The Arising: The New World

Chapter 16

THE NEXT DAY

I was sitting down in the meeting room. I looked up and saw Kane sitting opposite me on the other side of the table. To my right was a man called Andrew who had broad shoulders and looked like a heavy weight champion. Next to him was Jonah who had curly, frizzy hair covering most of his head, he was pretty skinny as well. Then to my left was Georgia, she had long black hair going down to her hip. I couldn't believe that she had hair like that in this world. A zombie could easily grab her hair and just pull on it. She had her legs up on a chair next to her and she looked very relaxed and confident. I could almost imagine her chewing on bubble gum. She looked like she was eighteen which was Sam's age.

Nobody was talking. We were all just looking at each other. So I decided to start the conversation. I stood up with both of my hands on the table.

"Alright. So are we all ok with going all the way out to Melbourne? It's going to be a ten hour ride on the horses" I said.

Kane stood up and smiled at me. His teeth were so white and perfect. His hair was brushed to one side and was so shiny. I couldn't stand not to looked away from him. He was just perfect.

"I'm here to help. I haven't traveled outside of South Australia before so this will be fun" Kane said as a sparkle went through his blue eyes.

Andrew smashed the table hard making Georgia jump a little. Andrew put one of his hands in the air.

"Of course I'm in!" Andrew yelled enthusiastically.

I looked over at Jonah. He crossed his arms and rested them on the table. He then rested his head onto his arms.

"I guess I'm in" Jonah said sounding like he was forced to come.

Everyone then looked over to Georgia. She looked up and noticed that we were all looking at her. She pushed her long black hair away from her face and sighed.

"I don't have anything else to do" She said rolling her eyes a little.

I looked away from her and looked around at the rest of the group. I nodded and smiled.

"Ok. Go get all of your things together. I'll go grab our food and water and then I'll meet you all out at the horses" I said.

Everyone nodded. Georgia was the first one to stand up. As she stood up she pushed the chair in making a loud scratching noise on the ground, she then walked outside. Followed by Andrew who still had his arms crossed. Then Andrew who gave me a small salute and smile as he left and then Kane stopped next to me and looked into my eyes.

"I'll see you later" Kane said.

"Um. Yeah I'll see you" I said.

He was both perfect and nice. As he left I followed him out and walked towards Gabriella's house. I walked up the stairs. Samantha has all of her drawings finished and they were all laid out of the table. They were just stick figures but very colourful.

I saw Prince. I sat down next to him to get to his height. I brushed my hand through his hair.

"I'm gonna be gone for a few days. You think you will be alright by yourself for a little bit?" I asked.

Prince looked at me. He looked scared and worried.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me again" Prince said.

"I'll be back before you know it. We are just going to Melbourne. There could be other people there, just like us. I need to see for myself. Ok?" I said.

"Alright" Prince said in an upset tone.

"I love you" I said hugging him and kissing him on his head.

"I love you too" Prince said.

I stood up and walked over to Gabriella. She agreed to look after Prince while I was gone. She's good like that.

"Thanks again for looking after Prince. I don't know what I would do without you" I said.

"It's alright. He's a good kid" Gabriella said.

I hugged her hard. If the trip goes badly and these people are just another group like the Whisperers then I may not return. I could tell that she knew I was worried.

"I'll see you" I said walking away.

"Be safe" Gabriella said.

"You too" I said walking towards my house.

I walked inside and grabbed my bag that I packed before. Next to that bag was a bag I packed full of food and water. I grabbed that bag as well and walked outside. I closed and locked my door and walked to the horses. I saw that Andrew and Kane were both already there waiting for me.

Kane walked up to me and took a bag from me. He put the bag onto my horse and I put my bag onto my horse.

"Thank you" I said.

"It's fine" Kane said.

I turned around and saw Georgia walking towards us with a backpack. Far who did her was Andrew with a duffle bag. Once they got to us we all climbed onto our horses and rode towards the front gate. The guard opened the gate for us and we rode out. As we were leaving it was around eleven a.m it's gonna get dark within seven to eight hours so we had to make good time.

I looked behind me to check to see where everyone was. Closer to me was Kane and next to Kane was Andrew. Behind them was Georgia and Jonah who were riding alongside each other as well.

Kane smiled at me and I gave him a little smile back. I looked forward and focused on riding. We rode past a few zombies. I remembered about what happened yesterday when we got to Port Adelaide. The Whisperers attacking us. I was hoping that we weren't going to run into them.

Last time was just a coincidence though. We happened to ride right into them. I don't think it would happen again.

We have been riding for two hours now. We weren't even halfway to Melbourne. We were still in South Australia entering Murray Bridge. It gave me many memories of Anthony. The place was completely deserted. There was rubbish everywhere blowing in the wind, a few fences were fallen over and there was lots of vegetation growing all over the place.

"This place used to be a Safe Zone?" Kane asked.

"Yeah. Run by a man called Anthony. Probably the biggest prick ever" I said.

"How come?" Kane asked.

"Well we thought he was an ally when we were at war against a group. But he was a coward and never showed up to fight. One day he backstabbed us came straight to our place and tried to kill us, gun blazing. But we took him and his people down quite easily" I said.

"Damn, you've been through a lot haven't you?" Andrew said.

"I guess, but haven't we all?" I said.