"What?" Rick yelled, "They want to come in here and live with us after they threatened to kill us?"
Ethan and his boys had come to the gate and were quickly met by the guards who stripped them of their weapons and put them into the makeshift holding cells until Rick could figure out what to do. Rick had called a conference with Butch, Jack, Roxy and Percy. Percy wanted to leave them to die on the streets, but Roxy was firmly against that. Rick wanted to help them but was still angry at Ethan for threatening them. Butch had stayed quiet the whole time and only grunted when he was asked a question.
"I don't see why we should help them; all they did was threaten us and try to kill those other boys." Percy said, his voice rising.
Roxy shook her head, her anger was getting the better of her. "Aren't you forgetting something, Percy? Ethan and his boys are human beings like us, they aren't the enemy, and the grown-ups are."
For the first time Butch spoke, "I think we should let them stay but only give them what they need to survive on, nothing more and nothing less." He spoke in such a weak voice, that both Roxy and Percy stopped arguing.
Rick looked at his friend, "Okay, Butch, we'll do that." Rick spoke calmly and put a hand on Butch's shoulder. "Are you sure though?"
Butch nodded, "It's all they deserve." He said simply. Rick nodded and told Jack to go and make sure it happened.
Kyle had seen the boys come in but hadn't bothered to go down and check out what was happening, he didn't really care about any of that sort of stuff. If it doesn't help you stay alive, then don't worry about it, his father had used to say. He had been up on the lookout all night and now the cold morning dew was dripping from the roof. The previous night, he hadn't been able to sleep because of the constant gunshots that echoed loudly in the quiet city. He had decided to keep watch instead, and had spotted the large group of infected moving towards the army base but had decided that they weren't coming near the mall so they were harmless. The next morning Kyle had woke to the smell of smoke wafting from the direction of the army base. If any of the buildings caught fire they'd be in trouble. He warned Rick and a squad were sent to put the blaze out. About four hours later they were back, the boys ran straight to Rick.
"There were burning grown-ups everywhere; this fire was the only thing that would've saved us. We still had to take out a few; they looked like animals and were so fast."
Rick nodded, this confirmed the story that Ethan and Brett had told them, except for the fire part.
"Do any of you know how the fire started?"
The six boys shook their heads, "There were flames all the way through the camp but it looked as if the fuel barrels caught fire and exploded because half of the storage bay was blown-up. Can we go and clean ourselves up now?"
Rick nodded and turned to Kyle, "We need to find out how that fire started; if there's other survivors around here then we need to make ourselves friendly with them or things could get bad fast."
Kyle nodded, neither of them wanted to have a repeat of what happened with Ethan's group.
Rick stood up from his chair, "I'd better go and check on things; yell out if you spot anything."
And with that he climbed down from the lookout leaving Kyle alone with his thoughts.
Jack awoke with a start and lashed out at the hand shaking him.
He heard a cry and opened his eyes to see Hayley on the ground holding her arm, "Oh my God, Hayley, are you alright? I'm so sorry, I was having a bad dream, I'm so sorry."
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YOU ARE READING
Days Of Dust
AdventureThe virus spread quickly. Most of the world was wiped out. Only children remained. Now they must survive the harsh new world, but the dead are changing, developing new behaviours, Rick and his friends have to find answers before it's too late...