Friends Against The World (Book 1): Bite Me

by Walters, Geneva

  I look at Lynx and she is still suspicious, but she puts her knife away. "Well, since you already here, you can stay here for the night at the very least. Once everyone wakes up we can discuss what to do next. We could always use some extra hands, after proving we can trust you, you could just stay here? We have it all fortified, and after you find out about your relatives I am sure it is not an issue. Provided we get your names of course."

  "My name is Phoenix, and this is Bellatrix, just Bella for short." The redhead holds out her hand to shake, casting a side glance to Lynx.

  "Pleasure to meet some more humans that speak in more than groans and wails." Bella nods, and I smile. "Thank you, we weren't sure what we were going to do. My aunt lives down by the elementary school, and I know its a long shot but she’s all we have left. Phoenix and I's parents left for vacation in Texas and we lost contact a week ago, doubt they survived the first wave as they went to a populated area."

  "They are dead." Lynx comments, and I glare at her again.

  "Lynx, do we need to get your other half to balance out the pessimism?" I say, and she gives a small smile.

  "No, sorry. Just very on edge, I apologize girls." Lynx shakes Phoenix's hand, who returns her smile.

  "It's okay. Understand being protective. Now I know you are Lynx, what’s your name?" Bella askes me.

  "Right, sorry. My name is Geneva but feel free just to call me Eva or Eve. I have heard all of the above and then some." I joke and shake both their hands in turn. "Well, I guess we just continue watch then? How much stuff do you guys have in your car?"

  "We have some food and medicine, then personal belongings." Phoenix answers, and I look at Lynx.

  "Who is on watch at the back right now?"

  "Dainan and James I believe."

  "We should help them get their things soon, if its only a kilometer away we could easily do it in under half an hour. Just bring gas, fill their car, and then we meet back here? Dainan has that truck so we could do it now..." I propose, and Lynx shakes her head.

  "It's too dangerous at night, we don't know what’s out there besides hordes. I heard about those on the news but didn't realize there were any around here."

  "We should grab the car before raiders steal anything though, I got some medicine I need to take in there." Bella says, and I ponder the idea.

  The clock reads about a half an hour after four am, and I yawn, before turning back to them. "Lynx, I appreciate the concern of safety, but I don't know how much choice we have here. If she needs that medicine, we should go now."

  “Fine, but this is going to have to be done quietly, if what they say is true. That old truck is too loud, we need another car to go."

  "Lee's is pretty quiet, easy to fit four people in too."

  "Thank you guys so much, we will definitely pitch in and help, if you will have us and my aunt is truly gone..." Bella trails off, and Phoenix rubs her shoulder.

  "I am sure that will be fine with the others. Lynx, mind going and telling Dainan and James what’s going and then seeing if Lee is awake? I will wait with our two new friends here." I ask, and she disappears to go do so after agreeing. "How old are you two?"

  Chapter 45

  "We are both sixteen." Phoenix answers. "How about the rest of you?"

  "Ages range between seventeen and nineteen, we used to go to this school, but were up north at a friend’s cabin when this all went down. Only a few of our families survived, and we haven't had contact with anyone else besides you guys in the few days we have been here." I answer, and Dainan and James walk up to where we are just as I finish talking.

  "Hello! I am James, and this is Dainan." James points to each as he introduces them. "Glad to see some more survivors, even if it is just the two of you."

  "Heard you needed some supplies retrieved?" Dainan asks, and Bella quickly explains after introducing her and Phoenix.

  Lynx and Lee come moments later, Lee wiping the sleep from his eyes. Quick introductions are made and then they settle into discussing how we are going to do this. We finalize plans around five in the morning, the tiredness beginning to drag me down as the minutes pass.

  "Eva." Lee's voice cuts through my daze and I start, turning to look at him. "You need to sleep, they told me you haven't yet, and you seem tired enough too. Go wake Xavier and send him to wake Anthony and go to sleep. We will wake you round nine, okay?"

