“Yes”.
“But why Kent? They picked me up near Kent why keep going all that way?”
“Supplies round this area are low, we’ve found that out but the boss he was from Kent, knew the area well. Hell he’d even found some petrol that some rich people had stored”.
“So why stay here? Why not make a camp in Kent?”
“Beats me”, she replied wiping her nose on her sleeve.
Monique couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her, yes she had played a part in Stacie’s family being destroyed but it hadn’t been what they had wanted to do it was to stop them from being killed and then for that slime bag to do that to her. Just looking at him made Monique want to hurl let alone be touched by him.
“We have to make sure Callum goes with Stacie we can’t let her go and be attacked by him it would destroy her”, Monique said.
“Can’t we make her not go?” Amanda sniffed.
“She has had her mind made up for a long time now, I don’t think whatever we say would change her mind”.
Amanda nodded, “I guess I need to let him go with her, it’s only fair for what we done to her. At first I didn’t want him to go but now I see he must, I wouldn’t wish that man on anyone”.
“No I wouldn’t not even my worst enemy, let’s head back we need to tell her before she storms off. I have a feeling she won’t stay put when she wakes up”, Monique said.
Slamming her foot to the floor Amanda drove the truck back to the camp in next to no time.
~
My eyes blinked open, I was laying on a bed but it wasn’t mine. Dust particles played lazily in the sunlight that had burst its rays through the small window, trying to sit up I held my head as pain raced through my skull, I remembered someone had hit me hard knocking me unconscious, “Argh!” I cried out half in half pain half frustration, I tried to lift my hand to where it hurt but a metal clink let me know I had been handcuffed. Struggling with the metal device keeping me put I heard the door open, looking over Callum walked in his face sullen.
“Stacie we need to talk”, he said coming over to me.
Then blind anger raged in my veins and I tried to lash out at him but to no avail as I couldn’t reach him, “You killed them, you took her, you bastard”, I spat the last bit at him.
He sat on the bed next to me, “And I’m so sorry, I really am and I want to make it up to you by helping you save her from them.”
“But you think she’s dead! You know she’s dead and you just want rid of me so I don’t ruin your special little thing that you got going here”, I snapped.
He shook his head, “No that’s not it, I really want to help and now I know who you are I know she’s alive”.
“Right and how do you work that one out?” I asked him.
“Because I know that the head bloke took a fancy to Tanya, in return for her being with him he promised to keep her alive and protect her from the others. She became one of them… the head girl. When we last saw them she was in a very comfortable position to be in, she’ll be fine”, he answered.
I shook my head at him, “No she wouldn’t be like them and she wouldn’t become one of them”.
“Maybe not exactly but the fight to survive does things to people, they adapt”, he said.
“So what we just walk in there and take her do we?” I said sarcastically, “Seen as their you’re mates an all!”
“They’re not my mates and no they wouldn’t just let us take her, we will have to fight to get her back and that’s even if she wants to come at all”, he replied.
“And why wouldn’t she?” I asked.
“She might have made herself a home there, you don’t know”, he said.
“I’m going to get her and save her whether she likes it or not”, I snapped at him.
He nodded, “And I will help you”.
“I don’t want your help!” I screamed.
“You might not want it but you need it”, he told me.
I felt so pissed I didn’t know what else to say or do.
“Look Stacie I know these people, I know how they work. Don’t you think its funny how you came across us, me? You found me so I could help you its Karma trying to fix all the things that are wrong”, he said.
“Or it could just be you trying to make yourself feel better and it is just mere coincidence we met”, I spat.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me but please let me help you. I can train you with more guns, I can teach you basic driving skills so if anything happens to me you can still get out of there”, he said.
“I don’t want your help”, I spat at him.
He kept a hard exterior but his voice was soft, “Stacie I am sorry I’m not that person anymore, look how many lives I have helped to save”.
I leant forward into his face as close as the handcuffs would let me go and laughed, “And how many lives did you take first? How many lives did you destroy?”
He kept his place, not flinching in the slightest as I let him know how crappy he was no matter how many lives he saved. His dark piercing eyes looking so deep into mine I could fall into them but I wouldn’t look away first I needed him to see I might be small, I might be young but I meant business, suddenly the door opened and Amanda rushed in, “I think me and Monique should talk to her”.
I felt betrayal enrage me, why would Monique have been talking to her and why would she want to help them by talking to me? He stood up and looked at me, a deep sorrow in his eyes, “Very well you can try but I think her mind is made up. I’ll go and see Lee and Greg”.
“Um, they didn’t make it. We were attacked by Hugh and his guys”, Amanda said her voice dropping.
Callum rolled his head back and stared at the ceiling putting his hands to his head like he was in pain, “Did he hurt you?” he sounded angry.
She shook her head, “Monique fought him off me but he’s still alive”.
He nodded, “I will kill him and place his head on a plate and serve it to the creatures, that man needs killing”, and with that he walked off leaving me with Amanda and now Monique as she slowly walked in.
