Infected

Chapter 19

*Charlie's POV*

"Hey, Dillion! Go with Charlie to get firewood." James ordered. Dillion practically snarled. He walks past me harshly brushing my shoulder and started into the deeper woods. I followed behind him. It was starting to get dark and I wished that one of us had a flashlight.

"You don't have a light on you, do you?" I asked Dillion hopefully.

"I'd be using it if I did." He says with an edge to his voice.

"Okay, so what did I do?" I asked him. I'd had enough of this.

"What?" He doesn't look at me, he distracts himself with the firewood.

"Why are you so hostile to Neyomi and I? And not to Owen?" I ask.

"Well, firstly, you two are more interested in your love lifes than the groups' survival. You can go be careless away from my family. But I don't want you two to be the reason that one of us get hurt or killed. And Owen? He's the only one with some sense."

I was puzzled by his comment about Owen. Owen is the one that practically lost it because of his "love life." That doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

"In case you didn't noticed, Neyomi and I have done all we can to provide for the group and none of them have got hurt or killed. If you want to see what 'not serious about survival' is, you can look at yourself! You're pretty set on getting rid of two people that are immune to the infection that could save your ass or any one of your family."

As if all he heard was that I said that we were immune, he asked, "She's immune too?"

Oops. "Uh, yeah."

"Thought she wasn't a soldier." He stated suspicious.

"She wasn't and isn't." I tell him.

"Then how is it that she is immune?" He looks me dead in the eyes.

I give a slight chuckle, "Good question, isn't it?"

*Neyomi's POV*

"So you're telling me, that you weren't injected with the drug, yet you're immune to the infection?" James asked me, hardly believing it.

I nod my head seriously, "I put the infection right into my body, and nothing." I explain. Charlie slipped up so I guess it was time to tell everyone the truth about me.

"So, you didn't even feel any different, nothing?" Tommy asked, very fascinated with my immunity.

I shake my head, "nothing."

"Why didn't you tell us this in the first place?" Dillion asked.

Charlie answered, "because if we had told you that she was immune to the infection with no drug and had just been exposed to the infection, would you had taken the chance of taking us in? of letting her live? When we were complete strangers?" James shakes his head. No, they wouldn't have.

I stayed up half the night with James on guard. It wasn't awkward like you would think, it was actually pretty relaxing, even though we were on the lookout for infected. I kept seeing Owen lift his head up from off the ground and looking at me. He did it often, it began to weird me out. I decided to get away for a few minutes. I told James that I was going to go 'take care of business' and went a little deeper into the darkness. I squat down behind a tree to, you know, 'take care of business' and I heard rustling off to my right.

It scared me half to death, "hey!Don't come over here!" Was my immediate response. I heard whining. Is it a dog?! Can dogs get infected? I got my pants pulled up and shined my flashlight at it. It was indeed a dog. It looks like a pit bull mix, also just getting out of puppy stages. It had a collar on, which was tangled up in tree limbs. It whimpers again.

"Okay, I'm going to help you. Just don't bite me." I whisper to it and slowly walk toward it. It started to get excited and was wagging its tail which moved its whole body. I untangled the collar and the dog shot forward like a race car, nearly plowing me over. It made a lap and stopped in front of me and wagged its butt in the air, wanting me to play.

I laughed and shook my head, "no, we can't be out here. Where is your family?" I laughed again, at myself this time. I'm in the middle of the woods at night talking to a dog I just found.

I clicked my tongue, " come on, you're coming with me." The dog followed happily behind me. As I approached our small temporary camp I say," it's alright, James. It's me. I found a dog."

"A dog?" He asked. I walk up to him and gesture to my new shadow.

James crouched down to be eye level with the dog, "she's a beauty, isn't she?" He says petting her head. I nod in agreement.

"Wonder where her owner is." He says with a bit of fear in his voice. That could be a very bad thing if there's another group out here that is hostile. Or weirdos. There's no telling what we could find with this apocalypse.

The next morning I was awakened to Charlie's laughter. The best thing to wake up to, if you ask me. Putting an automatic smile on my face, I opened my eyes to see what was so funny. At first, all I see is a cloud of dust all around me. I get up off the ground and dust myself off. Then I see the joyful sight. Charlie is being chased by the dog I found last night. Then they are wrestling on the ground, and then chasing again. Charlie catches my eye and noticing that I'm awake, he jolts to a stop and waves at me. I laugh at him as the dog runs right into the back of his legs. He walks toward me and I meet him half way.

"Make a new friend?" I asked with a smile.

"What? This ol' thing?" He says, roughing her ears up. She's panting like crazy. Tommy and James are off to the side laughing. I think they enjoyed the show too. Dillion, of course, didn't have any humor in his eyes. He saw me looking at him and got up to finish gathering his things together. I noticed Owen coming out of the woods into our camp.

"Have you named her?" Charlie asked me.

I shake my head," you can, if you want."

"You sure? I mean, I've already checked her collar and she doesn't have a tag. It'll suck if the owner shows up demanding her back though." He babbles on. I never knew he'd get excited about a dog like this. It's so adorable.

"Just name her!" I laugh.

"Okay. I'll have to think about it though." He says petting her head.

"Are we all ready to go?" James asked.

"Yes, I mean, I am." I say looking to Charlie.

He nods, "let's rock."

James looks at his compass and map one last time to make sure we are going the right way. We can't be sure of where we are but James can get a good guess.

We start our treck toward Maryville. James said if we don't stop traveling, we should get there by the end of today. About a month ago, that's where Erica was last seen.

"I hope you know," I hear Dillion say from behind me, "that once we get there, it will probably be flooded with infected. It was a town full of people." Yikes, I didn't even think about that.

I swallow and nod. " Anything for my sister."

He is silent for a moment, "what if she is... gone." I know he means dead. Why is he talking to me about this?

"Then I wouldn't have to wonder about where she is anymore." My voice quivered even though I tried to keep it even. He left it alone at that.