We were down to twelve now. The third car didn't show up and two of our neighbours in the pickup truck had died from their gunshot wounds. Cassandra had been grazed by a bullet so Hae In had cleaned her wound and covered it with gauze.
Our cars were adorned with a couple of bullet holes and we were all sad and pissed, mostly pissed. The mood became worse when we realized that the bullets had hit the gas tanks of the two cars and the gas had leaked out. The third car had been the one carrying the jerry cans filled with gas and most of the weapons.
Daniel, Cassandra and Roshni's mum had headed into town even after we had made it clear that we didn't want them to. Who knew if the 2,548 people were infected? It was still a risk they were willing to take after this was pointed out.
The heat rose off the tarmac in shimmering waves and my shirt was completely soaked with sweat as we waited for them to come back. Alison's blonde hair was a tangled mess on her head and her green eyes had lost their sparkle. She glanced at Debbie who was crying by a tree after she screwed the cap back on the bottle she drank from.
"Are we going to die?" she asked.
I took a deep breath before I answered, "I don't know."
She frowned and I immediately said, "No?"
I wasn't sure anymore.
"Are you asking me?" she rubbed her eyes.
"No one's dying," Faye stated as she sat beside Alison.
Alison turned her head to face me, wanting me to back Faye up. I didn't want to give any kind of hope. If I told her we could die and we didn't, she'd bring it up later and if I told her we wouldn't die and we did, she'd bring it up in the afterlife. I didn't want to die knowing I gave her hope.
I placed my hand on her head and smiled. "What Faye said."
She nudged my hand off and I went back to staring at the town as I thought of how nice sitting in an air conditioned room would be. Roshni and Zeke took out any infected that came too close with knives since a gun would be too loud.
"I need to pee," Alison mumbles as she gets up, looking at me expectantly before I get up too.
"Why do you want me to follow you?" I ask when she starts heading for a tree. She doesn't reply.
"Whoa, whoa, hey," I exclaim when she doesn't stop at the tree and she turns around. "I'm not going any further."
"Everyone would see me," she states with a horrified look on her face.
"No one's even looking," I gesture to them.
Everyone was.
"No one wants to watch you," I rephrased.
She looked away from me and put on her best puppy dog eyes. "Faye, please follow me."
Wow. Wow, wow, wow.
I gritted my teeth as Faye rose from the ground and rolled her shoulders. Her mouth twitched as she walked past me and I frowned as I went back to grab my cleaver before going after them. Jack tried to follow us but Hae In held him back.
"Stay close," she stated.
After a while, we were surrounded by trees and Alison was finally comfortable. She made her way to the back of a tree and I busied myself by watching our surroundings. I could still see our camp from here. Ezra was leaning on the truck as Clareta said something to him. She placed a hand on his arm and he said something that made her begin to hit his chest. Playfully, I realized when Ezra threw his head back and... laughed?
What in the weirding?
He doesn't smile at anyone and Clareta is anyone so why is he laughing, what's funny? He gripped her hands and I leaned forward like I could possibly hear what he was saying when something skittered up my leg. I stomped my foot on the ground but the insect didn't fall off and I brought my leg up to swat it off which caused me to lose my balance. I instinctively brought my right hand up to brace myself against something which happened to be Faye when she yelped and stepped away.
White flashes beneath my closed eyelids when I fall and I wince as my upper and lower teeth make an unplanned connection. I rolled onto my back to see her giving me a shocked look. I was quite confused since I was the one that was supposed to be shocked but when I got up I realized that I had been trying to lean on her with the cleaver.
"Oops," I muttered. "Sorry."
Alison came out from behind the tree while I got rid of the dirt on me.
"Alison, grab the cleaver for me," I said as she headed towards us.
She instantly scowled, "What if I didn't come back?"
I pursed my lips at her but didn't say anything since she picked it up from me. It was what I always said whenever mum called me to do something she could have easily done by herself.
She was still scowling as she picked it up from the ground and handed it to me.
"Thank you ma."
Something suddenly whizzed past my ear and I slapped myself, thinking it was a mosquito. My face stung from the hit and Alison furrowed her brows at me as she began to walk back to the camp with Faye behind her. It whizzed past my ear again and I jerked my head back to swat the mosquito when I saw a woman standing behind a tree, the gun in her hand pointed at me.
I froze. Our stare-down lasted either a couple of seconds or decades. I wasn't sure who looked more shocked between the both of us. We moved at the same time, me towards Faye and Alison and her towards me.
"Stop right there," she said.
Faye glanced back and quickly pulled out her gun.
"I wouldn't do that," another voice said.
I spotted the man beside another tree closer to Faye and Alison before he moved towards us.
"Drop it," he said, keeping his gun leveled at Faye. "Both of you."
I looked at Faye and after a while she nodded as she began to slowly lower her weapon to the ground with Alison glued to her side. I followed suit.
"Get it, Melanie."
Melanie kept her gun pointed at me as she came forward when a gun shot rang out and the man went down.
"Holy shit!" came a voice from above and I was almost tempted to look up.
Melanie looked stunned as she tried to figure out where the shot came from. Faye quickly bent down to retrieve her gun but Melanie shot at her and missed.
"Damn it!" she exclaimed as Faye grabbed Alison's hand and broke into a run. I could hear footsteps behind me as I ran and she was getting too close for comfort. Faye was shouting for Ezra and I was directly behind her and Alison when I saw another man charging at me from the left. He was going to knock me down and I really didn't want to be on the ground and alone if Faye didn't stop so I turned right.
The plan was to run around the tree to get back with Faye but the man was already there, forcing me to keep running in the wrong direction. I could hear Ezra yelling and the sound of gunfire as I ran through trees, getting further from camp.
"Enny!"
The man was right beside me, grinning like a maniac and looking thrilled. My heart was in my throat and it felt like I was drowning in my own fear. I should have kept my eyes ahead because I didnt notice the root sticking out of the ground till it snagged my foot.
Not today, Satan!
I managed to catch myself before I fell but the man's reaction was delayed and before he stopped running to turn around, I was already running towards camp.
"Ezra!" I yell as I realize he wasn't the only one chasing me.
There was a lady running towards me but I didn't stop running. I wanted to dodge her when I got close enough and if I couldn't, I hope Ezra finds me in time.
In time for-
I immediately came to a stop, stumbling forward a bit before I began to furiously backpedal as the lady switched from running on her legs to running on all fours. My heart pounded and my mind churned as she got close enough for me to see the dark veins on her brown skin. Time stood still like never before when she was in front of me... then she passed me.
What just happened?
It didn't take long for my fear to fade and everything returned slowly. When I turned around, she was standing above the man who was now on the floor, unmoving. She looked at me and blinked a couple of times before she took a step forward, her head tilting to the side.
"Enny!" came Ezra's voice and I looked back to see him running towards me.
I turned to face the lady but she was no longer there.