The Corruption

Chapter 16 - Checking Out for Lunch

A sense of brightness overcame Derek as he slowly opened his eyes. It was morning, and though the skies were painted a dull gray by the corruption he could tell that night had passed. He could not remember anything for a brief moment until he started waking up. "Breakfast is ready," Kaleigh said, cooking waffles on the kitchen stove. This sounded too good to be true for Derek, and Liam; they thought it was a dream. "Where did you get waffles at a time like this?" asked Liam. "I found a huge pack of them in the fridge," Kaleigh simply replied, a smirk passing by her face. Nate was still fast asleep with his book nestled on his face. Liam looked over at Nate in the chair and nudged his shoulder, waking him up. "Tie my hands together and call me daddy!" Nate yelled as he lunged forward and his "Fifty Shades of Gray" book fell flat off his face. Liam and Derek gave Nate a "what-the-heck-did-you-just-say" look. Nate stared at them because he didn't think he said anything. Kaleigh was too busy making her waffles and preparing the syrup to care about what Nate was blabbing about. The book must've gotten into Nate's head and sat there, waiting to become dreams. Nate rubbed his eyes and shook his head, taking his metal club from the kitchen counter as Liam did the same. Derek took his khakri knife and slid it into his pocket, looking at Nate because for some reason he thought he was going to take it. "I can't wait for these pancakes.. Kaleigh.." Nate murmured, and Derek got irritated by this. He went over to Nate and playfully bumped his arm, "Me too," he said, giving Nate a "I-know-something's-up" look. Nate understood. Minutes passed and the waffles were ready. Kaleigh took flat china bowls out of a cabinet and put the syrup on the middle of the table, putting waffles in the bowls. "Here you go, sweetpeas," she said, full Texas coming out of her mouth. The three men laughed and sat around the table, enjoying their waffles with syrup. Liam, being the fattest one, enjoyed the food the most, while waffle pieces fell into his scruffy brown beard. Nate passed the napkins to Liam as he was a huge germaphobe. Liam wiped his mouth with his napkin and Derek ate his waffle like a gentleman, with a fork. Kaleigh served herself some spare waffles and borrowed the syrup for a bit. After everyone finished, they sat up and Kaleigh took her rifle and ammo from the counter. Last night she made sure to put the rifle on safe mode for two reasons; to make sure no one got accidentally shot and to not give out their location to the Scorpedos. After taking a moment to go to the bathroom, Liam and the others prepared to exit the hotel room just after Derek looked outside the window and enjoyed the scenery one last time. Kaleigh had a plan already that she thought of over night. She bashed the dresser with the butt of her rifle and the dresser fell on the door, knocking them both down, looking both ways, before quickly jumping into another room and leaping off the balcony into a bush. Liam, Derek, and Nate were astonished, but they followed the leader and copied the cat, doing the exact same. Once they got out of the bush they looked around, and Nate looked at Derek, "Where's your khakri knife?" Derek knew Nate was up to something, "In my pocket..?" he said, raising a brow. "Oh.."  Nate said, slightly nodding. The group traveled farther down the rock-covered road, while Derek stood in front with his knife and Liam and Nate stood at his sides with their clubs, Kaleigh in the back with her rifle, because they knew these were unsafe grounds and they had to be in position at all times. Kaleigh saw some corrupted down the hill from where they were, though they did not smell them so she thought she'd take the shot until Derek went over to her and pushed her rifle down, saying, "Don't waste a bullet, you could waste a life." Kaleigh smiled and rolled her eyes, "But there's no more life in that thing," she pointed to the corrupted with her rifle. "I mean, you might need that bullet to save someone else's life." Kaleigh shrugged and nodded, holstering her rifle and going back into position. A dead Smoker stumbled upon them in their tracks, though it was dead on the ground. There were fresh footprints near it, shoe-shaped, which could mean there were other survivalists, travelers, or rogue agents nearby. The difference between the three is, a survivalist does not attack unless attacked. A traveler does not attack at all as they don't have weapons to be considered a traveler. A rogue agent trusts no one, key word "rogue" and lives by the oath "kill or be killed." The are more rogue agents around Blackwell, which is a challenge for the CPG, as they are all survivalists. Not so much Kaleigh, she has a thing for shooting heads off playfully which she just tried to do to that corrupted. 

At the end of the hard, cold road, there was a traffic jam, or what was left of it. Abandoned cars that piled up on each other, what seemed to be a tragic crash. Liam and Kaleigh searched the cars while Nate held his Desert Eagle close and his metal club far, standing next to Derek who was again flicking his khakri knife round and about. Liam found bandages, medicine, and a first aid kit which he unhesitatingly stored into his satchel. Kaleigh found scrap metal, metal sheets, a hatchet and a bag of blue berries. She opened the bag and sniffed, they smelled ripe and good to eat, not poisonous. She could detect poison like someone could detect rain, because of her perception from her sniping abilities. She attached the hatchet to one of her place holders on her utility belt and gave the metal pieces to Liam who stored them in his crafting bag/satchel while she ate some of the berries and gave some to Derek. Then she put the rest in Liam's satchel and patted him on the back while Liam was crafting another spear. He has a thing for spears, just like Nate has a thing for metal clubs. He took two metal sheets and used a sharp stick to peel off the metal and make them round metal bars, then connecting them and binding them with a bandage, sharpening one end with scrap metal, not having to ask for Derek's knife again who was being extra-protective of it because of Nate, who was starting to have unusual sorrow for Liam and feelings for Kaleigh which no one knew of except Derek, or at least suspected. As the group traveled they got lost in their thoughts until they reached the end of the intersection, which led to a small town in Blackwell called Stillwater. The center of town had a restaurant called "Stillwater Roadhouse." They remembered it as if it was yesterday, Kaleigh and Liam would drive there and meet Derek and Nate just in time for a soda and some burgers, which was a routine they had around every month. They were enjoying their happy memories returning until they heard a strange noise coming from inside the restaurant.