Alone *UNDER CONSTRUCTION*

Chapter Six: New Friends

"David...David, I'm scared."

"Take care of your brother, David. We'll give you some time but you need to run."

"David...where's mom and dad?"

"David...David?!"...

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My eyes slowly open.

I blink a few times to adjust to the light. My head is pounding, and my ankle still really hurts. I then notice that my shoes are off, and I'm in a bed. My twisted ankle rests on the sheets under the covers. I stare up at the pure white ceiling, then I turn to my right. There's a little bedside table with several candles lighting up the room. I look to the left.

Sitting in a wooden chair is a girl.

She looks about my age, with long golden brown hair and glistening hazel eyes. We awkwardly stare at each other for a few seconds, then without saying anything she stands up and leaves the bedroom. I cough and realize that my throat is really dry. I would kill for some cold soda right now.

A few moments later I hear someone coming down the hallway. A young man then appears in the doorway. Is he her brother? He has almost the same hair and eye color that she has so he must be. He looks about eighteen or nineteen, tall with a Hollywood actor's kind of face. I sit up in the bed, getting a little anxious. Who knows, these people could be cannibals, too.

"Hi", he says with a faint smile on his face, "My name's Jesse. This is my sister, Grace". The girl then appears by his side.

"How long was I out? Where am I?", I ask.

"About four hours, you're at our house where it's safe. Do you want some water? It's bottled."

I nod my head. Jesse leaves and Grace walks over to the wooden chair and sits in it. "What's your name?", she asks.

"David. David Suarez."

"How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen"

"Where did you come from?"

"Diamond Creek, it's a long drive from here."

"Where are your parents?"

I don't answer that question. I just stare at her with a blank look on my face. She knows what I mean.

"Oh...Mine, too", she says. Jesse then comes back into the bedroom with the water. My mouth is so dry I gulp down half of the bottle after he hands it to me. I then ask, "Where's my backpack?" Grace points to the corner and there it is, just chilling. I then ask myself What am I doing here?

I politely say, "Thank you for everything, but I should probably get going."

I carefully slide my legs across the mattress and swing them over the edge of the bed. The second my feet touch the floor, an immense pain shoots through my left leg. Jesse shakes his head and says, "No, you can't go out there. It's two hours after dark and the neighborhood is crawling with biters!"

I turn toward him and ask, "Biters? Is that what you call them?" Jesse nods. I do my best to stand up straight and I limp over to the closest window. I use my fingers to pry open a small crack in the blinds and stare out into the darkness. I don't see any walkers, but I definitely hear a few of their snarls. I back away from the window.

"Well", I say, "Do you mind if I stay the night?"

Jesse and Grace look at each other. "You can stay", Grace says.

"Thank you."

"You hungry?", Jesse asks, scratching at his dark brown hair, "I was just about to cook up some chili on the stove."

My stomach basically answers for me, grumbling aloud for all three of us to hear. I give a slight chuckle and reply, "Yeah, why not?"

Jesse smiles and leads the way out of the bedroom, with Grace behind him and me in the back. I limp down the dimly lit hallway, walking past a bunch of family photos. One particular one is what looks like a very young Grace smiling at the camera with chocolate ice cream all over her lips.

I walk into the kitchen alongside Grace and Jesse and I take a seat at the round table. It takes a lot out of me just to sit down with this ankle.

Jesse notices this before turning to the stove and says, "I saw what happened to your ankle, and I'm no expert but you're gonna have to go easy on it for a while."
"How long is a while?", I ask.

"My mom once twisted her ankle while hiking, and it took over a week for it to heal enough for her to start walking on her own."

I groan quietly and mutter, "Great."

Grace pulls out a chair and sits at the kitchen table across from me. I nervously twiddle with my fingers underneath the table, looking around at all the knick knacks and photos around the kitchen. At the stove, Jesse opens a can of chili and pours into a small pot, letting it sizzle.

"What happened to your face?", Grace then asks, tilting her head, "It's bruising."

"Huh?", I ask, touching my right cheek. A small jolt of pain runs through my cheek, and I hiss in annoyance.

"Oh", I mumble, "I uh...ran into some bad people at a rest stop. It didn't go so well."

"Did...did they hurt you?", Grace asks.

"Yeah, then they started chasing me. I got lucky that I lost them."

I leave out the part about me killing one of the hunters. I don't exactly know if I should tell them that yet.

Soon enough, the chili is done and Jesse serves us some. Then for dessert, I share my last three chocolate bars with Grace and Jesse. We talk to each other for a bit, well it's mostly just them talking cause I barely know them.

Funny. They're the only two people I've talked to ever since the Turn hit.