she said, her voice quivering. She dug in her jacket pocket to reveal a torn piece of paper covered with ragged pencil marks.

"He uh said that we should head to Grace's old house," she said, pointing to the horribly drawn house towards the corner. "It'd give us shelter."

She coughed lightly and hastily brought her sleeve up to her eyes, trying to catch the tears before they fell.

This was even harder on her than the rest of us. Evan Walker was gone.

I felt Zombie shift beside me. "Fine," he said, nodding. "Let's head out."

"Wait! Zombie! Everyone!" Nugget stood up, his face screaming of alarm. "Everyone! Th-there's someone! An Other! Coming this way!" He jumped up and down, pointing madly towards the direction of the hotel.

Just as I was about to dismiss his antics, a figure appeared amongst the trees.

Zombie looked at me.

And I looked at Cassie.

Cassie's face, only seconds earlier clouded with grief, lit up to display a smile.

And then she ran forward, towards the outstretched arms of Evan Walker. 

<><><>

Short chapter but I hope you liked the end to Part 2: The Infinite Sea! 

Part 3 will be coming out in probably a week or two, so please hang tight!

I have a huge huge huge announcement! @stfumendes was so kind to make Perish a trailer (with the new actress for Canary)! Please check it out and also take a look at stfumendes' works! 

Let me know what you hope to see in Part 3 and what you did or DID NOT like so far! I really need some good constructive criticism so please hit me with your best shot and fire away. 

I'll be shouting out my favorite comments from the past couple chapters that I forget to do that for, so still comment and look forward to that in the first chapter of Part 3!

Anyway, until Part 3, hit that star button and buckle in for the ride!