The Tribe

Chapter Tweleve

     "So...what do you think?" Zandra paraded around the malls fountain, her hair the same yet different and her outfit accentuated her figure.

     "Lovely." I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. This was the last thing I wanted to be doing. I should be planning my escape, my route to freedom after seeing Zoot, not giving fashion advice to narcissistic teenagers.

     "Not bad, Zan." Lex said, strutting over to the fountain, his eyebrow raised and pupils dialated. He offered her a hand, as she made to step off the pedestal she'd made for herself, and she took it. "The city won't be able to take its eyes off you, I certainly can't."

     I scoffed, loud enough to make a vein jump in Lex's neck, but not enough for him to divert his attention from Zandra. "You're sweet, Lex, but Maia's right. I can't just settle for anybody, there's a whole city out there to explore."

     "You're kidding right?" Amber walked in, right on cue to voice her unwanted opinion. "You're not going out there, Zandra it's way too dangerous."

     Zandra rolled her eyes, and slumped forward. "I know, Amber. I've experienced the rage of the Locos first hand. But just picture it, me on the walkway, men begging for my autograph, swooning for photos..." Zandra sighed and frowned, "it sucks how we can't have nice things anymore."

     "You're alive, healthy and breathing aren't you?"Amber rolled her shoulders, "I'd consider that to be pretty nice."

     Zandra plonked herself down on the steps, resting her chin on her hand. "That is so not what I meant."

     A loud bang, suddenly had everyone alert. We all turned towards the sewer entrance, where the source of the noise had come from and in burst Dal.
     Roller skates in his hands, his chest moving up and down rapidly as he struggled to catch his breath.
     "I got it." He managed to wheeze out.

     Amber jogged over to him, and clapped him on the back as he showed something that was in his hands. She darted up the mall staircase closely followed by Dal and the rest of us.

     Trudy's room wasn't all that big to begin with, but it was made smaller with the entire mall standing in her doorway. Her bed was wet with her sweat, and mumbles of delirium escaped her lips.

     "What do we do?" Zandra asked, her voice setting into a tone of recognisable panic.

     "Check her fever first." Dal instructed, pushing past Ryan and Jack with a thermometer in hand.

     As much as I didn't care for the girl, I wouldn't wish Trudy dead, if the medicine worked however it could prove harder to get that baby out tomorrow. Especially if Bray planned on showing his face here between now and then.

     "How is she?" Amber asked.

     "Her temperatures sky high." Dal sighed, reaching into his pocket. "As for the pills, I'm not too sure about the correct dosage."

     "It's never much more than two." Jack said.

     "Two sounds good." Amber nodded.

     "Yeah, twos a safe amount." Dal reiterated. "Could you hold her head up?"

     Amber shuffled an arm under Trudy's head and gently probed her into a sitting position. Dal handed Amber the pills. The room was so quiet, so silent, all eyes on Trudy. Bray wasn't here though, he hadn't been for quite some time, hopefully if he was meeting up with his brother, Zoot had the good sense to keep his mouth shut about our agreement.

     Amber gently let Trudy roll herself back onto the pillow. The pills were down, I wondered how long it would be before they took effect.
     "Come on, that's enough. She needs some rest, she doesn't need us gawking at her." Amber said.

     One by one they filed out of her room. I couldn't wait to get out of the city. Being a traitor and a prisoner, was not how I wanted to live my remaining years of life before the virus got me.
     My eyes widened, my hand tightened and my chest felt heavy as I looked at Selene. The baby in her arms, realising that she was eventually going to meet the same fate. Not only that, but the fact she'd have to watch everyone else die around her the way we all did. Not at all a world a baby should be brought up in.

     In some ways that made my decision to hand her over to Zoot easier. At least with them she'd be raised to be okay with the surroundings of death. She'd learn to be a warrior in a time where you couldn't afford to be weak. But that small bit of relief was instantly taken over by the fact that I was handing that innocent child over to the Locos. Crazy was in their name, and it was all for the sake of my own freedom.