Small World

Chapter 7 - Saved By The Bell

Sami's P.O.V

It's been seventeen days since I left the farm. The bite on my leg is almost entirely healed, I can't explain it, but it is. It is going to leave behind a pretty nasty scar but as long as I am alive, I can live with that. I'm still in Georgia, I don't plan on leaving the state, I don't think Rick would travel too far with that many people. I think it's been about three and a half maybe four months since all of this started, it's getting harder and harder to find people and supplies. I always grew up thinking that my dad was crazy for having us run emergency drills but these days, they make me wish that I could thank him. I've been sleeping in the car every night after spending the day driving around, I have a map to mark the areas that I have already looked at.

Today I am checking out an elementary school, I don't think that they are here, but I really don't want to leave any place unchecked. After parking out front, I grab my bow and arrow and put on my backpack. I always carry an empty bag in with me just in case I come across any useful supplies. I look through the glass of the front door and I don't see anything other than papers scattered everywhere. I slowly pry the door open and step inside, quietly closing the door behind me.

I take a second to look at a wall lined with class photos, and I sigh to myself. I hope that all of these kids are okay. They are just little babies; how do you explain to them what is happening? As I am looking at the pictures, I see someone walking up behind me in the reflection of the picture. I gently put my hand on my knife attached to my belt and quickly turn around with it pointed at the person.

"Who are you?!" I demand and she holds her hands up. It's a girl about my height with black hair lined with pink stripes, brown hair, dressed in all black with a few facial piercings.

"Sorry!" She sighs. "I didn't mean to scare you! My name is Rosie." She smiles holding her hand out to me.

"Sami." I slowly shake her hand. "Do you live here?"

"Yeah!" She smiles. "There is a group of us that all live here together. Everyone else is in the auditorium, want to meet them?"

"Um sure." I start walking with her. "Why are you so happy?"

"Because in this world you have to be." She looks at me. "If all I was to do is sit around being sad, I wouldn't have a reason to keep fighting. We all need a reason to keep fighting."

"That is very fair." I follow her into the room, and I see a bunch of cots set up with people of all ages.

"You can stay in the cot next to mine." She smiles as she leads me through the room, introducing me to people along the way.

"Did you guys set this place up?" I look over at her.

"No." She smiles. "The national guard did but then they got called away and they never came back. There used to be a lot more of us, but people left looking for loved ones or just because they didn't want to be here. We have plans to grow this place and make it a safe place, but we can only do so much at a time, you know?" She smiles. "What about you? Do you have a group?"

"Yeah." I smile. "I am looking for them."

"Well, my friend Jackson is our scouter, he finds places for us to do supply runs and he brings people in. You should ask if he's seen anyone from your group, especially if you have pictures of anyone from your group. Are you hungry or anything?" She smiles.

"A little hungry, yeah." I nod. "Is Jackson here now?"

"He should be!" She smiles handing me a peanut butter and grape jelly uncrustable. "Let's go find him!"

"Thank you for the sandwich." I take a bite as I follow her.

"Like I said earlier, we are currently working on making every room in this place functional." She smiles. "We have the nurse station up and ready, we want a few nurseries, a food pantry, everything you can imagine." She smiles. "There is a loading dock in the back that Jackson and a few of the other guys have turned into a car repair shop."

"Wow." I look at her. "This is amazing. Do you have a way to protect it?"

"What do you mean? Like from the dead?" She smiles.

"And people." I sigh. "In a world with no rules I can only imagine how awful people are going to be."

"Yeah." She looks down. "It's hard for me to accept that people will become evil, we have a man who used to be in the military that works here, I guess him, and I will have to start talking about our options." Rosie sighs as she leads me into the loading dock.

"Hey Rosie." A young boy with dark black hair combed to the side, with dark brown eyes comes up to us. He is dressed in brown kahki pants, an oversized graphic tee and has a bandana wrapped around his head. "Who's this?"

"This is Sami." She smiles then looks at me. "Sami, this is Jackson."

"It's nice to meet you, Sami." Jackson holds his hand out and I shake it as I nod in agreement.

"Rosie here was telling me that you go out scouting for people, can I show you a picture of my brother to see if you recognize him?" I pull the picture out of my pocket that I keep on me at all times.

"Yeah, sure!" He smiles as he takes it then quickly nods. "Oh yeah! I saw him about seven days ago?" I feel my heart skipping beats.

"His friend Dean is where I got this beauty!" He leads Rosie and I over to deans mustang.

"Bounty!" I cheer. "He gave you his car?"

"More like" he hands me Zach's picture back. "I came across them having car problems. I told him that I had the means back here to fix it and they could all come back with us but they agreed to keep going forward and give me their car in exchange for some food. They were great people and I think they would've really been a great help here." He smiles.

"Well maybe one day after Sami finds them you can bring them back here?" Rosie looks at me and smiles. "Because I think you'd be great here also."

"Yeah, maybe!" I smile whipping out my map and laying it out across the hood of bounty. "Do you remember where you saw them and in what direction they were heading?"

"Yeah!" He smiles looking over the map. "I like to take note of places so I don't spend too much time in the same places." He runs his fingers along a road on the map. "Here!" He takes a pen from his pocket, marking it on the map.

"Oh thank you!" I sigh as I hug him tightly. "You're the reason that I'm probably going to see my brother again."

"I'm glad I can help." He smiles. "But are you sure we can't convince you to stay? We really need strong people."

"Like Rosie said, I'll go find them and bring them back here and we can start a community!" I smile. "I appreciate everything you guys have done for me in the hour that I've been here but I'd like to ask for one more thing?"

"What is it?" Rosie smiles.

"My friend Dean, he loves this car and I could never repay you for fixing it for him. I have a car out front that works great and has a full tank of gas with another one in the trunk, could we trade?" I look over at Jackson praying in my head that he says yes.

"Of course!" He smiles handing me the keys. "It makes me happy that I can bring someone joy in this world. I really do hope to see all of you again." He smiles as he marks our location on the map. "Just so you know where home is."

I thank them both a few more times then I grab my stuff from the car and transfer it over to dean's car. I can't wait to see his reaction when I pull up in this.

"Alright bounty, it's time to go find our family." I smile to myself as I drive off, seeing Rosie and Jackson waving goodbye in the rear view mirror.

This is it, I actually have a chance of finding my little brother! After having so many doubts, this is the best I have felt in weeks. Zach, here I come.