  I nod, agreeing. I wave to the group where they are sitting, Bella and Phoenix already fitting in, and walk up the stairs. I push open the door to my room and lay down beside Xavier, who rolls over and throws his arm around me.

  "Hun, you have to wake up." I say, and he grumbles. "Xavier if you do not wake I will be forced to pour water on you."

  "I am awake." He mumbles, his voice deep with sleep. "Time for our watch?"

  "Not quite. I couldn't sleep so I was on watch with Lynx when two strangers showed up at the front door. They weren't infected, so we let them in. There's a group downstairs figuring out a schedule to go get their stuff from their car that's a bout a kilometer up the road, out of gas." I explain, and he sits up rubbing his eyes. "Two girls, named Phoenix and Bellatrix. I haven't slept yet cause of thoughts, so I was ordered to sleep. Lee asked that I ask you to wake Anthony for the mission too."

  "Geez, Evie, you have all the fun." He says, kissing me gently. "So not what I expected you to say but get some sleep. I'll wake you in a little bit."

  As soon as my head hits the pillow, I pass out, not even hearing Xavier leave.

  Someone shakes my shoulder and I wake up, the bright sunlight burning my eyes. Violet's face comes into my view and I groan at the early morning sun.

  "Wake up, Eva. We are having breakfast meeting with the two newbies. It's ten in the morning." She says, I sit up, and she laughs. "Nice hair."

  She hands me a hair brush and I quickly fix it, standing to check it in the mirror that was on the teacher’s desk. Violet hands me my little carry on bottle of rubbing alcohol after I ask, and I begin to clean my piercings.

  You have all the excitement, two strangers showing up on our front porch." She comments, and I shrug.

  "What do you think of them?" I ask, and finish cleaning my lip rings.

  "They seem nice, determined to prove we can trust them. Phoenix helped with breakfast and Bella joined in the prep, the mission to get their car went well. Its an old Jeep Cherokee, apparently, it was Phoenix's back from Toronto. Got it back and Dainan already checked it over. Everyone is just waiting on you and Quiyl, Lee went to wake her. So, get changed, let's go gorgeous!" I hug her quickly and do as she ask.

  I find an old sweater and throw it on over some leggings, and we walk to the cafeteria. Phoenix and Bella are laughing at something Idris said when we walked in, separating to sit beside our boys. Xavier squeezes my hand when I sit down, and I grab some food from the plates in front of us. The omelettes smell amazing, and the bacon is nice and crisp. Lee walks in with Quiyl a moment later and we sit down, digging into the food now that everyone is there.

  "Sleep well? You passed out like a rock as I was leaving." Xavier asks, and I nod.

  "Had a good five hours, I have functioned on a lot less. Who ended up going this morning to help the girls?"

  "Lee, Anthony and Dainan, just in case they ran into any infected. Nothing too exciting, was able to get the car started and came back. Lee mentioned he saw a group of infected by the golf course, but they seemed to be heading away from us, so we aren't too concerned." He eats another bite of omelette, and then gestures for me to look where Phoenix is trying to get my attention.

  "Thanks for being so nice. Everyone here is awesome, and we are glad for the back-up when we head to Bella's house. Anthony and James already offered." She smiles at me and I return it.

  "No problem. We are just glad you guys made it safe!" I respond, and Bella taps her on the shoulder, and they lapse into a conversation.

  We finish eating quickly, everyone laughing and joking with each other like we have known e
ach other forever. As we finish, Lee and Quiyl begin to cart dishes off to the kitchen, and Violet stands, everyone moving their attention to her.

  Chapter 46

  "Good morning everyone! As you all can clearly see we have two more in our ranks right now, welcome Phoenix and Bella. As we discussed yesterday we are spending today on raiding parties and continuing our perimeter wall. Bella has mentioned she would like to be on one, so she and Phoenix can go to her Aunt's to see if they survived or left any memo they did. Anyone else volunteer to go on this one?"

  "Quiyl and myself will go, anyone else?" Lee says, and Dainan puts his hand up.

  Violet writes it out and they arrange to go for noon. "Now I know James had mentioned we should try to go for farm animals today...is there any way we could set up a temporary fence to house them?"

