The Silence That Follows

Chapter 12~Strangers(for real this time)

I wake up with a start. I must have fallen asleep, but I have no idea why I woke up. I look beside me and see that Hope's fur is standing on end. I hold my breath and wait. Every second makes me even more anxious. The sun is out and it's rays cast shadows and patches of light on the floor. My stomach growls and I jump at the sound of it. Hope tips her head up towars me and flicks her ears, listening.

I hear the door open and I grab Hope. I jump to my feet and use my free hand to pull out my knife. It can't be a silencer. They knock down doors, they don't open them. I sink onto my haunches and place Hope under the bed. Her golden eyes glint and I swear there's a hint of fear in them. I rise and prepare to fight. No way am I going to hide under the bed, they'll definitely see me and hiding won't help. Hope needs to stay under there, so she won't get hurt.

Silent footsteps are all I hear and I prepare to put up quite a show. Finally, I see a shadow on the wall. A girl that looks my age peers around the corner. Her brown eyes lock on my location and she freezes. "Hello", she replies. Hello? That's all she has to say? "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you try to", I say, trying to make my voice not waver or crack. "I won't hurt you, we could use more people anyways". I don't understand. Just like that she's willing to trust me to come with her? "No thanks", I say. It could be a trap.

"My group, they're outside. You should meet them", she says, pointing down the hall where the door is. "Why do you even want me to join you? What if I'm dangerous?" She shakes her head at my words. "I think I'll take the risk. We need more people to join in on missions with us. Stumblers outnumber us by a lot. We need medicine and sending hardly any people out is pretty much a suicide mission." I weigh my options. "Even if I do join you, how is one person going to help your group? Actually, by the sound of it, you seem to have more than a few people." "Every person helps and yeah there's more of us. We have a base down at the old hotel with a chain link fence all around it." Sounds safe, I think and taking a chance is worth it. Besides, I can get myself out of a situation if need be.

"I'm in, but stumblers?" I just needed to ask. "Well, it's what we call 'em. You?" "Silencers", I say. "Pretty creative", she says with a smirk. "Oh and the name's June". "Lita. And this is Hope", I say bending down and reaching under the bed to grab her. At the sight of her June's eyes light up. She reaches out her hand to pet Hope and the kitten lets her. Purring, Hope closes her eyes in pure delight. After petting her for a bit, June lifts her hand and points again down the hall. "You ready to meet 'em?", she asks. I swallow and look down. I forgot to even put my knife away. I won't put it away yet though. It's always better to take precautions. I nod, "Yep". And we both start walking until we reach the door. June opens it, smiles and beckons me to follow her. I follow her lead and step into the sunshine. It's not that cold outside and the clouds are puffy. An Rv is parked in the middle of the road and standing in front of it is a red haired man and a guy that looks to be my age and June's age. They both look up at the sound of the door opening.

At the same time, a couple silencers emerge from the trees and we sprint towards the Rv. I hope I don't regret this.