The Survivors of Dawn

Tough crowd

I inhaled deeply. The pound in my head was gone. I moved to my side, trying to get comfortable again, when my eyes snapped open. I felt what I was laying on, and realized it was a bed. There was a warm blanket over me.bThen I realized something else: I'm naked. I pulled the sheets close to my body, then heard the door open slightly with a creak. By the door stood a old man, a teenage girl with blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail, and a guy in a sheriff uniform. I didn't see the man from the creek bed with them.

"We need to get her downstairs. Beth, help her get dressed, she lost a lot of her energy running. Rick, you wait here until she's dressed so you can carry her downstairs.", said the older man. The guy named Rick nodded while Beth open a dresser and brought out a light blue tank top and grey Aeropostale looking sweatpants. She glanced over toward Rick. "Uh, you might want to turn around.", she said softly. Rick nodded and quickly turned over to the wall. Beth looked at me and smiled reassuringly, then removed the blanket. She slipped my tank top over me ever so gently. After we had that on, she uncovered my legs. It felt odd for a younger girl to be dressing me, but I didn't really care since these people seemed to be caring for me.

She picked up my ankles and I yelped from the sudden pain shooting up my legs.

Rick almost spun around, but Beth said," It's fine! No peeking!" Rick turned back.

Beth turned her attention back to me and slid the sweat pants over me. She tied the top so they would fit me and told Rick it was fine now. Rick turned, and I could spot the disappearing traces of blushing. He walked over to me and slid a arm under my back, then under my legs. The pain of him picking me up wasn't as bad as the sweatpants were, but the push from his arm on my legs was almost unbearable. I could see he was trying to make this as painless as possible. Beth hurried over and opened the door, and Rick carried me to the stairs. I was slipping, so he had to jump to keep me up. I winced when he did, trying not to scream as many curse words as I could.

We walked slowly down the stairs, each step sending a searing pain cut through my legs. When we got to the bottom, I still didn't see the man from the creek. But there were lots of others.

There was a man with a shaved head, another old one with a beard and bushy eyebrows, an Asian, a teenage boy, and a black guy( pardon my language if it sounds racist).

There was a lady with short cut, graying hair, a woman with black, sleek hair with knots in it, like she hadn't slept for days. I saw a girl with the same blonde hair as Beth, just older, another blonde with curly hair and a straw hat, and a woman with brown hair that fell at her shoulders. They were all looking at me.

I swallowed. "Hello.", I said, my voice dry and cracked. I saw the man with the bushy eyebrows smile a little, but it was wiped of his face so quick, I may have thought I never saw it at all. The others faces stayed grim.

I looked down and the ground and muttered," Tough crowd"