Don't Be Scared

S.1 E.1 ~ P&K (Ch. 3)

Don't be afraid to point out grammar errors 

--

"Sorry, I didn't know where I was."

Slowly, the stranger started to back away from my brother, "I must've fallen asleep."

She took another step away from cornering Mack against the bars.

"Asleep? How long you in this cage for?" Doc questioned, bewildered at the fact someone, in the zombie apocalypse, could've fallen asleep in such a position.

"Two days?" 

The woman looked around us for any signs to prove it had been that long, confused of her own words.

"Come on." Mack gave her a half smile, despite being threatened not even five minutes ago.

My brother was the first to walk out of the unlocked, steel protector. His dark chocolate orbs locked onto mine. Quickly, I rushed to his side. Addy got onto the other while Doc stayed in the back with the unidentified female.

She could still be dangerous to us and everyone else. Why do we keep adding onto our group? Why are the first two, Mr. Important and Hammond, even still with us?

"Well, kid, I'm Doc. The little one is (Y/N) and her brother, Mack. The girl with red hair is his girlfriend, Addy."

"Cassandra." She spoke with hesitation, not sure if giving a name would be wise.

It's just a name. What will we do with it? Steal your identity? I don't blame her for being skeptical about us. I don't even blame myself. We walked inside the open building, where the others were located in.

The baby cried as it heard the door shut behind Cassandra. The screams weren't quiet and cute either, they were loud and very high-pitched. Something that could definitely attract Zs.

"Somebody better shut that kid up before it attracts Zs like flies." 

Mr. Important acted as if he was better than anyone in this group. He may be important to Hammond, but he acted as if he was on crack. Jesus. The man scratches his whole chest, neck, and head like fleas were attacking him on the spot. 

I hope not. Those are hard to get rid of. I mentally cringed at the memory of getting fleas from a raccoon I had rescued. Never again. Cassandra sat on the ash and dust covered desk chair while the rest of us stood up. 

I walked over to her and sat on the corner of the desk, beside her. Like the overprotective brother he is, Mack was right beside me not a second later.

"Hey. It's a baby. He makes noises, okay?" Charlie tried to defend the infant as he rocked them to try and quieten them down.

It wasn't working. Charlie may be like a father-figure in my life, but he wasn't too that baby. Did that infant even have a daddy before this? Just like the child in his arms, Charlie's saved me since the world restarted into this, more times than I could count.

The Sergeant already had two daughters of his own. One was around my age, but she passed not long after the apocalypse happened. The other one was a couple of years younger than us.

He told me once, 'I couldn't save my children so I'm willing to save someone else's'.

He was referring to Mack and me, because he's protected Mack just as much as me. Sergeant Charles "Charlie" Garnett of the National Guard has kept his promise for three years straight. Never missing when trouble arrives.

"Shut up." Hammond pointed his protected, then looked at my leader, "And you, do what you can. He's right about the Zs."

Hammond turned around on his heel, heading straight for the girl sitting down beside the desk, "Here."

The broad, black man tossed Cassandra a bottle of water. Before she could even swallow anything, he snatched it away from her. The girl hadn't had anything to drink in two days; you know she's dehydrated.

"Why would somebody lock you in a cage and leave you to die? What did you do?"

The interrogation didn't seem fair since she didn't have a lawyer present.

"I didn't do anything. I locked myself in the cage for protection." She defended.

"You have keys?"

Cassandra looked down, sounding like she hated herself for the words, "I lost them."

I would too, though. If I locked myself in a cage and lost the key, I'd be pretty damn disappointed. But how did she lose the keys in the first place? She had to be the one to lock the cage if everyone else was turning/dead.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

Excuse me?

I got off of the desk and stood up, blocking his view of her, "She doesn't have to justify herself. She's a woman in the apocalypse."

Mack grabbed my hand to try and tug me away, but Hammond stepped up closer to my feet.

"Maybe she does."

We glared at each other before Mack finally got me back to his side. The, definitely, stronger male gave me a warning glare like a father would do to his disobedient child before looking back at Cassandra.

"We were suppose to meet the men in those vehicles. What happened here?"

"Those men showed up about a week ago. They cleared out the school and set up some kind of camp, but the word got out that there was food."

"A lot of it from the bomb shelter." Hammond spoke to himself, deep in thought but still listening to the woman he just degraded.

"Yeah, it didn't take long. There was too many people. The soldiers shot some of the locals and that brought the Zs. You can guess the rest."

"What are we wasting our time here for?" Mr. Important snapped after Cassandra's story, taking a step closer to Hammond, "Give her the baby and let's go."

"You can't give this girl a baby and leave." Charlie protested, still rocking the now quiet child.

"Well, they can't come with us." He snapped back.

Now that I looked at him, he does look a little ashy like the rest of the zombies. His skin wasn't white nor was it dark. The flesh was stuck with dirt and other nature-giving minerals, but it wasn't like the rest of us.

What's wrong with him?

"Listen," Charlie started to go into his Sergeant mode, "No way am I leaving the baby and her behind. It's not going to happen."

With the baby in his arms, his whole figure looked natural; like he was made to hold babies and rock them to sleep while protesting against something.

"It's just a baby. Not like he's going to grow up and be a fine, young man someday."

He'll be a better one than him. That's for sure.

"You know what, shut up!" Hammond shouted, getting in between the arguing two, "We'll take them to the next safe outpost. God, I hate moral dilemmas."

I mentally gasped at his words. Really? I wonder why!

"Yeah, what's next, chief? You wanna start a college fund for him, too?" The dead-looking guy asked with leaking sarcasm.

I hate him very much already and I don't even know his actual name.

"Puppies and kittens." Addy warned, dropping the blind she was looking out of to look at her leaders and fellow followers.

"Zombies." Warren defined for the newbies.

I wonder if Warren got that nickname from her old army mates. Seems like it's a military definition, but if that was the case, Hammond should've known it. Unless it was used in just her unit.

"Alright, everybody. Time to go." Hammond went to his own commander mode as well, "You five, I want you to grab all the food and weapons you can find. Load them in that truck. The keys are still inside."

|| Animals bred for taste of danger and freedom can't be tamed ||