The Resistance

Chapter two

The Bank

The sun was bright and the sky was clear but the heat was more than unbearable. My head hurt and then a flash of light. The sound of birds. Children running around, laughing and then a man’s face. Dark brown eyes and shady lines on his cheeks where stubble had started to poke through his tanned skin. Then it cut off and there was nothing, reality started up again like the rebooting of a computer. Madie’s face appeared in front of mine, her face was somewhat alarming but her face set a fire alight in my heart that I didn’t know was there. “What!” I said walking forward trying to act like nothing had happened. “You remembered something” Madie’s face lit up and she began darting in front of me begging me to tell her. “No, No it was nothing” She looked at me and her eyes widened becoming instantly cuter and more curious by the second, the deep indigo of her eyes caught in my throat and almost made me cough up what I saw but I swallowed it back down. “I just felt a little light headed” I paused, swallowing again to try not to back down “It’s just a lot to take in” my voice was softer this time, we stood for a few moments and then Madie nodded and skipped on, I breathed out thinking that I had gotten away with it. “I understand” she sang in a childish tone “If you don’t want to tell me, it’s ok”

We walked in silence for a while and then Madie spun on her heal and started walking backwards in front of me. “Ok, so it just dawned on me that if you don’t remember then you don’t know who or what The Resistance is, Right?” she spoke so fast that I hardly caught a word of what she said, I just gave a simple nod and hoped that I did the right thing. She nodded back and started again “OK, so the head of the Resistance is Derrick, I don’t know much about him but he seems nice but deadly serious” I nodded again as I only caught a few things, like Derrick Head  Nice Deadly , she spoke so quickly it was like she was on a caffeine high “Then there is Kenley and Rose, her real name is Esarosa but everybody calls her Rose, they don’t talk about then selves much but I know that they are married and Rose is really nice” God what is this kid on she is like a jack rabbit “But before you meet them you will need to get some new cloths from the bank and then you have to see Derrick and he will assign you a post” I stared blankly at her as we walked, her eyes looked at me longingly like I was supposed to say something, “Soooo, what’s the Resistance?” I dragged out my words like they were butter on bread.

“Oh, yer! The whole amnesia thing, I forgot” she paused for a moment and then realized what she had said “I didn’t mean it like that! I mean, I meant that you seem just so much like you and not like you have forgotten”  I couldn’t help but feel like Madie was looking down on me but I knew that she didn’t mean too. “Well the Resistance is Humanities Last Hope!” she moved her arms like she was embracing the world when she spoke, I laughed and she smiled at me, a worm and gentle smile “This is where all of the survivors of the Rising have come to form a new colony, and fight back against the Infection” again she made movements with her arms when she spoke this time she made a jester like she was the walking dead. I acted like I understood what she was talking about and then she cottoned on. “The Rising is when the Infected rose up and attacked the colonies, I thought you might remember that considering…” she trialed off and eventually she turned away.

I thought back to my dream the people being ripped away from me, maybe they were taken by the Infected and then I thought about the man I saw. Who was he?

Madie walked on in silence for a few minuets.

Nobody was around. The streets were dirt tracks and lined with tents and stalls of all kinds. Some tents were larger, probably to accommodate families with young children and babies, others were smaller than mine to accommodate healthy people who had arrived on their own. The track lead away from the tents and that’s when I saw it. Concrete houses with roves and doors, not many had glass in their windows but I could see the generator outside what looked like a temporary hospital. It rattled and shook but the only noise it made was a slight purr which was out of place when you saw its violent protest to work. The smell of burning oil and wood filled the air and the building became less appealing.

Some were clean and the paint was in tacked but others were a mess. Graffiti, chipped paint and stains I didn’t want to guess at covered the walls, doors and windows. Only a few panes of glass remained in a minute number of windows, all the houses looked the same until we can to the end of what I believe was a street. An old run down church was at the center of this extremely small town, a beautiful tall steeple with a bell towered up above us and the gargoyles atop stone pillars keeping a peaceful watch. But instead of taking in the slender of this well persevered building Madie just walked past it and straight towards and old building with a large counter for a window, the word Bank written on it in faded black paint. A few people were in front of us blocking my view of the counter.

A deep and manly voice came from the front of the que, it was a little croaking and muffled but I could still hear what he was saying. “Now you,….you take care now” he stuttered at a young women with a baby. A few minutes past and the sun only seemed to burn brighter, soon we were at the front of the que and I could see the man and the shop clearly.

He was tall and skinny but very old and frail. His short grey breed looked out of place against his dark skin but his smile was warmer than the sun. He wore a tattered grey t-shirt and brown leather jacket, a flat cap which was pulled up and a long pear of skinny jeans that were even more out of place. The building was just as scruffy as him but again had a curtain charm to it; Its concrete walls would have been the same color as the man’s shirt but were time and vandals had gotten to them, they were like a faded canvas. Spray paint covered the walls but amateurs hadn’t done this, the way that drip marks were not present showed that there was a level of skill to the ‘street artist’ as well as the fact that these were pictures of grass and trees with funky writing in the middle.

“Madie girl, what can I do for you on this fine morning” his voice was clam and somewhat sarcastic and I felt a curtain unease as his dark eye fixed on Madie. “Hey Alfred, we need to take out some cloths for my friends Alicia here” he smiled and looked at me. “Alicia, hey?” his voice was questioning everything Madie had just said and I found his gaze had redirected its self to me. I shuffled uncomfortably and looked at Madie unsure what to do. “Yer, Alicia” she stopped for a moment and bit her lower lip “The girl who has been a sleep, the one I told you about” her voice had lowered to a whisper like she didn’t want me to know but Alfred obviously didn’t care.

“OH! That Alicia” his eyes flickered back and forth between us and then stopped at me “You know you gave us all quite a scare, including the good doctor with being a sleep for so long an what not” he exclaimed in a rather up lifting tone. “How long?” my eyes fell to Madie who was hiding behind her hair “Madie how long was I asleep for” she peek out through her curtain like hair and then disappeared back “Madie” I said forcefully, she looked away from me again and then back at me. “I am sorry I didn’t want you to panic” she kept dodging around the question and then there was nothing to hide behind “You were asleep for two weeks” my eyes widened “but its really not that big of a deal, I mean lots of pe…”

“Two weeks!” the anger had bubbled up for to long and I just exploded “Two weeks isn’t asleep Madie! Two weeks is a coma, why didn’t you tell me” she looked a shamed and then scared. “Madie, I am sorry I didn’t mean to shout at you” I pulled her in for a hug and then kissed the top of her head “Its ok, I’m sorry” pushing her away from my chest I looked into her eyes “I will always look after you, all I ask is that you tell me the truth” She nodded as the tears rolled down her cheeks, I wiped them away and then turned back to the counter. Alfred stood there holding a pile of clothes; he must have slipped away while I was anger with Madie “Now aint that a beautiful sight, you know nower days not many people have someone like you’ve got” he smiled and twisted his head to Madie “ Keep a firm grip on this one Madie, don’t lose her”