Infected

Chapter 7

Owen apologized repeatedly when he woke up. He wouldn't shut up. I insisted that it was okay I deserved being yelled at...Even though he yelled for the wrong reasons. We had walked a long ways and I would say the shack was about six miles from the facility. It had been long past an hour since Owen had been knocked out. So it got me thinking, am I really immune to the infection? I think back to when Gage was infected. I was with him all of that time, I never got infected. I was around so many that attacked and killed my parents. I didn't get it then either. Or are all of those occurrences, including this one, coincidence? I guess I could test the theory. There's only one way to test it. But if I'm not immune, testing it will kill me...

"Who gets the bed?" Owen asked, yawning. It was dark outside and we were all exhausted, couldn't imagine why.

Charlie suggests, "one of the girls can have it." What a gentleman.

Owen asked, "yeah, which one though? Haha."

I say to Te'Aysha, "it's still your turn to have the bed." I smile remembering our arrangement.

She laughs, " that is true!" She goes to the bed and lays down. "Hope whoever was here last didn't have lice or some shit." She mumbles. We all laugh. Even Charlie smiled. There were only two spare blankets besides the one Te'Aysha was using. She threw them in the middle of the room and wished us luck 'working that out.' Charlie automatically offered, "Neyomi should get one."

I shook my head, "its okay, you guys have them." Owen took one without arguing and curled up in a corner to sleep. Charlie was still trying to give me the other.

"No." I told him. "You keep it."

"Okay, how about this. It's big enough for the both of us, we can share. I don't feel like having this argument all night long." Charlie suggested.

I shrug my shoulders, "alright, I guess." I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

It was awkward trying to share a blanket with him. I came to find out it wasn't big enough to share comfortably. Our backs grazed each others. It did feel good however, considering it got cold that night. I guess everyone has accepted that I wasn't going to change into a monster because they were all asleep. I still have a chance at life. I guess I was meant to live through this at least a little longer. I was immune to the infection. Question was, how was I going to put it to use.

~

I wake up and I'm the only one awake yet. My face blushed when I noticed Charlie had his arm draped around me. I didn't move, fearing he was awake. I pretend to roll away in my sleep until his arm falls off of me. I try to stifle my laughter in my hand when I squint through eyelashes at him. His mouth was hanging open and he was snoring slightly. Drool hanging off his bottom lip.

Te'Aysha must have heard me laugh because she rolled over in the bed and slurred, "so funny?" I point at Charlie. She must have not found it as funny as I did because she just looked at Charlie and rolled back over in the bed. I had come to find out that she isn't a morning person.

I look in the corner that Owen was sleeping in and noticed that he wasn't there. I shook Charlie awake. He shot up, eyes wide, which were bloodshot.

They were puffy too, like he had been crying. My throat tightened.

"What? What is it?" He asked frantically.

"Oh, well, Owen isn't in here." I gesture to the corner. Charlie gets up and stretches.

"Owen is always first up. He probably went out to look for food or something." Charlie tells me mid-stretch.

I pick up the blanket and start folding it, "alone?" I asked him shocked.

He nods, "Owen can handle himself pretty well. I'll go look for him though. Can't be too comfortable anymore."

That's the truth. I put the folded up blanket at the foot of the bed.

"How about I come with you?" I asked Charlie.

Te'Aysha stretches in the bed and says, "I'm comin' too." Her feet knock the blanket into the floor, unfolding it. I sigh and decide to just leave it there. We all make sure we have our knives and we head outside. It's early enough in the morning that there was still dew on the brown grass. It felt nice out, not too hot yet.

Charlie was scanning the ground, tracking Owen, I think. We follow him as he searches further into the woods.

We do find Owen after about ten minutes of looking. He was crouched down behind a bush peering over it. He heard us walk up behind him and whips his head around. He put his finger to his lips and motioned for us to crouch down too. We did and peered over the bushes with him.

There were a group of people. They look like they had been in the woods for a while, they look like they hadn't showered in awhile. I don't think they came from facility. I wonder if they know about it. Maybe we could group with them. They had guns and food. They looked like they were doing just fine out here. There was three grown men, two women, one of which was very pregnant, and a little girl. Probably about nine years old.

"Do you think they are hostile?" Charlie whispered to Owen.

Owen answers slowly, "I don't know. I'm afraid of risking finding out." Charlie nods, "lets get back then." He turns and starts back toward the shack.

I for one, wasn't afraid of risking it.

"Hey!" I stood up and walked around the bushes with my hands up, indicating that I was unarmed. Charlie rushed behind me, prepared to have to protect me. The group turned to me, shocked.

One of the grown men steps toward me, "keep your distance. What do you want?"

"We're friendly. We just got kicked out of a facility not far from here yesterday. Did you know that you can go and stay there? You would all be safe."

"Why did you get kicked out?" He asked suspiciously.

"We asked if we could try it out here for a while and they didn't let us come back." I lied. I wasn't the best liar.

"If you were safe, why would you leave?" He asked even more suspicious.

"Well, if something were to go wrong, we wanted to have an idea of how to live out here." I explain. I couldn't let them know of what we've really done. Not only would they think of us as selfish thieves, they would probably kill me thinking I was infected.

"Why are you telling us this? You don't know us." He stated.

I shrug, "trying to help anyway I can." No lie there. I want everyone to make it through this hell.

The man glanced at our tiny group and then at his own. "We know about the facility. We don't trust them so we survive out here. Where we aren't being controlled." He tells us.

"Do you think we could join your group?" I asked.

Charlie grabbed my shoulder and whispers into my ear, "we don't even know them. They could kill us in our sleep."

I whisper back, "what choice do we have? I think they're our best chance of survival versus trying this alone."

Charlie shakes his head, "I don't like this."

"I'm going to discuss this with the others." The man tells us. The group all huddle together. Some of them clearly didn't want us to join. The pregnant woman was arguing with the man in a hushed tone, pointing at us and shaking her head furiously.

Te'Aysha looks at me, "I'm with you whatever goes down, but I'm with Charlie on this one. Don't think this is a good idea."

"I trust them. I think they're good people." I tell them. The three of them look at each other, uncertain.

The man who spoke with us turns from the group and walks up to me, "alright. You can join. But if any one of you messes with any of us, you're all dead." He tells us sternly, not a bit of humor in his eyes, all seriousness.