A New Beginning

Chapter VI

Ronny sat in the back of a truck. He looked out to the fields of withering wheat and corn. He took in a deep breath of the warm air as the sun was setting. "We should be a few miles south from the others," said Sarah. Sarah was sitting the passenger seat as she looked out of her window. "Good," Gavin said, "I hope we're not too late". Ronny looked around as saw Julie was sitting the back of the truck with him as she aimed her gun at a man in a leather jacket. Seeing Julie startled him. "Julie, I thought you were dead"! Julie gave Ronny an awkward look, "I am Ronny". As she spoke a gunshot was heard. Ronny's vision of the scenery changed to the Biker camp as he saw the bullet pierce Julie's heart. Ronny saw the twisted smile of Zack as he walked away. Ronny saw his group lined up next to him. Xavier, Sarah, Nick, Gavin, Kyle, Suzy, and Frank. They all, without emotion, turned their heads to look at Ronny. Frank said, "It's your fault, Ronny". Frank then faded away as Kyle said, "You could've stopped this". Kyle then proceeded to fade away as well. Gavin and Suzy simultaneously said, "But you let us die". Then Gavin and Suzy faded away. Not too long after, everything faded away to darkness with Ronny sitting in the middle of it. He looked for something. Suddenly, he heard the growls of a biter appear. It latched onto Ronny's back. As Ronny tried to pull it off, another hooked onto him from the front. Suddenly, a huge herd began to swarm around him as they dragged Ronny to the ground. Ronny struggled to get them off. He could feel their teeth dig into him as he screamed. However, he felt no pain, and when he screamed, nothing came out. As he finally accepted his fate, he saw a hand appear from the darkness. It appeared as though it was to help him. Ronny fought to reach the hand. Right as his fingers touched the hand, he woke up.

Once awake, he saw that Xavier was watching him. "You ok, Ronny," Xavier asked. Ronny stood up as Xavier said, "You were really fighting in your sleep". Ronny said, "I'm fine. Where are the others"? Xavier said, "Sarah and Thomas are out trying to find any nearby villages or homes for supplies. Nick is in the office watching Albee". Ronny's back and neck were sore from sleeping on the hard concrete floor. He, however, began to walk to the office. Xavier said, "So Ronny, I wanted to ask you something. About the people who you saw stalking us. Did you see what they looked like"? Ronny said, "I only could really see one of them. He was a male, wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts. I couldn't see his face, but his head looked like it was bleeding. He looked so outta place. How could he survive the cold like that"? Xavier said, "I'm not sure". As the two approached the office, they looked through the window to see Nick was leaned on the wall closest to the exit door. In his lap was Albee. He was making silly faces with pleased Albee as muffled laughs could be heard through the glass. Ronny smiled as he opened the door. "Hey little guys", Ronny said to Albee. Nick looked up to see Ronny and Xavier. He stood up as he said, "Hey Ronny, how are you feeling"? Ronny took a deep breath as he said, "I'm feeling pretty good. I guess I just needed some sleep is all. How's your arm doing"? Nick looked down at his arm. The gauze and wrap were soaked in blood as he said, "It really fucking hurts, but it could be worse". 

Nick handed Albee over to Ronny. Ronny took Albee and held him close. Ronny then looked over to Xavier as he said, "So what's the plan? Are we gonna move on soon"? Xavier sighed as he said, "I don't know. Sarah and Thomas said we should leave. I don't know if it's such a good idea. I mean we have heat, electricity, and if we can find a reliable source of food and water, we could make this our home". Ronny said, "We're out in the middle of nowhere. We have to move on. Yes, electric and heat are luxuries we haven't had for a while, but our safety is more important". Xavier said, "We are safe. We have this place locked down". Ronny said, "Those people out there will hunt us down". Xavier looked at Nick as the two of them were unable to speak. Ronny said, "We need to keep moving. If you guys wanna die, so be it, but I'm leaving today". Xavier sighed as he said, "Ronny. No one's out there". "How can you say that", Ronny was confused and frustrated, "I saw them with my own two eyes". Xavier said, "Ronny, they're not real. No one else besides you has seen them". Ronny took a step back as he said, "You're gonna call me crazy. That because Grace is dead, that I've lost my mind? I have proof that they're real. I didn't go out chasing them earlier. I said that because I was embarrassed about what really happened. They caught me off guard. They opened the door and dragged me outside. Before I could get up, I had a gun to my head as they made me walk out into the woods. I think they were gonna kill me, but before they could, they heard you coming and they ran off". Ronny then pulled his shirt down to reveal scratch marks left on the side of his neck. Ronny said, "Call me crazy, but scratch marks aren't just left by hallucinations". Xavier and Nick were speechless as they looked at Ronny's scratches. Ronny then looked Xavier dead in the eye as he said, "I'm leaving, whether you come with or not". Xavier thought about it for a moment before he said, "We'll go with you. But we have to wait for Sarah and Thomas to return". Ronny begrudgingly agreed as he walked out of the office with Albee.

Nick said, "We're horrible people, calling him crazy". Xavier said, "I don't know. I mean why would a group be hunting us. The description Ronny gave doesn't sound like Mount Vernon troops. Besides that, why has no one else seen this group besides Ronny"? Nick said, "When we leave, someone should keep a close eye on Ronny in the event that he sees these people again". Xavier said, "Enough about that for now, let's check on your arm". Nick began to undress it as the bite revealed itself. The area immediately around the bite marks had turned to a dark purple color, with the surrounding area turned red. "That doesn't look too good", Nick said. Xavier said, "No, it doesn't. Too bad we don't really have proper medicine do deal with this". Xavier searched through the first-aid kit that the building provided. Xavier pulled out some gauze and a wrap. When Nick saw no medicine, he said, "I guess my body's gotta heal on its own". Xavier said, "If I had something to give you, I would". Xavier walked through the exit door to pick up some snow. He placed it onto the gauze as he said, "I know this isn't the most sanitary, but we should clean it and this is the closest to water that we have at the moment". As the snow began to melt on the gauze, Xavier began to clean Nick's wound. The icy feel of the snow was a much-needed relief for Nick as the area had become inflamed. Nick said, "So let's say for a moment that this group is real, what do we do then"? Xavier said, "We figure out what they want. If they attack us, we kill them". "It's as simple as that, huh"? Xavier said, "It's worked before". Nick chuckled as he said, "Barely, we've been lucky. It's always been about distractions. We beat the Bikers because they were distracted by Zack's injuries. We beat Mount Vernon and the Islanders because they were distracted by each other. Also, both times we had a lot of people. We now only have five and a baby". Xavier said, "Well the way Ronny talks about them, it doesn't sound like there's a lot of them. But either way, we could be talking about people who don't even exist". By now Xavier had finished cleaning Nick's wound as he wrapped it up. "The how do you explain the scratch marks", Nick asked. Xavier said, "I can't".