We had walked for about two miles before settling down in an old office building. I applied hasty first aid to the child's ankle before leaving the pair on the first floor to make sure the other nine floors were clear of any Skars…..or people. After carefully searching the other floors and verifying that they were safe I returned to the first floor and gave the child's injury more proper treatment. After wrapping a bandage around her ankle I looked at Allison,
"We should make camp on the third floor."
"Why not stay here on the first floor?"
I started putting away the medical supplies I had out, "If something or someone enters the building we'll have less time to react to them, but if we were a couple floors higher it would give us life saving time to prepare for whatever it is." I finished packing my things and knelt in front of the girl,
"I'll carry the kid again."
"I can walk on my own now." she said in a standoffish manner.
"Maybe you can but if you start putting pressure on it again right after hurting it, it'll take longer to heal, which means we have to stay here longer and staying in one place longer than you have to is never a good idea."
Unable to come up with any sound arguments against my logic she looked down silently at the floor in frustration. "C'mon kid we don't have all day."
"My name is Hazel, and I'm not a kid." she said with a hint of attitude as she climbed on my back.
"Oh you're not a kid, sorry you just look exactly like a kid that I just assumed, my bad." I said with clear exaggeration. I could almost taste the frustration building up in her. I chuckled softly.
"Why are there so many desks here?" Hazel asked.
"What?"
"Well I mean, what did people even do here?" We had reached the third floor and made our way to an open area in the middle of the floor. I set Hazel down and began unpacking.
"What are you talking ab…." That's when it hit me, Hazel is probably too young to remember anything before a time when Skars hadn't taken over the world.
"Right, I guess you wouldn't know. Well adults would come here roughly five to six days a week, work from nine to five doing….to be honest I have no idea what they did in these places. But it definitely wasn't any fun."
"Why would you work a job that wasn't any fun?"
"Well the job would either pay well or even if it didn't it was still the best job you could find, as long as it put food on the table people will work pretty much any job." Hazel had an inquisitive look on her as I looked over at Allison.
"You never told her any of this stuff?"
"It's….never really come up."
What does that mean? It's about time I find out where these two came from.
"Okay Allison, I think it's about time you tell me what's going on with you two."
"Before that can I ask one question?" I thought for a moment before answering, it wanted to know about them right away but answering one question should be fine.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Can you tell me where Trina is."
"My mom is dead."
There was a long silence, even Hazel who was playing around with the gear I left on the floor stopped moving.
"Im….im so sorry."
"Its fine"
"Can…..can you tell me how she died."
"No"
Another long pause, I could tell by her expression that she really wanted to know. But the sensitivity of the subject prevented her from pushing the subject further. I sighed internally before speaking again.
"I'll tell you one day, but not anytime soon."
"I understand."
"Is Jack….."
"Yeah, dad is dead too."
"I'm sorry"
There was another long silence before I spoke again. "Now it's my turn, please answer me honestly. If you dont I wont be able to help you guys anymore." Allison's face turned serious as she gave me a firm nod.
"Where did you two come from? And don't tell me you guys have been wandering, I can tell by how nice your clothes look that you haven't been traveling long." After a short pause she started telling me about where they came from. Apparently there was a group of survivors that formed a community in the east, it was pretty secure from the sound of it. She said that they only left that community about four hours ago before running into me. It's a little crazy to think that I was that close to a large human population. According to Allison there were over a thousand people in this community. They maintained security by making makeshift walls along their borders and using taller buildings as watch posts to properly place armed personnel at hot spots along their perimeter. After hearing about the whole set up I couldn't help but be impressed. I asked about their military force but Allison didn't know much. All she really knew was that they had access to a few dozen vehicles and a decent amount of firearms. She didn't know about their numbers or tactics when fighting the Skars. Apparently this community kept information about their military force fairly guarded. When I asked how long this community has been around I got an answer I wasn't expecting at all.
"Since the beginning? You mean since the first sighting of the Skars?"
"That's right. It was one of the first refugee camps to pop up after the Skars initial invasion. It was also one of the lucky ones to have a strong military force to protect it. The military commander placed in charge is very resourceful. He was able to find effective ways to fight skars almost immediately. With that being said only a fraction of the military force we once had is left."
"Even so, that's impressive. Is this military commander the leader of this community?"
"Yes the community's name is Eden."
"Well isn't that biblical." That's one important question down, I only have two more that I really care for.
"Okay so is this your first time outside Eden's borders?"
"Yes"
"I'm assuming you've been in Eden since the Skar invasion, correct?"
"Thats right"
"Even so, you know very little about the dos and don'ts out here, did they not tell you anything about what's going on?"
