Chapter one Behind the coolers

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POV: Ruthy
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What else do I need? What have have I forgotten? Granola, nutrition packets and water...

"Ruthy... Hurry and finish up, it won't be safe to stay here much longer..." Eadlynn whispers as she searchers for more helpful items, it might be a while till we come back here. I hop over a fallen rack, I'm thankful we got here before most of the store was raided of the good supplies. I grab water bottles, empty canteens and water purifiers, and granola. I'm just about to turn for the front of the grocery mart towards Eadlynn when,

"Darn it!" A shelf clatters to the floor, somewhere in the store. I could tell that wasn't Eadlynn, she'd never be so careless. Someone is in here with us...

I carefully search my mind for Eadlynn's position in the store, and I creep closer to get instruction. She whispers to get back and hide, till it's safe. I run, avoiding fallen objects and I find an empty shelf to hid under.

We've gone over this many times, in danger I will hide first and she will check to find an escape route. If there is none she will scope out the danger than hide as well. I crawl along the bottom shelf toward my sister and hide behind a sack of flower. It's risky but I need to know what's going on and I want to be able to stick up for myself.

A tall, platinum blonde teen stood with her hair down to her waist. She has a black jump suit and red eye visor her belt decorated with different devices and tools, flickering their lights. It looks like she was expecting the plague.

My sister, Eadlynn hides behind a nearby shelf and watches the teen unsure of her plan. Eadlynn studies the girl and slow backs away. Suddenly the girl turns around and sees Eadlynn, to my terror, she starts to move forward. Eadlynn trips over a broken pipe and clatters to the ground, soon the girl is towering over her with her gun readily pointed. Her hand quickly goes into her belt and pulling out a black device, shaped like a box with a big red button, a speaker and a tesla. She points it at Eadlynn and presses the button.

"Un-infected, 14 years of age, female." A female voice erupts from the speaker.

"Un-infected! Good for you!" The teen exclaims sarcastically, she offers a hand up and Eadlynn takes it unwillingly. Seems safe enough, I run out to hug my sister. The girl jumps and scans me with her device.

"Un-infected, 13 years of age, female." She sighs,

"Well, the good news is you guys are coming with me, the bad news is this place won't be secure much longer so bag your stuff and get moving." I turn away and start thinking of some extra stuff I could fit in my satchel.

"Why would we go with you, how do we know you won't kill us?" Eadlynn questions.

"Why would I kill an Un-infected human being? And unless you think you can outrun a pack of hungry infected creatures I think you should come with me!" Eadlynn looks to me and I nod.

"Fine" We quickly grab some extra items and make our way out the door. As we walk past the parking lot the girl slides over the hood of a car,

"Well, I see your in the Red Cross." The girl states to Eadlynn. Wearing her red, Red Cross coat.

"But you're only 14" Eadlynn nods,

"How?" Eadlynn sighs and looks back towards the small town we had recently been scavenging through.

"I'm, I was in training to be one of the first juniors in the Red Cross. Not going to all real emergencies, I still go, went to school... I'm Eadlynn by the way, and this is Ruthy." I nod at my name.

We follow the girl up the hill into the trees along beside a dirt road,

"Bet ya didn't know that there's a bunch of storage houses up here, including store houses for the pharmacies. If you need a map, it's all up here." The girl taps her forehead. We hear a viscous noise of pack animals in the direction we just came from.

"Come on, if we're going to hit the storage units for recovery supplies we better hurry!" Picking up our pace, we rush to the storage unit and shut the door.

We plan for Eadlynn to get anything that she might be able to use while I watch her back, (without getting in the way) while the girl stands guard. Eadlynn heads into the isles.

"So what's you name anyway?" I ask the blonde girl to break the ice.

"Omega, Omega Wilson." She answers, standing in the doorway keeping her back turned to me.

"All ready!" Eadlynn skips out from behind an isle. We pack up to go, to Omega's hideout.

We walked through the trees I till I could see a clearing. As we emerged from the forest I saw it wasn't a clearing we were at a cliff like drop towards the shoreline. At the bottom, there was a short, but sturdy seeming land bridge towards an old lighthouse.

"Is that it?" I ask, my voice filled with wonder. There is a pause as we watch the waves hit the nearby headland.

"Yes, it is. Mavis should be waiting for us in there." We walked a small way along the cliff edge and then followed a less steep, sloped forested path along down the side. It felt nice to walk through the long grass at the bottom. We walk carefully across a land bridge to a small perch-like island with the old lighthouse in the middle.

As we reach the lighthouse, Omega knocks on the huge, steel, industrial door.

"Who are behind you?" A voice shouts from behind the door. I'm guessing that's Mavis.

"Their new assets, Medical and what I'm guessing tech smarts. Eadlynn and Ruthy." Omega yells back. It's funny she was right, I do like fooling around with techy stuff.

The door slides open, and we walk through. We enter a large circular room with supplies lining the walls in stacks, there is a door to another room and red spiralling stairs up to the next level. I look around amazed, there is even a makeshift kitchen in the corner. A micro wave plugged into one of probably the only outlets in the place, a bunch of portable coolers and a table with a box labeled kitchen on it under the table.

It's only been a month since the outbreak and this duo has already racked up some major survival points.

Mavis flops down on to the couch and puts her feet upon a little dainty coffee table. She has short black hair fading from black to blonde at the bottom, it's cut off at the nape of her neck and has two long strands of hair falling from the front. She has a red and black bandana shaped dew rag over her mouth.  On her is a black tee shirt with a strange red symbol on it and blue jeans. I imagine this place used to belong to some nice old lighthouse keeper and his wife.

"There are 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a study upstairs. In the next hallway over, their is an old kitchen area now used for making and designing things and a stove, a storage room and a bath. On the third floor, it's the light but we use it as a look out tower. We take shifts as look out at night and that will certainly be a lot easier with 4 people. There will be 2 people on watch per night. That was your orienteering and some terms. Welcome to the Red Diamond." Says Omega, Mavis looks up at her friend,

"Well, show them their room! Move your stuff into my room and pull out the cots." Omega nods and we follow her up the stairs.

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