The Home Of The Dead (Book 2)

Chapter 8: Nowhere to go (Angela POV)

I looked at Aaron, he did not say anything to me, but I could tell that he was afraid. I was just happy that he remembered what I had told him. He stood still and did not move at all, it was exactly what I had told him to do.
If there was anyone ever nearby he can't move, one loud step could get all of us killed. I waited a few more moments, I heard footsteps from the far side of the general store, and I nodded to him to come follow me. I looked around for where we could potentially hide out at.
There was nothing nearby, we were in the far corner of the store. There was no way out of the situation that we were in. I heard footsteps of 2 people, and I weighed in our odds of getting out of here with bullets. Not the practical way that I really liked to do, but if it was our only choice.
I looked at Aaron, he was sitting beside me, I could hear laughing from the far side of the store, this was our chance to sneak out of the front entrance, I just hoped that Aaron would not stomp his loud foot like he usually did when he was walking.
I was trying to teach him not to do that, but realistically, I had not helped him as much as I should have, and now I was beginning to regret that I had not done that. Aaron was looking at me for what it was that we were going to do next, and to be truthful I did not know what to do, I was having a major brain fart.
Normally I always knew what to do, but my mind was not working. All I could think of was the large scar and the persons eye. I knew what it meant, it meant that they were close to attacking us, they had done the same thing to Christian and Ben, they wanted us to know that they were attacking us.
They had probably already scouted out the community, they probably had information coming from the inside. I was not going to pretend like that was not a possiblity like Shannon, she always thought that every person we brought in was good.
It was a good way to be a leader, maybe before this apocalypse happened. But now, it was a stupid way to be a leader, she did not know what the world was like outside of the walls, she had heard stories, but the stories are nothing compared to what it is actually like out there.
I shook my head, we were lucky that the guys had not come over to this side of the store, they were probably in the drink section. Probably drinking some whine by the sounds of the guys, I could tell that they were drunk.
I came back to my senses and then I looked around, the store was not very big, but I am sure that we could find a way to sneak around to the front without them hearing or seeing us, they were drunk too, they probably did not even know what was going on around them.
"Aaron... Remember how I told you to walk, make sure you do not step on anything, we are going to sneak out the front." I said to Aaron. Aaron looked at me for a few moments and then he looked at the front of the store. I knew that he was a smart kid, he looked back at me and then nodded.
I took the first couple of steps, quietly but also fast in case they got tired of the drinks and wanted to leave the store. I looked back at Aaron, he was doing all that I had taught him, it was perfect I smiled at him and then I looked to make sure that they were not coming back up to the front.
Luckily I could still hear them yelling and cheering, I wondered what that was about but I shook my head and kept on walking. I knew what to do as soon as we were out of the store. We would have to run as fast as possible back to the community and then tell Shannon about what was going on.
If there still was a community left to go back to... I shook my head, right now I had to not think like that, yes it could be a possiblity, but I needed to go back and make sure that Liam was safe. He was the future of our family, one of these days out here I would be attacked, and so would Ben... Odds are one of those attacks will be our downfall.
I closed my eyes for a few moments not trying to think about that, and then I opened them to see that we were right near the front door. The problem with this door, is that it was a very loud door.
The guys in the back were drunk though, I would try to do this as fast as possible, most people would think "slow and steady wins the race" but this was not one of those instances. Maybe the guys were too drunk and they would not hear us.
I was fast, and so was Aaron, we might have to dodge a couple of shots, but I am sure that we could get out of here alive. And once we got to the walls of the community, we could yell to the people guarding the towers that people were following us.
That was the plan, I looked at Aaron and then I nodded to him, he looked at me with a scared look on his face and I put my hand on his shoulder to try and make him relax and make him feel a little bit better. But it was also to make me feel better as well.
"Don't worry Aaron, I'll get you back to your sister. Now let's go..." I said to him quietly, not risking the guys in the back of the store potentially hearing us. He looked at me for a few moments, still not too sure, but then he nodded to me trusting me.
"We just run as soon as the door opens?" He asked me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded to him making sure that he understood what we were doing. He looked at me and then he nodded.
Then I quickly opened the door, to me it was very loud, but I could hear things much louder than others, so hopefully to the guys in the back of the store they could not hear it at all. As soon as we were out though, both me and Aaron started running.
