RunHaleyRun

RUNHALEYRUN. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"So... who the hell are you?"

He sounded like an old sailor and smelt like one too. I could tell he had many years under his belt.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" he antagonized.

My mind tried to match his voice with one I've already known, no luck. I passed on the opportunity to speak; he already had his mind made up about us.

"Well? That's ok. Don't talk. Better for all of us." Someone in the back turned to face him.

"George, relax. They're scared that's all. They nearly got slaughtered, I'm sure; I mean, give them a break."

"Nancy, this has nothing to do with being scared. They've got no reason being here other than eating our food and taking up our space. By the way, you two didn't lead them here did ya? 'Cause that will be one hell of a mess for you to clean up."

"That's enough from all of you." Another mans voice. Only this one was different, he sounded calm and caring.

"John, I just want to know their names. Don't need to go letting the horses loose."

"I'm sure if these young ladies wanted to tell you, they would have already by now. I would imagine they were so rudely questioned they didn't have time to think, let alone answer you. Give me the flashlight George," said John.

George grunted and passed John the flashlight. John then made his way over to us. The desks were pushed into the back of the room and the remainder of what looked like a classroom was a circle of chairs. It reminded me of a camping trip, only Emily and I were the spark of entertainment, we were the fire.

"I would like to formally introduce myself. Hello, I am John Clifton. I live just down the street, and I was dropping my daughter's science project off when I got the news to stay inside, I went to the school to pick her up and no one was here. That's when I saw a couple of those crazy things and I decided to stay. Anyway, as long as you're living, we welcome you."

There were more people in the room than I could make out, each one stood up at their own pace. John flashed the light to each of their faces, naming them off.

"Well you already know George." As i had suspected, he was an older man, gray hair and a rough beard.

"This is Nancy." She was wearing glasses with the weird string attatched to keep them from falling off. Maybe she was a librarian.

"Her son Andrew." He was cute, blonde hair and blue eyes. But his eyes weren't focused on me, they were on Emily.

"And there is that lady in the back, her name is Grete and her daughter Angela, who is only four." He lifted his hand to wave at the toddler. Grete looked more like a hippy to me, long brunette hair flowed down as far as i could see. Angela was young, but had crazy eyes that in the light looked rainbowish. After most of the introductions, i caught myself glancing a little more at the boy next to me than anyone else.

"Last but not least, your guardian, he's sitting next to you, Noah. Now there are some fine people here, but they do get a little edgy, if you have any questions, you can go on ahead and ask me. I'll be happy to answer them," he put the light on his face to make positive we could see him smiling.

"John." He turned his head to Grete.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Can I ask them a question?" she asked while turning her gaze from him to me.

"Grete you don't have to ask me. But I do appreciate it." He knelt down beside me."The folks want to know your story... are you willing to tell 'em it?"

I nodded and Grete came forward.

"Is it true what they were saying? Is the infection as bad as they said it was going to be?"

Emily answered for me. "Of course it is. I didn't believe it myself, but seeing it really clears things up."

Andrew butted in. "What's it like out there?" his face shown concern but also curiosity.

"Horrific. It's like 'Dawn of the Dead', only a million times worse. Because its people you know, people you loved and cared about that are out there trying to rip you apart. It's horrible."

Emily nudged me to answer any following questions.

"Is everyone dead?" I was surprised to hear Noah's voice, it was quick and short.

Everything went silent, I turned to look at him, but his eyes were on the floor.

"I don't know."

Noah rose up and started walking toward the door.

"I'm hungry. I'll be back." His voice was vicious and filled with hate.

He picked up the shotgun and left. John locked the door after him. I found that odd.

Grete faced us one more time. She had long thick black hair that went well past her chest.

"So how did you come to being here?"

Emily and I glanced at each other, and then I began talking.

"We were on the social bus, the one that was going to take us to 'the safe land'. Emily and I had just started discussing our plans to keep in contact until this outbreak was controlled. Until..." my mind raced, trying to find the right words to explain and describe what we saw. It was too hard.

"...Until we saw a woman killing another woman. A man got onto the bus and started attacking people, the back door was locked, and we had no way out. Some act of God saved us. After beating on the exit door it opened and we ran. I held on to her hand so tight I'm surprised I didn't break any of her fingers. Well we came up to the front doors of the... of here, and they were locked. Something in my mind triggered and told me to go to the back, so I did. Luckily, the doors were unlocked. We found our way to the art room and stayed in there. That's when... Noah came and presented himself. That's all that happened."

Everyone was appalled.

"Haley you must excuse us, they are unfamiliar in what they look like, or how they act. Noah and I are the only ones who have truly seen them. For such a young man Noah's very protective."

John caught the moment and must have heard something outside the door.

He nearly hissed at it.

"Noah? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be? John let me in."

John moved swiftly to unlock the door; I noticed Noah had brought back a pouch of pop tarts and three water bottles. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until my stomach started rumbling. He sat down, opened the pouch, and handed me a pop tart. I broke it in half and gave the bigger half to Emily. He then passed two water bottles to me, I handed one to Emily and her face lit up. We both said thanks.

"Mhmm" was his response.

"Well group, it's about ten p.m. and you've got about a half an hour left until curfew. So do what you want, but do not leave this room and lights out at ten thirty." He gestured Noah to come with him.

"Noah and I will remain the watchmen for tonight. Sleep tight." He was mainly talking to the two of us.