The New Beginning.

Chapter Six: The Camp.

Theo and I stood there with shocked expressions on our face, we looked at the little girl in front of us like it was some sort of rarity. I felt a gentle nudge and looked to my left to see Theo looking at me with a 'what-the-fuck-do-we-do' expression, I just shrugged back at him and faced towards the little girl again waiting to see if she would speak again.

She looked fine, just a little dirty and a few scratches and bruises, but fine even in these conditions. Her skin was a bit on the pale side and I guess that was due to the lack of food, but yet when I look at her more closely I see that she's not all skin and bones. Her brown hair is mattered and in knots. I could once tell that her hair was long with beautiful little ringlets. Her blue eyes were striking even though they were dull and lifeless. Her small lips are a slight shade of red making them stand out against her pale skin, she had a few scatters of freckles, but they weren't prominent. All in all she was a beautiful wee girl and I just wondered where her family was, if she even had any left.

Theo was the first to speak after what seemed like 10 minutes of us just standing there and staring at each other. His voice came out soft and gentle like he knew he was talking to a child.

"Whats your name little girl?' I had to hold in my laugh as when he said 'Little girl' it reminded me of a movie where the kidnapper asked a little 5 year old what her name was. Guess that memory never faded, unlike the rest of mine.

"My name? My name is Lillian". Her voice came out soft and quiet, her back straightened up a little as if now alert that she was being spoken to.

"Wheres your family?" That was a question that Theo and I were both wondering. Where was her family, and if they were alive why wasn't she with them.

"They are dead. Killed by the Hunters when they were turning into those monsters. They wanted to hurt me too but I got away. I hid in the hospital and when I saw you and her talking in that room I heard what you said and I wanted to come. I was too scared to ask so I've been following you." I gasped as I heard her story, her parents died, she was nearly killed, she was left on her own in a cruel world, then she followed us all the way from the city.

THE CITY!

We have been walking for weeks, maybe even a month now and she has been following us the whole time. I felt bad. I felt like crying. Here we were trying our best to cover up our tracks and we were so careless enough to NOT notice a little girl trailing behind us.

"When you started not to cook at night and camp in the open I got lost. I lost your trail, I never saw a fire at night, so I had no way of knowing where you were. I've just been following the river upstream because I knew you were too." Now I felt even worse than before, if only I knew.

"How did you survive for so long?" Theo asked surprised by her story. He's been the only one asking her questions. I'm just standing here listening to them gather as much info as I could.

"Well, um... I kinda stole some of your food when you are asleep, and I took one of your blankets when it was drying in the sun and you were fishing." Lillian looked down at the ground and said in a guilty tone, "I'm Sorry".

She apologised!?

Apologised for trying to survive while we blindly lived life at the greatest we could get in these circumstances. Apologised for stealing our food when we have a lot, apologised for stealing our blanket when we were warm at night and she wasn't. I choked on a sob that tried to leave my lips, my eyes were blurry as I looked at the small girl in front of us. Now it was my turn to speak.

"Don't apologise. Never apologise for trying to survive. You did what you had to do and you did it great. You never lost hope when you lost us and you carried on in hopes to find us again. Now that we have seen you and know that you were the one taking our food, and not a pesky animal, you will be now travelling with Theo and I. You will have a bed, clean clothes, and food and water. You will not have to worry about when you will get your next meal because we will always give you the first serving." I felt strongly responsible for Lillian. I felt like if I was in her shoes my parents would have wanted someone to look after me and take me in as well. I felt like I needed to. I felt like I had to.