The Horde

Chapter 4

Once they had cleared the most dense part of the forest, they reached a small clearing. There were five teenagers and two of them carried backpacks. In the back of the group, a delicate child who looked like she was no older than eight years old watched Hannah with large brown eyes. She was poised behind a teenage girl who she assumed was her older sister. Everyone had a gun except for the young girl, who was left with a dull knife and a hello kitty backpack.

"Here, you're gonna need this soon," Thomas handed her a pistol and tried to smile. Instead of kindness in his eyes, there was worry.

Hannah put the gun in the waist band of her sweat pants, "Thanks."

"Come on, everyone's already started walking."

Thomas' POV

They had come for him a couple weeks after the world ended. He had only been fifteen years old when they jumped through his living room window and killed his entire family.

They had made him watch as his childhood home transformed into something so terrifying and twisted that only a nightmare could conjure up.

.

After spending roughly five months of isolation in a jail cell that contained a very harsh and tedious routine, he was let out and could finally be face to face with his captors.

"We are creating an army, Thomas. Eliminating the rest of the human race is the only way that we will be able to thrive in this new world," The old man looked at him, and Thomas couldn't help but stare at his very pointed nose. He was unable to look him in the eyes, which were the colour of ice. "Do you understand?"

He heard the safety of a gun click off behind him. The guards at the door would shoot him if he answered incorrectly.

"Yes," his voice was dry from not speaking for the majority of the time spent in his jail cell.

"You will undergo harsh training to make sure that you are prepared to carry out the task that I have asked you, and so many others, to perform."

When he said that the training was harsh, he had been sugarcoating it. It had been approximately one month and Thomas had learned that the Leaders were always searching for more victims to humiliate and torture. They were ruthless.

.

"Why have you stopped doing your pushups, Thomas?" His least favourite, Drew, was smirking down at him.

Despite Thomas' efforts to maintain his strength in his cell, he wasn't able to do specific tasks solely because of the injuries to his bicep and shin that he has gotten before, and during, his time in the cell.

"I can't do it," Thomas mumbled as he looked at the ground.

Small rocks had worked their way into the palms of his hands, creating deep creases and minor scratches. He had only made it to 47 before his arms gave out.

"We don't say that around here. You do it without question. Now you have to add 200 to the 400 that you were doing. Congratulations. Plus, you're starting over. If you take a break, I will take precious time out of my day just to kill you." Drew kicked Thomas in the rib cage, and his eyes began to water.

He tried to suppress the need to scream, but it hurt so badly. Touching his rib, he noticed a tenderness that indicated he would have some nasty bruising on his left side. Drew laughed bitterly as he walked towards the Primary group.

A teenage boy that seemed to be the same age as Thomas had just finished his pushups. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was planning to check on him as he walked over.