Cruel World (The Tribe Book 1)

29. Hide and Sneeze

TRIGGER WARNING: References to disordered eating.

Trudy, Martin and I wander around the mall with Brady in her pram, chatting away about old memories from before the virus and as we pass by Amber's room, we see her and Sasha having a chat and looking very close. We don't say anything as we pass by her room but once we get further down, we can't resist.

"They would be so cute together, I just want them to hurry up and realise already," Trudy says. "I know her and Bray are endgame, and inevitably will end up together and having however many babies, but for now I think Sasha is what she needs."

"I agree, he will help her loosen up and not take everything so seriously all the time," I nod. "Especially after the virus, I don't know that she's had many chances to slow down and enjoy life, and feel like a kid for a while."

"None of us did till we got here, at least," Martin reminds me.

"And with you as leader, everyone here is able to act their ages and have moments of growth that they wouldn't ever get these days outside of the tribe," Trudy nudges me, and Brady coo's in agreement, making us laugh.

"I mean, sure the world is scary and especially since we don't have our parents anymore, but they still need to be able to act like kids and learn things the way kids do, rather than being forced to grow up entirely and think of the world as a completely vicious place," I sigh. "Don't need them growing up how I did."

"Even so, Jack tells me you're a much better mother to him than yours ever was, and he wouldn't be who he is without you there to guide him," Martin hugs me to his side as we lean over the railing, looking over all the younger kids playing soccer, including Dal and Jack who have taken a break from their projects.

Flynn joins us against the railing, having just finished guard duty and Nolan has swapped with him, and the rest of the guys seem to be joining the kids and they have moved on to hide and seek, even Bray.

"Mum, guys, come play!" KC calls up to us when he spots us, and while the others look slightly surprised at what he calls me, they look at me to see if I'll join. I look to the other three to see what they'll do.

"You two go, we will stay with Brady and watch from up here," Trudy says and Flynn nods along. Martin and I head downstairs and once it's established that Jack is counting to 50, since the mall is so big, he starts counting and all of us run to hide.

I head into the storage bays and as quietly as possible, scale the shelves to lie on one of the top shelves where its hard to see people given the lights hang lower than the top shelf. A few others also come into the storage bay, Cloe being small enough to hide in one of the big boxes in the shelves and Lex pushes it in once she's in there, and then he helps KC into a big crate, and climbs one of the shelves near mine. Once he's up he makes eye contact with me and we send each other a wink, knowing we're gonna be up here for a while before anyone finds us.

By the time Jack makes it into the storage bay, he's found Martin, Patsy, Reg, Bray, Caleb, Luka, Beau, Ryker, Ryan and Dal. Caspian isn't in here, and KC, Cloe, Lex and I haven't been found yet but if anyone of us is found first, it'll be KC and then Cloe. As far as I know Sasha and Amber weren't roped in, but Zandra and Tai-San were so they're also hiding somewhere else in the mall.

As we guessed, KC is found first, but since we made the rules that if you've been found you can't snitch on the others, any of the group who have figured out where Cloe is haven't said anything, and Martin, Beau and Bray are the only ones tall enough to even be able to spot me or Lex, and they've not said anything either, so we're safe. All of a sudden, Jack spots where the box had moved the dust when Lex helped Cloe in, and he manages to pull the box out enough to know she's there, and the boys help pull it out the rest of the way and lift her out.