APOCALYPSE

Chapter Eleven

As I walked back to my group, I found that each of my friends was engaged in their own activity. Leo was passionately arguing with a girl who had a striking hairstyle, adorned with colorful flowers. Santiago was bobbing his head along to the music playing on the radio he had brought with him. Meanwhile, Shawn was focused on the white piece of paper held in his hands, his eyes scanning the pages for any clues of where the building could possibly be at.

When I approached Leo, the girl with puffy hair walked away from him with a satisfied smile plastered on her face "It worked," I said to Leo, whose attention was now on me "So what, he's a part of our team now?" He asked, his voice laced with skepticism. I glanced over at Zach, his golden curls bounced every time he took a step and the sun shined against his bright skin. "No, he's helping us with the aliens," I told Leo, taking my eyes off of Zach who was speaking to Shawn.

"I don't trust him," Leo said, his eyes squinting in suspicion as he looked at the blond boy. "Why not?" I questioned, my arms crossing over my fuzzy black hoodie while I raised my brows "He looks... strange" I uncrossed my arms and placed it inside my pockets "and you aren't?" His eyes snapped back to mine after I defended Zach "Look, this is the best shot we have at finding where the aliens are hiding. Either you're in or out." I looked up at Leo with determination in my eyes, Leo was slightly taller than me, maybe four inches taller.

"Yeah, I'm in," Leo said, his shoes tapping against the dry grass and brown leaves in sync "But I won't hesitate to punch him if he backstabs us" He added onto his sentence with a threatening tone as he stared at the blond "okay."

As Zach returned, a man with black dreadlocks that fell down to his eyes, blocking his vision, accompanied him. His outfit was identical to the others, with camouflage patterns of dark green and brown. "This is Spike," Zach introduced, nodding at the taller brown boy before turning to leave. "He'll help you make weapons and train."

Santiago's eyes widened in confusion as he questioned "T-training? W-what?" His gaze shifted to Spike, who stood quietly and steadily. Spike's deep voice broke the silence, "Yes, training. You four will learn how to make weapons and train. It'll keep you busy while Zach and Amisha work on finding out where the Aliens are hiding." His words were calm and collected, but there was a hint of intensity in his tone.

"I'm not making weapons," Leo said, rolling his brown eyes in frustration. "How would we even do that? There's nothing here," he added, kicking at the leaves and rocks that lay on the ground.

Spike, however, didn't care about Leo's comment. He held up his hands, displaying a collection of sticks, ropes, and rocks. "For a bow and arrow," he said, a hint of excitement in his voice. "Great for distances and aiming towards the creatures." He handed each of us a stick, with varying sizes, and nodded towards a small clearing. "I'll teach you guys. Follow me."

We followed Spike to an empty area, where a few trees stood tall. On the trunk were white papers nailed in the tree, on the paper were red circles, like a target. "Oh, I see where this is going," Shawn said, his bushy eyebrow rising  "We're going to make bows and arrows and then test them?" He looked at Spike, who gave him a thumbs up. "Correct" Spike said with a nod "Watch my every move."

Spike took a seat on the large gray rock on the ground, as if it was makeshift chair. Leo laughed loudly with sarcasm "So, we have to stand up while you sit down?" His voice dripped with attitude. Spike's eyes flashed with annoyance from Leo's snarky comments "Look, I'm not here for your bullshit, alright? Just watch and learn."Leo quieted down from Spike's serious tone, now focused on the sticks.

Spike instructed us to grab the larger stick and tie the rope around both ends. We watched in silence as Spike focused on tying the rope around the tip of the stick, securing it. After he finished tying it together, I carefully wrapped the tan rope around the rough stick and tied it neatly with a knot. Spike nod in my direction in approval "Good job, Blondie." He said with a hint of playfulness, despite the hatred I had for the nickname, I felt good that I got the job done.

Spike brown eyes narrowed towards Santiago, who was looking around his surroundings "Santiago, you dropped your rope." Santiago's gaze shifted to Spikes area, he held a small rope between his gloved fingers that Santiago had previously "Thanks" Santiago said as he took the rope from Spikes hands, his eyes crinkling at the corners from his smile.

