The Taken

29

Ofelia had sent out a boy who had been with the new arrivals. He only went by the name, Z. He was perfect in a fight, Aeris saw him behead a couple of adults without any issue the morning he and his group arrived. He was tired looking but also beefy, well built. His face had been screwed up though. Looked red all the time and was riddled with scars and acne.

He had his arms folded and rested on his chest. He laid on a folding lawn chair and was almost dozing off with a heavy looking sword leaning on his chair.

When he had come out Aeris had made it a point that she let him know she was there. Didn't want to get massacred with him thinking she was one of them.

Aeris was on the trunk of a car, studying the fire in the distance from her. Could be a mile away, she wondered how it had started.

She saw movements behind the bars of the fallen water tower and was hesitant at first to actually investigate, but she brushed it off as nothing.

She continued to look back and forth at Z and the fire. She wanted to make friends but was shy and outrageously quiet.

The shadows made noises now, not incoherent grunts and sniffs, but words. From broken teenaged voices.

"We're here," One said to another, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Let's see if anyone's here," they continued.

Z was up now and listening with his ear that didn't seem to be distorted by battle. He looked at Aeris and she held his stare. She was scared, after everything she had always been scared. Z didn't show it but Aeris knew he was too.

They both got up and he scraped his sword along the concrete to let the others know he was there and armed.

"Who's there?" He shouted.

Two quivering bodies untangled themselves from under the water tower's form and they were now in front of it, staring blankly at Aeris and Z.

"We mean no harm, we came from that fire over there and are just needing some shelter. Please help us," one said, trying his hardest not to be intimidating. He was scared too.

Desperation was all over his voice. He seemed like he'd lost something.

"One of us was killed from that fire," the boy pointed to the light.

There it was.

"Anything can help," a girl chimed in. She was difficult to see due to her dark complexion but stood out enough for Aeris to see a bit. The boy was holding a bright metal bat while the scarily skinny girl had nothing.

"Names?" Z asked, not really adding a tone of question to his enunciation. He pulled out a flashlight and shone it across their faces. They were dazzled for a moment and covered their eyes, squinting. They were both severely pale and sleepy.

"I'm J-Jake," the boy said.

The girl was ready to drop and answered with "Ramona".

Z looked at Aeris again, he was thinking of what to do with them. He wasn't expecting any of this and wasn't given explicit orders on what to do if this happened.

"You can sleep in one of those cars, but I'm keeping my eye out. You're not coming in through these doors without a say from Sawyer," he turned his head and pointed with his flashlight to a row of battered cars. They had been parked disastrously between fading yellow lines.

"Does he run the place?" The boy asked, almost ignoring Z's offer.

"He does," Z said bluntly, "I'll take you to a car." Z was polite and also very, very straightforward. He didn't want to aggravate anyone and just wanted to get this over with.

Aeris couldn't believe there were actual survivors. She reckoned she could talk to them but abstained, realizing she could embarrass herself.

They're tired, no need, she thought.

The surprise of those two had almost knocked the awake out of her. She needed to rest, but also didn't want anything to do with Astrid. She was probably fast asleep and Aeris could move her own bag.

She walked off the street while Z led the two to a light blue minivan. They gladly complied with his orders and stepped into the car.

"We'll talk tomorrow," he said. The remark was terse and he walked away, leaving the door open so it wouldn't get stuffy and hot.

Aeris slid the building's doors open and Z went back to his station, eyeing the kids as they eased into the car. He huffed and went back to relaxing, not too much though.

Aeris went blind now and felt her way around checkout stations and aisles until she felt like she'd found the right place.

She was too exhausted to move her bag and just dealt with whatever was to come.

Take me away.

Jacob and Ramona

The boy who had helped them didn't even give his name, just said to get in the car and that they could talk to their leader. That all happened so fast and Jake collapsed in his seat, lowering it with the switch. Ramona splayed her body across the backseats, fitting comfortably and already snoring. Jake found it hard to not think and theorize about what these kids were like. He hadn't expected to see or meet anyone, so when there was someone he started to stutter and disintegrate from embarrassment.

He mocked himself in his head and finally crashed. He drooled on his shoulder. Actually in a state of peace.

Bartholomew, Clarence, and Veronica

Monsters were still banging their bodies and fists relentlessly on the house. All over. The three were getting increasingly worried but weren't saying anything. There was a backyard entrance but the three had looked out the second floor windows and saw adults all around. They boarded it up reluctantly.

During their time in the house they had scanned it and put together in their heads who had lived here. Just some suburban family with two daughters. Twins maybe. There were pictures of two girls who looked eerily similar but they only found the body of one. They didn't know why there was another mother in the house that Barry had killed because there was two parents rotting in the locked room that they busted open. Maybe the sister was the rotting corpse in another room.

But these kids had seen stranger, more vile things.

"What do we do?" Clarence asked to either of the kids, pacing and trying his best to come up with a plan of escape.

"Wait it out I suppose," Barry answered. He knew his answer was dumb, he had zero confidence in any plan they might come up with.

"Some will get bored and leave. Then there'll be less of them to handle." Veronica sounded hopeful.

"That just means the more hungrier and dangerous ones will be left," then Clarence killed that hope.

After a long silence Clarence spoke again.

"Do you think they made it? I'd like too."

"Janice is a natural born leader, I'm sure she led them to the right place," Veronica said softly which was unlike her.

Clarence needed to trust God that he'd be okay. That He would guide him and his friends to safety.

A loud banging and a crash of glass came from downstairs.

The Windows.

Clarence's eyes sparked and widened.

"Fuck."