The Silence That Follows

Chapter 14~ Lost in Thought

As June and I were in the Suv it took off. The red haired man was behind the wheel and the other guy was in the passenger seat. They must have started the Suv when we ran out. Glancing behind me I see more than a couple walkers. There's more like thirty, give or take a few. Some emerge from behind cars, trees, and fences with holes in it.

It's so morbid, I think, with all the "people" covered in blood staggering towards our vehicle. This could be a nightmare, but it doesn't seem to be. I wouldn't be suprised if I woke up though. Everything seems to just happen so fast, nowadays. I turn away from the window that seems to look into, like I said, a nightmare and fix my eyes on the front window.

"I'm Tom", says the red haired guy. I look towards him, "Lita", I say. Tom nods, a quick move of the head. "And I bet you're wondering why we seemed to know just where you were?" I consider this. I hadn't even thought about it before. Now, it did seem a bit weird June just walked in and made conversation with me. "It is a bit weird", I say. He looks in the rearview mirror for a second to focus on me, "We heard on the radio, you know." I nearly choke. "No, I didn't know. I didn't even know messages could be sent out. I thought all the towers were down". "I thought so too, but I guess not. They were offering a reward for anyone bringing you to their headquarters. They knew exactly where you last were, Rhinne's camp to be precise. We knew the closest place to there was here. We had to smash a couple of heads in before we found which apartment house you were in".

Rhinne's camp? They must have meant that crazy lady's camp. Why was there a reward for me though? "What do these people want with me? I mean, they are willing to give out a reward for me, so why? And why are they offering a reward for me when they can get me themselves? They do know my location."

"They did know your location. Not anymore, though. Rhinne told them about you and that's why they want you. We know Rhinne because she used to be part of our group until she left when her daughter died. We've been keeping tabs on her and she's completely gone bats. She thinks her daughter is still alive if you haven't already noticed."

Yeah I had noticed. "Well, I'm Travis," said the guy in the passenger seat. It was so abrupt I nearly jumped out the window. Which would've been hard to do considering the windows were rolled up. Very random thing to say, I thought. I answered however, "Nice to meet you Travis and nice to meet you too, Tom. Oh and June, you too." They all smiled back at me, except for June, she was lost in her own thoughts and staring out the window. Then, I sorta did too. I would ask more questions later.

All this talk about Rhinne got me thinking about my own mother. She was really tall, blue eyed, and had brown hair. Most of the time she was either yelling at me or in her room. Most of our fights consisted of her throwing things, screaming at me for no good reason, and me backtalking her. One such fight was on a cold, rainy morning. My mother was very depressed most of the time and when she wasn't depressed, she was happy of course, but that never lasted long.

She was picking a fight with me about my dad, again. I usually was at my dad's because my mom yelled a lot and I needed a break every once in a while. She would yell about anything pretty much. Whether it was about her hair, the dishes, or not having any money. She just refused to get a job, no matter how much I tried to convince her that it would be better if she did work. My dad paid all my mom's bills while she watched Tv, which my dad also paid for. Anyways, she was yelling at me this. "You're going to become a monster just like your dad. You're already starting to, actually. You care about no one, but yourself".

I remember how I refused to cry, how I willed myself to just listen to her yell and soon she would quit. I yelled back though, "I care about no one, but myself? How about you?" It wasn't a question. It was a statement and my mom knew it. "Sometimes you don't even seem like my daughter!" That didn't hurt my feelings, though because I was used to it. She ran into the kitchen and sat in there and cried. I could hear her sobbing and it broke my heart, so, like I always do, I walked out of my room and down the hallway to the living room. (She had been yelling at me from my room's doorway.) This time however I picked up a pencil in the living room, something small and something deadly. Something ordinary, but like a weapon. I walked into the kitchen from there and stopped in it's doorway listening to her crying. I had picked up the pencil because I was scared she would try to kill me and the pencil would be my weapon as self defense for that occasion. I was so scared of her and I actually believed it, that she would try to kill me. That's pretty bad when the people you love most also hurt you the most. She didn't try to kill me that day, but I wondered when she would.

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I hope you all enjoyed! I worked extra hard on this chapter, so yeah! :>
~Madie