"Now, Grab the small stick and put it between the rope and large stick," He continued on. Soon after, the sticks now formed into a makeshift bow and arrow, it was quite impressive. Spikes eyes sparkled with pride when his eyes scanned everyone's weapons "Alright, here's the test," He said, pulling out small pebbles from his brown fanny pack, which was wrapped against his waist. "Shawn, you're first. See if you can hit the bullseye" Shawn nodded slowly as Spike gave him one small gray pebble.

With his gaze focused, Shawn pulled the back of the rope, his left eyes shut tightly as he aimed his sticks. He blew out a small breath, then released the rope from his grip. His expression turned in disappointment once he realized the pebble fell on the floor instead of hitting the white and red target, "You're standing too far back. You need to bring one of your back legs forward, not keep them in a straight line" Spikes voice was full of empathy, he bent down and picked up the gray pebble from the ground, his direction now shifting to Santiago.

Spike walked over to Santiago with a chuckle vibration through his abandon "Try to hit the red target" He took a few steps back, giving Santiago enough room to aim and focus on the red dot. The curly-headed teenager stood tall, his legs positioned just as Spike instructed Shawn. As Santiago pulled back the rope, the rope snapped off the stick, the end flapping around. "Not tight enough, Curly. You need the knots to be tight."

Spike halted in front of me, his brown lips curling into a smirk as his cheekbones scrunched up "I think you got this" he said with amusement and encouragement. I nod with my eyes glued onto the white sign in front of me as my heart pounded against my rib cage. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the rope back, the pebble flying off from the rope. I watched the pebble fly against the wind, hitting against the edge of the sign. "Good job, just focus on your aim." 

Leo's eyes rolled in disgust as Spike approached him, clearly not happy about the activity. "Don't start you shit with me," Spike said in annoyance, he already knew Leo would say something that would piss him off. 

"I don't understand why we need to do this! I mean, come on! This is so useless and pointless" Leo's grip on the stick tightened, his blue veins bulging with tension and anger "You'd think it's pretty useful when an alien is coming your way and you have nothing to defend yourself with." The boy with dreadlocks crossed his arms over his chest, his muscular torso flexing as his tapped his black boots against the leaves

"Ella can do all the archery shit," Leo glanced over at Ella before his eyes landed on Spike "You seem to like her more than any of us, whys that?" Leo hummed loudly, his brown eyes never leaving Spikes.

"Leo, come on, just do it." Shawn pleaded to the boy, not wanting to hear the two boys argue over something so useless and not important. Leo snapped his head towards Shawn, his jaw clenched in a tight grimace "Fine, I'll do it" He growled, his jaw sharp from him clenching harshly.

Without even trying to aim or focus, Leo released the arrow, and it hit the bullseye with a resounding thud. Spike's jaw dropped in amazement, his eyes wide with shock. "Holy shit!" Leo cursed loudly, his eyes bulging as he stared at the arrow in stunned silence.

"Good job, Leo." I said genuinely. It was surprising that Leo was the one to hit the target without trying, maybe he will be useful if we come in contact with the aliens. "I guess I am good at something," He spoke with sarcasm, his black jacket rustled softly as he shrugged his shoulder. 

"We can finally rest!" Santiago said with relief and let out a heavy sigh "Not necessary." Spike spoke up, causing everyone to look up at the tall boy "What do you mean?" Shawn tilted his head, his black curls falling down to his ear "In order for us to all work together, you need to know about one another. Your next task is talking about yourselves, you know... getting close" Spike said, bringing his two gloved hands together. 

"Sounds pretty simple" I shrugged my shoulder. It didn't seem as tough as making a natural bow and arrow, but I could be wrong. Opening up about myself wasn't really my type of conversation, but I don't think Spike or Zach would enjoy us fighting the whole time as we try to find the building that could possibly be filled with Aliens "We'll see about that."