by Lake, D. K.
"It's just gone midnight." Hutch told me.
"Fuck." I didn't know it had got that late.
We had been searching for Alex and Margo roughly since seven o'clock. They had been missing for five hours already. I shook my head. This was bad.
I marched into the back room and saw Lane asleep and Sophie was next to him, dabbing his head with a cold flannel. Duke was sitting at the table playing cards and Nick was scribbling in his notebook under the candlelight. Pope was standing in the kitchen area pulling bandages out of the First-Aid box and Alice was grilling him.
"What do you mean by men were putting people in vans?" Alice said.
"Exactly that, Al. We're not safe in this zone. We need to move out as soon as we find the others." Pope said.
"Trust me, I would love to leave but we can't right now." she said, eyeing Lane. "Where do you think they are?"
"No idea." Pope muttered.
"If you don't find her then this journey will be pointless." Nick muttered to himself with the intent of everyone hearing.
Hutch came to stand in the doorway behind me and I walked across the room and picked up two spare water bottles from the supplies.
"What are you doing?" Alice asked, storming over to me.
"Going back out. I need to find Alex."
"But it's dark out. She's probably hiding inside some building waiting for sunrise."
Alice was probably right but I still needed to look for Alex. I couldn't sit here and twiddle my thumbs all night, and there was no way I would be able to sleep not knowing if she was safe or not.
"I think you should stay here until the sun comes up and we'll go with you." Alice said.
I ignored her and shoved a few protein bars into my bag.
"Hey. Are you even listening to me?" She pushed at my shoulder.
I did my bag up and rose to my feet, looking down at her. This girl was shorter than Alex.
"I don't take orders from you." I growled and pushed past her.
"Drew, wait!" Pope called.
"I can't. I have to find her."
"I know, I know." Pope hurried to wrap his arm with a fresh bandage. "Just wait one sec and I'll come with you, ok?"
I stopped by the door and looked back at him.
"Let me help you." he said, hastily shoving the First-Aid supplies into his bag.
"Hurry." was all I said and brushed past Hutch.
I waited outside the building, my eyes chasing the dark shadows, looking for any movement. What was taking him so long? I dug into my pocket and my fingers found what I was looking for. I pulled out the little black box and opened the lid, looking inside and wondering if I would ever get the chance to give this to Alex.
"What's that?" Pope said, hopping through the glass window, eyeing the box in my hand.
"Nothing." I snapped the box shut and quickly pocketed it again. "What took you so long?" I asked, noticing he had pulled on a jacket and a beanie.
The temperature had dropped since earlier but I didn't have time to dry off and I had almost forgotten I was soaked through.
"Getting supplies, extra food and water, and I had to take a leak. Plus these two wanted to come." Pope said, sticking his thumb over his shoulder as Hutch and Sophie clambered out the window.
"We're coming too. We want to help." Sophie said, her eyes bouncing around the dark doorways. None of us liked being here.
"Let's get going then." I said and the others followed.
We trailed the streets, searching down alleyways, trying to stay out of the way of the vans as they made their rounds and searched buildings. We ended up back at the same spot where Alex had disappeared from. She couldn't have gone far. She wouldn't have gone far. She had to be around here somewhere. We walked up and down the street, checking in doorways but it felt pointless. She wasn't here.
"What's down there?" Sophie asked, pointing to a gap between two buildings.
"Another street, but the vans were there earlier." Pope answered.
"Still Alex might have gone that way. You said the vans were on this street first, she might have run down there with Margo." Sophie said, shining her flashlight down the narrow alleyway.
Pope glanced at me and led the way and we all came out on another street.
"Most of these buildings are all locked up, we already checked." I said. "There's nowhere for them to hide along here." I looked around and saw a shopping distract further down and a large parking lot. I didn't like the idea of searching in there. I hoped Alex hadn't wandered too far and got herself into a dangerous mess. With her new immunity, I wasn't worried about the deadbies killing her so much, I was more concerned about a bunch of hostile humans getting their hands on her.
"I can see an abandoned Starbucks down there. Let's check it out." Pope said.
I frowned. Alex wouldn't hide in a coffee shop where other people could possibly find her. She'd hide in a dumpster or on top of a roof. She always did like the high up places. I glanced up and saw a light flashing on and off at a window. It was a tiny red blinking light and I knew Alex and Margo had flashlights so it wasn't them. But whoever was up there was trying to get our attention.
"What's that?" Hutch asked.
"Probably trouble. Let's move." Pope said and turned his back on us and walked along the street.
I turned my back on the blinking light and Sophie stayed beside me and we had only gone a few steps when something clipped me in the back of the ear.
"What the fuck?" I muttered and the rest of the group turned around to see what had happened.
I spun around and already had my crossbow poised to shoot whoever just hit me but there was no one there. My ear stung though.
"It's a paper airplane?" Sophie said, picking it up and we all looked up at the building across the street. We were being watched. Maybe it was the person with the blinking light which had now stopped and the windows were all dark.
We all got off the street, splashing through the puddles and took shelter in a large doorway on the opposite side of the street to where we had been walking so we couldn't be seen. Hutch stood near the street, gun in his hand and on high alert.
