Aer

27

Zoe double-checks her list, it's as if the list for medications gets longer and longer every time, and every time they go out there's less and less found. She sighs and puts the list in her pocket.

'You ready to go?' Evan kisses her forehead as he comes into the tent.
'Everything's ready,' she says 'Did you ask Daisy and them if they wanted to come?'.
'Yeah, Charlie and Lily agreed to come, the rest didn't seem too keen,' he says.

  'They seem like good people, I suppose,' Zoe says.
  'They do'.
  'It didn't cross your mind at all that they may be working with that group?'.
Evan frowns 'What do you mean?'.
'Now they seem like good people but when they first came...Daisy's wound just seemed a bit off,' Zoe says, she grabs her coat from a box.
  'Off?'.

'I don't know I just think if someone was to stab her they would've went further or at least pulled the knife out, to me it seemed self-inflicted,' Zoe explains 'I could be completely wrong but their story is a bit off too, why would the stabbed girl be sent out to find help when some of them weren't even injured'.

'Okay...okay, I'll keep an eye out on them today, Lily seems to be the one in charge, you keep a close eye too,' he says 'I trust your judgement'.
'Like I said I think they're good people but I don't think they were attacked,' Zoe says.
  'Just gotta be careful around them'.

'Be safe out there,' Daisy walks into the tent.
Lily and Charlie get their bags ready, they tie their shoelaces and put their gas masks in their bags.

'We'll get to know them better, gain their trust too,' Lily says.
'Back to what we're good at,' Charlie smiles at her.

'It'll be good to get to know them, they can teach ye a thing or two,' Aoife joins them.
'Teach us?' Charlie chuckles 'We'll show them how it's done'.
'Maybe Charlie we'll stick to you saying the bare minimum,' Lily says.
'Fair'.

Charlie and Lily walk towards the gate, Evan, Zoe and a few others are waiting for them. They greet them with smiles, Lily's surprised by how friendly they are, considering not long ago they shot at them.

'The chemist isn't far from here but we may have to go into one in the closest town,' Evan says.
'We're beginning to run out,' Zoe adds.
'Have ye been to the one in town?' Lily asks.
'No,' Evan shakes his head 'it's also where we think that group is taking the horde so hopefully we won't have to go there'.
'Fingers crossed,' Lily says as the gates open.

'So would ye have many Freak attacks?' Lily walks in front with Evan, he seems like a good person, a lot stronger than he looks, but his face is kind and his eyes are gentle.
'Not so much attack,' he says 'they come up to the fences but give up after awhile'.

'What about with those?' Lily looks at his pistol 'Surely the noise attracts them'.
'It used to,' he says 'but we've noticed the number of Freaks seem to be getting lower every day'.
  'They're joining the horde...'.
'Exactly,' he says 'whatever they're bringing them to has to be massive'.
Lily shakes her head 'I just can't imagine what it is, I don't even want to think about it sometimes'.
'Me too,' he looks down at his pistol 'You know how to use these things?'.
  'No, can't say I do'.
'We can show ye sometime,' he says 'Be handy to have some extra bodies around'.

'You've got a good place,' she smiles.
'We try,' he says 'It can be hard and we're learning constantly but I think we've got a good grip on things now'.

'We've been struggling for awhile now,' Lily says 'It's nice to find some good people'.

'Have ye been on your own for awhile now?' He asks.
'For awhile,' she says 'we only have each other now'.

'I can't imagine not being with these people, at the start we lost a lot but the ones that are here now have been with us through thick and thin'.

'Are we the first ye have let in?' She remembers how hostile they'd been when she, Johnny and Charlie came across the camp.

'Yeah,' he says 'but with that new group we need all the people we can get, we have the guns but they're brainwashed, scared of nothing'.
'People will do anything to survive'.
He looks at her, as if he's processing what she's just said 'I wouldn't want to survive if I lived with that mindset'.

Zoe walks at the front of the group, she watches Charlie carefully, he seems in his own world but stays alert at the same time.

She can tell he doesn't have much going in his head, he's good at surviving and that's all he needs. But Lily is smart, she's the brains behind everything and the one they've to watch out for.

Zoe often wishes she didn't always think the worst, that's what she loves about Evan, he finds something good in everyone. Before she met him she always found herself overthinking and trying to plan everything but he never worries, at least he never shows it, he takes everyday as it comes.

The pharmacy comes into sight, it's as empty as ever. The good thing about the adults dying is that the kids never thought about looting pharmacies, it was always off licenses and other shops that had no relevance to survival.

When they found this place nothing had been taken but now it's becoming more empty, there's only so much stuff they can take from the one place.

'Just get the usual stuff,' Zoe hands her list to one of the boys 'If there's even one thing we can't find on this list we're going to have to go to the other chemist'.

Zoe and Evan wait outside the pharmacy, she's had enough of looking through all the bottles and pills. She watches as Lily and Charlie help the others look through the shelves, Charlie seems to have no interest but Lily grabs items from the shelves, reading their instructions.

'Did she say anything?' Zoe asks.
'Lily? Like what?'.
'Anything like unusual'.
'Not really,' he thinks 'She did say 'people will do anything to survive', it was almost as if she was justifying the cult's actions'.
Zoe frowns 'I can see where she's coming from but still...then again we don't know what they've been through'.
'That's true, I'm sure they've seen some messed up shit out there'.

'Hey,' Charlie comes out of the pharmacy 'I've never had much interest in all that stuff'.
'Me too,' Evan smiles at Zoe 'always been her thing'.
'You get bored of it after awhile,' she says 'How's Lily?'.
'She loves that kind of stuff, feeling important and all that'.
Zoe smiles 'That doesn't make you any less important though'.
'Oh I know, but I just let her think that'.
'Fair'.

'How are you finding it here?' Evan asks.
'Good, better anyway,' Charlie says 'The guys are happy here'.
'Are you?'.
'Of course, a roof over my head, surrounded by people with guns,' Charlie shrugs 'It's been pretty good'.
'That's all you need,' Zoe says.

   'Here,' Lily comes out of the shop and hands Zoe the list.
Zoe's face drops and she hands the list to Evan.
'Okay, look it'll be fine,' he rubs a hand down his face 'Look Zoe maybe it's best you go back'.
'No,' she says 'I've been doing these supply runs all along, I'm not turning away now'.
'Okay,' he smiles.