Life's Test

Chapter Twenty - Votre Combat Est Terminé

LACHLAN'S P.O.V
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     Our truck sputters to life after several tries, once I get the heads up from Donnie who is leading the way, I put the truck into drive and press on the gas, following Donnie and his group out of the mall parking lot.I notice the lack of Infected as we continue to drive on the leaf covered pavement.

     After about five or ten minutes of driving we come to a stop; "Holy shit" I hear Samantha say in the passenger seat, "They weren't kidding when they said giant walls" Alec says from behind me. The walls are about thirty feet high, looking to stretch around the entire place. It is made of scrap metal and what seems to be telephone poles.

      The sound of loud creaking grabs my attention as the giant, thick metal gates swing inward, allowing us to drive in.

     People are scattered along the roads, most carry side arms, some children are kicking a soccer ball around. There is a building in the center of it all, my guess is that it is their town hall, the town hall is surrounded by apartments made of brick and pale pink siding.

     We follow Donnie to the front of the town hall where he parks his truck. I pull in two spaces away and look at everyone and nod, signaling for us to get out. My feet his the clean pavement and the smell of fresh cut grass is way better then the smell of rotten flesh.

     Everyone walking by is dressed in clean casual clothing, some stare at our blood stained clothes as they walk by, I see some un-easy people with their hands on their side arms, almost ready to defend this place.

     The sound of a loud whistle gives me a fright making me and a few others draw our guns; "Relax!" Donnie says nodding to the children forming a line behind a middle aged woman. "You guys have school here?" Samantha asks, Donnie smiles and nods for us to follow him.

     We enter the town hall filled with people I start to feel out of place with all these clean nice smelling people around, when my group smells like rotting guts. Donnie takes us to a room that has one desk, a large filing cabinet, three chairs, and a large leather couch; "Take a seat, Grant will be with you as soon as possible" Donnie says before leaving the room and locking the door.

     About five minutes later a man walks in, he is about six feet, short brown hair, blue eyes, and a scruff going on; "Hey! I'm Grant, I'm the one in charge around here, not the easiest job but hey, someone has to" Grant extends a hand out to us, and we all just look at it for a few seconds before I hesitantly shake it.

     This guy is to bubbly for me, and I have no idea how he lasted this long, but if he doesn't toughen up he won't last much longer. "I take it you're the leader of these people?" Grant says raising an eyebrow to me. I just nod.

     "Okay well Donnie will take the rest of you to freshen up, you stay with me and we will talk and make a decision if you're going to be staying here" Grant says to me before Donnie opens the door and everyone follows him out; I grab Samantha's shoulder and whisper into her ear "If they try anything, don't let them get away" Samantha nods before following the rest out.

     I sit across from Grand and we just look at each other for a minute before he speaks up; "eight of you, that's a small number isn't it?" Grant says as he picks up a pencil and a note pad.