The Price of Humanity

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I start to protest, I think Adam would kill me if I ever let her handle a gun. I doubt she'd even be able to hold one steady let alone deal with the recoil. Before I can even respond however she says something reasonable and smart.

"Not with guns. I don't want to be anywhere near those men and I know you guys won't want me there either. I want to help though, in any way I can. Let me map the city, I'm small and quick they won't notice me."

I study her with cautious eyes. What she's saying is reasonable, sure, as long as she's healthy and concentrated I bet she could map the city much better and quicker than me and Zane could.

I shake my head however, my subconscious maternal instincts kicking in and taking over. Her face falls dramatically and quickly.

"I can't put you in danger like that." Her expression quickly turns angry, glaring at me. Oh dear.

Angry brothers I can deal with, I think I could even handle an angry Adam. Angry little girls however? They're a force to be reckoned with.

I should know, I used to be an angry little girl, and man could I be scary when I wanted to be. What I don't need to deal with right now is an eight year old girl having a tantrum.

"I'm not some incompetent little girl." She practically growls, taking startling me for a second. Actually, she is pretty incompetent, Adam didn't teach her much.

"Adam barely taught you anything." I counter. "I'm not sending you out into the city without knowing what you're doing." She huffs and sinks into the chair.

An idea then springs to mind which will benefit everyone and will help keep me distracted while Zane tries to create a plan to actually find the buggers.

"But." She raised her head quickly, all perky again, looking at me with wide hopeful eyes. "I can try and teach you...I'm no teacher but I can try to help." Before I have finished my sentence, she's run around the table and launched herself at me, pulling me into a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Her words string together as one she's saying them so quickly. As soon as she's there hugging me, she's gone, skipping upstairs to her room.

I watch her flounce away, wondering if I've just made a terrible decision. Which I probably have.

"Why is Mia screaming extatically upstairs? She's going to draw every corpse to our door." Zane looks out of the window, peering at the few of the dead that are walking around outside.

"I told her I would train her." His head whips around so fast I'm pretty sure he should have whiplash.

"What!"

"Now who's attracting the dead to our door." I mutter at the volume of his voice. He glares at me but ignores the comment.

"How are you going to teach her to survive?" He asks, arms crossed. I shrug, standing up and facing my big brother.

"The same way you taught me." I pat him on the shoulder, giving him a cheeky smile before heading into the living room.

The map is still laid out on the table, symbols scattered across parts of the surface. I study it for a second, thinking about the traps and their positioning.

I scan over the map, looking between the traps and the pharmacy. The men only became interested in us when I went to go get Mia. Apart from slashing our tyres.

But none of us actually saw them, they seemed like they didn't care. The traps however seemed more like a test, trying to gauge our skills and how easily it would be to overpower us.

I place my finger on the library where Mia was, there were traps between the Pharmacy and the Library but none on our way in to the city.

"Zane. I think I have something." He walks into the living room calmly, a disapproving look still on his face. He leans his forearms on the couch eying me questioningly.

"What?" He asks, considerably more enthusiastic now that the subject is on the map.

I pause, trying to clear my thoughts and get my head straight, finally I point to the traps we already have marked on the map.

"I think these traps are strategically placed. Like a first line of defence." Zane stands up, looking intently at the map, and walking around the couch.

"Why would you think that?" He asks, examining the map. I point to the pharmacy and drag my finger along the route we drove along.

"There were no traps anywhere on our route in. The ones I found were only on the other side of the pharmacy." Zane furrows his eyebrows, looking intently at the map.

"I think you might be right." I hold out my hand to him and he laughs, high-fiving me before waving his hand around a general area on the map.

"I'll start here tomorrow. You my dear sister have just cut down our search area by about half." He wraps his arm around my waist, kissing my temple, before walking back into the kitchen to start on cooking some food.

I sit down on the couch, triumphant, pulling out my notebook and crossing another day off. I pause, flicking to another section in the book and twirl my pencil in between my fingers.

I start to write, not really thinking about the words I'm writing.

I've known him for only a week and I'm already interested. Somehow all my rules and promises about love and relationships seem to have been flung out of the window. I don't know what's happening to me.

Zane may be hell bent on avenging Gale but it would be less heart breaking to move on. I don't think a mass slaughter will make anyone feel better.

I love my brothers, both of them, but Zane is taking the opportunity of rescuing Adam for his own revenge.

I'd rather just have Adam back safe.

Mia has been telling me about him, little things that make me smile and laugh. Things that aren't entirely important but are nice to know.

I've promised Mia to teach her how to survive. I don't know how in hell I'm going to achieve that. I guess I'll just do what Gale and Zane did.

I don't want her using guns though, the twins never taught me and I'm still alive so she doesn't need to use one. Hopefully she'll never need too. I'm thinking of starting with a crowbar or a bat. Eventually I want to have her shooting a bow so she won't have to be anywhere near the action but she needs to be trained in melee just in case.