19 Chapter 18: A New Face

"Who are you?" asked the red-haired girl. 

"I'm gonna be honest with you. You're not really in the position to ask that. I should be asking, who are you?" Francis replied.

"That's none of your business. Seeing that you've entered the bunker without permission and have been stealing our food makes it my business! Can you at least tell me how you got here?"

"Jerome brought here me against my will. After he died, they kicked me out of their group and left me here." She stated. "Now let me ask you a question. Why are you doing this for me?" the girl asked, looking down at the boxes of food with the note.

"When I first saw you, I could tell you weren't hostile. You saw I was unarmed. You had the chance to kill me and get away with it, yet you still ran and risked having me expose your existence, which would result in your death. I trust that you didn't want to do us any harm."

After hearing this, the red-haired girl dropped to her knees, letting a few tears run down her face.

"Can you tell me your name?" asked Francis.

"It's Alexis."

"See was it that hard?"

"Shut up! But now what. Just because we know each other doesn't mean that psycho with a sword won't kill me." Asked Alexis.

"For your information that psycho is my best friend, yet you're still right. If he finds you, especially if he knows you worked for Jerome, he will kill you."

Francis was lost in thought. He wanted to find a solution. Usually he'd ask Chris for help, but now, he couldn't trust anyone with this information.

"I know this might sound like a lot to ask from you, but do you think you could spend the night in this room? I will try to convince the others that our intruder may not be an assassin out to kill us all," asked Francis.

"I understand. Good luck with the convincing," said Alexis, half smiling, "And thank you for trying."

The next morning, during breakfast, Francis decided it was time to talk to Chris about the girl.

"Chris can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Francis.

"One minute. I'm timing you," retorted Chris.

"Really."

"No, I'm just kidding, what's up."

"I was thinking a-"

"That could be dangerous," remarked Chris.

"Now will you shut up and let me finish!" scolded Francis. 

"Fine."

"What if this so-called intruder isn't out to kill us?"

"And what would make you think that?" asked Chris.

"Because I've seen the intruder! Both times I have seen this person they run away instead of attacking or confronting me. Also, no radio can reach outside this bunker besides the one in the conference room. But I've checked. It's been broken since we got here. And last, Jackson would have noticed someone going in and out of the bunker."

"And what if you're wrong?"

"I'll try to confront the intruder. And if I do and they offer to meet you. Can you talk to them without cutting their legs off?"

"Sure but if they try anything I won't hesitate," answered Chris.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you."

"Chris, Francis, come here please Jackson has a question for you," yelled Heather from across the room.

The two boys rushed over to her, both with a confused look on their faces.

"Can Jackson not speak or something that you have to talk to us for him?" asked Chris.

"No, I can speak just fine. I guess she just got excited by the question."

"Well then, what's the question that's so exciting?" asked Francis.

"Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound not as interesting."

"Just asked the damn question!" roared Chris.

"I was just curious how you all met?"

"He punched me in the face," said Chris nonchalantly.

"And now you're best friends?" asked Jackson, confused.

"That's not the whole story!" yelled Francis, "It's not like I meant to punch you."

"It sure as hell didn't feel that way," said Chris.

"The day before I got in a fight with someone. They beat me up pretty bad and they stole my wallet. In response, I punched him in the back of the head. The only problem was, it wasn't the guy who stole my wallet, but it was Chris. He fell straight to the floor, and I got suspended. When my father heard what happened he invited Chris's family out to dinner and offered to pay all medical expenses for the injury. Apparently our families became close, and we began seeing each other more often. As a result, we started hanging out together and talking more, therefore becoming best friends."

"Well, that was a lot more exciting than I thought," exclaimed Jackson. "Heather, how did you get roped in with these fools?"

"I'm not going to respond to what you just called us because I'm not stupid, and I don't care," started Chris, "I met Heather in school during a group project. Neither one of us had a partner to work with, so the teacher forced us to work together. As time went on, we began talking more and more. A week after we finished the project, we went out to the mall to celebrate. While we were out, we found Francis and he joined us. Well, after that we all became great friends."

"Well, if you excuse me, that storytelling was great and all, but I have some things that I need to tend to," said Francis, leaving in a hurry.

"Wonder what he's in such a hurry for," declared Jackson.

"I don't know, but yesterday I saw him with his phone watching a video feed of another bedroom," said Heather in response. 

"That's kind of creepy," asserted Chris.

"It wasn't any of our rooms. At least I don't think it was," replied Heather.

"Do you know which room it was?" questioned Jackson.

"Well, considering the direction he was coming from, he must have been coming from the twenty to forty wing, so I guess that's where we start." 

"Right now we have work that needs to be done. If you want to invade Francis's privacy then do it later in the day." 

Jackson approached Chris in a serious manner. He looked like he had something important on his mind.

"I was thinking," started Jackson, "Chris, you said we should have a proper funeral for those who have died. I believe we should do that sooner than later before the corpses begin to smell."

"Yeah, the corridor to the conference room is beginning to smell awful," replied Chris.

"Well, do you have any idea when we should have it?"

"How about tomorrow since today wouldn't work because of the lack of preparations?"

"That should work. What preparations need to be made?" asked Chris.

"I need to dig holes," answered Jackson.

"Well then go do it," ordered.

That became Jackson's new job for that day. Heather was walking out of the room when Chris shouted to her. "Heather, go with Jackson outside to dig graves for a funeral."

"But what about my job?" she questioned.

"Would you rather sit and watch plants grow, or go outside and do something?"

"Fine, I guess you're right."