The Infected Rebellion

Chapter 7: The World Below

"Nice to meet you Cecelia." The boy said with a warm and gentle smile. "Welcome to the team. My name is David."

David was a Hispanic boy who was very tall but not quite intimidating. I grabbed his hand and shook it, as we both smiled at each other. For the first time today, I felt truly safe.

"Very nice to meet you." I said, looking around at the cast of characters I saw before me.

David patted on the shoulder. "Well, go meet your new family. And then I'll tell you everything we do here."

I nodded and started off to the two boys playing chess. They seemed the least intimidating of everyone in the group, surprisingly. I crouched down beside them as the muscly boy struggled to move his pieces. He looked very confused as the other boy waited very patiently, obviously planning his next move. For such a large and strong looking boy, the muscly boy did seem a little helpless, not that I like to invoke stereotypes.

"You know if you just move your pawn over there," I said to the muscly boy, putting a hand on his shoulder, "You would be able to capture his queen in a few more turns."

The hefty boy smiled and nodded. "Gabriel here is still learning. I'm still trying to teach him all the basics."

Gabriel became flustered as he moved his pawn to the spot I indicated. He was obviously quite shy because, he looked down as he moved the pawn. He pushed his brown hair out of his face, as if to concentrate more.

"I'm learning as best I can though." he muttered.

"I'm sure you are." I answered, patting him on the back. "I'm Cecelia."

"Nice to meet you Cecelia!" the hefty boy exclaimed in excitement, "I'm Johnathan or John for short. Now you know both of us!"

"Welcome to the team." Gabriel murmured.

"I'm glad to be a part of it!" I said, standing up to go greet the others. "We will definitely have to play a game of chess sometime Johnathan!"

Johnathan smiled to me as he moved his next pawn, expertly. Johnathan was either very good at chess in his previous life or, he simply had a whole lot of time to learn. Soon following my encounter with Johnathan and Gabriel, I eased my way over to the group of girls by the bunks. I kept a distance from them since, the girl with the cigarette seemed very scary and was probably not the social type.

"Hello." I said, trying to start a conversation. "I'm Cecelia."

"We heard kid. Big mouth over there had to scream it so all hell could hear." said the girl with the cigarette, puffing smoke into my face. "I'm Daniella but everyone here calls me Daisy."

I coughed a little as I waved the gray fumes out of my face, watching one of the girl's flop onto the floor beside me. She was an obviously very bubbly girl. She had blonde hair a sparkling blue eye that were as equally shiny as her teeth.

"Howdy Cece!" she exclaimed. "I'm Tracy and up on the bunk, is my sister, Mary Anne! We are so happy to have you here!"

"It's not every day you see a new face." Mary Anne piped in.

"It's not every day people even come back here either." Daisy scowled.

Tracy shook her head at Daisy, also waving fumes out of her face.

"She's such a pessimist." she said, scolding Daisy.

"I can't say I'm exactly an optimist either." I added.

"Why not? We are safe."

"Because it's horrifying out there."

"It sure is." Mary Anne interrupted.