APOCALYPSE

Chapter Ten

As I followed the boy, I noticed how everyone looked at him as he led me somewhere, I assumed he was the leader just by how everyone acted as he passed by. "Where are you taking me?" I asked with my voice steady and calm "Somewhere we can talk privately." He replied, running his hands through his blond curls. "Where is that exactly?" I questioned him, wanting to know where I was getting myself into. The boy pointed to an area that was covered in trees and branches, just like everywhere else.

 "Take a seat" He said, gesturing to a large brown tree trunk that lay on the ground, it fell from an alien or some sort since it had deep claw marks carved into the wood. I sat down on the center of the branch, a sense of unease washed over me as I watched him take a seat on the other trunk. His sky blue eyes scanned over me as his hands clasped together on his lap "how did you hear about us?" I shifted uncomfortably on the tree trunk as the rough texture of the bark dug into my bare legs "I found a piece of paper with all the details." I answered him honestly. 

"Where?" He asked another question, wanting to know about me. "In a desk," I replied to his question, keeping my nerves calm. He hummed as he thought of the next question to ask "Did you create your group?" I shook my head "No. Why is that important?" I finally snapped with annoyance.

Instead of replying to my question, he chuckled "Feisty aren't we?"  He said, his bright eyes glinting with amusement with his lips up in a smirk "I ask because I created my group when this whole thing happened." He looked at his surroundings before continuing "I was 13, pretty young hmm? You know how many members I have?" He paused at the rhetorical question "over twenty."

My brow furrowed "20? How did you manage to get that many members?" I questioned, taking a slight interest in the conversation. "Well, I had a couple of friends who joined initially and then... it just grew" He shrugged with his head tilting "Now, answer my question" he leaned forward, a inch closer to me "did you make your group, yes or no?"

I gulped loudly before responding "No. There was another leader -Cleo- but we kicked her out in agreement." The blond hummed while he leaned backwards "why's that?" 

I let out a heavy sigh, feeling exhausted from him asking a million questions, however it was understandable. "we found out she was an alien" I informed him, his eyes widened in shock, and for a second he looked disappointed by my response. 

"Pull your sleeve up" He ordered with a stern voice, losing his trust in me. I slowly pulled up my black fuzzy sleeve up to my bicep, his eyes scanned up my arm, wanting to see if there were any signs of a logo that an alien in disguise would have. "Making sure you aren't an alien" I rolled my sleeves back down afterwards, feeling relieved. 

"I think I can trust you," He told me, I sighed softly, glad that he didn't see a threat "But, why are you here if you already have a full group?" I shrugged my shoulders as I put my hands inside my jacket "One of my members may have found the location of where all the aliens may be hiding." I quickly said.

"Really?" He sat up more straightly "Where?" He crossed his arms, now the conversation is going somewhere.

He pulled out his pocket knife and began to peel off a piece of the tree trunk. I watched in disgust as he brought the piece to his mouth and started to chew. "When you have nothing to eat, you have to DIY it," he said with a smirk, his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Who found the location of the aliens?"His asked as he chewed down harshly on the brown wood that he cut from the trunk "The one with the glasses" I answered him, soon after that he got out a large black walkie talkie "Stand down, guys. The leader says she has something. Repeat, stand down." He spoke through the walkie talkie, glancing in my direction "Copy that boss" the boy on the other line spoke before the blond turned it off. 

"I can see you're getting uncomfortable sitting on the tree," he said, his voice gentle. "You can get up now and join the others."

I quickly jumped off the branch, rubbing behind my thighs, trying to relieve the stinging pain. "Follow me now" He starred at me as I stretched my limbs after sitting down for far too long "What's your name?" If I was going to work with someone, I needed to know their name. 

"My names Zach."