"I hate everyone."
"Except me, right?"
"No, especially you."
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It's funny, isn't it? That when the whole world decides to become infected with a brutal and fatal virus, the real monsters are the ones still alive? Blake Finnegan lost most of...
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THE RIDE TO CAMP IN THE TRUCK IS FILLED WITH BOTH ANTICIPATION AND NERVOUSNESS FOR ME. I'm excited to finally be safe. Or somewhere safe. To eat, to sleep, to learn. But then I'm also nervous for how the fuck I'm going to deal with this health check up.
It makes sense that they check everyone who comes in for bite marks. In fact I'd prefer living here if I knew they did - but how do I explain the one bandaged on my arm, and the other bandaged on my hand? How?
Blake said it'd be alright. He'd think of something. We'd come up with something together. But the closer we get to camp, the quicker the clock counts down, the more nervous I get - and the more I understand, that no, not even Blake can stop this from happening.
"Excited?" Lope nudges my arm, the breeze from being on the open tray of the truck hitting loose strands up her hair that fall out of her braids.
"Very." I nod with a smile.
Would she feel betrayed knowing I kept this from her? Would she feel offended? Would Petra, Rikki and Nari as well?
Blake's reaction to the news was certainly interesting. He didn't believe me for a solid two minutes, and when he did, he treated me like a bomb about to detonate. After a day, he'd gotten over it and kept my secret. However Blake is an enigma. I can't expect others to react in the same way he did.
The truck stops and I almost think we got a flat tire. Or maybe there's something in the way - or maybe, they've decided they don't want new recruits, and they're going to kick Blake and I out to kill us and leave our bodies.
But nope. The quick ride and quick stop is because we're here. We've arrived.
And the ACE camp is definitely much bigger and much grander than what I imagined. It's an actual base. An actual camp. Not just some building with chalked up windows or boarded doors.
And no, it's not some building at all. Not some group of abandoned buildings or a tent set up with a bonfire.
It's a fort. With a giant wall made from logs, spikes up the top - a good fifteen feet tall. There are people out front, strangers I'm sure I'll come familiar with by the time we get used to this camp (if I manage to not get killed for the bite marks on my arm). They have rifles slung around their shoulders, and I'm assuming they act as guards for the front of the base.
"Marvin." Lope's mom - Anais - smiles as she hops out of the inside of the truck. When she steps out, so do the people in there with her. Lope hops out of the back of the truck and I take that as my cue to get out as well - the rest of us loaded in there following suit.
"Anais." Marvin responds with a grin, readjusting the rifle on his back as he steps forward to meet her. He has curly brown hair in the shape of a mullet and a matching coloured beard that sort of gives off farmer vibes.
