Brie stood in the middle of the road, glaring at John. He hovered over the dead body like it wasn't even there, stepped over it, and trudged towards her menacingly.
"Stay back! Don't you dare come near me, monster." Brie scoffed, pulling out her knife. He raised his eyebrows.
"Brie, If I wanted to kill you I would've shot you minutes ago." He tapped the pistol strapped to his waist with a sigh. "I just want to explain."
Brie lowered her knife, confusion washing over her. "Explain what? That you're murdering and killing-"
"They were already dead. Once the virus touched their body there was no saving them." John grumbled, looking back at the mangled corpse he had stolen from. "We need resources more than them, which is why I've been taking their clothes, their belongings."
"Why take their clothes?" Brie pondered, rocking on her feet as she awaited an answer. John chuckled quietly. "I knew I'd have visitors at some point, so it was nice to collect clothes for them, just in case." His gaze went dim as he looked down with regret.
"Did you have previous visitors?"
He sighed deeply. "Yes, but they caught the virus. I kept their things and gave it to you, I knew they'd want it that way. They had a heart of gold."
Brie watched as he held out the stolen jacket. He stuck a hand in the pocket and pulled out an energy bar. "I'm sorry." Brie lowered her head, staring at her boots. Her brother was right. John was just a normal man, going through pain like the rest of them.
"Come on, let's finish going around the block and we'll go back to the station." John tilted his head back and took a look at the sky. "It's going to rain again."
He turned and quickly paced away, Brie following on his heels, shoving her knife back into her pocket. A drop of rain tapped her nose, making her jump. It then began to pour down, soaking them almost instantly. They broke into a jog, making their way back as fast as they could.
Once they got back to the station, Adam drowned them in towels. "You're going to get sick! Both of you." He scolded, ruffling Brie's hair with the towel purposefully. She walked away quietly, head down and arms folded.
Adam followed behind her.
"I told you so." He muttered, making Brie's face flush with embarrassment.
She spun around, eyes shining with tears. "Why don't you trust me anymore?" She swallowed a lump of fear as Adam barely batted an eye.
"Brie-"
"No! I don't want any dumb excuses. I was right, he was sneaking out and killing the infected. Whether it was for the good or bad, I'm your sister. You should be on my side no matter what." She felt a tear slip and fall, but she didn't move to hide it. She was angry.
"It's not that I don't trust you, I just didn't want you getting into a situation you'd regret." Adam used a thumb to wipe her face and moved forward to hug her gently.
"What was I supposed to do? Leave Melissa all by herself in the house to follow you?" He sighed and patted her head. Brie sniffled and spotted John standing at the door, gazing at them.
"I understand how Brie could be suspicious, I should've said something. We were both in the wrong." John spoke up. "Anyways, I suggest we forgive and forget for now. We need to decide who will be on night shift." He glanced outside.
"Night shift? I thought we didn't need to do that anymore because the walkers had moved on." Adam moved away from Brie to look out the window as well. Brie watched as Adam went rigid.
"What's wrong?" She shuffled forward to get a look, and felt herself shudder. As she looked outside, there was a huge... thing... walking towards the base. It was at least 7 foot, and it's body was mangled and lumpy. It was barely human.
"Is that a person...?" She whispered as they ducked under the window.
"It seems to be a walker, but it isn't. Maybe it's evolved? Transformed?" Adam hissed, racking ideas from his brain.
"We need to hide. We can't fight that thing!" Brie glanced around. "Does this place have a basement? A room we can lock?"
John stood up quickly and ran out of sight from the window. "Follow me."
They rushed around the building, waking Melissa and finding themselves at the back of the station, the storage room. John pulled out a set of keys and locked the door.
"We stay here all night, and then we go out. If it's still there in the morning, we try to kill it, but it's just too risky right now." John ordered, getting a nod of approval from everyone. Melissa peeked through the door's small window.
"I don't see anyone in the hallway, are you sure it's coming inside?" She mumbled, raising on her tiptoes to get a better look.
"It was heading straight towards the-" John began to speak, but a loud bang cut him off. "-door..." His voice trailed off as another loud slam came from the other side of the building.
Brie studied the storage room quickly, looking for weapons. There were blankets, batons, uniforms... Nothing too useful. She watched over Melissa's head to try and see what was coming, and gasped as a chunk of wood came flying down the hallway. "It just broke through the door."
Loud footsteps echoed quietly, however they got louder and louder with every thud.
"Get down, you idiots!" John pulled Brie and Melissa down and into the corner of the room, grabbing a blanket from the closet and hiding them all in the darkness of the room. They sat, curled and hoping it would just leave. Of course, it was never that easy.
Moments of silence passed before the footsteps started again, grunts of confusion coming from the other side of the door. It was heaving heavily and you could hear the bubbles of blood blocking its lungs. Brie could see the silhouette of the monster through the thin cover. It was looking into the window, observing for movement.
"It's waiting for us to move, watching until one of us screws up." Brie hissed under her breath, barely audible. She felt Adam press a finger to her lips, telling her to shush. They all fell still once again.