  "James and I have already been working on a plan, I'll stay back from the first raiding party and go on the second. Any extra hands willing to do some hard work can meet us at the baseball diamond. I think we could get something rigged up in about three hours."

  A few put their hands up and volunteered for the job, and I nudged Violet as the few who volunteered lapse into conversation with Anthony and James.

  "We need to do our checks of the greenhouse stuff today too."

  She nods, and then sits back down beside Xavier, Idris discussing things with Liam about the raids.

  "Depending on what Sonji is up too, she could help. Be a lot faster." I turn to where Sonji is sitting on the other side of the table. "Sonji?"

  "What's up?"

  "Want to help us with the greenhouse stuff this morning?"

  "Sure! Lynx is off to help the boys build a fence anyways. Xavier are you going to help?"

  "Probably. More hands mean faster work, anyways right?" Xavier says, and then turns to look at me. "You are coming out afterwards?"

  I nod, and then begin to stack plates.

  "Hey guys?" Avyanna pipes up, and everyone turns their attention to her. "Can someone else make the food for the next two days or so, I need a break."

  "I got this, I will need an assistant though, Lee can't even make frozen pizza." Quiyl says, and Lee rolls his eyes.

  "Once. I messed it up once, and she has never let me live it down." He grumbles, and she laughs, ruffling his hair.

  "Never my dear, until the day I die, I solemnly swear."

  "I can. I know my way around a kitchen." Lynx offers.

  "Thank you!" Quiyl responds. "Now I got to go get ready to go on this raid, are you coming Lee?" She asks, he agrees, and they leave.

  "See y'all later!" Dainan waves his hand, going to prepare the old truck for it's first mission.

  The group splits, everyone who's not in the first raiding party wishing them luck, and we go our separate ways. Sonji, Violet and I enter the greenhouse and do our checks, it is going by quickly as we settle into a rhythm. We have around fifty plants starting to grow, once they matured we planned to harvest the seeds and start to grow more.

  "We should ask the second raiding party to go hit up that garden store in town, see if there are any seeds left. If we got an area secured, we could start an outside garden too." Violet suggests.

  "That area over by the front gate might be good, plenty of sun and nice wide-open space?" Sonji put in, and I thought it over.

  "The old track and field shed is right there too. We could cart all the equipment inside and into a gym and convert it to a tool shed." I mention, and the two of them nod. "We could use Dainan's truck or Phoenix's Jeep, provided we ask when they get back."

  "I hope it goes well..." Violet wishes.

  "They have some good people with them, I am sure they got this." I reassure, finishing the last tests. "Shall we go join our fence builders?"

  Violet hangs the clipboard back up and we leave the room, letting the door shut softly behind us. We leave out the back doors of the school and wander to the back corner where the baseball diamond is. The horses are gathered around the group of people in the middle, consisting of James, Anthony, Avyanna, Xavier and Lynx. Liam had taken first watch inside, just to keep an eye out. Aries and Zeus trot up to us and we greet them with friendly pats, them walking alongside as we joined our friends in the middle. Anthony has taped his plan to a table that was left over from one of the classrooms, and James is drafting in some of the final details.

  "How’s it going, ladies and gents?" I ask, and Xavier turns to me with a grin.

  "Pretty good. We have a good idea of how to divide the field and where to put a shelter eventually. We are going to use the baseball structure in the corner to brace it. Anthony found a few old spray cans, so we were about to start marking out the field, and Lynx dug up some chicken wire from...somewhere. She refuses to say where, saying that it 'increases the mystery."

  Lynx looks to us and smirks, and Sonji laughs. "We found it the first day, it was laying under the library. We used some of it to cover the windows, you guys didn't notice?"

  "We aren't the most observant type sometimes." Anthony remarks, and some chuckle. "But that is a great idea for some of the windows we don't check or are far away from our normal areas."

  "Where's Idris?" Violet asks.

  "He was finishing fixing the radio for me while I was out here. Then I believe he and Liam were going to set up in the main hall and Liam was going to start scanning channels while he joined us." Xavier explains, before taking one of the cans of spray paint and begins to line the field.

