Ephemeral - Alia Dixon

33

I've stayed inside that stupid room for a few days now. Doing as Leah told me. Staying out of the way of these men and I haven't talked a fucking word with them and kept quiet.
Leah walks into my room like usual, a smile now on her face and in her hands a few new clothes. Understandable since most of my old ones are stained by organs of walkers or my own blood.
She hands me a black long-sleeve shirt along with some black jeans. I squint my eyes at her happyness.
"You'll get to meet Pope today" she says, a hint of pride in her voice. She has told me about the leader of these people before. Not much but she's told me his name which is a lot more than I've expected.

She leads me out of the room into a dark hallway. I start getting a bad feeling. What if they've decided to kill me? Shit, I should've fled earlier. I shouldn't have trusted this new version of Leah.
"Are you ready?" she asks me, holding open the door for me as I hesistantly step in first. Immediately I notice the people on the stands. This is a gymhall, which must mean we're in a schoolbuilding. The room I was in was definitely the nurses room. They all look at me and I turn my head to look at Leah. She now looks at me with a grin before she walks over to all of them. Slowly I start walking after her, immediately noticing the guy with the beanie in the front row. He smiles at me.
"Finally!" he says loudly, clapping his hands together. Leah leads me over to the middle of the room, letting me stand there before she walks over to them, sitting down next to that Carver guy. I eye them all suspiciously, trying to figure out what they want me to do. Clearly this isn't just a group where you get in with just saying "Yes, I want to be a part"
"I've waited so long to finally see you. My name's Pope" the man says as I stare at him, my jaw tight. My fingers are iching to do something but that would be stupid. Each of them are wearing two guns and at least one knife. I wouldn't get anywhere. "Leah has promised us a lot. She's told us that you're trained in military tactics?"
"Something like that, yeah" I say and he chuckles.
"Amusing"
He then calls up three of his men, who are stalking down the stairs and to my right now, before they take a halt.
"Let's see how good you are then" he says and I narrow my eyes.
"Not exactly a fair fight" I say.
He chuckles. "Right. Hand your belts over"
The men do as they're told before getting into postition. Just as I want to turn to them, he throws a knife, it landing directly infront of me. I stare at it for a few seconds before turning my attention back to him.
"I would take it if I were you" he says encouragingly, making me chuckle. They obviously have no clue that they've given me the one weapon that I'm able to handle the best. Slowly I retreat the weapon and pick it up. I flick it between my fingers a few times before holding it steadily and turning towards the three men who are smirking at me widely.

The first one running up to me tries to hit me but I dodge his punch and slice my knife along his torso before pushing him behind me as the other two come at me. One of them hits me good but I manage before punching him back and pulling my elbow into the others face. The one I've cut must've gotten up again as he slings his arms around me from behind. I use that moment to kick the other two into the face, hard, as I use all my force for the both of us to fall back. During the fall he lets go of me, causing me to roll behind him onto my feet easily. I notice one of them out cold, due to one of my kicks while the other one gets up again, same for the guy with the cut.
We fight for a bit longer until the second one is out of conciousness, too, leaving me with only one guy. It doesn't take me long to get him to the ground, groaning due to the punches he took. I take a glance at Pope, staring directly into his eyes as I stab my knife through that guy's leg.
He screams in agony as I get up and walk back over to where he's standing.

He grins at me before turning towards Leah. "What do you think? Should we keep her?"
She grins back at him before they both look back at me. "Definitely"
Carver gets up, slowly walking towards me. I study his figure, coming to the conclusion that he isn't going to fight me. Instead he pulls out a mask and hands it to me. A white one with red splashes all over it. Doesn't look like blood to me though, rather like paint.
His hand grazes mine as he hands it over, making shivers run down my spine. That was the guy that saved me after all, and I can't imagine these people taking in people after people. They don't look like it to me. They look like the ones you don't want to see on the road. The ones that kill you instantly.
He stares at me for a few seconds before a smirk forms on his face and he walks back to his place. I look after him for a few moments before taking in the mask in my hands again.
"Welcome. You're a part of us now" Pope says, causing me to look at him with a stern look.
"And who are you?"
He smirks. "The Reapers"

...