“I know you’re going to hate me but you need to listen to what we have to say!”
Chapter Five …
Monique came and sat on the bed next to me keeping very weary of how I was going to react to what she had to say, Amanda stood by the door keeping well out of my way, “Stacie look you have to listen to me, you must let Callum take you to the big guns. You cannot go alone, to go by yourself would be sending yourself to the slaughter. Or better yet just don’t go”, she said almost begging me.
“Oh not this again”, I said bored.
“No this is different Stacie. Amanda and I just went out on a supply run, whilst we were there four of the big guns turned up and killed the two blokes that came with us like they were nothing. Then one of them attacked Amanda he was going to rape and possibly kill her, he was vile and disgusting and I don’t want him or any of them doing that to you”, she answered.
I sighed, “I know you mean well Monique but I have to go, if there is any chance she is there alive, well I have to know and see if I can save her from them”.
“They won’t let you Stacie, they are ruthless and to be honest I don’t want my brother getting killed for you”, Amanda said.
“Right but its ok that you two used to belong to their group, killed my dad and took my sister! I think he owes me, anyhow if they are so ruthless how did you two escape from them then?” I asked.
“We had a moment, we took it. But we were lucky and luck doesn’t happen much anymore these days”, she snapped, “Look I know you feel we did this to you and yeah in a way we did but we were forced into it, it was either kill or be killed. What would you have done in that situation?” she asked me.
I shrugged but I knew deep down what I would have done, I would have taken a bullet myself, there was no way on this earth I would have killed someone innocent to make my life easier. I would have fought those people
somehow even if it meant myself being hurt or killed but that was just me, in this world people seemed to have no morals anymore, “Well I wouldn’t have done that”, was all I said.
“Yeah right, little miss goody two shoes hey, making out your so much better than all of us that you wouldn’t kill to save your own skin but I bet if you were really in those circumstances you would be different. There is a difference between what you would like to think you would do and what you would actually do”, she snapped.
“No your wrong I admit I have killed to save my own skin but not innocent people”, I said thinking back to all the creatures that had once been human that I had taken down, Darren at the hospital who had almost been a friend but had tried to kill me as he had turned and the crazy doctor who bade for my blood so yes I had killed him and be wasn’t even a creature but he was worse, much worse.
“I don’t believe you”, she said.
Monique just looked exasperated at me, “Please for me your friend”.
“Well it seems you have a new friend in her, so why worry about me?” I said.
She shrugged at me, “Yes me and her might be friends is that so wrong? And I care about you a lot, in just those few days we have known each other we have been through so much”.
We had but I had been terrorised at the hospital whilst she had been through hell at the water facility, not quite together but then again did that matter?
“Yes we have and I’m sorry I don’t mean to be an arse but I need to find her, nothing you say will stop me”, I replied.
“Then please take Callum with you”, she pleaded, “He knows them, knows how they work it could mean the difference between life and death for you and her if you find her”.
“Great friend you are telling me to take your friends brother with me to the slaughter”, I responded.
“Amanda has been attacked by them first hand and knows what they are capable of, yes she isn’t your biggest fan but she wouldn’t wish it on you. You should be thanking her for agreeing to let me talk to you about taking him with you”, Monique said with a hint of order in her voice.
I felt bad, yes they had helped ruin what my family had going back at that farm house with Linda and the others but was it the same for me if I took him and he got killed? No it wasn’t the same this was his choice, mine and my family’s demise wasn’t. So was that it was my mind made up? Was I really going to let him come with me? Yes! I was going to take him with me and there was a possibility he could get killed but was that just collateral damage? “Fine I’ll let him go with me”.
“Oh I bet that hurt goody two shoes”, she snarled at me before storming out the door.
Monique got up to leave, “Stacie please be careful, I really would like for you to come back, for me and for Ollie”. Then she left closing the door behind her.
For a few hours I waited by myself sure that they had all forgotten me, then the nurse came back and checked me over and gave me an almost clean bill of health. Told me to rest for a few days and that if I started being sick or dizzy to come right back but I couldn’t rest, Callum had said he was going to train me against them and I wasn’t wasting any more time.
She unlocked the hand cuffs and sent me on my way, I walked out the medical centre and felt the cool breeze on my skin. My stomach screamed at me for food and I knew I had to get something to eat, walking to the canteen I noticed how nice this place really was. There was a group of children between the ages of four and eleven all playing together, watched carefully by a group of mothers who were collecting all the dry clothes off the washing lines. The women’s gossiping and the children’s laughter was music to my ears it almost sounded like the old times when the world was a happy place to live in. Just past them was a small group of teenagers, they were all doing their bit working together, watering plants that were waiting to grow into food for the camp, pulling weeds and showing one another tricks on how to keep the plants healthy, it wasn’t like the teens of the old world where they had gotten into gangs and shot one another, or the girls that could get so plastic and worry about their image and weight, these teens just seemed happy to be alive.