"Look at this." Sophie said, handing the paper airplane to Pope.
Pope took the paper airplane and turned it over and looked up at me.
"What?" I said, rubbing my ear. That thing had a sharp tip on it.
Pope held the dangerous paper weapon up and showed me the wings. The names Pope and Drew were scribbled onto each wing. Ok, the blinking light person had definitely got my attention now.
"What the hell is this? Do you think Alex or Margo sent it down? Do you think they're up on the roof?" Sophie asked.
"I've seen Alex make paper airplanes and hers look more like spaceships." I said, thinking back to the time we had stayed in the fancy cabin for a week and had to find ways to amuse ourselves.
"I doubt Margo did this." Pope said.
"So someone has them captive?" Sophie fretted.
"We need to get onto the roof." I said, peering around the doorway. The street was still quiet and one of the streetlights was flickering on and off at the other end but we were alone out here. Well, alone as you can be with people hiding in the buildings watching you from all angles.
"Ok, we need a strategy. Two of us should try to get onto the roof opposite so we can shoot from the other side if we need to." Pope was talking and Sophie was nodding and Hutch had edged closer to listen to the plan.
I didn't like that plan. I just wanted to get onto the roof and it would be quicker if I went by myself.
Yeah, I'm not waiting any longer.
"Where are you going?!" Sophie whispered.
"Drew, get back here." Pope hissed.
A few more steps and I was out of view, ducking into a doorway and away from the streetlights. I made it to a side alley and stayed low, creeping further into the darkness, the rain pelting my face but I didn't care, getting soaked was the least of my worries. But it was a dead end with nowhere to hide. I spotte
d a stairwell at the side of the building but the bottom ladder had been removed so no one could get up there. Almost no one. I lifted my crossbow strap over my head and slid onto the dumpster lid and grabbed onto the brick wall and edged across the uneven bricks and made it to a window ledge. The window was boarded up but I could see a light on the other side. There were definitely people living in this particular apartment and they had gone to great lengths to secure it. The door even had an X on it as a clever deterrent. I reached over and hooked a hand onto the stairwell and swung over and hoisted myself onto the grated floor and carefully stood up, trying not to rattle it too much and draw attention. I crept up the iron stairwell, passing multiple doors that had been boarded up with more Xs on. Strange, even over the sound of the heavy rain I thought I heard an old western playing on the other side of one of the doors. Deadbies didn't watch movies and they didn't need lights on. There were definitely people on the other side.
I made it to the roof and was surprised to find a well-maintained garden with multiple vegetable plots, greenhouses, a water system to collect rainwater for the vegetables, and a couple of sheds. I checked the shed to make sure Alex wasn't tied up in there but it was full of tools and boxed food supplies.
I needed to get inside the building. I crouched down near the roof door to check out the lock. Alex had my trusty lockpick in her boot so I would have to bust it open somehow. I stood up and for some reason, I turned the handle, automatically thinking it would be locked so I hadn't bothered to try and open it before but to my surprise, the door popped open and wasn't locked. Huh. They clearly haven't expected anyone to get onto the roof. They really needed more security up here. I ducked inside and into a dark stairwell and slowly descended the stairs and found myself inside an apartment block. It was dark with only the light coming through the upper windows that hadn't been boarded because there was no way anyone could reach them from the outside. I stayed close to the wall as I crept down the stairs. Everything looked clean and it didn't look as though there was a group of squatters living in here. I saw a door ajar and slowly pushed it open. In front, there was another set of steps. I crept up the stairs and scanned the room, it looked to be the inside of someone's home, and there was a candle flickering in the kitchen so they must be home.
"You must be Drew?" said a voice from the corner.
I searched the dark corners and picked out an older man sitting in a wheelchair pointing a rifle at me. Shit.
I lowered my bow a fraction but kept it trained on the man.
"Where's Alex?" I cut to the point. I wanted Alex and I wanted to leave.
I wasn't sure if this was a hostage situation or what? He was in a wheelchair so something told me he couldn't have captured Alex all on his.
"She's sleeping. If you lower the crossbow we can talk."
"I don't want to talk. I want to see her."
"Dad, the others are outside the door looking for a way inside." another voice drifted up the stairs, followed by footsteps coming up the steps. A teenager appeared and stopped dead still when he saw me standing in front of him. My eyes bounced between the two of them. The kid looked completely harmless if I was honest. But the older man still had a gun pointed at me.
"Where's Alex?" I ground out.
"S-she's in the bedroom." the teenage stuttered. Bedroom?
My hand tightened on the bow and I think the older man noticed my sudden tenseness.
"She's safe. My son found Alex and Margo outside when they were running from the army." the old man explained. "We offered them a safe place to stay for the night. It's not safe out there when they're patrolling." the man continued.
I took my eyes off the man for a split second and glanced down the hallway. I saw four doors. Droplets of rain dripped off my hair and landed in my eyes and I shook my head.
