Fighting for Survival

Chapter 17

   "Would W.P really be someone's initials though?" Hanna asked, walking over to make sure she hadn't gotten hurt by doing something stupid. Sighing when she realizes her friend hasn't been bitten, she continues talking. "It could be another group. It probably is, to be honest." Reese nodded. Flopping on the floor next to her backpack, Reese grabs the fat yet starving cat that yowled as she rolled over. Hanna snickers at her, hopping onto the couch barricading the door. "Do we have any food for him?" Reese shrugs.
   "He's supposed to have a special food to eat so some crystals in his bladder don't block it. He could literally die from not peeing." Hanna cringed. Rolling back to her side facing her backpack, Reese lets Smudge lay down. Grabbing a tub of peanut butter, she opens it and scoops a bit onto her finger, letting the injured cat lick it up. Sighing, the both look at each other.
   "What are we gonna do now that we're stuck in this house? How are we gonna find Anna, Juliette, Henry, everyone!" Hanna almost shouts, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. Grumbling, she gestures for Reese to hand her her bag. Catching the bag, Hanna cracks open a Gatorade, chugging half of it as quickly as possible.
   "Hey, do you think the others are okay? I mean, Anna and Wade are good runners, but Juliette and Henry? Juliette barely goes outside, let alone any physical activity and I don't think I've ever seen Henry run." Reese huffs, getting another dollop of peanut butter for Smudge to scarf down. The other girl shrugs at her.
   "I don't know, honestly. I've never had gym class with any of them." Hanna turns her head to face Reese. She looks like she's glaring at the ceiling, but Hanna guessed she was probably thinking. Silence falls among the two. Both of them wit there for about half an hour, not talking, just enjoying a little peace. Finally, the silence is broken by the both.
   "Wanna go find an actual bed to sleep on?" They both simultaneously asked. Giggling, they both hop up, Smudge in Reese's arms, and sprint up the stairs, racing to find a bed to spend however many days they needed to stay there for. Doors echoed through the halls as they try to find their favourite room. Eventually, the pair of echoes stopped as it became only one.
   "I found my room!" Reese shouts out her new door, resting Smudge gently on the cushioned bed. Hanna rolled her eyes from the spot in the hallway she'd been standing at. Continuing her search, she decided to go back to the first room she came upon, which happened to be what looked like a guy's room. It had dark blue and neon green walls, with basketball and karate trophies sitting on a shelf. Walking up to the trophies, Hanna stares for a moment before slowly pushing them off the shelf and onto the ground.
   "Won't be needing these anymore.." She said to herself quietly. Finally, she walks to the bed and falls onto it with a huff.

   Everyone climbed over to the edge of all the trees. Sure enough, there were multiple zombies hanging around the bottom of the forest. Before Henry could say an 'I told you so' at Owen, gunshot rang through the air. Anna and Henry let out a quiet cry, nearly tripping out of the tree and into the hoard.
   "Woah, careful!" Owen yells, grabbing them both by the collar before they fall. Juliette opens her mouth to talk but get a violent 'Shut up!' sign from the others. They all peered down below at the collapsing zombies. Soon enough, two people, one with long black hair and one with brown hair, come into view. The duo checks all the corpses to make sure they're dead, shooting the ones that lived in the head. The girl appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen and the guy looked maybe seventeen or eighteen.
   "All clear over here, Josh!" The girl turned and yelled back to what I assumed was their group. Turning back, She asks the guy next to her, "Hey Vernon, should we mark up the place? We haven't in a while, the other groups might start thinking we're gone and pull shit. I mean, one already acted up-"
   "Izzy.." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Stop asking, I'll let the group know when we can. Do you know how much of an advantage we have with them thinking we're gone? The answer is a big advantage. Now be quiet, my god." He shakes his head. "God, I'm starting to wish I brought Joshua over instead of you." He turns and starts to walk away.
   The girl grumbles. "Way to be an asshole.." Then she holds her gun close to her chest and begins to follow. Anna looks up at the others just in time to see the other two clamping their hands over Henry's mouth, red faced and holding in a coughing fit.
   Anna laughs as quietly as possible, just in case the other group was still there, and tugged their hands off of Henry's face. "At least let the kid breathe, Jesus." Henry doubles over coughing, holding onto a tree branch so he didn't fall and keeping as quiet as possible. Owen and Juliette laugh lightly.
   "Gee, thanks for almost killing me, friends. Now what are we gonna do, wait for them to leave then hop on some roofs?" Henry said sarcastically, punching his brother softly on the shoulder as a joke.
   "That's exactly what we're going to do!" Owen half shout, half yells, throwing his hands in the air. The other three grumbled. Eventually, Anna hopped out of the tree first, making sure the other group wasn't still there before calling down the others.
   "Which building are we going to first?" Juliette questioned, hopping down with the rest, gabbing a knife from her pocket.
   "Is there any shop nearby with any ammo or something in it?" Henry asked the three, grabbing the small pistol he kept tucked under is belt and waist of his pants. The rest shrug.
   "Well.. lets get going then."

R.I.P
Stranger zombie hoard