Silent Majority (A Zombie Apocalypse Story) *book two of: Prodigy Suicide*

Chapter 22- Strangers

I woke up in the morning wrapped up in warm sheets and dim light. I could see his silhouette pronounced at the end of the bed.

His back to me as his body sits on the edge, his elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

"Morning." I say, unravelling myself from the bundles of cloth. His head turns to me as he smiles his dimples smile.

"Morning, how are you today?" He asks, standing up as I do. I let the words sink into my pounding skull.

"Better." I say, sharing a half-hearted smile. He smiles back, nodding.

We walk out to go grab breakfast, my lungs clenching as we get closer. It's been 2 weeks since the incident with prodigy suicide and Dylan. I don't even think I should call it prodigy suicide.

I dread every second I spend in the cafeteria, because it's me sitting alone in the corner as I watch the old group blend with new people and Dylan flirt with Neeve.

As we enter I scuttle over to get my breakfast as Tristan goes to talk to Will as usual. I take the usual breakfast which is a bowl of cornflake cereal, hash browns, and water. I take my usual seat in the corner by myself, and repeat my usual business.

For two weeks, a lot has changed. Not only has the group stopped talking to me, but some of them have stopped talking to each other.

Dylan has completely abandoned them and now sits with the 'cool' teens which consists of Neeve and her little sidekicks and some other buff guys.

Anna and Jordan stick with Megan and Kyle and two other people who work in the kitchen.

Juliet and Minho stick with some girls who work in the medical centre and some boys who work as trainers.

Erin and Liam sit with some seemingly nice people who work as cooks and field workers.

Finally, I sit alone. After our group split, Neeve spread a rumour about me having some disease, making people not want to be near me. But it's died down now.

Every time I'm in here I watch what each person from our group is doing. How they've changed, why it's happened. I always have these thoughts rummaging through my head.

I have no idea if we'll ever come back together.

I try to say a simple greeting to any of them, but all I get in return is ignorance or a glance of no emotion. But I've given up on that now, we've all moved on. I never should've came here.

Once I'm finished I head out of the cafeteria and off to my new room. Yes, new room.

I'm staying with Tristan at the moment since I've practically been kicked out of my old dorm and everyone's moving around pretty much. I wouldn't be surprised if Dylan was with Neeve.

I found my way back and got changed into my gear for today, I was going on a run with Scott.

We'd planned to avoid the city since my last appearance there, but I think Scott wants to go back today. I don't know if it's the best idea.

I hear a knock on the door, so I walk over and open it to be welcomed by Scott.

"Ready?" He asks, equipped with his backpack loaded with rifles and knives. I nod and walk out the room, Scott following after me.

We walk outside, and head down towards the car park. There seems to be a group of about five teenagers in the car park as well, they must be going on a run too.

One of the other main runners, Wallace, is talking to the group of teenagers by a larger truck. I glance at them and realise Jordan and Kyle are a part of that group. I see Jordan staring at me and I can sense his curiosity. I ignore it and continue to the truck Scott and I are taking.

We both chuck our bags in the backseats and he hops in the drivers seat as I take the passenger. He starts the car and we drive past the group of teens. I can see Jordan is trying to ignore us, but Kyle has his eyes steadily glued to our car. I give him a small, genuine smile, but he looks away, as if it's a crime to smile back.

The large gates open up for us and we head out on the dirt road. It's silence for the whole trip pretty much. We're meant to be heading towards a smaller village, but Scott has other plans.

We pass the road we are meant to take and I glare at Scott.

"Scott, what are you doing?" I ask, looking back to see an empty road.

"Going to the city." He says. I whip around in my seat and glare at him in anger.

"What?! You told me we were heading to the village!" I yell. Scott smirks at the road before us.

"Come on, I think we both know this was going to happen." He says, taking a sip from his water bottle.

"Well what are we going to do in the city? Get eaten by infected or taken by CAIGE?" I growl, folding my arms and not removing my gaze from Scott.

"We're going to enter a few building and find some necessary supplies. Then we can see how much time we have left to maybe.." I can tell where Scott was heading with his words.

"No! No we are not going back to the CAIGE place! No!" I spit, shaking my head as my eyes look forward to the fast approaching city.

"Come on! We must see what's happened since. We need this information! It's valuable!" He says.

"Yeah, and our lives are valuable!" I argue back, my eyes wandering out the window.

"We'll be fine, okay?" Scott says, his eyes glancing at me. I sigh and look over at him, then shake my head.

"Whatever."

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Big stuff happening in the next chapter...

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