The Price of Humanity

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

I move to the girl's bathroom's next, walking through the door I see Gale pushing a body into one of the cubicles.

"What happened?" I asked, looking between the three men on the ground. One has a deep wound on the side of his head. It's a triangle shape, almost like it was done by an axe.

I didn't hear any signs of a fight from the front, and I highly doubt Gale could've taken out three men by himself. Despite how buff he is, nobody could do that.

The next has been completely decapitated, I looked away at that. That was too far, even with the tough exterior I've built over the last year I still didn't like death.

I didn't like killing, but I had to in order to survive. The dead would never stop until they used you as a snack and the living would kill you in an instant to get your supplies.

I don't know what happened to the third body because Gale has already pulled him into the cubical and shut the door. But I'm pretty sure he's as rotten as the others. From the look of their bodies and the smell radiating from them, they've been here a while.

"I didn't want you to see this." I look back at the decapitated man, his eyes looking up at the ceiling in terror. I look at his neck, the dried blood on the floor. The cut is jagged, like it took multiple hits to cut through.

Gross. I feel my stomach start to turn and look away from the body, holding my stomach.

"Should've started with him." I say but Gale shakes his head, I look up at him confused.

"The other guy's worse." He replies bluntly. I look at the closed door, curiosity urging me to find out how 'worse off' that guy is.

I look up at Gale's face he looks pale, probably just as disgusted at the head as I am. Either that or the other guy, I decide I don't want to see what happened to him.

"Come on." I say pulling him out of the bathroom. I don't actually manage to pull him, he wouldn't have moved if he didn't want to, I was just starting the motion.

A guy, around thirty years old, comes out of the back, machete being spun in his fingers. I watch him spin the blade around and around. Hopefully he'll cut them off.

"There's a guy in the back, Sawyer's taking care of him...Well, lookie here." The man stalks menacingly towards me, I grimace and subconsciously move away from him. "You're a pretty one aren't you."

I step away again and look around. I can't see any sign of Zane, it's like he's completely disappeared. And where is my dad?

The machete guy grabs my arm to stop me from retreating. He pulls me closer to him so we're chest to chest. I look up at him, a grimace on my face and he smirks widely.

"So pretty." He comments, sliding the side of the machete down my cheek, I wince at the cold metal but don't move because if I do the blade will actually make a cut down my face.

"Oh, I like you." The guy says, a sadistic smile on his face. "Can we keep her?" His eyes never leave my face but it's clear he isn't talking to me. At the same time he speaks a loud scream comes from the back.

Luckily, I don't recognise the voice.

I lead Gale back into the main room of the building he goes over to the shelves, picking up items and putting them back down if we don't need to. Meanwhile, I hop up on the counter.

Pulling the bottle of Cola back out of my backpack, I take another sip from it. I don't take much as I'm trying to saviour the taste, there's only one bottle after all.

"Where in hell did you get that?" Gale asks, coming over to the counter, he takes the bottle from me and takes a sip. I point over to the shelf when I found the bottle.

"Over there." I dig around in my bag and pull out one of the chocolate bars I found. I hold it out to him and it looks like he's about to dance in joy.

"Oh, my God." He exclaims, tentatively reaching out his hand towards the chocolate. I don't think he believes it's real. "You are an angel sent from heaven." He comments, staring at the chocolate.

I'm not sure whether I'm the angel or the chocolate, but I'm seriously hoping it's me since I gave it to him. I look around the station while he eats, swinging my legs.

It seems vaguely familiar but I can't put my finger on why.

"Go take care of it." Machete guy gives a glare to the man who's just ordered him around but stalks off into the back none the less. The same man who ordered machete guy tells one of the other guys in the room to tie me up.

So, he's the leader.

He doesn't look like a leader. He's grown out his beard like my brothers have, only they've kept theirs tamed into a long stubble. His combat boots aren't that special compared to the other's and his clothing wouldn't stand out in a crowd.

His eyes through, they have the confidence and power of any leader. He catches my eyes and holds them, looking at me questioningly.

He walks towards me, I can't go anywhere since his lackey has tied me to a chair near the counter. My hands are bound tight and so I can barely move my wrists a millimetre before the ropes start to resist.

"How have you survived on your own?" He asks, trying to put ideas together in his head. I have no idea where my family is but I'm not about to give them up.

"I stay hidden." I say in a normal relaxed tone, I don't want to rile anybody up, I just want to leave.

"Not possible." He replies quickly. This guy has a machete too, he raises it and stops it just in front of my neck. "Where are your people?" He demands.