Pathogen

Chapter 4

I arrived at the gate at five fifty am. I see Adam and fourteen strangers. Rachel still hasn't arrived and for that I was grateful. Adam went over some last-minute information with me and gave me a backpack. Eight minutes later the other four people had showed up and Rachel was walking up to us. I avoided eye contact with Rachel and didn't really listen to her speech. Once Rachel finished, we all got into two cars.

The drive to the drop off point as I was calling it, took about two and half. Once we arrived, we all got out. Adam divided us into the five groups. I was with Adam, a girl, and another guy. We made our way over to a strip mall. We searched all the stores that might have something we could use for the first hour and fourty minutes. Once we were done all those other stores, that just left Target.

"Alright we are going to go off into two pairs and start at the opposite ends of the store and meet in the middle" Adam says, "Vera go with Clarke, Ivan, you're with me." Me and Vera walked over to the west side. While we look for supplies, we talk. "So are you new" Vera asks. "Just passing through" I reply, "How long have you lived there?" "Since the start" Vera says, "How old are you?" "I believe sixteen" I answer, "You?" "Eighteen maybe nineteen" Vera says.

We turn the corner and see a whole bunch of medical items and medicine. "Jackpot" Vera says. We begin to grab as much as we can. Once we are done we stand up and start searching for more supplies. Vera asks, "So-" Vera gets interrupted by a scream. We look at each other and run towards where the scream came from. When we reach the clothes section, we see Ivan being eaten and Adam trying to fight off the rest but going to be over run in a second.

"Hide around the corner, I'm going to need back up" I say. Vera just nods and hides around the corner. I look around and knock over a clothes rack. All the pathos stop what they are doing and look at me. "Shit" I say, "I really should have thought this out." Half of the horde starts running at me. I take off running. I hear gunshots and I just keep running. I turn around to see how many are following me and end up tripping. Rule four, always look where you are running.

I end up crashing into a chair and stumble through a glass door. "Shit" I mumble. I try to stand up, but realize my foot is caught in the chair and three pathos are running at me. "Good bye cruel world" I say. I then hear three gunshots. I look up to see Vera and Adam standing there. "You're stupid" Adam says. "You're welcome" I say. A few minutes later Vera and Adam manage to get my foot out of the chair. I stand up and instantly feel pain when I out weight on it.

We all hear growling. "Shit we have to go" Adam says. I ignore the pain and we run out and make our way to the cars. When we see everyone Adam yells, "Start the cars!" They look up and behind us. Everyone rushes into the cars and start the cars. I hear Vera yell out. I stop and turn around. I see a couple of Pathos have her. I run to her and help her start fighting them off. We hear the cars drive off. Once we kill the pathos that had Vera, we start running.

I don't know how long we were running for, but we didn't stop until we can't hear them anymore and find an abandoned house. When we get inside and close the doors, we collapse onto the ground trying to catch our breath. "Assholes" Vera says. "I second that" I say. "Why did you even help me" Vera asks. "It was the right thing to do" I say. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be here" Vera says. "That's not on you, but them" I say, "They literally had to wait seven seconds."

"Let me see your foot" Vera says. Vera looks at my foot and says, "I think you sprained it, but it is probably worse now. Let me clean you up and make a make shift splint." I nod, and Vera gets to work. "Thank you" Vera says when she finishes. "I should be the one thanking you" I reply. "Thank you" Vera says, "For saving me." "It was nothing" I say.

"So are you staying or passing through" Vera asks. "Passing through" I answer. "That's too bad" Vera says, "I was looking forward to getting to know you." "It would be nice to get to know you too" I say, "But I need to find my brother and sister." "Well couldn't you do that from New Haven" Vera asks. "How would I even do that" I ask. Vera says, "You become one of the runners and you won't always have to be looking over your shoulder."

"I don't know" I say. "Also" Vera says, "You will get to know me better." I look at Vera for a few seconds before saying, "I'll think about it." Vera smiles and says, "Ok." Vera leans in and connects our lips. We kiss for a few seconds before Vera pulls away and says, "We should get some sleep, we have an extremely long day ahead of us." I nod and lay down. Vera lays down next to me and lays her head on my chest. I wrap my arm around her shoulder.

Looking back now I wish me and Vera hadn't kissed. Little did I know that this would be the second biggest mistake I would make.

Thanks for reading.  What did you think?  What do you think will happen next?  What do you want to happen next?  As always votes and comments are appreciated.