The hunted

Chapter 4 Follow the leader

After settling in and getting to know my roommates a little bit more , Luke informed me it was time for dinner .

Apparently here , dinner is the biggest meal of the day .

Everyone gather at the front and bring all the food they found for the day , and then it would be split equally among everyone. And judging by all the people walking to the same place , I have high hopes that tonight I'll have my first decent meal in months. 

After they welcomed everyone who's new to the tribe,  meaning me and a few other people , they all placed their food on a big table. Being the "newbies " , me along with the rest of the newbies didn't have a clue what to do , so we got a few stares for not sharing . I then soon caught on and took all my leftover apples out of my backpack , placing them on the table along with everyone else. It took longer than I expected for them to sort out and devide all of the food , but when they did I was already tasting the meat on my plate . I can't remember the last time I had meat .

A silence over took the tribe as everyone edulged into their dinner . The loud chewing being the only sound filling the silience.  That's until ...

*ring *
*ring *
*ring *

Everyone fell silent , eyes as wide as saucers . I had no idea what was going on . I mean they knew it was a phone right ? They've heard and seen a phone before , right ?

Their facial expressions made me question how long they've been without technology and civilization if a mere ringtone could result in this type of reaction  .

"Show yourself !" The head of the tribe -Jake - said towards the crowd .

A guy in his mid twenties,  one of the newbies , walked out of the crowd towards the front , taking his phone out of his pocket .

It kind of astonished me that he still had a phone, I mean there isn't any way of charging it or any use for it . So why would he keep it ? And it still be working ?

Suspicion raised as he came to the front . It was clear what was going on .

Jake took his phone and pressed decline making silence fall over us once again .

"It seems , we have a rat . " Jake roared across the crowd , making everyone break out in murmers and the guy started to shake out of fear of what's going to happen to him .

"And you know what we do with rats around here ! "

"Kill him !" The crowd shouted in unison , starting to cheer .

They all cheered while the guy was thrown into the firepit while they lit it .

This was brutal . Inhumane. 

Who does that to another human being ?

I mean sure he made a mistake but was all of this really necessary? 

"Looks like we're having Chicken for dessert. " Jake said as they threw water over the pit , taking his charred and smokey remains out .

I just gulped in fear. I'd have to stay in line , if I wished to live here .

We all ate the rest of our dinner until everyone grabbed their backpacks and put their remains in it .

I grabbed Luke by the arm - pulling him back -

"What's going on ? Where's everyone going? " I asked as I watched them all leave in groups of 5 , out of the tride lands. 

" we're leaving.  The cellphone may have had a tracker in it since he worked for the military.  Which means they now have our location.  We have to leave Andy , we're all in danger . "

I then followed him back to our room as I packed my stuff - which I literally just unpacked -

"So what happens now ? Am I just going off on my own again ? "

"Not exactly.  Jake always divides us into groups of 4 , but since you're apart of our group now , I guess we're 5 . " Luke said , zipping up his bag - slinging it over his shoulder. 

"5?" I asked - doing the same with my backpack. 

"Yeah . Me , you , Cody,  Ben and Amanda . "

I nod my head and then followed the three of them outside,  where  we met up with Amanda . We then took off into the woods with Ben leading us , he was clearly the leader of this group . As we walked I've come to befriend Amanda . She's actually really nice and I got to say I like her .

I've learned some things I regret asking about . She had a little sister  , who then died of the plague . So she and her big brother  went off to find help - since their parents didn't make it either - but her brother got caught , and she ran . That's how she ended up here .

So in a way she's just like me  , just more ...tragic .

"Looks like a good place to settle for the night . " Ben said as everyone took their backpacks off .

" you girls stay here while we go and get some wood for the fire . " Luke said as he stood up along with Ben and Cody.

"No way . What can we do ? " Amanda said .

Ben just scratched the back of his head impatiently and let out a frustrated sigh .

"Fine . You two can build us a shelter. And try to keep it water resistant this time Amanda . "

To think I started to like him . He's so hard headed .

But they left anyway as we started gathering some loose wood and anything useful really .

"Guys ! We got to move ! " Cody shouted as he jogged up to us , grabbing his backpack . Quickly followed by Ben and Luke .

"What's going on ? What's the rush?  " I said while putting down the wood , infront of a panting Cody. 

"We have to move . Now ! They're on our tails ."

"Who ? " 

"The military who else ? No move it ! " Ben said agitated,pulling me roughly by my wrist. I winced in pain as I grabbed my backpack while he pulled me along .

Why was he acting so strange all of a sudden ?

I can walk on my own .

Why does he suddenly care about my well being and survival? 

That's it for now . What do you think will happen next ? What's Ben's deal ? Let me know in the comment section below ❤❤