Days Of Dust

Chapter 7

Roxanne was worried about the boys, worried about Rick and just worried about surviving. People had told her she worried too much, but they were all dead and she was still alive, so that was her key to surviving. She had always kept quiet because she never wanted anyone to know how she really felt about anything. The only person she could talk to was Rick, she liked Rick more than anyone else, but he had little time to talk to her nowadays because he was always being the big leader of their settlement. Settlement? You couldn't really call an organized group of kids a settlement could you?

Oh well, however she thought about it they were one of the most organized groups in the city. She walked out to the decking of an old café, it looked out over the highway where the boys should be returning. She like being by herself, but only for short periods because she liked to talk with Rick about things, he would always sit there and listen to her even though she knew he didn't really have time to. Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick. All her thoughts came back to Rick, her thoughts were interrupted by the screech of tyres and a loud engine coming up the road, then the sound of the chains being pulled up to open the front gates. She hurried down the now-still escalators and ran to the garage, the boys got out of the car with four new kids in army uniforms.

"Who are they?" Roxanne said.

Rick walked over and gave her a big hug, he smelt, but she didn't mind, and she hugged him back. "They're some kids who were living at the army base, they have a huge group there but these guys didn't want to stay. We had to steal what ammo we could and get these guys outta there. But we better be on the lookout just in case they come to try and get it back. If you'll excuse us, we need to get to bed."
Matt was working later then he normally did in his workshop. They had put together a small workshop in the hardware section of the mall; Matt practically lived in here when he wasn't with the other boys on guard duty. He was working on one of his projects, one he had started soon after moving to the mall; he was making a spear that had rotating blades on the tip of it, he also had made several swords and helped in the making of Lewis's slingshot. The two building geeks, Arthur and Darcy, came in.

"Matt," said Arthur, "we need your help."

Matt snorted with laughter, "Since when did you two need my help?" He stopped laughing when he saw the boys staring at him with a serious expression, "Alright, what do you guys want done?"

Darcy smiled, "We'll show you."

The boys took him to where the small police station was at the side of the mall.

"We want to make this place a proper prison." Arthur explained, "We got some nerds that want to learn more about this disease and if we'll eventually get it, so they want us to build a place to hold the infected while they experiment."

Matt howled with laughter, "Experiment with what? Sticks and stones? Toys? Or just with their bare-"

Darcy cut him short, "They then want a group to head over to the hospital or even the science museum to grab whatever they can fine, then they'll set up a laboratory on one of the office floors."

Matt looked at both of the boys, they gave nothing away in their facial expressions.

"Alright," Matt said, "let's get to work."