A New Start

Chapter 26: The Aftermath

I woke up in sweat. Another bad dream? I got up heading straight towards the bathroom to wash my face off. I was still confused on how we had running water. Maybe all of this was a dream? None of this could be happening and I could be so oblivious to it. After I dry my face off I walk out. The sunlight hitting my eyes making me shut them a bit. I wonder how the others felt since yesterday? What else did they do? I mean, I did fall asleep pretty early yesterday. Pain shot in my head. Oh no, a headache. I raised my hand to my temple and pushed hard. The pressure helped a bit, but it still hurt. As I start to walk back down the gym floor I saw Matthew and Sophia come in holding hands laughing. I smile and cross my arms. "Even with all this going on, you mange to love still. Impressive." I said. Sophia's face got red, but smiled afterwards. "I was going to tell you, bu-" I cut her off before she could say anything else. "It's okay, I am fine with this. If you're happy, i'm happy." I finished. They both smiled this time and walked off. They headed for the double doors and out the other set. They were going outside. Maybe to the playground. I walked to the lunch room like I always did to see the same people sitting at the same seat. My.. Family. I smiled of the thought. I wasn't to hungry so I just went to sit by them. "Hey Maxwell." Cody said with a wave. "Hey guys." I said sitting next to Cody. "So what are we talking about?" I asked. "Just about yesterday." Beau said. Ah, yesterday. A day that one of us could've died. At least I knew I wasn't the only one still thinking about it. "Don't look now, but here comes Cole." Nathan said looking at the entrance of the lunch room. He was heading our direction. He sat next to Nathan without saying a word. "Hey.. Cole?" Nathan said. His voice was confused. "Hey Nathan, thanks for at least knowing I am still alive." He said looking at me and the rest. Jessie was just staring out the window. I could tell he wasn't fond of Cole. Beau opened his mouth to say something, but Cody said something before he could. "What's your problem?" Cody said. "My problem." Cole said holding his chest. "My problem is that you guys don't even care if I died right now." He said mainly to me, Scarlett, Sophia, and Savannah. "That's not true." I said low. "You know damn well its true!" He yelled. I only put my head down more. Why was I so afraid? "Don't you yell at her!" Hope said running in holding Luther's hand. Was everyone just suddenly getting a boyfriend? "You want to make me?" Cole said standing up. Hope looked away, but back to Cole. "I'm not afraid of yo-" she couldn't say anymore. Cole had punched her in the mouth. I stood up fast, more of a reaction. I pushed Cole away, while Beau and Cody held Luthr back. "What the fuck Cole!" I yelled at him. "Get the hell out-" I was cut of to. I was punched in the right side of my face. I blacked out.
I woke up laying on the cold hard ground looking up at what seemed Beau and Cody yelling at Cole and the rest hovering over me. Did he hit me that hard? It didn't hurt much, but I could feel pain. My vision was blurry. Chas helped me sit up. When did she get here? I was just so filled with questions today. My ears were ringing and my vision was coming back. I could hear the words more clear now. "You don't hit a girl!" Scarlett yelled towards Cole. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Beau said shoving Cole. Cole had no expression on his face. What was up with him? Cody was holding Beau back from doing anything, not that he would, but for safety reasons. I couldn't of been passed out for long. Maybe a few seconds? Scarlett and Jessie helped me up. I held the right side of my face. "You know Cole, you have some real nerve." I said. "What's going on in here? I heard yelling and.." Jason's voice trailed off. "Is Hope and EmaLea okay?" Jason asked. "No, Mister McDouche over here decided to hit us." Hope said pointing to Cole. She was holding her face to. "Cole, talk. Now." Jason said walking out of the lunch room. "What a lovely start to my morning." I said. Savannah and Cody went to go get some wet rags to put on our faces. Once they each handed us one damp wash rag I placed it on my face. I shivered. The air was cold and the rag was colder. The rest of them were just staring at us. "How bad does it look?" I asked removing the rag. "It looks.. Purple." Nathan said. Beau look at him. "I'm sure that's not what she meant." He looked back to me. "They both look fine just