Aer

20

'We just wanted to get back as soon as possible,' Lily says 'We can get supplies tomorrow, the last of the horde is passing through and it's more or less dark now'.

Charlie and Lily had explained everything the minute they arrived back. They're all gathered in the watch tower.

'They had all the bodies out like some kind of ceremony,' Charlie says 'When we found Gemma she was by herself'.
'Dars was attacked by the same people, they hanged him in the church,' Daisy says 'I didn't pay attention to the rest of the place'.

'Who's Dars?' Lily asks.
Daisy looks at Charlie, as if asking for his permission to tell them, he nods 'he was a leader of another camp close to here, he said that they forced him down and allowed a Freak to bite him, then hanged him in the church, I was able to get him free but he turned'.

'Turned?' Aoife's eyes widen.
  'If we get bit we turn, the Mist makes our heads explode but the bite will turn us into a Freak'.
'So we can become Freaks like our parents?' She asks.
  'Unfortunately yes'.

'You don't think they're sacrificing kids like us to the Freaks?' Alex crosses his arms.
'That's the way it looked,' Lily looks at Charlie.
Charlie nods 'We think they may be luring them out of a nearby cave into that town for something like that then bring them further away to finish off the remains, creating a new feeding ground'.

'Expanding their knowledge of the area,' Daisy says 'this horde now knows there's food for them in that town and wherever else so that's why they always look so focused'.
'Exactly,' Charlie nods 'must be some sick game they're playing'.

'So they've been around since Gemma?' Conor asks 'she's been dead what? Seven weeks'.
'Six,' Charlie says, he counts every day she's not with them 'well, six tomorrow'.

'Look maybe we should just leave this for tonight and discuss it tomorrow,' Daisy looks at Charlie 'This is a lot for any of us to handle and we don't want our minds thinking overtime, thank you Charlie and Lily for today'.
Charlie smiles and nods.
'It's what we do,' Lily says.

   Daisy follows Charlie outside, she pulls him back as they reach the end of the stairs 'You okay?'.
  'I'm okay'.
'Don't lie'.
   'Why ask me if I'm okay if you think I'm not?'.

'Just...' Daisy shrugs 'don't know how else to ask what the matter is'.
'Look, don't worry but it just brings back a lot of memories from Gemma and what was done to her and how I had to keep it such a secret for so long,' he explains.

  'A secret?'.
'Aaron told us not to mention how she was killed, kids died all the time with us but we knew something wasn't right, then I started hearing the rumours of how it was suicide and I just felt like she deserved to have people know what really happened, she'd never take the easy route,' he says 'I look back on all the things Aaron said and did and I don't understand how I never saw a problem with it at the time'.

  'He was wrong to keep it a secret from us but if people knew she didn't burn herself alive, someone else did it, it would've caused chaos and stress. I just wish he spoke about his confusion with all of us, something could've been done a long time ago'.
   'Everyone's so oblivious down in that bunker'.
'Sometimes that's easier,' Daisy says.

He takes her hands 'I'm still going to kill him'.
'I know,' she says 'but just don't let all of this distract you, focus on one thing at a time'.
'I don't focus on anything to be honest,' he smiles.
'Good,' she kisses him 'I think it's safe for us to sleep tonight, I trust these guys'.

  'Me too, I'm also really tired so I'm willing to take the risk of getting killed in my sleep'.
'One of them can go on watch, pretend someone needs to do it so we don't look suspicious about last night'.

    Lauren offered to take watch, Conor straight out refused but the rest didn't mind. Charlie was the first to fall asleep, he took the bed for himself and didn't offer to share with anyone, he made sure nobody was getting in it too by wrapping himself up in the blankets.

The rest sat around talking until they all got too tired to stay awake. Aoife and Lily fell asleep on the other bed and everyone else is sleeping on the floor. It's not as uncomfortable as Daisy thought it would be, but she's just happy to get some sleep.

She feels something hit off her head, she wakes up immediately and sits forward to Charlie looking at her.

'Sorry,' he whispers with a slight laugh, he gestures for her to come into the bed with him. The others are sound asleep and don't notice her getting into the bed, she covers herself in the blankets and has her back turned to him, she pulls him in closer to her as he begins kissing her neck.

She smiles at him when a loud scream rings through the air, it's not a Freak's scream, it's a human's.

'Lauren,' Daisy says.
  The two of them quickly get out of bed, Lily sits up and watches as Daisy fixes her pants. Charlie manages to get his on while still under the covers.

'Was that you?' Lily frowns.
'No, it was Lauren,' Daisy says, Charlie's already running down the steps.

   'Lauren!' Charlie calls for her but there's no response.
The rest have woken up now and everyone's searching around for her but there's no sign of her within the fence.

'She must've gone outside the fence,' Conor says.
'Yeah, no shit Sherlock,' Charlie rolls her eyes.
   'Nobody else was suggesting it'.
  'No, you're right, good guess Conor, well done'.

'Okay look,' Lily interrupts them 'me and Aoife will go together, Conor and Cian, then Alex and Charlie, Daisy you stay here in case she comes back'.
'Okay,' Daisy says.

'You didn't hear anything before she screamed did you?' Lily asks her.
  'No, just her scream'.
'How'd you hear anything before her scream?' Alex asks.
'Daisy and Charlie were awake,' Lily says.
Alex looks at Daisy, Charlie rolls his eyes and stalks off, avoiding the awkwardness.