The group had invited Emelie and Doug to join their group. "We're only six in the camp. We aren't a lot, but we sort of symbolise a family, and it's more than enough," the leader of the group had said. "As impossible as it sounds, there are also kids in our camp as well. We take care of them well, but of course, everyone needs to have a contribution."
Their walk was silent, and the happy chatter of Paige was mainly the only thing they heard. Doug's eyes gleamed whenever the girl walking next to him giggled. He wondered how amazing it was to see how much this girl admired him. Doug had thoughts about the body that he had taken; he must've had a wonderful life, having this kind of joyful and pretty girl in his life was already a gift, he had thought. He didn't get why this man took his own life. Things didn't seem that bad in his perspective. He was happy that the suit didn't wear out when he found the body.
Behind Doug and Paige was the girl with over-sized, black shoes. Emelie was plain clueless on what had happened. Earlier, she felt a slight stab of jealousy as she watched the girl with red lips and neat hair cling on Doug, but now she didn't care anymore. Her dry lips turned into a snarl as another thought occurred in her mind 'in a world like this, why on earth is she wearing red on her lips? How does she keep her hair tidy like that when there are particles of dirt and dust in the air? How are they so carefree when the earth is slowly rotting beneath our feet? It's like they've forgotten about what happened.'
"Hey, you ready to talk now?" The man had introduced himself to Emelie earlier, but she had no interest in talking to the scar-faced person. He had been walking next to her for the last thirty minutes, but she had never said a word to him except when she had introduced herself.
"Name's Emelie," she had said earlier. The group didn't ask anything else after her blunt introduction. She was still uneasy around them. It had been a while since she had joined a group.
The man walking beside Emelie was Ramsey. He had told Emelie why he had a scar on his left eyelid, even though she didn't ask. It had caused his eye to slightly slope downward in an unnatural manner. He had said that it was because of another group of men that was threatening to murder him when he denied to give them his small supply of food. One of the men tried to attack him with a knife. The cut could have gotten worse if it wasn't for the Italian man who was also part of the group, Matteo. He had saved Ramsey by holding the man back, and the tip of the knife had only scraped Ramsey's face. In the end, the group had exiled Matteo, so he had no choice but to stick with Ramsey. Emelie had paid attention to his story and she wanted to ask more, although bit her tongue down and stayed silent instead.
She wasn't exactly sure what to think of about the group.
"I'm not really in the mood right now. I'll entertain you when we've reached your camping grounds," Emelie replied nonchalantly and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Well, let's talk about your contribution then--"
"We can talk later, if that's alright," she replied quickly. "I haven't decided if I'll stay yet."
"Here," Ramsey held out a towel for Emelie.
Emelie shook her head, "No thank you. You don't need to be concerned."
Ramsey shrugged and was somehow curious on why this girl was so close-minded and completely off. "Suit yourself."
"Rams, don't push the girl too hard. She did say that she had only met Doug two days ago, meaning that she's been alone all her life, right darling?" Penny, a little older than Emelie, had said. Emelie looked over her shoulder, smiled, and nodded at the chubby, tanned girl. Penny sighed as she twirled a strand of her brown, curly hair between her fingers. "God, I wish I could shave my head! This thick hair is killing me."
"My wife used to love her thick hair," Matteo blurted out with a nervous laugh. Penny and Emelie looked back at him with a frown, then there was a pause of silence, even Paige kept quiet. "She was a feisty Latina!" he suddenly added, which made Emelie let out air through her nose unknowingly.
˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜
Emelie's eyes widened as she saw a massive building that seemed to be an abandoned mall not too far away. She assumed that it was the camping grounds that Ramsey and the others have been talking about and she was right.
The mall was about 30 feet high and 80 meters long. The mammoth windows were covered with cardboard but the second floor had shattered windows and Emelie could see some unfamiliar faces peeking down to her. Although it was huge, half of the mall had broken down from natural disasters. Broken cars were arranged almost neatly into some sort of pathway, leading to the front doors of the mall.
"Why are the vehicles placed like that?" Doug asked, looking around.
"The cars were such a mess before," Ramsey answered Doug, "So we've arranged the cars like fences. It helps us see whoever is trying to break in; those scums used to hide behind the cars and take a lot of our supplies at night without any of us knowing. Now, they can't hide anywhere anymore."
"Interesting," Doug muttered. He looked back to Emelie but her eyes were locked towards the shattered windows on the second floor. "Are you okay there?" he asked her. Paige looked back at her as well.
Emelie didn't look at any of them; she only nodded.
The first floor of the mall was like a living room. There were plastic and wooden chairs, at least three long tables, book shelves filled with old books and stained toys. One of the stalls in the mall has been turned into a kitchen. There was a stove, ice chests, and piles of cardboard boxes. Two kids ran towards Emelie and hugged her, telling her that she would be safe in the mall. Slightly overwhelmed, she introduced herself once again with a small smile and beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. It's been a while since she had seen kids. She almost forgot how their voices sounded: high-pitched and always joyful.
One of the kids was Elaine, an eight year old Swedish girl with dark, blue eyes and short hair. The other child was Henry, a ten year old Korean boy with black hair and wore a shirt that was too big for him.
"Hi, hello! I'm Elaine! You're so pretty!" Elaine giggled, gripping Emelie's sleeve. "This is Henry, my future boyfriend."
