5 Chapter 4

My eyes opened to almost complete darkness, a small campfire was beaming light onto the walls of a small room I was sitting in. A doorway to my right showed it was dark outside. A silhouette of a person standing outside the door slightly put me on edge.

"Hello?" I whispered.

The figure turned around and looked at me, it was Madelyn. She waved me over to her and I stood up and wobbled over to her; stepping over sleeping bodies. I noticed a little, tan, fuzzy puppy laying on her feet.

"She's not that bad," Madelyn stated, "She's pretty sweet."

I nodded, "She seems like she'll be a great dog."

Madelyn smiled down at her, "Yeah."

I looked around in the darkness and then settled my eyes back on Madelyn, "Why are you out here?"

"Guard duty," She blankly answered, "Nathan takes over in an hour."

I nodded, "Rotating every few hours?"

"Every two or so," Madelyn answered.

"Good idea," I stated, "It gives everyone the opportunity to sleep."

"Yup," Madelyn blankly answered again.

"You seem really tired, I can take over," I insisted.

"Are you sure?" Madelyn asked. She yawned shortly after.

"Absolutely, now go get some sleep," I told her. She gave me a hug and then went to go lay down. I sat down where she was standing and started petting Catalina while I watched.

After four or five hours the sun started to come up and a ray of light shined directly at us. Catalina stayed awake most of the night with me, she played with my shoelaces and hands while I kept an eye out for movement.

"Dude, seriously?" I heard Nathan's half asleep voice groan from the room, "Oh crud."

He came rushing out and whipped around the corner. "Carla?" He confusedly asked, "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm on watch duty," I answered as I looked up at him.

"For how long?" He asked.

"A few hours," I answered.

"I dont think you understand the term 'you need to sleep to live'" Nathan sarcastically said as he sat down on the other side of the doorway. He looked over at me and I dramatically turned my head towards him.

"I have barely slept the past few days and I feel fine, I wasnt tired to I figured I'd stay on guard duty until I got tired," I responded.

"Well," Nathan sat dumbfounded, "Thanks for letting everyone else sleep."

"No problem," I answered as I looked back out to the forest, "Wake everyone up, we need to keep moving. Ten minutes."

"Okay," Nathan answered as he stood up and walked into the building.

I stood up and walked off through the little streets of the amusement park. Catalina followed Nathan so I didnt have to keep an eye on her while I wandered. I looked over at the ocean and then in the opposite direction. We'll go northeast, hopefully we'll find some people.

"Carla!" Paige called out.

I turned to see her jogging towards me. I scrunched my eyebrows and put my right hand in my pocket to get a pebble ready.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I think that the teenagers should be the only ones going around to look for a new place to camp. The crazy woman we met earlier doesnt know that everyone else is here. So if they wont be looking for a large group of people," Paige pointed out, "I'll stay behind and protect them."

I nodded, "Well get the others' opinions on it and then come back to me."

"It was Carter and Kathy's idea," Paige answered.

"Okay, well then can you send Liam, Nathan, Kathy, and Carter over here so we can get going," I responded.

"Yeah, I'll go do that," Paige said before she took off jogging to the building. Shortly after she left, the other teens came jogging. Kathy and Madelyn had matching ponytails, while the boys didnt do much with their hair. Everyone, me included, were covered in dirt from sleeping on the ground.

I smiled as I noticed the cross necklaces around their necks and remembered when I made them.

I looked down at mine and then straightened the cord before looking back up at my friends.

"What's the game plan?" Liam asked.

I pointed towards the northeast, "We'll start going in that direction. If we bump into people we need to be nice. We should be looking for any survivors that we find," I stated.

"Survivors?" Carter asked, "That one chick was the leader so they must have a community."

"It was a gang," Madelyn answered for me, "The tattoos on their faces and necks indicated a gang."

"So we need to look for an actual community?" Nathan asked.

"I dont think there is one, the way they acted was extremely territorial which means that they probably took over this whole area," Madelyn added, "We can look anyway though."

I nodded.

"We should get going and find a place to form a community before noon so we can get everything set up before sundown," Liam declared.

I started walking northeast, everyone followed behind me.

All of our guards were up, we'd never show it but we were scared. Between a new land, a new enemy, and the fact that our families were currently sitting ducks, we were pretty scared.

"Hey! Look!" Liam shouted, he pointed to the left of us where a little town poked out from a forest. I nodded at him and we changed our direction to the town. It was a few destroyed houses, a few not destroyed houses, and a little road leading to a cabin on the other side of the town. Most of the town was shielded by forest except the side we walked in from.

"Keep an eye out for people, take anything that looks useful," I ordered, "Shout if you need help, this town isnt very big so we will hear you."

I walked in the direction of one house that caught my attention. It was the only house that had the windows boarded up which gave me the idea that there was someone camping there.

A man walked out of the house I was walking to, Liam ran over and grabbed him before taking him further away and talking to him. I kept walking to the house, I wanted to check it. I tried to open the door but it didnt budge. Was it locked? Why would he lock it? I didnt see him lock it.

I kicked the door open with a loud crack of the lock snapping. I walked in and then a few seconds later Carter followed behind me.

"Carla I dont think anyone is alive," Carter said. He seemed kind of annoyed that we were checking houses.

"We have to at least check Carter, someone could still be alive," I responded.