a bit noticeable." Beau said to me and Hope. He's lying. This has to be really noticeable. "Hope, how's yours?" I asked. She removed the rag from her face looked towards me. "I mean its noticeable." I replied. She didn't respond. She placed the rag back over her face. "What did I miss?" Sophia said coming in. Matthew was following her. Me and Hope both removed the rags from our face. "Cole was being Cole like always and lost control. He hit them and he didn't seem a bit sorry about it." Scarlett said. Jessie mumbled something in the corner of the table. "What?" Savannah asked. "I said that we should kick him out." He said. "What.. Kick him out? No way. He may of just hit us, but that's not Cole. There is obviously something wrong and we can fix this. He has been with me sine I woke. He was the second to wake up." I finished. I was standing up. They were staring at me like I was stupid, but we couldn't just leave Cole for the dead. "Why am I even trying? You guys don't believe me." I said walking out of the lunch room. I heard some people calling my name, but I ignored. "Emalea! Stop." Nathan said. He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around. "We're not going to kick him out like that. I get it. Everybody loses control. I mean hell, Matthew about killed himself when you first got here." He said. Wait, how did he know about Matthew? "You.. You weren't here for that? How do you know that?" I said backing up a bit. His eyes widened. He didn't answer me. "Nathan, how did you-" I was cut of by him running out of the lunch room. I yelled his name, but he just kept running. I looked back at the table and all of them were staring. I couldn't tell them. They would definitely try to kill him. Cody motioned to me to come over, but I turned around and ran the way Nathan did instead. I was running down the hall searching in every class room. "Emalea, wait up!" I heard a voice call. I though it was Nathan until I turned around to fine Beau running towards me. "What's going on?" He asked. "I just had to fine Nathan. You guys won't understand. Just tell them I wanted to be alone." I said backing up to start running again. "Wait, I can help you. He could've went outside. You don't even have a weapon. What if there are zombies out there!" He said. Outside. I never even thought about outside. "Outside.." I said under my breathe. "Good idea! Thanks Beau." I said and ran to the doors. I didn't think much of Beau following behind. I ran out the doors in the front. If anything, he was probably in the back. I started to run to the back without hesitation. I have to know how he knows about that. As I turned to go to the back of the school I see some creatures. I stopped. "Damn." I said. They didn't seem to notice me. They were looking right at me, but didn't even rn towards me. "They're only attracted to sound." Beau whispered. I jumped a bit. "Some have better smelling then the other so they will notice you faster than some others. Luckily, none of these guys have it." He finished. He handed me a knife. "Use this for safety. Never know if one of those things will attack." He said still whispereing. He gently grabbed me arm and pulled me back around to the front of the school. "We can go through the school and into the back. It's safer anyways." He said. We headed back inside. We were running towards the back doors through the gym. "He should be fine if he is in the park. Its blocked of no zombie can get in." He said still running. We both ran out the double doors and ran into the play ground area. "There he is!" I said pointing at the fence. He was climbing over it into the woods. I started after him, but Beau caught me by the arm again. "Whoa, where are you going? You're going to get yourself killed." He said letting go of my arm. "I'll go. You stay here." He said walking off to the fence. "Wait, you have no greater chance than I do." I said running in front of him. "See the thing is," he stopped and reached around his back. "I have this." He said pulling out a pistol. "You still need another set of eyes."I said crossing my arms. "I'm going with you if you like it or not." I said. "Fine. Man, you're hard to compromise with. Let me at least get you a gun." He said. He turned around going back inside. About 5 minutes later he came back out with a pistol in his hand. He handed it to me. "I explained to the group so they won't worry." He said. "Let's stop wasting time and go." He finished. We headed over the fence and into the same woods I woke up in. Nathan, don't be stupid out there.