Henry rolled his eyes but struggled to hide his big smile, "I hope you know how to cook, miss."
"Now, now, don't pressure her too much, kids," Penny, with her gentle voice said to the both of them. "Henry, nothing has happened?"
"Nope," he shook his head, "You guys were only away for like, 30 minutes. Of course nothing would happen. We're okay."
"Good," Penny smiled warmly at them. "Come with me, Emelie. I'll show you your room and then I could probably find you some new shoes," Penny smiled at Emelie and gestured to her to go upstairs.
"I could come with you, if that will make you comfortable," a voice surprised Emelie from behind.
Emelie shook her head, "No, thank you. I'm fine with Penny already."
Before she could take another step, Doug held her wrist gently. "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"
Emelie turned to him with a sad look that casted upon her face. She knew that Doug didn't understand her feelings; when she was so scared to walk with the new people earlier, she had hoped Doug would slow down and walk beside her because she didn't know any of them except for him, as Paige was too busy with him. Although Emelie doesn't put all the blame on Doug , she just hoped that Doug understood the situation a little better earlier. Her guard was always up and she was always cautious; she didn't feel safe. Right now, Penny was the only one she felt comfortable with. "No, you-- Well, sort of. But you would never understand."
Doug took another step towards her, eager to know her better, "I wish to understand."
Emelie stared up into his grey, almost lifeless eyes, then she looked away when she felt the increasing beating of her heart. "I'm quite tired. We shall have a talk later, is that alright?"
Doug released Emelie's wrist slowly, not aware what Emelie had felt when he did, "It is quite alright."
Emelie crouched down and removed the black shoes and handed them to Doug, who slowly grabbed them from her hands like they were fragile. When he had turned and walked outside, it was only then that Emelie realized that her mountain backpack was still on Doug's back, and it seemed that he forgot about it. Her mood lightened up as she had to hold back a smile from the silliness. She almost forgot that Penny was standing right there, with a big smile on her face.
"Somethin' goin' on with you two?" she asked with a smirk.
Emelie shook her head.
"Ramsey said he wanted to have a little chat with you," Paige told Doug as he stepped out of the mall. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite." She smiled and gave a peck on his cheek.
"From what you've told me, you are my previous girlfriend. . . correct?" Doug asked her slowly.
"Yes," Paige sighed. "But we should talk about it, please. . .I really missed--"
Doug cut her off, "I appreciate your sweet gestures but I'd rather not want to."
"Oh," Paige blunted, feeling a little embarrassed as she puts a strand of hair behind her ear. She had waited to see David for as long as she could remember, and when she finally saw him, she was filled with nothing but disappointment. "I'll be with Matteo in the kitchen."
˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜
"This'll be your room, Em," Penny proudly said.
Emelie almost gasped when she saw her room-- it was ten times better than her old crate. It was small but she smiled to herself when there was a big window near the bed.
"The bed is creaky and old, we've found it in the furniture store inside a stall that had almost collapsed," Penny said, tapping the bed frame. "I hope it's good enough for you."
"Well, this is a lot better than my old home so yes, this is more than enough for me," Emelie said with a genuine smile.
"Yes, yes it is. We've always kept it that way in case some new recruits like you would come along."
"This room will only be just for me?" Emelie asked, but regretted it because she thought she sounded spoiled for a moment.
Penny chuckled and twirled a strand of hair again, "I'm not sure if we have any more rooms for your friend, Doug." She held Emelie's hand in a friendly gesture but Emelie had quickly stepped away from her grasp.
She blinked in surprise. "Will. . . Will he be staying with me?"
"Oh, are you uncomfortable with that?" Penny looked at her with a worried face. "I'm sorry. I'll ask Ramsey to share his room with Doug instead, I'm sure he won't mind. I thought you'd be okay with--"
"Well," Emelie's face flushed red and she looked down at her bare feet. "It's alright. I'll get used to it."
"Good, because Ramsey and Matteo share a room. Paige and I share a room, and the two troublemakers share one room as well," Penny smiled at Emelie again. "Come on, I'll give you a tour then you could pick your new shoes!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So," Ramsey said as he sensed Doug walking near him. "How did you find the girl?" He inhaled his cigarette and let out smoke from his mouth.
Doug stared at the cigarette. "Wouldn't that thing lessen your lifespan for a few years?"
Ramsey laughed and looked at Doug, his left eye barely opened. "I guess so, but there's nothing to lose anyway," he took another breath from his cigarette and asked again, "Where'd you meet her?"
"At a bridge back in the south," Doug replied, still staring at the cigarette between Ramsey's rough fingers. "She was about to jump off a bridge."
"What? That's crazy! No wonder she's like that."
"She's like what?"
"You know," Ramsey said as he inhaled from his cigarette again, "Troubled. She's really troubled and cautious, I could tell." Doug remained silent and walked towards Ramsey, who continued to speak, "I think you're the only one who she trusts right now. Do tell her that no one will ever harm her here."
Doug grabbed the cigarette from Ramsey's mouth and squashed it with his fingers. "I will do so."
Ramsey raised a brow, although he wasn't really bothered about the wasted cigarette, because he lit up another one and asked, "What's with the huge-ass bag?"