"Teresa," Tobias was saying her name, and she heard his shout with a dim recollection, but it didn't last long. "Teresa..." There it was again, but the speaker's voice only sounded dimly familiar now. "Teresa...." Who was that calling? The scream that had turned her stomach to liquid fire was it only five minutes before was gone, and her eyes had closed to welcome in a dim blur of memories, of her best friend. Because her entire world was now centered over the burnt shell crumpled in front of her that had once held such life. 

Alex... When would she wake up again, Teresa wondered. 

Alex... What if she never did? 

Alex was dead. 

But, in Teresa's churning mind, it made no sense. This wasn't Alex, this crippled, blackened, piece of flesh. This must be the dead Mutant in the cave. 

But wasn't she outside? 

"Please..." The word escaped with a crack. They hardly sounded human through her bleeding ears, and she could feel the remains of her heart twisting into a hardened rock. When that electro-bolt had hit her friend, it had struck her spirit until it was a pile of cinders, and as she stared, her fingers turned numb with fear. She was cold, colder than she'd ever been, and the dead Mutant in front of her was different. 

Was it really Alex? No, Alex wasn't dead, she had just been running around a few minutes before. Teresa waited anxiously for her to wake up, and call her a weak beanie, maybe storm to the entrance and watch the sunset that was occurring in her peripheral vision. But it was brighter, and it streamed it's shining beams onto what once had been her friend. 

"Teresa," there was that voice again. Why couldn't the person leave her alone, because the flashing bolts and her friends sleeping form was occupying enough and she wanted her to wake up. The sunset was actually just a flashlight, she realized. 

"Hey Alex," her voice was just hoarse now, and she traced her fingers along the rough, speckled black, cheek. "Do you want to go home? Are you still asleep? Come on, it's really loud out here." She shook her head, her mind twisting into insanity, as the world darkened. 

"No..." she whispered. 

And then it snapped. Teresa felt her heart give one final twist as she fell into reality again. Alex was dead, and she wasn't infected. Tobias was shining a flashlight on her unmoving figure, and a cold rain had started to fall, gently wetting her skin and bringing a relief she didn't deserve. The electro-bolts were stopping and an unhappy sort of peace had filtered through her. She had the vaccine for the Mutation, and therefore she couldn't get the disease and nor was she contagious. 
But Tobias...

"Get away!" Her scream was so sudden the older boy stumbled back, his fingers grasping the thick edge of the cave wall behind him. "Get away," she repeated numbly, the words echoing inside her skull. Tobias couldn't die too, even if he loved her dead best friend.

Tobias, frustratingly, just stared.
"Is that Alex?" His strong voice was suddenly puny and weak. "Tell me," a rawness had worked its way in.

"Do you want to die too?" Heart in throat, Teresa willed him to go away with a desperate glance. "And, that, is Alex." Tobias took a staggering step into the cave, his dark eyes glistening in the eerie light.

"Alex." He croaked.

He would never feel this way if she were dead.

"Tobias. You will die. Inside. Now." The stern words that left her mouth organized her grief-stricken interior as he looked at her for the first time, eyes filled with grief and pain.

"You don't understand," he whispered, "I loved-"

"I know, Tobias. You loved her." The words were harsher than she intended and he jerked back, his face icing over. "I know," she added. "Get inside." She shooed him away with her hand and he stiffly obliged.

She breathed a sigh of relief until her ears picked up the echo of a whisper, and she strained to here.

"I will never forget you, Alex," the echo said. "Teresa can't have me. I am loyal to you till the earth falls from the Virus.

Teresa couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Nothing mattered anymore.

Nothing.

The grass rushed at her and just before impact her consciousness evaded her.

The world faded away.