Discernment

Chapter 14

We sat in that train car eating out of canned goods and talking. "Yeah, so, Thomas, what are the plans now that we have the subway?" Jess asks. Everyone's paying attention to me and I smile softly. "Well, tomorrow, I'll have Eddy working on the trains, seeing if he can fix them all up. While he does that, I'll have the group split in two, then we'll take down two more stops, have them cleared, and according to the map, there'd only be two last stops to clear. Then we get more people, have a small community in each of the stops, have a little trade system or a way of delivering supplies." I state. "Thomas, I've always thought that your plan of coming here was fucking stupid... But that's the brightest damn idea I've ever heard, son." Elliot says, making the whole group laugh. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to doing this. We could take in people. Have them safe, we could all have jobs to do here. I'm sure we could have Hilda start a garden outside, above the subway. Quinton can take out a small group every other day to get supplies in the surrounding buildings. Marshall can have people up in buildings, scouting for people or hordes. Ecetera, ecetera.." I say.

It was quiet then. After a few moments, Craig looks up to Elliot. "How did you guys split up from your group? Or where were you last?" He wonders. "You really want to know? It's a gruesome, depressing story." Elliot explains. "Yeah, I do.. Mind telling us?" Craig says. "Well, it all started out in the beginning of the apocalypse. I was in the airport, ready to board a plane. That's when they started locking down the airport. 'Do not leave this airport! We're under attack! Terrorist threats!' the intercom claimed. That's when the plane that I was about to board took off. It must have been one of the passengers driving because as soon as that plane took off, it lost control and instantly crashed onto the airway. Anyways, many of us went to the top floor, and found the security room. We decided to take those weapons and clear out the dead from the airport. And from there on, we made that our home. It was all safe, but we were rookies. We never even thought of other groups planning on attacking us. One day, maybe about eight cars, all filled with savages, drove right into our home. We fought those fuckers. Fought them real good, though they killed most of us, split us up. Caused a horde to rampage through too. All known survivors from the airport are in this train car at the moment." Elliot says. "That's terrifying.." Washington states. "Yeah, but us six made it.. Good to know that at least, right?" Marshall says. "Yeah I suppose so.." Hilda mutters.

"So, Thomas, you mentioned having a garden? Where would we put it?" Sandra asks. "Well, we could possibly do it near one of the subway stops toward the edge of the city. There's five stops. Stop A is where we're at, which is near the center of the city. Stop B is toward the east side of the city, which is near the forest since it wraps around. Stop C and Stop D is north, and there'd be a good view of things over there. Stop E is to the west of here where we're at right now. So I'm thinking of starting a large garden between Stops C and D." I mention. The group "Okay, and what about weather?" She asks. "It was just cold, though it's starting to warm up. It should be spring, I'm guessing." I reply. "Don't worry about gardens, right now, Thomas. We need to worry about the Zealots.." Fay says.

I look at her, as everyone else does. "The Zealots? Thomas, what the fuck is she talking about?" Elliot states. "Yeah, Thomas, what is she talking about?" Marshall adds in. I sigh and look to Fay, Erin, and Eddy. "Eddy, why don't you fill in our new members about what's going on right now?" I ask him. He nods and leans in, rubs his face, and puts rests his arms on his knees. "Well, Erin, Fay and I were captured by this group, Thomas calls them the Zealots, because that's exactly what they are. Their leader is obsessed with the infected, uses them for everything. They didn't execute people normally. No.. No.. They had guns for slowing people down. If we ran, they shot our legs. Then we'd be knocked out. Joel, the leader, would come out, and find a creative way to humiliate them, or cause them an extreme amount of pain to them. More of both, really. They use biters for everything, so they'd take a biter and have it feast on the 'heathen', as they called them. Then that person would either be saved by their friends cutting off the limb that was bitten, if they were bitten on the extremeties, or they'd be put in the biter pile. These people spotted Thomas' original group, took Fay here, and when she got there, she helped Erin and I escape. So, they're after this whole group now. And even you guys." Eddy says.

Elliot's face turns red, and he frowns at me. "Thomas! Why the fuck wouldn't you tell me this in the first God damn place!?" Elliot rages. "I was going to tell you eventually, which pretty much just happened.." I inform him. "No damn it! These people are after us! We need to start forming plans now!" Elliot yells. "Elliot, calm down. They don't know where we are, and won't unless we stay quiet, and within the town. Do you think we can possibly do that?" I ask. "Fine, I suppose we can. Do you have any plans with them?" He asks. "Not yet, we'll talk about this stuff tomorrow, after we clear the stops." I mention. "Alright, Thomas. I'm trusting you with this." He says. From there, we finished our 'Meal', found a good spot to rest on the train, and slept for the rest of the night.