Lost in the Echo (Major Revisions in progress!)

Chapter 3

Dust was being kicked up as bodies were falling to the ground with thuds. There were grunts following the thuds. Slipping under and kicking their legs out from under them was the best way to attack without killing them. I didn't want to create too many new enemies. Still need allies nowadays. Well, now more than ever.

Allies meant more food, supplies, and a greater chance at survival. Solo meant you were going to die for sure.

"You bitch!" One yelled. I couldn't tell which one.

"Hey, that's not nice." I replied standing still as they shuffled and scrambled to their feet. Sticking out my hip again I crossed my arms and looked at them. The "leader" went to punch me in the face but I grabbed his wrist and stopped him, shocking him. He gasped and stared at me. I could feel the shocked glares of the others.

"H..How?" He managed to push out.

"Practice. Now, I think you owe my friend over there an apology. Please."

"Kiss my ass." the guy spat at me.

"I rather not. And I'm not trying to make enemies. You guys challenged me and asked to be knocked on your asses I didn't hurt a single one of you." I explained with a sigh and let go of the guys wrist. All of them looked around at each other. All unhurt. Not a scratch from me. The "leader" growled then, in all of our surprise, the young boy stepped up and held out his hand to me. "Hm?"

"Twelve." He said with a smile. I shook his hand a gave a little chuckle.

"You're pretty young. You know how to use that thing, right?" I pointed at his gun attatched to his side. Instantly he looked at it, then me, then the group, and back at me.

"N..No." The boy spoke softly and hung his head in shame. A scoff came from his peeved friend. I looked back at him and rolled my eyes a bit then knelt next to the boy about to say something when I was caught off guard.

"She can teach you! She will teach you. All of you if need be. Please take us in. You may not have a lot of food, but we haven't eaten in days, maybe weeks now. And..." Autumn started rambling on behind me until I cut her off.

"I just got into a confrontation with these people Autie. We are in no place to be asking anything of them but peace. And even that is a stretch." I called back barely turning my head in her direction. The boy looked down at me as I looked up at him.

"We can trade. That way it's even." he eyes sparkled with hope, I couldn't help but smile and ruffle his hair when I stood back up. "If you teach me to shoot, teach us to shoot" he motioned to all of them. "then I can trade you food. Training for food. Deal?" The boy's face was covered with a friendly, hopeful smile.

"You sure your buddy over there will agree to this?" I pointed at the "leader" guy that had his back to us as he scoffed again. The boy looked back at him and rolled his eyes.

"His opinion doesn't matter. Our leader's does though. We can take you guys there and ask him. Maybe you can even join us!" He started to get excited and reached for my arm.

"Hey, slow down speedy. Where is your boss and who is he?" I moved my arm a little. Autumn had joined us and was just as excited about this offer as the boy was.

The boy didn't answer me, just ran off and the others followed him. All of them ran after the boy, leading us to follow them. "Come on, Autumn. Let's go meet the boss." We started to run after all of them quickly. We caught up pretty quickly as we all ran towards an old rundown office building that was missing most of its windows and a roof. Many buildings looked like that now. After all the bombing that had been done.

We walked inside and met another small "strike" force. This group had five people. Two girls and the rest guys ranging in age. They all looked around their twenties though. They whispered things to each other as they walked behind us. It made me a bit nervous, but Autumn on the other hand, was walking with the young boy that had made us the offer and was talking with him. Their energy levels seemed to match perfectly. 'And their maturity.' I thought as I shook my head and followed everyone through the building and climbed over to the next, then the next, and two more after that. 'How far away is this place?'

"One more building to pass through then we reach our outpost." The boy called back. Him and Autumn both looked at me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sweet. All this climbing is getting to my knees." I joked making Autumn roll her eyes. I smiled and gave a small chuckle. We continued through the building and climbed past another one and there it was. A huge tower with people watching out. Just like the boy said.

"Home sweet home," The woman from earlier said as she stood next to me looking out at the outpost from a window.

"Must be nice," I mumbled.

"What was that?" She asked looking over at me.

"Must be nice having a home. We've been on the move most of the time. Our last group got killed or died from infection. Autie and I are the last two of that group." I said then walked away and followed them to the gate.

"HEY!" The boy shouted to the people watching the gate. "It's Dash! We're back with people for the boss. A proposition has been brought up, we need to see X!" They gate slowly opened after he called out to them. 'Woo, more people.' I thought to myself as it began to open. I'm not a huge fan of big groups if you couldn't tell. And now we were about to walk right into one. 'My only regret is I don't have a Starbucks in my hand right now.'