The Fortunate Ones

Chapter 9: It's Permanent

I woke up in my little office room, shirtless. I was in my sports bra, but my entire mid section was wrapped in gauze. I looked down, and where a knife had pierced my calf was wrapped as well. I tried getting up, and my entire body ached like HELL. I was in so much pain, but I was sick of laying on a couch so vulnerably. I was hurt, but I wasn't yet broken.

I fought every bit of pain that pierced my body to get up. I struggled, but managed to get my shirt back on. There was no pointing in having my gun, so I left it on the desk. I breathed a little bit, shaking of the pain, and went into the main room.

I went in to find myself alone. No one was around, at least not in that room. I checked the offices, and the other rooms attached, nothing. Maybe they were getting food. On that thought, I mustered the strength to go down stairs to the cafeteria room.

I loped down them, the pain getting easier to manage. I went to the cafe room and no one was there either. What was going on? I decided they probably went on a run, and so I just went back upstairs.

I got back into the office, and sat on the couch looking out to the hallway, so if they came in, I'd see them. I sat there thinking about my life before the apocalypse. My life was pretty basic before all this. I had a normal teenage girl life. I had plenty of friends, a keen eye for boys (which was proving to be very useful now) I got good grades, had a nice family, and a regular life. Looking back, I still don't see how I've survived this even remotely to the extent I have. It surprises me, how strong I've been. It almost scares me, as well, to see how much I've changed.

I'd been sitting for a couple hours before the guys had finally come back. They bounded through the door laughing and fooling around, they looked genuinely happy. They all filed into the room, and caught eyes with me.

"Katie," Adam said, "we're sorry we le-"

"Oh guys come on! Relax! Your fine, I'm okay," I told them. They all nodded and went back to their fooling. They all immediately went to the stack of cans they had up here and had a feast.

"So," Adam said, as they all proceeded to sit down. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I replied.

"Fine," he said, "fine. That's all you ever say, fine fine fine. You're never bad or good, you're just fine."

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?" I asked him, jokingly.

"No, personally I think it's great," he told me.

"So Katie," Derek said, I hadn't heard him say hardly anything these past few days, "we don't know anything about you, but your here. I'd consider myself extremely lucky to have this, and not have to give any background."

"We would like to know a little more about you," Jack spoke up.

"A little more about me? Okay..." I thought, I was going to need to lie, because my story wasn't the cleanest, "well, there's nothing to any of it. I've been on my own mostly. I've only had one group, and they got overrun. Nothing special has happened to me, except you guys." I looked over at Adam, he had a face on that I'd never seen before. I didn't think anything of it...

The guys accepted my report, and went on eating. It was quiet after that.