After The Fall

Town of Suspicion Part Two

Ken and Jack turn to the sound of the voice and they see a young woman leaning against the side of the house only a few feet away from them. The woman is frail-looking; thin and bony with dark circles under her eyes. Her clothes are dark and dirty, her dark hair pulled up into a messy bun. Her eyes are bright blue and fierce, searching.

She smiles pleasantly at them, "You're looking for someone, right? There's not many of us left now, so we tend to know when someone else is poking around. I can help you find your guy."

"Yeah?" Jack smiles.

Ken looks at Jack, shaking his head but Jack ignores him, "His name is Tyler, he's kind of tall with dark hair. He's wearing a blue hoodie. Have you seen him?"

Ken frowns, looking back at the woman, "What did you say your name was?"

She chuckles softly, "I haven't told you yet, I'm Alisha Walker. As for your friend Tyler, I personally haven't seen him, but one of the others might."

"The others you keep mentioning?" Ken crosses his arms, cautiously looking over Alisha.

She nods, "My group. There's seven of us, including me. We've all lived here since the start, this is our home, so we know everyone in town. Come with me, if my people haven't seen him, we can help you look."

Jack looks at Ken, "What harm could it do? We want to find him fast, right?"

Ken isn't convinced this is a good idea.

"Where is everyone else? Why is all these houses empty?" Ken stares down Alisha.

She sighs, putting a hand on her hip, "I'm offering help and you want to question the state of my town?"

"Answer the question." Ken replies.

Jack frowns, "Ken.."

Alisha rolls her eyes, "We cleaned out whatever was left and put everything in our hideout, since we've been the only people here for a long time. We don't want people trying to steal from us."

"Why are there no infected in town?" Ken demands, "Why are they all in the super market?"

Alisha's eyes narrow, "You're really paranoid, aren't you? How safe would it be to let them wander around, and we don't waste our ammo killing them. So we round them up and put them in the biggest storage place we can. The market."

"Is there still food in the market?" Jack asks.

Alisha looks at him, "Yes, but most of it isn't edible. If we really needed to get in there for whatever food's left, we know how to get around the poor souls the disease claimed."

"How?" Jack asks and Ken speaks up, "Just help us find our friend and we'll leave."

Alisha smiles, "At least say please."

She laughs and turns, walking away from them, "Come on now, we only have so much daylight left."

Ken frowns and follows after her, Jack following behind. Nate walks through the town, looking around in silence with Felix walking beside him. Felix suddenly stops and looks back as he hears a soft giggle accompanied by the sight of a small someone disappearing behind a house.

Nate looks back at him, "What are you doing?"

"I saw someone." Felix replies.

"Tyler?" Nate turns fully towards him.

Felix shakes his head and Nate sighs, "Probably just an infected."

"She laughed." Felix states.

Nate frowns, "What?"

"I heard a laugh," Felix looks back at him, "We should check it out. If there's a kid, we can't just leave them out here alone."

"Not our problem." Nate states.

Felix shakes his head and turns, walking towards the house he saw the child pass, "I'm going to check it out."

Nate groans and runs after him, "Fine, but this is a waste of time."

They both run to the house and going behind, they see a small girl, no older than Mary-Jane, kneeling and picking flowers. As they approach, the girl stands and gasps. She's wearing a dirty dark blue blazer over a white long sleeved button up and a dark blue pleated skirt with black sandals. Her hair is blond, messy and short, her eyes a dark blue. She starts to back away and Felix reaches out to her, "Hey, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you."

She stops, staring at them, looking between the two of them. She tilts her head, holding the flowers to her chest, "I don't know you.. You shouldn't be here.. Strangers aren't supposed to be here."

"We won't be here long," Nate crouches, "We're looking for our friends. Have you seen any other strangers here?"

The girl looks at Nate, "Just one."

"Was his name Tyler?" Nate asks.

"I didn't ask his name," she states.

"What's your name?" Felix asks.

"Addy." she says.

"I'm Felix, and this is Nate. Can you tell us where you saw the other stranger?" Felix smiles.

Addy leans down and picks another flower, "Sarah took him."

"Sarah?" Nate frowns.

Addy nods, looking back at them. Felix takes a step closer to her, "Do you know where Sarah took him?"

Again, Addy nods. Nate stands, "Can you take us there?"

Addy giggles, "Silly boys, I can't take you home, I'll get in trouble."

Felix and Nate exchange glances and then Nate looks back at the child, "Can you take us across the street from your house then?"

Addy looks thoughtful, "Maybe. But why should I? Sissy doesn't like strangers."

"Sissy?" Felix asks, "Is Sarah your sister?"

Addy shakes her head, "Sarah is not Sissy. Sissy is much meaner."

"Just take us there, kid." Nate stands, crossing his arms.

Addy glares at him, "Only Sissy can tell me what to do!"

"Please?" Felix asks, "We just want to find our friend."

Addy looks at him, dropping the flowers and pulls a little pistol from her blazer pocket, pointing it at Nate then at Felix, "Stop telling me what to do! You're just stupid strangers!"

Nate grits his teeth, glaring at her, "Put that down, you shouldn't even have that. Do you even know how it works?"

Felix puts his hands, "Wait, we're sorry. We're just trying to find our friend, that's all. Can you please help us?"

Nate lunges at Addy and she screams, pulling the trigger as Nate knocks her down. Felix gasps, his eyes widening as Nate cries out, snatching the gun from the girl with shaking hands, blood pooling from the wound in his stomach. Felix steps up and pulls Nate back, taking the gun from him. Addy tries to scramble away but Nate grabs her by the arm, shaking and groaning in pain.

He glares at her, "You're not.. Going anywhere.."