But right as we were out the door, I heard a loud shot and heard Aaron fall to the ground. I looked at where it had potentially come from and I pulled my pistol out to shoot whoever it might have been that had just shot Aaron.
I could not see anyone though, but then last second I could see someone on the top of a nearby gas station with a rife that was pointed directly at me, I dodged it fast, but the person that was aiming at me had for some reason not decided to shoot.
I pulled out my pistol and hid behind a tree. I looked at Aaron, he was sitting about 15 yards away from me, but I could see him moving around obviously in terrible pain. I was just happy to see him still alive, but I was not sure where he had been shot out.
I was guessing by the way he had fell to the ground, it had been on the lower part of his body, potentially around his knee, the person that had shot it was still accurate, I could give them props for that. Aaron had been running at the time so it would have been a pretty hard shot to hit.
I then saw several other people walking towards me, they all had rifles out as well, they were all aimed in my general direction. Luckily none of them had seen me quite yet, I pulled out my pistol, they were about 100-150 feet away from me, it would be about damn near impossible to hit them.
Much less... I could count 6 of them... I had no chance to get out of this, the lady with the rifle on top of the gas station had seen me, she knew where I was at, it would not be long until they saw me as well.
I counted out my odds, and in the end I chose the smartest play possible, the play that could get both me and Aaron out alive... I then stood up with my gun in my hand at the top of my head to surrender to the people. They looked at me for a few moments, for a few seconds I thought they were going to shoot me.
But then the put their guns down, I dropped mine to the ground. They all were not looking at me anymore, besides one guy. He was a big guy, I could tell he was not only strong, but by the way he was walking towards me he was fast on his feet.
The guys around him were all looking at him for what to do next, clearly the guy was the leader out of all of them. I had to drop my gun, Aaron was looking at me a bit confused why I had done it, but I could tell that he was more worried about the gunshot he had just taken.
"Smart move girl! And look at you, good looking, oh my! Shannon sure did give me a snack... That is unless you are not from that area? That would be cool to know if there is another group near you all." The guy said to me. I looked at him, I thought about spitting at him but I chose not to, I needed to get back and make sure that Liam was safe.
I thought about telling them that I was from a different group, but either way they were clearly looking for our community, it would not make much sense to do that. I looked at him for a few moments and then I nodded at him, he looked at me and then he smiled.
"I am from Shannon's place, who are you? I know you are the group that took over that other community nearby us." I said to the guy. He looked at me for a few moments and then looked at the others. He then began laughing and the others beside him began laughing as well, I could tell that they were afraid of him.
"We are the "Humans" kind of a boring name I suppose, but it was the best that I could come up with. Surprised you have not heard of us, we have taken down lots of places much like yours." The guy said to me. I looked at him for a few moments.
I noticed that the people around him had a scar on their eye, but he did not, I suppose that was his way of signifying that he was the leader. I looked at the guy for a few more moments, I could see what he was looking at, he was looking at my breast.
"Hard to hear about you when you have killed all of the people there... You like my tits huh?" I said to the guy. As soon as I said that he came back to reality, the guys around him looked like they were about to laugh, but I could tell that they were holding it in.
"Um... Yes, they are nice... But indeed, I suppose you are right... We don't kill all of them, we take the best back with us." He said back to me. I looked at him a bit confused for a few moments but then I realized what he had meant by that. I then nodded at him.
"I suppose you are doing the same to my community?" I said to the guy. He looked at me for a few moments, but he shook his head. I did not believe the guy one bit... Why would he kill every community besides ours?
"Well, you have around 2500 people, so we are going to kill around half of you, and then bring the good looking ones like yourself, and the strong and smart men... Not like the ones I am with right now." He said to the guys that he was with. They looked at him a bit surprised but then he laughed, and once again they laughed with him.
"I hate people like you..." I said to the guy. He looked at me a bit surprised that I had talked to him like that. The guys with him looked at me a bit surprised as well, and then they shook their heads at me as if I was being very stupid, which maybe I was, I could tell that the guy was a bit offended...
"You don't know me, I think you will come to like me, we are not as evil as it seems." He said to me. I looked at him, it was good that he had not gotten too upset that he had just killed me. I still needed to make sure that Liam was still going to be alive.
