PARADISE

four. this place is death

"DO YOU have any more weapons?" Dean had asked. Everybody was sat around the unlit campfire. May had been reluctant to introduce Felix to everyone; probably just overprotective. It reminded Rory of her own mother, and she smiled. After a few nudges though, May bought Felix over, and he quickly became a celebrity. Everyone went out of their way to keep him distracted from what was happening, not that he needed distracting. The infected people, or 'deadmen' as Bonnie called them, didn't seem to be scaring him. Or maybe he was just good at hiding it.

"No," Bonnie responded, "this isn't even mine. I found it in someone's bag back in the city. I thought it would come in handy. I guess I was right."

"You're a good shot," Dean said. There was a small hint of interrogation in his voice, not that Rory minded. She would rather he'd be thorough with allowing people near Felix than just letting anyone join.

"My dad taught me," she replied, "do you guys have anything?"

"A hatchet and a bat," Rory said.

"We just have the gun," Bonnie insisted, "and Roman has brass knuckles, if you can count them as a weapon."

Roman smiled at this comment and showed them off. They were thick and gold, and fascinated Felix, who wanted to try them on. Roman let him, and of course, they fell off of his tiny fingers.

"Did you guys walk out here?" Jonah asked, taking the attention away from Felix.

"We drove most of the way," Bear responded, in a thick, Scottish accent, "We had a van but it broke down, bout 2 miles back. Decided to walk along the trees instead of the highway."

"Jonah is a mechanic," Dean said, gesturing to him, "could take a look at the car, if you like."

"Dean-" Jonah hissed, pulling his arm back roughly. "Is it a good idea that I go with these strangers? I mean, what if they try to rob us or something"

"I think you'll be okay," Rory whispered to Jonah, "they have no weapons, aside from a gun. And she used that to save me."

Jonah mumbled something to himself before nodding and sitting up. Thankfully, Dean had a small tool kit in his trunk which, with any luck, Jonah could get some use out of. Bonnie and Bear escorted Jonah to the van, leaving the rest of the group under the watchful eye of Dean.

Once Jonah had left, Dean got out his map and sprawled it across the hood of his car. There was a circle over their current location, and an X over the army base. He and Rory studied each road, trying to pin point which would be the smartest way to get to Kersey Way.

"Going towards the city?" Blake said, hovering by Dean, "really? I figured it would be safer to go further away."

"We did too," Rory replied, not looking up from the map, "if it's too dangerous, we can turn back. It's worth trying though."

"I got in contact with an officer in Kersey Way," Dean explained, tapping the hood of his car, "He said it was our best bet."

"Anything else?" Blake asked. Rory turned to look at him this time. He was older than her, but not by much, with blonde hair that was messy from running. Though he wasn't as tall as Dean, he was at least six foot. There was something about his demeanour though, and the way he carried himself, that Rory didn't trust.

"He didn't know what this is either," Dean explained, "said to stay indoors and lock everything. Supposedly there's an army base just on the outskirts, and there's a shelter for survivors."

"That's it?" Blake scoffed, "supposedly? We don't even know what this is. It could be air borne."

Rory snorted unintentionally and saw Dean break into a large smile. Blake stared from Rory to Dean, and then back again. He rolled his eyes, irritated.