Aer

19

Charlie throws Lily her gas mask, she misses it and he laughs slightly 'Never fail to miss'.
'Just a heads up would be nice,' she says.
'That takes the fun out of it'.
'One day you'll break it'.
He rolls his eyes 'Just laugh about it for once, you're going to have more wrinkles with that big serious head of yours'.
'More?' She frowns.
'It is what it is girl'.

'Ye sure you're okay to go alone?' Alex approaches them.
'Of course,' Lily ties up her old coat 'it's what we do'.

'Just be safe,' Daisy joins them 'They won't come into the trees together but a few stragglers might'.
'We'll be fine,' Lily says 'Sometimes it's better just us and not with people who don't know what it's like out there'.
'We all have our own experiences out there,' Daisy says 'We're a team now'.

Lily looks her up and down, she still doesn't like her. She's not the worst in the world but she's not someone Lily would spend her time with.

'Look we'll be back in no time,' Charlie says 'Watch the horde then go get supplies'.
Daisy watches as they walk away, she keeps her eyes on Charlie, she smiles slightly, she knows he'll be safe out there.

   Conor takes a seat beside Cian on the chairs overlooking the trees. He's already bored, tired of the same faces, everyone's so miserable, including Daisy, she's lost the flare she once had and is slowly becoming a Lily. She's also been spending all her time with Charlie, which is enough to drive anyone mad.

'What's up?' Conor looks at Cian.
  'Nothing'.
'Yeah,' Conor sighs 'any news?'.
   'Nope'.
'You are very boring'.

Cian frowns 'I'm currently regretting all my decisions'.
  'Why's that?'.

'Stay in that bunker, starve and be in the middle of a mutiny or be up here, not able to go anywhere, do anything, the Freaks right on our doorstep,' he sighs 'I'm too young to be making these kinds of decisions'.
'Gotta go with the heart buddy,' Conor says.
   'What's your heart saying?'.

Conor scrunches his nose and thinks 'Being up here heightens my chances of seeing Daisy naked so it's a win-win for me'.
Cian laughs 'I mean I wouldn't be complaining'.

They look over at Daisy, Lauren and Aoife.
'Wanna rate?' Conor asks.
   'Of course'.

'Lauren...' Conor thinks 'I don't know her that well but she's sexy, seems cool'.
'She's the opposite!' Cian shakes his head 'Girl's a psycho cunt, in all ways'.
   'Shut up'.
'For real,' he says 'I trust her out here but we used to have a thing and she was obsessed'.

'Interesting....so Aoife,' he rubs his chin 'good old Seán had a thing for her back in the day but she was never interested, she's a nice girl though, on the inside'.
'Brutal,' Cian laughs 'I think she's alright, I don't know her though'.

'So best for last, my little sweet cheeks Daisy,' he grins 'She needs to lighten up a bit and go back to her old ways but she is still amazing'.
'Oh definitely, I used to just go to the shop to look at her, I'd no interest in anything there,' Cian says 'Do you think her and Charlie...you know? Even though probably not, I forgot he's gay'.

'Nah he likes girls, remember Gemma? She died there awhile ago, was killed on a supply run?' Conor says 'I used to have a room beside hers...every single night, he spent more of his time in her room than his own. You know I'm starting to think all that stuff with Aaron was a coverup or something'.

   'A coverup?'.
'Like not a coverup...just a distraction, like I think Aaron wanted people to talk about rumours with Charlie and not about how he was failing as a leader you know?' Conor explains.
  'That makes sense. So you don't think Aaron and Charlie were real?'.
Conor shrugs 'I don't think they were as serious as everyone made out, also Charlie never spoke on it and the two hardly ever interacted, I think Charlie didn't give a fuck what people were saying and Aaron used that to his advantage, but I know Gemma was there until the end'.

  'Poor girl I remember that'.
'Rotten way to go,' he shakes his head 'being burnt alive'.
'So weird though too,' Cian says 'I really don't think it was suicide'.
   'Really?'.
'Oh yeah, I think she was attacked, word around was that she was found on like a cross thing, but Lily and Charlie never spoke about it,' Cian explains 'I reckon it was like a sacrifice'.
   'That makes zero sense but also a lot of sense at the same time'.

'Hey ladies stop gossiping and help me cut some wood for the fire,' Alex interrupts them.

    Charlie and Lily move to the edge of the forest, the start of the horde begins coming through. Lily adjusts her gas mask and watches as the first skinny monsters begin to pass.

'I'm bored,' Charlie whispers.
'Already?'.
'I've ADHD'.
'I am not surprised'.

The Freaks stare straight on, although they're blind, they sniff around their surroundings trying to seek out any prey. But these ones have their minds set on something, they're focused.

'Lily'.
'Charlie, can you shut up for like five seconds?' She rolls her eyes.
'I was actually going to say something important'.
'Say it so'.
He looks at her 'moments passed'.

'Let's make our way down,' she sighs 'It's the start of the horde, we may be able to see where they're coming from'.
'Daisy said she reckons it's from a nearby town,' he says.
'Let's find out'.

They move back into the trees, the horde is still in sight but they're far enough away to be out of reach.
'The trees finish up here,' Charlie says 'Let's see if we can get to higher ground'.

They walk out onto a hill overlooking an abandoned town. The last of the horde staggers along the road.
'It has to be from here,' Lily gets binoculars out of her bag. She scans the area, not seeing anything in particular. All she can think is that the Freaks hide out in the buildings until it's time to move.

'Hey, hey, over by the church, what's that smoke?' Charlie nudges her.
Lily focuses her gaze on the church 'Oh my God Charlie'.

He takes the binoculars from her, there's kids around their age loading bodies onto pickup trucks. He follows the smoke, his heart sinks a little as he watches bodies burn on a cross 'Gemma...'.
'These aren't the kids that shot at us,' Lily says 'They look different'.

'You think they did this to Gemma?'.
'I never thought she did that to herself in the first place,' she says 'You were right, it was like a sacrifice'.
'Fucking Hell,' he gives the binoculars back to Lily.

'What you thinking?'.
'Apart from needing to get the fuck out of here, I think they're bringing the Freaks here, then maybe bringing the remaining bodies further down the road to where the horde stops,' he says.
'And the Freaks aren't focused on anything else because they know they're going to reach a feeding ground'.
'A new nest'.

'Why bring them here though?' She asks 'I mean bring them to a town and then lead them away'.
'Wait...' Charlie thinks for a second 'I could be wrong but I think there's a cave around here, in one of the mountains, that must be a nest'.
'Let's just go back and discuss it with the others'.