The Night

Reunions

     I banged on the door and they instantly opened and was showered with compliments.
      "Woah! It's that legend that survived the night"
      "Great work champ!"
       I smiled and waved them away. Arya saw me from the store room and suddenly charged into me, launching into a huge hug. The crowd ooh'ed but we didn't care, I breathed in the citrus-y scent of her hair then and we held each other for several seconds. Then suddenly she took a step back and slapped me, "owch!" I recoiled.
     "You scared me. Don't ever, ever put yourself in that kind of danger again! I thought you were dead!" She half grinned and sobbed at the same time. My heart skipped a beat and I realised just how much we cared about each other, how much we bonded over such a short period of time.
     I was met by some very old yet familiar voices, "Well look who's here," said 2 boys grinning. No, it couldn't be? "Yep," Alex said reading me mind, "It's that friend before all this that you've completely forgotten about, no, it's those two friends you've forgotten about, my bad," and Stef laughed. My old buddies, alive. Alive, living, in the land of the living!
"H- What? Why uh, uhm," I was set into a stunned silence, stuttering on my words, in the end I settled on a simple, "How?"
      Before Stef and Alex had a chance to answer, Maria jumped up and excitedly shouted, "Heyo! You're alive! Yay! Did you see your friend saving us, he was like pow and he hit that bad guy and is hitting other ba-"
Arya pulled her away, laughing and shushed her, the whole group, which was about 15 people now, burst out laughing, I guessed Maria had become something of a shared child, seeing as we never found out what happened to her parents.
     "Anyway," Alex continued. He was always one for a huge dramatic build up, but he was good at telling stories to be fair, "After the outbreak arose and you so heroically ditched us me and Stef stuck together, shoved by the masses of blood. The nights were long and the day were col-"
      Suddenly Stef interrupted, "Long story short we found a small group of people," he said gesturing around to the survivors, "And stuck with them for a week, simple as,"
Alex moaned and punched him gently, "Steeeff!! That coulda been the best story I've ever told you! And it wouldn't have been one hundred percent bullsh-" And just then, I finally saw Paul and Alicia entered the room
     V"Language, we have a kid in here Alex!" Warned Paul. He had a small bandage surrounding his left shoulder but that was nothing compared to Alicia. She had blood all over her face, a heavily covered up chest where the bullet wound once was. She winced in pain whenever she walked but had Paul to support her, she seemed delighted to see me, and smiled brightly. She looked in intense pain, but hid it well, I could see through that mask though. Something was wrong and it was more than just pain, though I guess only time could tell.
       "I can't thank you enough! You saved us all, and I speak on behalf of everyone here, you are a hero to us all," She praised, it was a bit embarrassing everyone seeing me like a hero, I was just a kid with the will to live. After  bit, Alicia went back to get some rest, she was weak and frail.
      We all talked for a bit, I got to know some of the survivors, there were no children save Maria and the rest were all middle aged men and women who were in their 20's to 30's. No teenagers, not a single one. They all seemed nice enough, genuinely thankful and not jealous in any way. Apparently, they also had quite a lot of food, so we were set for resources, for now. I wondered how we would last in the night, though. We were on ground, cramped and vulnerable.
I told this to Paul, who seemed to be the leader of the group, and he looked at me dull. He didn't seem in a good mood, and replied harshly to me,       "Well why're you telling me? Go tell them yourself, what can I do about it?" So I did exactly that, the whole team worked on building up a rooftop house, on top of our hideout. We had constructed a small shelter with some thin walls for protection, our biggest line of defence was being hidden away, no-one or nothing could see us.
      As I sat down on the edge of the building, my legs gently dangling off of the edge, I wondered why Paul was so agressive, he was pretty happy when we radio'ed earlier, I wondered if he was ok, I was worried for him. Suddenly, I have a sad grin, I sounded like my mother, always worrying for other people.
      Stef walked up to me and smiled,    "How's your chick then, huh?" I blushed then instantly retorted
      "She's not a chick and she's not mine, though if she were I bet you'd be jealous," And winked. Friendly banter kept the mood high, though sometimes I wondered if it was really banter. I wonder too much, waaaay too much but what else is there to do in this hellish world, could I really afford to wonder at everything?
      "Nah, I got eyes for someone else, mate," He laughed, then Alex came strolling in
      "Wassup boys, betchya missed me." He joined me and Stef on the roof and we 3 sat there watching the sun set. It reminded me of when I first met Paul and Alicia, the sun was setting and a cool reuinion vibe around us all. "We have a lot of catching up to do, you first I guess. Tell us ya story chip!" Oh, did I forget to tell you? Sorry, so sometimes called me crisp because Kreis sounds like crisps, and crisps are made from potatoes like chips are? Get it? No, neither do I, we just made nicknames for eachother.
     We sat for a few more hours talking and having a good time until the moon was fully up and Arya called us in. Now, we had to sort sleeping arrangements, there weren't enough beds so a few people had to share. Paul insisted on having his own, and Alex had to share with one of his new friends, one of the younger adults: only 21, some girl called Harper. We were going to make it so I shared with Stef and Alicia and Arya shared, but the group thought it would be funny to make me share with Arya, yeah that won't be awkward at all. I even felt sorry for Stef and Alicia, they hardly even knew each other! And plus, Alicia could hardly stand, but she was a quiet type and not one to moan. She still looked very frail and weak, though.
     Just as everyone prepared to go sleep, the lights flickered. I realised that throughout this apocalypse the electricity was still up, but was that about to change? The lights flashed some more and then the entire set of lights burnt out. The upstairs additional space we had made, had no lights anyway - it had some windows instead so it wasn't too much of a problem... Or so I hoped. Anyway, we didn't seem to care, it was lights out time anyway.
      As I went to our bed, I realised the crew weren't all that cruel, we had the biggest bed and it was pretty big. Definitely enough to fit us both. As I slid under the covers, ready to instantly pass out, Arya sits beside me her face serious. "I'm worried, I've been thinking for a bit." She began,       "Not once have I doubted you wouldn't be able to beat those beasts, but. But what if the reason they're getting stronger, because of you beating them?"
      "Wait? What do you mean?" I snapped
      "Every time you lead those things on a chase, they seem to be bolder the next time."
      "Wait, but I've only survived against them twice, and we haven't seen them since the second time!" I was worried, worried she was right and it was my fault everyone was in even more danger.
       "Well, the first time we started seeing them at the day, they even dared to fight us. Maybe, just maybe, they aren't as stupid as we think and maybe, just maybe they're building up the courage to fight us, and they're training against you... What do you think?"
      She gave a second for what she said to sink in, I spluttered a bit then sat in silence. Her face was solemn and thoughtful, she looked a bit guilty for telling me her theory. I refused to believe it, refused to. No, it couldn't be true? Was it? My silence gave her the all the answera she needed,        "Goodnight," I said, "See you tommorow." That small bit inside me, knew no matter how much I denied it, she might just be right.