The Resistance

Chapter three

First Impressions

Alfred passed me the clothes and smiled “I think these are your size, if they don’t fit just bring them back” I nodded and took Madie’s hand. She was warm and sweaty but I didn’t care, we walked away “Thank you Alfred” Madie shouted back as we headed back to where we came from.

Back in the tent I tried on the clothes. The long top was an orange color that I didn’t like at all and the length was just as bad, coming just above my knee. However I quite like the black skinny jeans that fit perfectly. Alfred had given me a belt in case the jeans didn’t fit so I hung it loosely; on my hips above the long top, the black leather of the belt clashed with the orange of the top but I figured I could look worse. After I was dressed Madie came in to the tent with her hands behind her back smiling. “What?” I asked her laughing slightly through my teeth.

“Oh nothing, just that I am the best friend in the world” she sounded overly optimistic

“Oh really! So what has the bestest friend in the world got behind her back” with that I pounced on her, wrapping my arms around her back reaching for the mystery item, she squealed in excitement and laughed at me. “No, no stop” she laughed “Alicia, stop their a surprise” I coiled back and sat on the bed.

Madie walked over to me and plonked her tiny frame onto the bed next to mine. She then looked at me with eager eyes “Are you ready?”

“Yer I am, now give me” I said reaching behind her once more but she slapped my hand away. “Uh Uh!” she said shaking her head from side to side. I sat there a waited for her to hand over what she had but she just looked at me. “Ok” she sang happily “Here you go” and with that she brought a pair of orange trainers from behind her back and placed them on my lap.

They matched my top but were nowhere near as hideous, they were cut so that they came just below your ankle and fit perfectly. On the outside of the shoe a round white symbol with the words All Stars stood out proudly, I looked up at Madie with my mouth wide open. “Do you like them?” she asked cautiously

“Yer I love them” I pulled her in once again for a hung and then let her go “Thank you”

“I don’t know if you remember” she started “But they were the brand of shoe…”

“That we used to grope over in Colony One magazines” I said cutting her off

“You remembered something Alicia” her face grew closer to mine

“Yer, I guess I did” we talked for a while longer before we left for the church. “The Church is Derrick’s main area of action” Madie stated “This is where he comes up with Ration planes and defense strategies against the Infection” we were growing closer to the old Church now and the majesty of the building started to show through. At the font a large stone arch framed and equally as large wooded door, gargoyles and stone art covered the top of the roof glaring at any horizon. But the once beautiful stone etched walls of the church were now covered in the same graffiti and dirt that everything else was.   

The doors were ruff at the touch and I feared that I would get a splinter just by looking at it. They swung open heavily and then closed shut like a safe behind Madie and I. The loud grown that echoed from the hinges drew everyone’s attention making me blush and instantly nervous.

“Madie” a young woman said excitedly running towards us. She embraced Madie in a tight motherly hung making me feel uneasy and somewhat jealous.

There was something about the woman I couldn’t put my finger on, she had long blond hair with a blue tinted fringe. Her long a slender frame was also intimidating. She wore a tight fitting grey jacket that had been cut off under her breasts and placed neatly on the left arm was a pale blue kite that matched her eyes, its long sleeves covered her hands and through a hole in the cuff her thumb poked prominently out. The even tighter black skinny jean where held needlessly in place with a vibrant blue belt.

“Rose!” a fierce voice in the distance shouted during my attention away from her suffocating thighs “What do you think you’re doing you know Madie can’t be in here” A tall man walked his way across the hard gravel floor. His muscular tall stature had no effect on the way he moved, he glided like he was on ice as beautiful as a swan on moon light waters. His mahogany hair caught the light as he walked past a poorly boarded up window. It shimmered and shone like fine silk and I had to resisted reaching out a stroking it. He glared at Rose with milky blue eyes which made my hart skip a beat, my breathing grew heavy as he drew closer to us and I found my body unwilling to move.

“Take her out of here at once!” he ordered in a gruff voice but you could tell that in the gaps between the ruff exterior of this man was a soft caring center. Rose’s eyes widen in shock or in some other unclear more famine emotion.

“Kenley” she said softly “she is just a girl what could she do?” her tone picked up and question him. I could see the panic and frustration behind his calm eyes, bubbling up like baking soda in a vat of vinegar. The shier fear of not knowing what to do or say burnt with in him and I struggled to find a way to reclaim his argument.

“I think what Kenley is trying to say, is that delicate matters are being discussed and it’s not for Madie to hear” another voice called from a table at the end of the room but I paid no attention. I was too concerned with what was to come.

“Kenley you know that she is mature for her age” Rose argued “and why wouldn’t she be with all she has been put through” she glared at me, her eyes burning into my skull and judging me with out reason. Everyone fell silent, their eyes fell on me and an uncomfortable felling burrowed its way up through me chest and into my throat cutting off my air way. Unable to speak, I stood motionless; dumbfounded by the fact she blamed me. She blamed me for nothing.

“Leave the girl alone” boomed the voice of a man as he walked forward.

He was the same height as Kenley but he was black and his hair was jet black like the night. His bright emerald eyes resembled those of a cats and he had a chin that looked like it had been chiseled right from stone. The expression on Rose’s face told me that he was someone of importance but the smirk on Kenley’s face contradicted what I thought was a rather good deduction.

“Derrick has a point” Kenley said getting cockier “I mean it’s not the girls fault that she was asleep for two weeks” two weeks ran through my mind, two weeks is long enough for relationships to form. This made me the home wrecker; I had just woken up and ruined all Rose had done to help Madie. As much as I seemed to hate Rose at first glance, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as she had looked after Madie while I wasn’t able too.

“Look” I said unevenly but at least the words had made it past my lips “I don’t want to hurt anybody, I am sorry that I wasn’t able to look after Madie and I appreciate what you have done, all of you but would somebody please tell me what is going on” the words came flooding out like a tap without a stopper. Some of them wear in anger others in frustration, all I wanted to do was remember and it frustrated me that I couldn’t.

They all stared in shock at how boldly I had just spoken until the one called Derrick spoke.

“M, Madie you did fill her in didn’t you?” all the while he spoke he never took his eyes of me.

“Yer, Yer I told her who you are and where we are….” Her voice trailed off and she started to sway from side to side, looking down at her feet I could see that she was ashamed of something. “But you didn’t tell her how long she was a sleep for or what we do” he said harshly his eyes drew reluctantly towards her and then held there starring nastily.

“Don’t blame her” I shouted realizing I was stepping out of line again “She was only trying to protect me” once I had started I couldn’t stop but I wanted to retract my words and stuff them back in my mouth. Derrick’s eyes met mine and my heart beat in fear. His eyes were piercing and had flakes of gold mix between.

“What’s your name” he asked the curiosity was very prominent in his voice and the scowl on Rose’s face was just as much so.

“Alicianna” I had recoiled back into myself, feeling quite stupid.

“Come with me” Derrick took my hand and pulled me away from the others. I looked back at Madie and mouthed ‘be good’ and she nodded back understanding that I meant more. The room became dark and I found myself feeling a little woozy.