Life in an Apocalypse

Chapter 17

     Cynthia remained pensive. Zee hadn't woken up for two whole days now. She had made the excuse that Zee was overworked and became sick, to which Jack, Damien and Marge fell for.
    "Do you think she's going to be okay?" Marge asked Cynthia. Cynthia merely shrugged. She honestly wasn't too sure whether or not Zee would recover, or if it was possible for her to recover from... whatever she had. She had never seen Zee's condition before, and it only happened after that scare with the horde that day. I hope it isn't too serious, Cynthia thought. She stayed by Zee in the upstairs bedroom, restless. What's going on with you, Zee, Cynthia wondered impatiently. She clamored onto the bed Zee was resting in and positioned herself so that Zee would be sleeping on her lap. Zee looked to be in a constant state of pain; her face was contorted and her breath was extremely labored. Cynthia groaned in frustration. She wanted to help, but there was no way for her to do so. She heard a knock on the door. 
    
    "Cynthia? You awake?" She heard Marge from the other side. 
    "Come in, Marge," Cynthia called out. Marge entered the room along with Jack, both looking at Cynthia with concerned looks. Cynthia looked them over; Marge was dressed to head out and Jack was fully armed as well.
    "Going somewhere?" Cynthia asked, eyebrow raised. Marge and Jack exchanged looks. 
    "We were going to go look around for hordes," Marge replied a few moments later, "With what happened to Zee, I think it would be safer to do more patrols."
    "At night, when we don't have that much light to even see a single ream?" Cynthia asked again suspiciously. 
    "We have our reasons. We just think it would be safer for everyone," Jack deadpanned, keeping a steady gaze with Cynthia's skeptic one. A few more moments of silence passed when Cynthia finally spoke up again.
    "I just," Cynthia said, looking down at Zee, "I don't want anymore incidents like what happened to Zee that day. It honestly scares me to even think that if someone were to go out during a dangerous time that they won't come back from it." Jack grimaced, remembering back to when Zee rushed into the home base with cuts and bruises all over her. He had never felt so panicked in his life. Marge looked over Zee, watching as the poor girl gave out soft groans of pain. 
    "Is Zee alright?" Marge asked Cynthia, her harsh expression thawing slightly. Cynthia didn't look up at either person.
    "I honestly don't know," Cynthia replied, "I want to say that I know and that I believe she will but..." With the bloody coughs and the black stuff I can't be sure if she will even wake up, Cynthia finished mentally. 

    Cynthia woke up the next morning to find that Zee wasn't with her. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the room to see if Zee was there to find said girl staring out the window. 
    "Zee? Is that you?" Cynthia asked groggily. Zee twitched slightly, and turned around to face Cynthia. The girl walked over to the bed where Cynthia was without making a single sound. Cynthia still remained half-asleep, not noticing that Zee had taken a seat on the bed next to her sleeping form.
    "Morning," Zee responded, "Sorry to worry you. Is everything okay?"
    "Yeah," Cynthia replied as she tried to stay up. She looked outside and noticed that the sun had barely risen past the horizon. Why is Zee up so early, Cynthia wondered. Zee smiled at Cynthia and stood up. She walked over towards the door, stopping to turn her head towards Cynthia.
    "You rest up. I have a feeling that you've been watching over me," Zee had told her, "I'm going to go meet with the others for a bit." And with that, Zee left the room.
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    I honestly had no idea what had happened. I will have to thank Cynthia for watching over me while I was out. Whatever's happening to me is starting to feel like a problem. One that I intend to look into and solve as quickly as possible. I headed downstairs and noticed that only Damien was there. He looked up from searching through his pack with a surprised look on his face.
    "Zee! You're up!" Damien exclaimed, standing quickly. I waved to him with a smile. 
    "Sorry about the scare. I'm fine now," I replied to him, "Where's Jack and Marge?"
    "Dunno. Those two have been real touchy-feely recently so who knows where they went to do the do," Damien answered me casually.
    "Oh, that so?" I said mischievously. I knew that they were something close, but I didn't think that they would already be that far into the game. Guess I'll have to tease them a bit later on when they come back, I mused internally. I was about to step outside to look for them when Jack burst into the room, carrying an injured Marge in his arms. She was bleeding heavily, and it looked like Jack suffered quite a bit as well. I immediately rushed to help Jack lower Marge to the ground.
    "What happened?" I asked as calmly as I could. 
    "Humans. Bad ones," Jack seethed quickly, trying his best to keep his composure. Marge's breathing was labored. She had multiple bullet holes ripped throughout her torso as well as slashes down her arms. She was definitely in serious condition. I looked to Damien.
    "Get Cynthia from upstairs. Now. Tell her it's an emergency," I ordered. Damien gave me a nod and rushed off. I returned my attention to Jack.
    "How are you? Can you shoot?" I asked him. Jack gave me a firm nod. I smiled, "Good. I think I'm going to need to talk to these guys about attacking our group." Jack scoffed and smiled, standing up. Cynthia ran downstairs and gave a gasp when she noticed Jack and Marge.
    "Jack! Marge!" She cried out, kneeling next to Marge. 
    "Damien! You and Jack are sticking with me. Keep watch at the windows of the house!" I armed myself with both of my best knives, my bayonet and a sharp camo-colored military knife we found in the city a while ago. 
    "Where are you going?" I heard Marge moan. 
    "Marge! You need to rest! Stay down!" I heard Cynthia say. I didn't turn back to look at them.
    "To find the ones who did this to you and Jack," was my simple reply as I stepped out of our base.