RU in? - 1st novel in the Ruinsaga series

Chapter 27 .

Darren

Everything was a pleasant haze as I woke up. I blinked my eyes open and knew I had to have more of that delicious drink.

"Are you okay?" Hunter asked. He and Lily hovered over me. My wonderful new friends. Hunter was so cool and Lily was beautiful. If only they could have noticed me while we were still in school. We could have all been friends then. Lily's bright eyes looked down at me with concern. Maybe she would be my girlfriend if I asked. I giggled. It was too soon for that.

Hunter and Lily looked at each other. "Is he drunk?" Lily asked. "I didn't smell anything in that drink."

Oh yeah. The drink. Honey and strawberries. I needed more. I sat up and looked around. I was on a sleeping bag in a room with a bunch of other sleeping bags and a few sleeping people. There wasn't anyone in here passing around the drinks though.

"I'm not sure," Hunter said.

"I'm not drunk," I said. "You guys are funny."

I could see a bean bag and candle through a small opening in a black curtain. I began to crawl to the opening. Hunter grabbed the back of my shirt.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I pointed. "To get a drink."

"No," Hunter said. "You've had too much to drink."

"He's been asleep for a long time," Lily said. "I thought he would be fine when he woke up."

"Me too," Hunter said.

"The others must be worried about us," Lily said. "I hope they don't come looking for us. We need to get out of here and get back to them."

"I agree," Hunter said. "Darren! Stop moving!"

I was trying to crawl to the opening despite his firm grip on my shirt. Maybe I could slip out of it. I started to squirm and shift. The shirt lifted up along my back and stomach. Now I just needed to stretch out my arms and off it would come.

His arms wrapped around my bare skin and pulled me to him. I tried to get away. I pushed. I pulled. I squirmed. I tried to crawl away, but it didn't matter what I did, because he was stronger than me.

"Darren! Stop!" There was something in Hunter's voice this time that made me pause and look at him. His face was red, but I couldn't tell if he was actually angry or not. I looked at beautiful Lily. Her eyes shifted between me and Hunter figuring something out, but I didn't know what. Hunter tugged my shirt back down when I stopped.

"I need to go back out there," I said to get them to understand. "I need more of that drink. I'm hungry."

"If you're hungry," Lily said, "then you need food not that drink. Here." She pulled her pack around and took out some jerky. She offered it to me, but the sight of it made me sick to my stomach. I didn't want to refuse anything from her. Not her, but I was going to throw up if I kept looking at it.

I pushed it gently away. "Not that," I said. "The drink. I need the drink."

Hunter collapsed to the floor as if my words had just sapped all his energy. He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Darren," Lily said. She reached out and touched my arm. My breath caught in the back of my throat. It wasn't skin on skin contact, because I had long sleeves on, but still this beautiful young woman was touching me. Maybe there was hope for the two of us yet. "Are you listening to yourself?" she asked me.

That confused me. Of course I was listening to myself.

The curtains opened and the woman with the long black hair walked in followed by a very tall, muscled man. He might have been a bodybuilder before the zombie apocalypse happened.