The Contaminated

Chapter 8 - A Familiar Name

As Hunter woke and eyed his surroundings he was happy to see Pierce laying next to him on the bed. He felt more comfortable knowing he was with him. The walls weren't familiar but they seemed safe. Where were they? Soon he heard a quiet knock on the door. He tensed up. Pierce woke too. He took a moment to remember where they were and then relaxed. 

Hunter was still putting the pieces together when Daisy opened the door. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you two. Just wanted to check on Hunter." Her eyes locked with his for a moment, "Ah you're awake! Good. If I give you a couple of minutes, could I ask you some questions regarding your health?" He nodded, still tense. 

"Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Daisy. I hope you two like pre-cooked ham in a can for breakfast because that's all we've got right now. " She laughed and silently closed the door. 

Hunter stretched his aching body and winced as he felt his wounds. He gasped and Pierce was suddenly there to check on him, "Hunter, are you okay?" Hunter sighed, "I just forgot about the pain." Pierce nodded knowingly. "So are these people trustworthy?" Hunter asked. "So far so good. They seem like real 'If you work, you eat' people. Which isn't a problem for us. They seem like good people. They took us into their home instead of letting us die." Pierce answered. 

That was a good point. How bad could these people be? 

Hunter snapped back to the moment, "I better get out there so I can see what... Daisy..? Wants." Pierce nodded, "Sounds good. Joel, their leader, and I are going to find some more meds, preferably something better than basic stuff for kids. I'll be back before you know it." Hunter frowned at the thought of him going with the leader of this group but realized that he was probably in safe hands. 

"Well let's not keep them waiting. Let's go." 

 Hunter opened the door to the living area. He saw a woman cleaning up some blood off the floor, probably his. He saw a man outside, stretching. And finally, he saw Daisy. She was in the kitchen counting meds. He walked over to her. She looked up from her task and smiled, "Oh good. You're here." She set down her clipboard, "Would you like some food?" He immediately started salivating. He was very hungry. She laughed, "Good. We have a couple choices. Canned ham, an Apple, or some sugar-free gum. None have expired yet too." He let out a chuckle, "So many delicious choices, I'll have the apple please."

She passes him the bright red apple and grabs one for herself. She leads him to the living room area and urges him to sit on the recliner, which he does. It feels better than walking. She smiles and sits across from him, "So how are you feeling today?" He chuckles, "I've had better days. In all honesty, I'm exhausted, and a little woozy. Not nauseous though. Definitely aching though. No doubt about that." 

Daisy nods listening to all the symptoms. After hearing the last part she lets out a giggle, "Well it's good you came when you did or else wooziness would be the least of your problems. You lost some blood. The wounds weren't deep enough to be fatal but they were deep enough that they needed attention sooner rather than later. I've managed to subdue the bleeding for now. I have some stitches in there but we're grabbing more supplies this morning, as you probably know. Anyways, I wanted to ask you a couple questions. First, what can you remember?" 

Hunter thought for a moment then said, "I remember a group of people raiding our camp and Jack called out to us to flee. I honestly can't remember who made it or not. Pierce saved me from an attacker, but I was already wounded. We ran from our home until we were safe. We couldn't see anyone nearby but that wasn't our primary concern. We needed to get me some help. My memory gets kind of spacey here... I  remember us walking... I had to lean on Pierce a lot. I was fading in and out. I remember him saying something about people and crates... then I woke up here."

Daisy perked up at the mention of the name but waited until he finished to say anything, "Who is Jack? Know his last name?" Hunter thought for a moment, "Davis. Jack Davis, I think." This left Daisy speechless. She called Angy over and started to talk to her, "Angy. Jack Davis. He was in our group before we were attacked at the old place. He started another group. We weren't the only survivors."

Angy gasped and looked at Hunter, "Do you know where he is? Maybe others survived." Hunter frowned, "I am not sure where he is now. When we were attacked we all just... fled. I couldn't see who went where." 

Angy looked thoughtful, "I mean it's good he made it out. I'm sure he's crafty enough to survive twice. But the main thing is... there may be others who fled our original house."