"They give us updates on major Skar movements but that's about it. The only ones with real knowledge of the Skars and life out here are the ones in the military."
I see Hazel slightly shivering from the corner of my eye and throw her one of my spare blankets. It landed humorously on her face, afterwards I heard a muffled thanks as she wrapped the blanket around herself.
"Did you know about the Ghouls?"
"It….was only a rumor among the non military citizens, is it true, that the Ghouls…. are humans?"
"No, Ghouls used to be humans, there's a difference."
"How does that even happen?" I thought for a moment of how to explain this, since I'm not a scientist like my mom was I don't really understand the process myself. Well I guess I can just explain what I think it is.
"Are you aware of the Skars' influence on plant life since they've invaded?"
"It's hard to miss."
"Right, well I think the appearance of the ghouls are similar, just in a more dramatic way. I know that a person has to in some way have some form of Skar Dna injected into them. It's usually after a person is wounded by a Skar, at least that's the only way i've seen it happen. Once someone dies after being infected with Skar DNA it takes a bit of time but they do eventually become a Ghoul." Hazel pops her head out of her blanket cocoon to chime in on the conversation.
"So they're zombies?"
"Uh, yeah I guess so."
"Fantastic" with that she tucks her head back into her blanket.
"Are you sure the person has to die first, what if anyone infected turns into a Ghoul after a certain period of time?"
"I seriously doubt that."
"Why?"
"Well…" after thinking for a moment I decided to strip off my jacket and shirt. Allison was taken aback for a moment then started closely staring at the multiple scars that ran across my body.
"Are those all from…Skars?" she said, as she moved in closer to study my old wounds.
"No, some are from people but most are from Skars." Hazel popped her head out again and stared at my scars with wide eyes. Allison ran her hand along a particularly long Scar studying it. Allison was a fairly attractive woman for someone her age, I might've even felt excited except for the fact that she somewhat reminded me of my mother. Even if she was a girl my age I doubt I'd feel anything. I dont have the luxury of such trivial things like that.
"You're infected," she whispered.
"Yeah, but the thing is the first time I was bitten by a Skar was when I was ten years old."
"How old are you now?"
"Twenty-two"
"Twelve years, that long."
"Unless im for some reason resistant to infection I think it's safe to say that as long as you're still kicking you won't turn into a Ghoul."
"Yes I agree" I started getting pretty cold so I began to put my jacket and shirt back on. It was then that Hazel spoke up again.
"Did they hurt?" It took me a second to realize that she was talking about my scars.
"A little bit, nothing I can't handle though." I gave her a mischievous grin and I got a light chuckle from her in return.
"Okay, last question" Allison straightened herself up as she gave me her full attention.
"Why are you two running?" The smile that was on Hazel's face earlier was gone as she pulled the blanket tighter around her small body. Allison was also clearly afraid as her eyes started darting around.
"I….I can't tell you"
"You can't?"
"No"
"No matter what?"
"Yes"
"You do know that you can't survive out here without me right?"
"Im aware"
"But you still won't tell me?" Allison looked at her daughter who was looking at the ground tightly wrapped in her blanket, she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. Allison turned to face me again with renewed confidence.
"Even if it means we have to part ways, I can't tell you….not yet." I raised an eyebrow "not yet?" Allison remained silent. I looked at Hazel and couldn't help but feel sympathy for the frightened child. What the hell? Now I look like the bad guy.
"Did you kill someone, or steal something you're not supposed to have?"
"I'm not a criminal, and I'm not a bad person. But…neither are they. It's a very complicated situation." yeah it sounds complicated, i'm getting a headache just thinking about what kind of situation they might be in. I glance at Hazel once more then back at Allison. Just then a memory of her and my mother eating at the dinner table and laughing talking about some nonsense popped up in my head. Mom wouldn't forgive me if I abandoned them. Hell, I probably wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
"Alright I guess that's fine." Allison looked at me questioningly.
"I'll help you two, it's what my mom would have wanted me to do, and to be honest i wouldn't feel comfortable abandoning you guys, especially a KID" Hazel immediately scowled at me "i'm not a kid!"
I let out a hearty laugh and stood up. I'll get dinner ready, you two should rest. Allison was staring at me dumbly and Hazel's expression lit up at the mention of food. As I began preparing a simple dinner Allison made her way to me.
"Is it really okay?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious, but you obviously feel very strongly about it. Plus from the sound of it, you'll tell me when I earn your trust." Allison had a pained look on her face, was it guilt?
"Well you are also the only person left that I have any form of connection with…..I guess I just don't want to lose that either." Allison's face became a bit softer after I said that.
"Let me help you with dinner."
"Thanks"