Escape The Night

Chapter 13

Carmin stared as the strange people approached them, a grim look on her pointed face. It was never good when someone found them ; it meant that they were easy to track. She tilted her head toward Blake and shook her head, her hands clenched into tight fists by her sides. 

As they approached, Carmin started noticing details about them. The boy, who's face was still hidden, walked with a slight limp, and the woman held her arms by her sides, her hands tilted upward, like she was expecting herself to float. 

Carmin could feel the people behind her tense, just like herself, but they stayed silent. The woman that looked  ageless quickened her pace to a slow jog, her hand bag clutched in papery thin hands. Amya's hand subconsciously moved to her belt, where she kept her short, almost useless pocket knife. It was better than having nothing, but the blade was so dull and worn that it could hardly peel an orange. None of the adults would let her use another weapon, not even a stun gun. 

Behind her,  Colton and Mr. Mell did the same, reaching into their backpacks or pockets for something to defend themselves, no matter how useless it seemed. Mr. Mell pulled out of his pocket and odd contraption. It looked like a can opener, but it had razors and small blades connected to it with what must have been super glue. Colton's weapon was a little more practical. He no longer had a gun, but a tire iron that, if hit over someone's head, could easily kill them. 

Looking around at everybody else, Carmin realized that only a few people had any guns left. As for herself, she only had a small amount of ammo left, but even if she ran out, she could use her pistol as a sort of hammer. 

Beside her, Blake had a thick piece of wood that was bigger than his whole arm, which he seemed to have just picked up off of the ground. Carmin turned back to face the approaching people. A ripple of confusion washed over the woman's face as she stopped short a few feet away from them, her eyes wide and afraid. 

The woman raised her arms above her hands in a sort of old fashioned, giving up way and said, her voice ringing out over the crowd, " Please, we're not here to hurt you or be hurt ourselves! We just thought it would be better if we traveled with a group. You know, safety in numbers!" She stared desperately at Carmin, her face pleading. 

Carmin stared back at her, feeling both indifferent, but she couldn't help the small trickle of fear that rolled down her spine. She had never seen Blake or Colton or any of the authority figures in their group hurt anyone, but if they were suspicious, she didn't know what they would do. 

She looked behind her at Amya, but Amya wasn't looking at the woman, but at her companion. He was now standing only a few feet behind the scared woman, the hood still concealing his face. Up close, he wasn't as tall as they had previously thought, but shorter and stockier. 

Blake cleared his throat and stepped forward, so that he was nearly fully standing in front of Carmin and spoke, "Look we don't know who you are or where you come from. How about you answer a few of our questions." 

The woman nodded eagerly when he finished speaking, her features more relaxed. "Ok, I can do that. What do you think, " she asked turning to her partner. He shook his head slightly and muttered something to her. She blinked, a frown slowly forming on her delicate face. Then, she turned her back completely on the group of people to converse with her companion. 

Carmin watched as they argued heatedly with each other, their voices rising higher and higher as they talked. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they gradually lowered their voices until they weren't talking all together, but glaring fixedly at each other. 

Sighing, the woman walked over to stand in front of the group, her body shaking. 

With a deep, gravelly voice that didn't seem to belong to her, she shouted," The questions, I am afraid will have to wait until after lunch." 

And with that, she and the boy began to change.