I knew that Ben was far out there somewhere, so he should be safe, but he would come back with Christian to find the community in ruins... And I hope that Liam would still be alive, I looked at him a bit confused at what he had meant.
"You are going to let our community live? But kill half of our people?" I said to the guy. He looked at me and now, he had walked up so close to me that he looked like he was just about to kiss me, which I would not allow.
"Yes... You have lots of farm stuff and many other supplies, you can still go out and get them. If we kill half of your people, that is more food for us, I made a deal with Shannon." He said to me. As soon as he said that last part a felt disgusted.
I always knew it, Shannon was evil this whole time... She was making deals with this group! It made sense why she did not care about the attack anymore, she wanted to let them in. Why would she do that? She was the leader of our community not theirs...
"Okay... Can you tell me one thing, is my... Friend Tony, is he still alive?" I said to the guy. He looked at me a bit surprised for a few moments, and then he looked a bit upset, not at me but clearly he was angry at something.
"Boyfriend... I think you mean. He did not tell me about you, he said that he was a part of that community we had found him at, and he did not know of anyone else." He said to me. I looked at him for a few more moments.
Clearly I had made a mistake, I should have known if he had found Tony and kept him alive, clearly Tony would not betray us like that. I guess none of the others did as well. I closed my eyes realizing my mistake and then I looked back at the guy.
"Yes... He is still alive, but me and him are going to have a talking to." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, and then I realized that there was a way out of this, that would not get Tony in too much trouble, or maybe not get him killed.
"Yes... He was my boyfriend, I was a part of that other community though too. We did not know about this place, but I found it..." I said to him. He looked at me right in my eyes, I looked back at him, so that he knew, at least in his mind that I was not lying.
"Oh... Okay... He is alive, and yes he is one of my best men... But I don't think you want to call him your boyfriend anymore, he has several wives, much like me." He said to me. I looked at him, I felt a bit sick when he told me that.
I had to forgive him though, I was just happy he was still alive, and though he might be with several other woman, in the end he had not betrayed our community, and I suppose that was all that really mattered... But Shannon, she did betray our community, it made me sick, the little respect I had for her had all gone down the drain.
"Okay... As long as he is still alive..." I said to him. He looked at me for a few moments, then he moved closer, he looked at me right in my eyes. He was so close we were almost about to butt heads with each other.
"If you think, when we take you back there that you 2 will be back together, you are dead wrong. I want him to know that I am the leader I want to prove himself to me, no... You are going to be one of my wives." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, but this time I put my head to the ground.
I should not have done that, but I could not help but do it. I then lifted my head up and looked at Aaron who was still on the ground, he was alive luckily, but I could see how pale he was from a lot of blood loss, I realized what had happened to him, he was just looking at us not saying a word.
"Can you at least help my friend out? He is bleeding out, and he is smart and strong." I said, at the last part I managed to get a smile from him, even though at this moment neither of us should be smiling.
I heard footsteps from behind, and I turned around, it was the 3 guys that had been drinking at the back of the store, the probably came out here because they had heard the shot from the rife. There was no way out of here at this point.
"Yes... Piper! You come help this guy out! Why the hell did you shoot him?" The guy said to the lady that was at the top of the gas station, she had her rifle behind her back since she had seen that her leader had me trapped with nowhere to hide.
"It was a shot on the bottom side of his leg London! He will be fine, but I will stop the bleeding I suppose." She yelled back to the leader. I looked at her, she did not look evil like her leader, but I am sure that London had twisted her to make it seem like they were good.
London looked at her and then smiled. I looked at him a bit disgusted but I did not say anything as I heard the lady jog up to Aaron and then help him out. Maybe this group was not too evil, they just had a bad leader. Maybe them taking me in would not be too bad.
"Alright... Lets go to Shannon's place... And lets go rock it!" He yelled to the guys that he was with. I looked at him, they all started cheering happily, all that I had just thought about seemed to disappear in just a flash.
I sighed, and then just as soon as I was about to say something a large bag was place above my head to keep me quiet and make sure that I could not see. Some guy grabbed me and started making me walk, for a few moments I thought about kicking the guy, but I chose not to.
I just kept on walking, only managing to hear a few muffles from the people around me, as they were talking. But as we kept walking I could hear more and more footsteps. I closed my eyes, there was no reason for me to have them open.