Coach finished patching up Ellis and joined the circle on the carpet. It looked like Ellis was going to be just fine. Rochelle realized that the introduction that they had had wasn't the best, so she decided to start over.
"Hello," she said, "We might have gotten off on the wrong foot before. My name is Rochelle. This is Coach and Nick. The one sleeping is Ellis."
The girl gave her another fake smile then said, "Hello, My name is Cheryl. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Rochelle had seen this before. This girl was probably going to try to seduce people into doing what she wanted. That explained her appearance.
She thought back to the days in the news station when a girl like that cheated her out of getting that big promotion. Ironically, this was the same promotion that sent her to savannah, so she sort of got what she wanted. She figured that she couldn't do anything anyways, so she decided to play along with this girl.
She smiled at the idea of Cheryl trying to seduce the group. It wouldn't work on Coach because he would probably see through it. Ellis had Zoey, and Nick was an ass. She couldn't wait to see this girl at work. She returned the fake smile and continued on with the conversation.
...
It was working! These idiots actually believed her and Cheryl was enjoying every moment of it. Never had people so easily fallen for her charade before! They laughed at her jokes, they cried at her misfortune, and the bought the whole thing! This might be easier than she thought.
"So how did a young girl like you manage to survive this whole time?" Coach asked.
The show was on. Cheryl began to cry into her hand. She was sure to use deep saddening wails, "My two friends!" she said between sobs, "Chad was killed by a witch and Todd was knocked of a ledge! They were trying to protect me!" she began to cry harder as Coach put his arm around her sympathetically.
"It's alright," Coach said, "we'll help you survive so your friends will live on."
Cheryl sprayed the water works even more in response to Coach's comment. Her goal was to appear as sad and pathetic as she could get. As she cried, she saw Nick get up and walk towards her. It was about time for her to make her move. She waited for him to join the group.
He had other plans.
"Get up!" he shouted, "oh wah, your friends are dead, get over it!"
Cheryl was taken aback. What an ass! This might be tougher than she thought. She cycled through her past seduction techniques until she thought of the perfect one. This was going to be so worth it.
"Hey nick?" she said, "Do you think I could speak to you in the other room? Alone?"
"Why?" Nick shot back.
In response, Cheryl got up silently and pulled his hand, leading him to the bedroom.
...
The whole time that Cheryl spoke, Rochelle had to resist rolling her eyes at the dramatic crying and over emotional wailing. If her suspicions hadn't been enough before, Cheryl's sudden "cheering up" at the appearance of Nick made it all the more suspicious. Rochelle waited for Cheryl to leave with Nick, and then she looked over to Coach, happy to see that he didn't believe a word of it either.
"So what do you make of her?" Rochelle asked.
Coach scoffed, "Nice act," he said, "I feel bad for her friends, though."
Rochelle was shocked, "How do you know that that part of her story was true?"
"Simple," Coach said, "The body we found after a witch had gotten it had dog tags identifying it as Chad. The room around the body shows a sign of a struggle, with marks of someone being pushed off the edge."
"So it's not all lies," Rochelle sighed, "but what are we going to do about it?"
"Well," Coach said, "we can't just leave her... How about we give her the benefit of a doubt?"
"How can you say that?" Rochelle said, "This girl is just trouble waiting to happen!"
"She did save Ellis," he said.
...
Cheryl close the door and led Nick to the bed.
"So what did you want?" Nick said, annoyed.
It took all of her effort to keep her face straight. She sat down next to him, putting on one of her more seductive faces.
"Well," she said slowly, "I need a little help," she paused, "I'm weak and defenseless, so I was hoping a big, strong man like you could help me," as she spoke, she twirled her finger on his chest, "Maybe when it's over, I can do something for you," she shifted positions to give the appearance of vulnerability.
Nick narrowed his eyes, "Yeah?" he said quietly. He sat down next to her and continued, "Maybe you could do something small for me right now."
"Yes?" Cheryl asked, also narrowing her eyes.
"Jump in front of a zombie to slow it down!" he yelled, making her jump. He jumped up and stormed out. Cheryl wasn't sure what just happened. She had never been turned down before. What did she do wrong?
She looked at the nearby mirror and scanned her outfit, looking for something that might have turned him off. Her eyes fell on her fanny pack and she rolled her eyes. The only reason that she kept it was because it was a gift from Todd. Now that he was dead, she didn't need the eye sore messing with her chances. What she needed was a new carrier for her stuff. Somehow, she had to get to the mall that she had passed earlier.
...
"She did save Ellis," Coach said.
"I guess you're right," Rochelle gave in.
She looked up at the door that Nick and Cheryl had disappeared behind. Some time passed, but before Rochelle could get up to find out what happened, she was stopped When Nick screamed, "Jump in front of a zombie to slow it down!"
"Great." Coach said, "What did she do?"
Nick stormed out of the room and headed toward the door, "I'm taking watch," he said.
Cheryl walked out, traces of tears on her face. Rochelle grabbed her in a sideways hug, "It'll be okay," she said, "Nick will warm up to you."
"Thank you," she said, sniffling.
Rochelle led Cheryl back to Coach and they sat down. Now that Nick was gone, they could get some real decisions made.
"I think we should go to the mall," she said, "I'm almost out of supplies so I need to get more."
"Good idea," Coach said, "Rochelle, why don't you and Cheryl make the trip?"
Rochelle had to bite her tongue to stop from objecting outright.
...
Rochelle waited for Cheryl to leave the room before confronting the older man, "All right, what's the deal?" Rochelle said, "I don't want to be stuck with her!"
"Just humor her," Coach said, "Pretend like she's fooled you."
"Why me?" Rochelle whined.
"You're the only woman." He said, "I don't think she'll be as satisfied if I fall for it."
"Fine," Rochelle said. She picked up her supplies and walked to the door. She met up with Cheryl and they headed out.
