Walking Amongst Them (Among Us, Book 2)

You're Kidding, Right?

The next morning the grounds outside had been coated in enough snow to cover our tracks from the day before. I hadn't been on any watches during the night, but those who had been reported having heard some noises outside.

Which explained the tracks through the snow. The snow was several inches deep, too deep to tell if the tracks were human or otherwise. I hoped for our sake that they were just some humans passing by, though I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to be traveling in the dark and in the cold.

It had stopped snowing sometime early this morning, and the world was silent save for the few birds that remained in the winter time. They called at each other without fear. It made me wish I had my bow. It had been a while since we'd had any sort of meats that didn't come from a canned soup or a can in general.

"I wonder where they are," Clarke said as she stepped up to the window I was looking out.

I dropped my hand from where I'd had it pressed against the cool glass of the window I was looking out, "Who?"

She turned her gaze away from the outside and to me, "The others? Beck and Trish and . . . the other one. Adam's friend . . . Ben?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it's Ben. It's only been a few days," I said, and then thought back to when they left, "three nights. And it's been snowing."

She made a face, "I hate being the one to stay behind. I'd much rather be out there, knowing whether or not my party is going to get back in one piece or not. For all we know, they're gone."

Her words startled me. I hadn't thought about the others much, but it didn't occur to me that one or more would not be returning. I'd simply thought the snow had delayed them. I looked away from her to the window again, noticing the way the frost had made a pattern across the glass.

"I didn't think about that."

She said something else, but I didn't hear her as my mind wandered back to Cody. He'd been gone from our group the longest, and yet I couldn't bring myself to consider the idea that he might not ever come back. It hurt too much.

"I think I agree with you," I said.

"Which part?"

"The not knowing. I don't like it," I responded, though my thoughts were far from Beck or Trish or Ben.

"They'll be okay," she said, "I'm sure of it. They're some of the toughest people I've met. Which isn't saying much, but you all seem like survivors."

"What're we talking about?" Sam asked, cheerfully as he came over to the window.

"Nothing," I said quickly, before Clarke could answer. "The weather. We were wondering where the tracks came from."

His smile dimmed a little, but remained on his face, "I don't know. Adam said he heard some noises but Michael didn't hear any, and then at one point they both fell asleep so really we have no idea. But if they were human I think they'd stay away from here."

"Why?" I turned, leaning against the wall.

"Wouldn't you?" He asked.

When I didn't respond he looked between Clarke and I and then sighed, gesturing with his hands, "If you were traveling with," he paused and looked out the window towards the track, "one other companion, and you noticed a church being used by a rather large group of people- which they would have seen just by looking in the window because of the fire, would you want to bother them in the middle of the night?"

Clarke tilted her head, "But they didn't even stop, or come close to the window. They just kept on walking, look," she pointed to the tracks.

Two sets of feet marked up the snow about four feet away from the window we were all standing before. They were in a straight line, and Clarke was right. It was as if they ignored the church completely and just kept on walking.