Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

the road forward

I woke up suddenly, and for no reason.

Trish looked over to me, from where she sat near the backdoor. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes for a moment before stretching my arms above my head. Even though I knew I'd slept longer during my one night at the quarantine, I couldn't help but feel better rested from however long I'd slept on the floor.

Everyone else was still asleep. I offered to take watch for Trish, but she shrugged.

"I don't think I'll be sleeping any time soon."

I was about to ask her why, when a distinct crash erupted from the front of the house. Trish closed her eyes, slowly and for longer than I expected. When she opened them, she looked a nerve shorter than she'd been a few moments ago. It wasn't hard to guess she'd been getting closer to her last one.

"Oh." I paused.

She didn't seem entirely worried, but as voices followed the noise, I couldn't help my curiosity.

"What are they doing?"

She shrugged.

Being frustrated with Trish was a past time that I didn't partake in. Instead of questioning her further, which clearly wasn't going very far, I got to my feet. After retying my shoes, I stepped through the foreign house to the front.

Before we'd picked our spot, Trish and Sam had approached the people of the quarantine for our weapons. They'd given us more than enough. Cody had suggested we move on right then and there, but the majority voted that we take the night. It had already been a long one, and the idea of traveling our whole group through the dark in a random direction didn't sit very well.

I had quietly agreed with Cody.

I was tired of dealing with people, and the complex ways they tried to screw each other over. Dealing with zombies was at least predictable. They wanted food, I was their food.

The world was still dark, making the house difficult to navigate. I thought it might be getting closer to dawn, but without looking at the sky, I could only be sure that it was still night. Another, more distinct noise came from the front room of the house.

I'd passed a few sleeping people on the way, none of them seeming bothered by the noise from the front. As I neared the noise, I wondered if my group was the only one who'd put someone on watch. Was there anyone out front watching out for the safety of the people within?

My questions were building up the closer I came to the front room. Until I rounded the corner and was confronted with the noise problem. There were several people passed out around the room. One of them, a man, was balled on the floor holding a partially emptied body in his hand. The bottle was tilted precariously, so that every once in a while it spilled a few drops.

There was a woman without her top on, laying face down in front of an empty fire place.

The noise came from a couple, who were being intimate on the coffee table. They fell over together, giving me more to see than I ever wanted to, and continued without being bothered.

I wished there was a door to shut behind me as I turned around and walked away.

Trish raised an eyebrow at me, the smallest smile on her face. She looked away quickly, eyes settling on Abby. The younger girl had sighed in her sleep and turned over, moving closer to Adam who slept beside her. My eyes flickered over to them, and I couldn't help but wonder what they'd told Abby.

"You could have warned me?"

"There's so little fun left in this world, take it where you can find it. Right?"