  Chapter 47

  Two hours pass as we build the fence, the many hands making for light work. By the time we see the cars returning from the raid we have almost finished, James and Anthony fixing the last few posts. We have split the field in four, the horses and other animals besides the pigs getting the bigger lots. They wave us off and we go join Liam in the front hall, waiting hands to unload what they have found.

  "Get Xavier and Sonji out here!" Quiyl calls from where her window is rolled down on the passenger side, Phoenix driving. "Bring something to carry Lee with!"

  Xavier disappears to grab one of the stretchers he found in the nurse’s office and Sonji runs to the car. Just as it stops the back door is thrown open to show Lee passed out, Bella holding something stained red to his stomach. Idris begins directing us where to go, Xavier and Liam quickly transferring Lee to the stretcher Xavier has set up. Xavier and Sonji quickly whisk him off to the cafeteria, where most of their supplies are still.

  "What happened?" I ask Quiyl, who has tears running down her face, following the stretcher.

  "We showed up at Bella's Aunt's house, who is dead by the way, in the middle of a raid. Three guys came out, guns first. Lee threw me aside, but it caught him. We barely had time to drive away before another got hit."

  "Oh my god." Violet exclaimed, then turned back to talk to Bella and Phoenix, who are holding each other, crying.

  "Come on, lets go wait by where they will be, so we will hear first, alright?" I offer, and she nods.

  As we enter the cafeteria we see Liam already there with a few chairs sitting beside him. We sink into them, and I pull Quiyl into my arms as she sobs. I gently run my fingers through her hair and give her some tissues. The curtain is pulled across for the room divider, and I hear Xavier and Sonji talking quickly in terms I somewhat understand. Lynx walks up and sits down beside Quiyl, rubbing her leg gently.

  "There are two of the smartest people I have met in there working on him, if anyone has a chance of saving him, they do." Lynx says, and I am surprised by her complimenting Xavier.

  "Geneva!" Xavier's voice calls, and Liam moves to my chair to take over comforting Quiyl.

  The curtains part as Sonji gestures me in, and I follow.

  "Sanitize your hands please." Sonji holds out a bottle of sanitizer and I do so, talking quietly. "We need another hand here. We are having trouble retrieving the bullet from where it is."

  Lee's skin is very pale as I slip on some rubber gloves and pulling my hair back in a hairband.

 
"We are pretty sure it did not hit anything important, since its an abdomen wound its hard to tell without and x-ray. If you don't mind testing his blood type Sonji, Geneva and I will attempt to remove the bullet." Xavier instructs, and I move to stand beside him. "I will hold the wound apart for a moment if you do not mind removing it with those forceps."

  He does so and a bunch of blood gushes out, I clear it quickly with a cloth and find the piece of lead, removing it and dropping it in the dish on the table beside the stretcher.

  "He's A positive." Sonji says, quickly helping Xavier stitch the wound as I remove my gloves. "He is going to need a transfusion though, he has lost a lot of blood."

  I grab two needles and attach them to a thin tube, then turn to Xavier. "Take mine, I am A positive. You just need to prick me please."

  Sonji quickly pulls the extra bed over and I sit down, she quickly inserts it in my arm near my elbow, then into Lee's. I watch the red blood leak from my arm and into his. Xavier finishes cleaning and dressing the wound before pulling a blanket up to cover his chest. He cleans his hands and so does Sonji, worry creasing his forehead.

  "What are you thinking, dear?" I ask him, and he sighs.

  "That was a lot of blood lost, and my first time performing on a serious wound. I just hope I did well enough for him to pull through this."

  "You both did the best you can, I am sure that's all we can ask for. Its just a waiting game now..." I say, gently stroking some hair of Lee's forehead. "One of you should probably get Quiyl, she is going to want to know what's going on."

  Sonji disappears through the curtain and I hear her speaking quietly to Quiyl. She returns, handing a juice box to me which I quickly open, Quiyl following and sitting in a chair Xavier dragged in.