Beautifully Invisible { 10k | A Z Nation Fanfiction}

Chapter 2

*Willow POV*

"OH, how ironic. A tree-girl with a tree-name. Come on, what're you gonna say next? That you have magical plant powers?" snarled the greasy man.

"Murphy, shut the hell up or I'm going to make sure they torture you in California," stated the dark woman.

California? Holy hell. We're in New Jersey. She wanted to go to California? My face scrunched in confusion, as if biting a lemon.

"You see, Murphy here is special, and we have to get him to California," stated the tall brunette man, motioning to the grease ball.

I nodded. He didn't seem special to me, unless brutal rudeness was so special. The group introduced themselves to me. The tall brunette was named Charles, but they called him sometimes by his last name: Garnett. The ebony woman's name was Roberta Warren, and the tanned girl was named Cassandra. The old man's name was Doc, and the red-haired girl called herself Addy, and introduced the blonde boy- Mack. The black-haired boy with the rifle hadn't left the bed of the truck. He mustn't have been a talker.

"And you got here just in time, we ran out of gas..." stated Warren, and the group packed into the SUV and pick-up truck but I stood outside. I really don't trust these people. They just happened to run out? Unlikely. I received confused looks and the back hatch of the car flipped up. A hand motioned for me to come back there. I trudged over, hoping they'd leave if I took long enough, but they waited until I plopped in the rear with Mack and Addy. We sped past the army truck, leaving it in the rear view mirror.

We went to the old town Mall looking for gas and supplies. The place I spent my teen years with girl friends was now shadowed by piled up cars and broken windows, and strewn, slaughtered bodies. The air reeked of body odor, oil, and putrefaction. I sighed, knowing the days of laughing at hideous clothing in outlet stores and gawking at older, attractive boys were forever gone, merely an invisible memory.

As I rummaged through the center console of an abandoned car, I found a pack of chewing gum. Ecstatic with my reward, I flipped open the packet to fine a note scribbled in pen.

"They're everywhere. I'm sorry Tess, I couldn't make it home. I love you."

A chill flew down my spine as I threw the pack of gum to the back of the car. Behind me, siphoning gas was the rifle boy and Doc. I found a bottle of aspirin and rattled it, almost completely full. I shoved it in my hammock pack and continued searching, while eavesdropping on the others.

I overheard the dark-haired, camouflage-covered boy say his name was Ten Thousand. I scoffed to myself, searching through the trunk of a rusting Subaru Outback.

I heard the group jerk into their at-arms stances, focused on a guy who looked greasier than Murphy, should that be possible. I continued to look in the rearview mirror, contemplating on whether or not to emerge at this point. I sighed, exiting the car.

"He took my ride," the man monotonously spoke.

"You should choose better friends," Cassandra sneered, cocking her head to the side, adding a dash of salt to her sass.

"Those are pretty well kept clothes, for someone living on the run. I'm surprised he didn't want them too," I observed, looking at my own ripped apparel. I didn't trust this guy. I didn't trust anyone here.

Cassandra shot me a look of awe, approaching me quickly: "Don't talk to him. Don't make friends with him. Don't. Trust. Him."

I looked into the girl's softened brown eyes as they flickered between mine. The shield she protected herself with melted like butter to reveal pure fright. Something must've really been amiss with this guy, since he looked greasy but smelled fine, didn't have any blood on him and looked well fed. Cassandra walked away from me, her confident aura resuming, but her chest heaved and collapsed with every shaky breath.