"She's in Lawrence's room, the second door on the left." the man told me and I edged into the hallway, keeping one eye on the man while checking there was no one else about to jump out from behind me. The first door on the left was wide open and was just the bathroom, the second door was ajar and I kicked it open with my foot. My breath escaped me when I saw the pair of them curled up on a futon bed. Margo was tucked up beside Alex, pushing her into the wall, and Alex looked really uncomfortable but at least she was safe. I checked the rest of the room for any sign of captors but it was empty.
"Is everything ok?" the man in the wheelchair asked, the gun now resting on his lap and not pointing at me anymore.
I nodded. Feeling a little like a douche for threatening the guy in the wheelchair but he did have a gun pointed at me before.
"I'm Ansel and this is my son, Lawrence."
I nodded my head at Lawrence and he nervously fiddled with his thick glasses.
"You should go and get your friends, it's not safe to be out after dark. You are all welcome to stay for the night. Lawrence will help with the door...unless they want to scale the building and find their own way in?"
"You need to secure the roof. It wasn't that hard for me to get inside."
"Yes, so it would seem. You're the first to make it inside without getting shot."
"How did you know who I was?" I asked curiously.
"Alex gave me a description of the pair of you, but we only recognized you. The crossbow and the green hair."
Pope had put on a beanie and Alex wouldn't know the others would be with us. I gave him a curt nod and Lawrence waited for me at the bottom of the stairwell. I started to follow him but I turned back to look at Ansel.
"Thank you." I said.
"You're welcome." Ansel replied and spun around to look out the window again. I was grateful to them. There weren't many people that would help nowadays. I was thankful Alex and Margo had found this place.
Chapter 18
I woke up in an awkward position. My whole body was facing the wall and I was practically making out with the paint.
I tried to roll onto my back but was blocked by a body. I grunted and wriggled down the bed until I was free of Margo's death hug. For someone that hated me, she had no problem jumping into bed with me at the sound of a little thunder. I climbed off the bed and left her murmuring in her sleep.
Lawrence must have gone down to the laundry room in the night to collect our dry clothes as there were now two piles of clothes at the end of the bed.
I went over to the bed and slipped on my clean clothes, and tied my hair into a high, messy ponytail on top of my head to keep it off my neck. Lawrence was such a sweet guy, I didn't mind that he had been handling my panties or bra, but anyone else and it might have been weird, but I could just imagine Lawrence blushing the whole time as he handled our underwear. Especially Margo's as her underwear was just a piece of string that she called underwear. I wandered into the hallway, the curtains and blinds were open and the sunlight was spilling into the open living room/kitchen.
"Good morning, how did you sleep?" Ansel asked, sitting near the window with a tray on his lap, sipping a cup of tea.
"Um, good, thank you." I lied.
I wasn't about to tell him Margo laid all over me and nearly crushed me once or twice. She may look thin and dainty but her bones weigh a ton.
Ansel lifted the cup to his lips with a hidden smile on his face.
"Where's Lawrence?"
"On the roof gathering enough food for breakfast as we have extra guests." Ansel replied, still smiling.
I didn't think Margo and I ate that much. Maybe we should skip breakfast and just leave.
"So I'm guessing my friends didn't show up last night?" I said with a glum expression.
We would just have to make our way back to the last location everyone was at and hope they haven't moved on or been snatched. I noticed Ansel was still smiling at me. That bitch better not have drawn on my face or something like that.
A pair of hands suddenly covered my eyes.
"Wh-" I grabbed onto the person's wrists about to pull them away.
Was this Lawrence trying to be funny becaus
e I didn't like it?
"Guess who?" said a familiar southern voice, his breath tickling my ear.
I stilled and breathed in his scent. He removed his hands and I spun around, coming face to face with Drew. I threw my arms around his neck and he lifted me off the floor and squeezed his arms around my body. He set me back on the floor and leaned down to meet my height and pressed his forehead to mine.
"I was worried about you." he said honestly.
"You always worry about me."
"True."
I smiled and brushed my lips across his and he was just about to kiss me back when an annoying high-pitched voice interrupted us.
"Morning! Did you miss me?" Margo said, walking into the living room probably expecting to find Lawrence but he wasn't here.
"Oh, you're here." Her face dropped when she saw Drew.
Drew and I broke apart and she crossed her arms. She had changed back into her clothes but I think her shirt had shrunk in the dryer a little because I couldn't remember it being that tight.
"Ugh. I thought I was having a bad dream, but no, it's just Margo." Sophie teased, looking over the side of the couch at her and Margo scowled at her and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
I hadn't even noticed Sophie over there, and when I looked again I saw Hutch was passed out in the recliner chair nearby.
"How did you guys find us?" I asked.
"Lawrence clipped Drew on the back of the ear with a paper airplane to get his attention." Sophie explained.
Drew had already left my side and wandered to the window to look outside.
"Did it work?" I asked.
"We tried to get their attention with a blinking light but they ignored it so Lawrence suggested we send something down there and was quick enough to scribble their names on the plane before he sent it down." Ansel explained.
"That was clever." I smiled, helping myself to a cookie from the plate on the table.
"But Drew thought you were being held hostage and took off without us." Sophie smirked. "He climbed up the building and got in through the roof and pointed his crossbow at Ansel."