I stopped in front of the bed in the two room house. I got on my hands and knees and looked under the bed. The black haired girl from my visions was hiding under the bed. The fear in her face was extremely offputting. She looked as if we just killed her whole family.

"Hey," I said in a soft-hearted voice: trying to comfort her, "You okay?"

She didnt answer.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said softly, "What's your name?"

I still didnt answer.

I stood up, turned my head towards the open door and yelled, "Liam we kinda need your help."

I heard soft cries come from under the bed that broke my heart. She was so scared.

Liam walked into the room after a few seconds. "Yeah what's up?" He asked in a low-toned voice.

I shut the door. "Pick up the bed, gently, there's a girl under there," I softly said, "She's really scared so try not to be to fast, I'm not sure if she speaks English."

Liam lifted the bed slowly to show the black haired girl with dark brown eyes curled in the corner with her head in her knees. She lifted her head and studied us. She stared at the scar across my chest and I crossed my arms.

"Hey we're not going to hurt you," I softly cooed at the girl. I uncrossed my arms and crouched to be on her level. She looked our age.

She kicked dirt off the floor at us and then dashed for the door. A flash of yellow light lit up the room and then Carter was blocking the door. The girl stumbled backwards. She looked terrified at us for a second and then took off for the other door that led to a bathroom. Carter dashed infront of that door too. "Seriously we're not going to hurt you, there's no need to run," Carter insisted to the girl.

She sat down and tucked her head tightly in her knees. She started sobbing and heaving for air. I slowly walked over, sat down next to her and laid my hand on her shoulder to comfort her. I leaned over and gave her a comforting hug in an attempt to stop her sobbing. She didnt move for a second and then lifted her head. I released my hug and tilted my head to look her in the face. Her tear stained face looked at me for a few seconds as if she was studying me. And then I was punched in the face.

I stood up and took a step back, holding my nose that was now dripping blood. The crack that sounded when she punched me wasnt my nose, it was her knuckle.

I spoke through the blood pouring out of my nose, "Okay then, not a hugger, that's fine. Not everybody if comforted by hugs." I paused and they slung my head in the direction of the door, "Kathy your language skills are needed,"

Liam grabbed the bed and took it out the door. Kathy walked in and stood next to me, confusedly looking at the blood seeping through my hand. Carter shut the door. Kathy pulled my hand away from my face and fiddled with my nose, "You're fine, it's broken, but you'll heal in four or five minutes."

"I'm not sure what language she speaks," I told Kathy as I leaned against the countertop.

"What's that thing by the bathroom?" Kathy asked me and then looked at the girl.

The girl looked at the bathroom door and then down at her feet.

"She speaks English," Kathy explained.

"What's your name," I asked as I crouched down infront of her. I made sure I was out of punching distance because this chick had a good punch on her.

She didnt answer.

Kathy suddenly jumped up and pointed at Carter, "Oh by the way, Nathan needed you to speak to that guy they found because Nathan wanted to talk to Madelyn about the tech or something he found."

"Alrighty," Carter responded and then he walked out of the house. He stopped in the door way and looked at the black haired girl, "We're not going to hurt you, we just want to help."

The door shut behind him and then the sound of a thud and yelling came from the other side of the door. Kathy and I jerked our heads to the door as the sound of muffled yelling emerged. A man's voice broke out of the muffled yelling, "Hannah!"

I looked down at the black haired girl, "Hannah? Is that your name?"

She kept looking at the door.

"Excuse me," I angrily shouted as I punched the cabinet which caused everything in the kitchen to fall, "I am talking to you and if you don't start talking before your friend does something stupid then he could get extremely hurt. So. Start. Talking."

"My name is Hannah, my mom is dead, I don't know my dad, my sister is missing, and that's my sister's boyfriend, who the heck are you people?" Hannah cried through a fearful voice. We had startled her from the time we walked in and she was obviously lonely.

"My name is Carla," I answered.

"And my name is Kathy," Kathy introduced.

"We're from an island far west of here, we came here to escape being killed by the leader of the island," I explained in a soft and loving voice again.

"Then you came to the wrong place," Hannah responded, "This place is probably more dangerous than your old home."

I confusedly looked at Kathy who happened to have the right words to ask.

"Like radiation problems?" Kathy asked.

"No, like people problems," Hannah answered, "Crime over here is crazy, there's no government to regulate anything to enforce the laws that everyone used to abide to. Now tell your friend to leave Clyde alone!"

"Carter let him in!" I turned and yelled at the door.

In just a few seconds, Clyde came barreling into the room and shoved Hannah towards the bathroom door. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Me. I immediately shoved Kathy out from behind me and off to the side out the door.

"Clyde, is it? Trust me, you don't want to fire that gun," I said with one hand slowly moving to my pocket and the other outreached to them. Kathy was half in the door and half out the door, her hand was outreached as well and a red glow was starting to form around her hand.

Clyde pulled the trigger. The bullet flew towards me and went right through my chest, and hit the wall behind me. The hole in my chest started to rapidly close up. Clyde was struggling to pull a bullet out when I started to walk over to them. I stopped in front of them. I was trying to help and they shot me? Oh no no no, we arent dealing with the shoot first ask questions later type thing again. I just looked at Clyde's fear stricken face for a few seconds before punching him in the face, knocking him out.