The Him

Chapter 2: New Friend

I followed CB to a big room with science supplies. A group of teenagers were there and looked up when we entered. I recognize one of them as the guy who was talking to CB.
"Blake," one of the guys said to him.
"We have another person part of our crew. This is Asher—"
"Cameron," I finished his sentence.
"Yes. Asher Cameron everyone. We have Nathan, Finn, Jasper, and my sister Mae who is the best scientist around," CB introduced me to everyone. I waved hello.
"This is the new guy? The one that was infected by The Him? No way am I going to LIVE my whole life while getting infected by HIM!!! Who was infected by The Him!!!" The guy named Jasper yelled. I scratched my head. Wha?
"Don't worry," Mae laughed. "I made sure all my serums to make sure he's not an evil zombie anymore, but you have to make sure you wear this." She held my hand and showed me a bracelet. "You need to make sure you wear this. This is where the serum is going to be. This bracelet is connected to your body and makes sure you don't go all crazy zombie-beast. You also need to come to my lab once in a while to get the serum refueled. Alright?" Mae asked me. I nodded. For a second our eyes lock and then CB shoves me towards Jasper and Finn.
"BOYS YOU NEED TO GO OUTSIDE AND PATROL THE AREA!! NOW!!! AND MAKE SURE TO USE YOUR CODE NAMES!!!" He orders shoving us out the door. Jasper stands outside and lifts his backpack onto his back. Finn kicks the dirt.
"No shooting anything, keep your gun safe in your bag, and if you see a zombie, run and try to get to higher ground," Jasper says eyeing me suspiciously. Finn nods and I do too.
"Alright let's share our code names, we keep our real names a secret from The Him so he doesn't know we're from Othdoan," Jasper says glancing over at Finn and signaling him to go first.
"Black Panther," He says quietly. How did he get into Othdoan?
"Mine is Ghostbuster," Jasper says grinning. I frown I have the worst name ever . . . I go silent.
"Yours is?" Jasper asks impatiently.
"Scrappy," I whisper.
"WHAT?" Asks Jasper obviously trying to torture me.
"SCRAPPY!!!" I yell, just trying to get it over with. I can see Finn trying not to laugh and puffing his cheeks out. Jasper doesn't even try NOT to laugh, he just bursts out. After his laughing fit he sits down and smiles at me.
"Oh man dude, I think I just busted a gut, you ridiculous bro!" He laughs fist bumping me. I smile.
"We should probably get going before Blake figures out we're not patrolling," Finn whispers. I nod. We walk off North and then go back and patrol to the West. We patrol until sun fall and then CB slides open the door and welcomes us back in. He takes Jasper to the side and whispers to him. Since I don't know where to go I follow Finn.
"Jasper can be a jerk, so just ignore him. When the sun falls all of us head to the basement where the beds are," Finn says, louder now that we're away from Jasper.
"Are you . . . afraid of Jasper?" I ask hesitantly. Finn stares at me his face pale as a ghost.
"N-no it's just that he is . . . um not the kind of person that I wanna hang out with, I mostly spend my time with Nathan," Finn says. I know he's lying though, I can see in his eyes that his fear keeps expanding with every minute we talk about Jasper. So I change the subject, and by the time we get the basement we're the greatest of friends. He shows me where to hang up my clothes and where the pajamas are and how to not fall off the two person bed and we sleep together that night.

Mae is standing in her lab, I am beside her, someone is in a tube and is a zombie. I can't tell who it is. She is mumbling about stuff and writing on a piece of paper. All of a sudden we hear a shatter.
Mae looks at me and mumbles something. We walk down the hallways and we see a broken window. I walk forward examining the glass. I hear a scream from behind me and I spin around and see Mae being dragged down the hall. I run as fast as my legs will take me and I corner the person in a dead end. I keep walking closer. He or she has a mask on.
"So you want to challenge me again," the thing says in a loud scratchy voice. It jumps at me with a knife and tackles me, just as it is about to end me . . .

I wake up, sweating. I'm sitting up in the small two person bed with Finn beside me dreaming happily. All of a sudden he jerks awake. We both sit there, our eyes adjusting to the darkness around us. I talk first.
"Are you okay?" I ask, my voice dry.
"Yes, just a bad dream, you?" He asks silently.
"Same, is there a sink around here?" I ask, my voice cracking. Finn nods and we both crawl out of the bed. We drink from the faucet and then neither of us can fall asleep again so we play a game.
It goes like this; he holds out his hands and I hold out both of my pointer fingers. I try to tap both of his hands before he can slap mine. It's really fun until he actually slaps me, jeez. I didn't know that small dude could hit so hard. I take a glance at him, his small thin body, his ruffled red hair, his dark blue eyes, his freckles dotting his face, and his tiny smile. All of a sudden CB stomps in and open up the curtains. Everybody moans and he yells
"WAKE UP!! I NEED NATHAN, FINN, MEAGAN, AND ASHER ON MORNING PATROL!!" He yells. I stand up and change, so does Finn and Nathan, the blonde haired kid I saw earlier and a girl with short purple hair and a scar across her chin. Finn and I walk outside together and Nathan and Meagan walk together.
"Alright code names, mine is Poison Adder," Meagan says in a loud bold voice.
"Black Panther," Finn yells. Meagan looks shocked by how loud he said his name.
"Night Bone!" Yells Nathan.
"Scrappy," I sigh. This time no one even comes close to laughing at me.
"We should patrol uphill," Finn suggests.
"There are no zombies uphill, we go to the abandoned city," Meagan smiles pulling her gun out of her bag and loading it with bullets. Finn, Nathan, and my faces go pale. She heads down the hill without us. I take out my gun and load it, Finn and Nathan do the same, then we rush after her.