Fear the Roaming Dead

Preparation (chapter 7)

The time seemed to flutter by like migrating birds. Days and nights took turns playing ring-around-the-Rosie in the sky. The heated air of the summer days began getting just a little bit crispier. A small chill could be felt at times during the day and the nights were blistering cold. Minutes turned into hours, hours into days, and days into weeks. Nothing good was coming from the outbreak.

Dex furiously pressed the call button from his phone. A little hourglass spun and a messaged popped up saying: No reception, sorry! Dex mumbled and shoved his phone into his nightstand drawer. He sat back down on the bed and looked over at the pile of books Veronica gave him. He scoffed and laid back down in bed.

Wally spoke up from the other side of the trailer room. "Any luck?" he asked sitting up rubbing his eyes. "Of course not, phone lines have been down for two weeks." Dex sat back up again and stood up stretching. "We have absolutely no entertainment." Dex grumbled. Wally pointed to the books on his nightstand. "Read a book. Into the wild is my favorite." Wally smiled. "Wally, that's a children's book, and hell no, I am not reading a book. It's a waste of time." Dex put on his jean jacket that was laying on his bedpost. He bent over and pulled on his shoes and hopped over to the door.

"Where you going?" Wally asked. Dex had a note paper by his side, which he immediately crumped up and shoved in his pocket. "To the garden. I'm going to go plant some stuff." Dex said quickly. Wally had a suspicious look. "You don't know how to plant stuff." Wally slid out of the bed and put on his sleeves black leather jacket. He shoved on his boots and crossed his arms. "I do know how to plant crops!" Dex mumbled. "Oh sure. And I-"

They heard yelling from outside of the trailer. Dex and Wally both clumped through the doorframe, busted the door wide open, and looked for the origin of the sound.

Dex saw Aaron and Veronica at the gate. The both had their side arms in their hands and they were talking to a strange girl. Dex opened his eyes all the way and opened his mouth. "Is that another survivor?" Dex yelled. Dex quickly sprinted towards the scene with his desert eagle in his right hand. Wally quickly followed.

This girl was on her knees. She had long dark brown hair, a camouflage hoodie, black short jeans, and brown boots. Her skin looked very pale and she was skinny. Her hood was over her head but Dex could still see the little bit of freckles on her. She wasn't moving.

Aaron stepped forward and put his hand on Dex's chest. "Hold up, she's one of us now." Aaron said. Veronica smiled and nodded. "This is Tinley." she said pointing at her. Dex and Wally looked at the new Tinley with suspicion. "Damn." Dex said walking towards her. He crouch down next to her. "What's up? I'm Dex." he said putting his hand on her back.

Tinley looked up at Dex and paused for a few minutes. She looked up at Aaron, Veronica, and then Wally. She peered back over at Dex. "You already seem to know mine, so what's the point of introducing myself?" Tinley stood up and jammed her hands in her hoodie pockets. Dex jumped up and laughed. "Christ!" Dex yelled. Tinley glared at Dex then cracked a smile. "Thanks for letting me in you guys. Is there a certain, um, requirement for me to be here?" she asked.

Veronica smiled. "Of course not. We let survivors in because we know what they've been through. We're very generous people." she said. Tinley looked at Dex then back at Veronica. "So there's no jobs here?" Tinley asked. "Um," Veronica looked at Aaron. "No, not any that we really do. We kinda just do what we want." Veronica said.

"Oh," Tinley said. "Got'cha." she nodded. Dex covered his face and sighed. "We need to get some things straight around here." Dex whispered to himself. He started off towards the garden. Wally looked at him, crossed his arms, and sighed. "He's a difficult snowflake." Aaron and Veronica chuckled. "Cam is inside if you want to meet her." Aaron pointed. Tinley shrugged. "I'll do gate watch for you guys." "Okay, sure." Aaron smiled.