Infected

Chapter 8

"My name is James." He tells me. His hand outstretched to shake mine. His hand was dirty and scarred up. I shake his hand firmly and look him in the eyes. He has scruffy facial hair, which is black, like his curly short hair. He's probably about forty He's a tall built man. Probably has won every fight he has gotten in, if any.
The pregnant woman walks up beside him.
James puts his hand on the small of her back, "This is my wife, Janet." He tells us. Janet is shorter than I am. She has blonde hair thrown up in a messy bun. She looks exhausted. She shakes my hand and gives me a small grin. She still doesn't look like she trusts us.
James gestures to one of the other men, "this is Tommy." Tommy looked about twenty. He was a squirrelly looking guy, to say the least. He had brown hair tossled every which way and wasn't much taller than I am. He doesn't weight more than one-forty. He nods his head shyly in greeting.
James gestures to the guy next to Tommy, "Dillion." He had long enough blonde hair that it was pulled back in a low ponytail. He looked about twenty as well. He was muscular, yet not too tall. He was kind of handsome, to be honest. He didn't greet us, he just glared at us.
"Dillion is Janet and my boy." James tells us. "Then you have Emma and her daughter Penny." Penny, the young girl, was leaning on Emma. She seemed shy. Emma had her arm around Penny's shoulder. Emma looked about Janet's age. In fact, she looked a lot like Emma too. Her hair was just a darker blonde. Penny looked just like her mother.
Janet tells us, " Emma is my twin sister, case you couldn't tell." She smiles at Emma and she returns the smile.
I took it that it was my turn to introduce the group, but Charlie did instead and I was relieved. I didn't want to have to be leader of the group and do all of the talking.
"I'm Charlie." He shakes James' hand.
"She's Neyomi," he points to me, "my friend Owen," Owen waves, " and our friend Te'Aysha." She nods. The groups murmured their greetings.
"So where do you guys stay?" Charlie asked them.
James answered, "We haven't found a place fit to stay in yet, so we've been on the move." Charlie nods.
"Another thing, if y'all can't contribute to the group, then you leave." James tells us.
"Simple enough." Owen says.
"Lets get moving." Dillion says looking at the sky. "We're wasting time."
"Alright, let's go." James says. They all pick up their things: fresh game, guns, ammo, etc.
Te'Aysha says in a low voice, "we should get our stuff too."
"That's right we should." Charlie agrees. "We have a few things we need to go get, but we will move quickly." He tells the rest of the group. Dillion sighs loudly, clearly not very patient. We jogged our way back to the shack and everyone followed us. Probably to make sure that we weren't planning on ambushing them or something.
When the others saw the shack, Penny gasps, "why don't we stay here?"
Emma tells her daughter, "We can't, honey. It's too close to the facility. We have to get far away from it." Her voice sounds tired.
"I don't see what the big deal is." Penny grumbled. Emma doesn't bother to explain. We go into the shack and get the things we had gathered that were useful.
"Do we need blankets?" I asked James.
"Right now they aren't necessity, but they will be in the colder months. Bring them." James says. I nod and gather them up and put them in a clean garbage bag I found.
"We are ready to go." I tell everyone.
Alright then, lets get a move on!" Dillion snaps hastily.
Janet scolds him, "Dillion, quit being so impatient. We are going to be okay."
"You said that a few weeks ago and where is Annie now?" Dillion snaps at her and walks out of the shack. Janet sighs and shakes her head. The family drama is going to take some getting used to. Which makes my mind drift to my family. When I would fight with them. All of those fights seem to be over nothing now. It makes me want to laugh and cry all at the same time.
We all leave the shack and start walking the opposite way of the facility. I walk up behind Emma and Penny. I let my curiosity get the best of me and I ask Emma, "who's Annie?" She turns to me and then looks to make sure Dillion is out of earshot.
She says quietly, "Annie was Dillion's fiancée."
"What happened to her?" I pushed further.
"She was bitten. We had to shoot her." She says sadly. I couldn't imagine having to shoot someone I know. The thought made me frown.
"What about your family?" Emma asked me. "Is Charlie your boyfriend?"
My face got red, "no, no. Charlie's not my boyfriend." I assure her. I look over my shoulder to make sure he didn't hear that. He was talking to James and Owen.
"My family is dead." I told her.
"Everyone?" She asked.
"Well, my sister, I don't know if she is. I haven't seen her though. The last time I saw her was before I went to the facility." I explain.
"I'm sorry. Was she your older or younger sister?" She asked.
I say, "She's my older sister. Her name's Erica."
"Erica? What does she look like?" Emma asked looking at me intently.
"She's beautiful. Long brown hair. Big brown eyes. A little shorter than I am. Why? You haven't seen her, have you?" I asked frantically.
"Did she have a 'Born to Fly' tattoo on her collarbone?" She asked.
'Oh my God, yes! That's Erica! That's my sister! How was she? Where is she now?" I started crying. My sister could still be alive.
"We met her about a week ago. She was in a gas station in Maryville. She was looking for food. She seemed to be doing fine. She was with this guy. His name was Jonathan." She says.
I practically yell to the others, "Charlie, Owen, Te'Aysha! My sister, Erica, she's alive! I have to go find her!" The others were shushing me, I knew I shouldn't be loud in this situation, as it could attract unwanted attention. Like hostile people or infected. I can't seem to contain myself, I just got the news that my sister is alive, or at least was a week ago.
There was something running through the woods toward us. It was big, at least the size of a person. We turned around to where the rustling was coming from. An infected was running at us groaning and staggering. Charlie, who was closest to it, told the others to hold their fire and kicked the infected male in the chest, knocking it to the ground. He got on top of it and stabbed it through the top of the head. It died quickly. I put my hand over my mouth, stunned and upset with myself.
"I'm sorry, everyone." I said in a small voice.
Dillion spits, "you are going to get us all killed! You need to leave." He turns on his heel and starts walking the other way.
"That's not your decision, Dillion." James says sternly. James turns to me and warns me, "control yourself." I nod quickly and didn't say a word. I walk over to the infected body and stare into its face. I wonder if anyone has had to kill my parents yet. Or if they're just mindless infected wandering around for someone to kill.
Charlie put his hand on my back, making me jump, "you okay?" He asked.
I nod, "I need to go find my sister."
"I understand how you feel." He says gently. "I felt the same way when I lost Gage and my mother. I told them where the facility was and my mother was going to take them both to it. I had to help at the facility. I worried about them all of the time. I don't know how Gage got to the facility without mom. I didn't know she died until I asked if Gage had come into the facility alone." He swallows. "Anyway, I know how you feel, but we can't just go looking where she was a week ago. She could be anywhere by now."
"That's why I could go look for her myself." I say quietly. I don't know that I honestly could do it alone.
"Neyomi, that's too dangerous. I wouldn't let you do something so stupid." Charlie says.
"Who's made you in charge of what I do." I say stubbornly.
He just says, "I won't let you. Erica wouldn't want you risking your life on so little information, would she?" I don't say anything.
"Exactly. He says. "You just have to be brave."
I guess people catch on pretty quickly that I'm a coward. They all tell me to be brave.