When a beaten and lost, near-dead girl walks up upon the gates of Jackson unannounced, people are bound to be suspicious of why she's shown up. But, when she reveals that she knows something about an organization in Seattle planning to come to Jacks...
"I know my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it."
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Talking to You
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Winter had settled in nicely in the small community of people. The Lakeside Resort that Robin called 'home' was covered in a thick layer of snow and ice, making it harder to get food. Of course, the leaders of the community had taken initiative and set a group out to one of the Universities out the East side of the United States. Robin hadn't heard anything about them in a while, she hoped that they were doing okay.
Almost on-queue, gunshots erupted from one of the camps run by the leader of the group. The young girl, standing in the middle of the road with her mother by her side, was terrified. Nobody knew what was going on, apparently there was a girl- somewhat Robin's age- who had come in. She looked to her right side, gazing up at her mother through the blizzardous weather. The radio on her hip began to erupt with static, letting them both know that something had happened.
The leader's- David's- voice called through the small box, letting Robin's mother pick it up and place it against her mouth. She then noticed the older woman's trembling, as the fog was getting thicker, she was getting more and more terrified. "The girl is infected! Get all the men out here!" David yelled, seemingly panicked. Robin looked to her left abruptly, hearing more and more gunshots and screams of her community far away.
Her mother turned to her, gripping onto her hand tightly. "Your dad is going to be out here, I need you to run back home, okay?" She asked calmly, ignoring the intense and harsh trembling convulsing through her body. "Can you do that for me, sweetie?"
Robin merely nodded, watching as her mom disappeared into the thick fog and snow. The blizzard was closing in on the resort, and she tried to gather her bearings. She made a start for the road she could barely recognize anymore, her feet numbing from the thick snow. Nothing was making sense anymore, every turn she made looked exactly like the last. Slowly, she was losing hope that she would ever find home ever again.
She turned around at the sound of a pulling bowstring, looking at a girl across from her. It had to be the infected girl; she couldn't let her get close. Robin, with no weapons on her, held her hands up, shaking from a mix of the cold and fear. The arrow drawn against the bow was lingering, perfectly aimed at Robin's head. She shouldn't have let her mother go; she should've begged her to take her back home to her father.
"I don't want to hurt you." The other girl claimed, although she still held her bow up and drawn, aimed and ready. "Move out of the way."
The young girl stepped to the side, letting the infected teen walk past her, bow still aimed at her head until she ran around the corner of the building. She was running towards the restaurant; she wouldn't make it. Maybe that was for the best. She would turn anyway, being killed by the Lakeside Community would be better than losing her mind. Although Robin secretly wished she could be bit sometimes, maybe the afterlife would be like the old world.
She didn't know that the girl would soon shape the world she was going to live in forever. And as she ran through the torrential snowstorm, her mind flew up in the air. She hoped that her family was okay; maybe they would run to the farmhouse on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. They had always talked about it, but her mother always explained how they couldn't. They had to stay in the community until they had enough resources to run. Maybe it was time to go.
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Robin woke up from her trance with a sharp breath, ignoring the aching sensation in her chest from crying all night. It had been a few days since Ollie had died, and since then, she had ridden her horse all the way into Wyoming. She couldn't be far from Jackson, she had to be close. So, she got up from her laying position on the ground, dusting off the dirt and heaving herself onto her horse. It had become a routine. Kill infected, ride to Jackson. On some off days, she might even come across some real people. It was rare, though.
She spotted a small restaurant, planted up a small way away from where she was. She hid in the trees, trying to see any people looming around it. A horse sat just outside of it, but Robin couldn't tell if it was saddled or not. Nevertheless, she continued through the thick woods, trying to ignore the blinding headache she had accumulated from the scorching heat. Usually, she'd have a wet facecloth, but being under the radar from Isaac meant having the bare minimum.
The cries of infected called out from the trees, and Robin barely had any time to turn her head towards the sound. She was crashed off her horse by a runner, and it held her against the dirt harshly. She struggled against it, keeping her neck away from its snapping mouth. All she could hear was its wails as it pushed further against her stomach and chest, digging her further into the yellow, grassy landscape. Her breath wasn't entering her lungs, causing her body to ripple in pain.
Nothing was working. The infected wouldn't give up on its advancements to kill Robin, and she didn't have a knife. All she was equipped with was a small handgun, and it wasn't exactly the best thing to use in the situation. Surely the other infected would hear the runner's cries, then she wouldn't even be able to put up a fight. Her neck would be torn to shreds by their hands and their blood-stained, horrifying teeth.
Suddenly, the weight was lifted off her by a boot-covered foot, letting her taste fresh air again. She coughed harshly, pulling herself to the side and letting her elbow keep her elevated from the dirt instead of laying down in it. Robin breathed evenly for a few more moments before turning back around, looking up to see a man. He looked to be in his mid-forties, and his hair was pulled back in a small bun. Was he from Jackson?
He held out his hand, letting Robin take his forearm and pull herself up. He looked at her skeptically, still holding his gun. That was understandable, she was going to Jackson to kill the girls. "Who are you?" He asked, his voice harsh with skepticism.
Robin held her hands up just above her waist, sending a peace signal to the older man. She needed to make up a lie, she didn't think she'd be seeing anyone that soon. Ollie could've given out information to the girls, she couldn't use her real name. "I'm Niki." She replied, her heart racing as she lied to the man. "I used to be with a group from Colorado-" Not a lie. "-but they all got killed and the remaining spread out. I have no clue where I am." That was an easy lie.
The man pointed his gun back down to the dirt ground wearily, one eyebrow still hitched up on his forehead. He held out his hand for Robin to take carefully. "I'm Tommy." He introduced himself, looking over the young girl's dirt-covered clothing. "I'll get you to our town, and we'll get you cleaned up." Robin nodded, following him over to where her horse had run off to. She resisted the urge to smile as she realized that he was going to take her straight to Jackson.
