Meet Me

Chapter 8 - Luisa

“When somebody says ‘You’ve changed’ it doesn’t mean you have, it means you stopped living life their way.” – Unknown

Connor sat next to me on the bed.

I placed the, now finished, can onto the floor with the spoon inside of it. Connor watched me do this. His eyes travelled over me, as if I couldn’t see him doing it. When I looked back up at him, he cleared his throat. “So. Ask your questions.” He said. I crossed my legs and turned so that I was facing him. I untied my braid as I spoke.    

“I thought you said you were going to explain it all to me?” I asked as I re-braided my hair.      

“I meant that you could ask questions. I already explained it to you” I wasn’t that stupid, I could’ve guessed that. I raised an eyebrow at him and tied the band around the end of my fishtail side plait.  “Any questions? After that you can see Luisa and Owen. They are their names aren’t they?” I nodded and proceeded to ask a few questions. The quicker I got this over with, the quicker I would be able to make sure Luisa and Owen were okay.

“First question.” I started. “What’s in it for me?” I looked intently at him and he searched his brain for an answer.  He came up with one seconds after I had asked him my question.     

“You get a bed, food and a group to protect you. It’s very worth it, I can tell you. It’s worth it to risk your life to go out there and just kill zombies. That feeling when you realize you just rid the earth of a monster is amazing. Obviously, the chance of death is uncertain, but we rarely lose anybody. Last time was an accident. We weren’t all alert and looking out. It happened too quickly for somebody to make it stop.” Connor shrugged it off. My breath caught in my throat. It was amazing that he could just shrug the death of humans off like that. Come to think of it, I would probably do the same thing. What a sad world we had come to live in. “Next question.” Connor blankly said. He was staring at me, waiting for me to say something.

I had a sudden thought. Why was I sitting here doing nothing? I should be out there doing something. I didn’t have time for chit chat, I had defend Luisa and Owen. I had another question to ask Connor, though.  This one was unimportant, but I had to know.

“What happens if I do die?” I began to get up, but Connor made sure that I didn’t move. Even if I did try and escape him, he knew this place better than I did. I knew nothing of it. He had taken me to this cell. I couldn’t remember how to get back to the gate. I did remember that there had been a series of twists and turns in order to get to this cell, so running away would be a 99% failure. As soon as he knew I wouldn’t stand again, Connor answered my question and I didn’t care about the answer.                                                                                       

“We’ll leave you.”                                                                                                                                      

“Now can I see Owen and Luisa?” I enquired. He nodded and led me out of the cell and through a door into which was a choice of three doors. He chose the door to the far left. Opening it, he took my wrist and pulled me through the door. I snatched my wrist back and scoffed. “Don’t touch me.” I said into the silence. I saw him roll his eyes, but I ignored it and didn’t push it. For all I knew, he was a good fighter and could have me pinned in seconds. I knew nothing of this stranger. I merely knew his first name and what he wanted with me. I suppose that was a start.  I didn’t even know if I could trust him or not. At this current moment in time, I really didn’t trust him one little bit. I didn’t trust anybody in this entire building but Luisa and Owen.