I find myself walking after Leah once again as she takes me to dinner. I spot the bonfire from a good distance away and suddenly start getting nervous. There's no reason for me to trust these people.
"Dixon!" Pope says happily as he gets up from one of the logs. He walks over to me, everyone watching us closely. Clearly they're afraid of that guy and have lots of respect. "Here," he says, handing me some food. "For you"
I shoot him a small smile. "Thank you"
He smiles. "You're a part of us now"
Somehow that makes me feel a little weird but I don't show it. Instead I nod thankfully before sitting down onto one of the logs. To my luck, the only place left is next to Carver and the guy who was there when I wake up.
"I'm Smith" he says instantly, making a few people chuckle.
"Dixon" I say, clearly not interested as I start eating my food.

"So, tell us. Where did you learn to fight like that. You must've been how old when all of this started?" a man asks.
"Fourteen" I say and they laugh bit. It's clear that most of them are a lot older than I am, meaning they weren't kids when the world ended.
"Was your dad a militarist?" a guy asks, making me chuckle.
"I wish," I say and everyone gets quiet. Clearly interested in my story. "My dad was one of these survival fanatics. Knew everything about hunting and fighting. I knew my way around the forest with weapons by the age of eight. My uncle was in the military"
"Are you good with weapons?" Pope asks.
"There's nothing I can't use" I say and they all look at me, a few clearly still skeptical of me.

I keep quiet the rest of dinner, listening to their conversations. Pope talks a lot about God, leaving me to the conclusion that they're somehow religious here. I wonder how a guy like Pope managed to be the leader of all these people. Most of them are seriously packed and definitely very skilled and he looks skinny and fragile. They're very loyal though.

"Caver, can you show her back to her room?" Leah asks. My eyes find Carver as he nods at Leah before getting up and walking away. I silently get up before walking after him.
"So, you're Carver?" I ask and he chuckles, his arrogance clearly audible.
"Who's asking?" he asks, making me roll my eyes.
"You know what my name is" I say and he looks at me with a grin.
"I only know your last name" he says and I roll my eyes.
"Alia, yours?"
"Brandon" he says and my eyes slightely widen, making him look at me a bit confused before he chuckles.
"What?" he asks, clearly amused by all of this.
"Nothing. Didn't take you to be named Brandon. Thought you'd have a name more badass" I say and he starts laughing a bit.
"Like what?"
I shrug. "No clue but definitely not something cute like Brandon"
He stops in his tracks to look at me with a grin. "I'm cute?"
I lift my eyebrows. "Your name"
"Tell yourself that" he jokes, making me laugh as we walk into a huge room. Cloths and blankets are hanging from the ceiling everywhere. We push them aside as he leads me to a bed and some more clothes.
"These are some of Leah's clothes. Since you're the only other woman here you both should be fine. This is your bed and if you need something, we'll all be sleeping in the compartments around you" he says and I nod.
"You all live here in one room?" I ask and he chuckles.
"Yeah, we're like a family here"
I chuckle sadly, thinking back to my real family that I was forced to leave behind. I could never go back after being  a part of the people here. I don't know if they'd follow me and destroy Alexandria or Hilltop. "You're very close to eachother then?"
"Something like that. We've all got nothing left than eachother"
I smile at him sadly. "Yeah, I get that"
We look at eachother for a few moments before I look back at the bed. It actually looks pretty comfortable. It has a matrace, a blanket and a good-looking pillow. Definitely better than the ones I had at the nurse's room.
I notice that he's starting to walk away. "Carver" I say, causing him to stop in his tracks and turn around again. He looks at me with expectant eyes. "Thank you"
He smiles at me. "Don't make me regret it"
A smile pulls at my lips as he walks back out and not soon after I find myself in the bed with a knife in my hand. Not  chance that I'll sleep without it here. I don't fucking trust these people.