Reaching the canteen I noticed that dinner wasn’t quite ready yet so I wondered back outside and over to a group of women to ask if I could help, “Hi um is there anything I can do?”
A tall woman with curly red hair tied out of her face looked at me, she seemed to be studying me to see if I was ok to talk to, “Are you allowed to help out?” she asked.
“Er I think so why?” I said.
“Well we know your leaving”, she answered.
“Yes but I want to help out why I am here”, I said.
She then smiled at me, “Ok, um Gareth needs help putting all the supplies from the supply run away, you see that hut over there?”
I nodded.
“Well he’ll be in there, it was normally Greg’s job to help him but….” She trailed off.
“I’m sorry about your friend”, I said.
She just waved her hand, “I didn’t really know him but it’s always hard to lose someone from the group you know”.
I nodded it was always hard losing anyone. I left them to chat whilst I headed to the hut, knocking on the door I heard someone shout, “Come in”. A bloke of about fifty came out from a cupboard, “Oh hello what can I do for you? Anything you need?”
“Actually I came to help you”, I smiled.
“Oh right well let’s crack on then shall we”, he was very sweet with small glasses just sitting on his nose, one lens had a hairline crack running through it.
He led me to the cupboard and showed me a pile of stuff that needed to be sorted, he quickly showed me where everything needed to go. We stayed quiet as we placed all the things away which was good for me as it meant I could think for a while, then I decided to break the silence, “Can I ask a question?”
“Go ahead”, he replied.
“Why do you have Callum and Amanda in charge? Do you all…I don’t know feel safe with them?” I asked him.
He chuckled, “Yes very, I wouldn’t want anyone else”.
“Really?”
“Yes, they saved my life when things were looking really bleak. My wife was attacked by a group of creatures, tore her limb from limb, I was trapped inside room and after hearing her screams from the street Callum came in and shot the creatures off her, Amanda coaxed me out of the room I was in so I could at least say good bye to my beloved Edna. Then they brought me here kept me busy with jobs to do and Callum even makes time to come and see me every so often to make sure I’m alright. Can I ask why you asked?” he asked me.
“No reason, just wondered why them and not someone else”, I lied.
“To be honest with you girlie I don’t think anyone else could do what they do. They go out looking for survivors and fight off hordes of creatures and they even deal with the nasty humans like the big guns they used to hang with”, he replied.
“Wait you know they used to be with them?”
“Oh yes they made it very clear to us all what they used to be, some of the women and children here were prisoners with the big guns until those two liberated them and brought them here”, he said.
“So they didn’t just escape alone they saved others too?” I said.
“Yes, that red haired woman outside Stephanie, her and her children had been taken by the big guns, Callum somehow made a distraction by letting in some creatures and keeping the others on their toes, whilst that was being dealt with Amanda had stolen one of their trucks and was loading people in it. They couldn’t save everyone but they made sure the women and children were first. Then they found this place, set it up like a safe zone, guards on duty all the time. Luckily for us the big guns haven’t found this place but they are getting wider with their search for supplies, like today for your friend so I imagine it won’t be long till they appear”, he said.
“Do you think people here will be ready? Will they fight?” I asked.
“For sure the
y will fight but whether we will ever be ready is the question. Callum has tried to train most of the able bodied but there will still be more of them than us and they are ruthless”, he turned to look at me, “And you’re the girl that wants to go to them willingly?”
I nodded.
“Well I think I know why Callum wants to join you”, he said.
“You know that he wants to come with me?” I felt like everyone knew.
“They keep a group of us as…how do you say it? Like a governing body, they keep us in the loop as to what they are planning so that if anything goes wrong we know what to do and how to cope”, he replied.
“Good idea I guess”, I said placing some toilet rolls onto a shelf.
“I think so, anyway I think he wants to go with you because before he wasn’t able to save everyone he wanted to, so this is his chance to go back and save them and in the process maybe take down the monsters that run the joint”, he said.
“Well I will try to help him all I can”, I replied.
“If he hasn’t told you already he might want you out of that loop especially seen as your heart is set on your sister, he might think you will get distracted, let him do what he needs to and if he wants your help he will shout”, he said.
We finished the rest fairly quickly which was a good thing as my stomach was pretty much screaming at me and the canteen was now open. Thanking Gareth for the chat I then strolled into the canteen, I grabbed a tray of food which today was a load of home grown vegetable soup and homemade bread. Ollie waved me over so I went and sat with him.
“Hey you how you been?” I asked scuffing his hair.
“I’m good actually made some neat new friends”, he motioned to the boy and girl sitting with him, “And I have been given a different room in the children’s block”.
“Children’s block?” I said.
“Yeah it’s for us kids who have no parents or relatives here, they keep us all together with two women to keep an eye on us, so we don’t feel lonely I suppose”, he smiled, “I love my room me and Tim share and it’s a boys lair”.
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