Chapter: Curious And Strange

"What the F*ck! Who is this girl!" The Sargent was almost shocked to death. He couldn't help but curse. But just then he saw a piece of paper.

It was on Amelia's seat. Normally he wouldn't have checked it as it belonged to someone else but he was too curious to ignore it.

He picked it up and carefully opened it not ruin anything inside. At first he thought that it was that self destruct chip.

He was worried that it would explode in the train but when he picked the paper up, there was nothing in it. It was just the paper.

He sighed in relief and carefully began to unfold the paper. It was not a clean sheet and had some cripples on it.

As soon as Sargent Will opened the paper completely, he gasped in surprise. If people thought that she was beautiful they had to see the talent.

This girl had technology that Sargent had never seen, she survived three years alone in a state full of zombies and came out alive without a scratch.

Somehow she calculated the exact time of when the train would reach the station and it was unexpectedly and totally accurate.

She was so fast on the computer and knew somewhat programming and was exceptionally beautiful.

But now holding that piece of paper, Sargent was awed by another of her talent and she was amazing at this one too.

Each stroke on that piece of paper felt like it was telling a different part of time just like a story...

On that paper was a beautifully drawn portrait and even the minor details were accurate. Even someone who didn't know much about art could easily appreciate it.

On closer inspection, Sargent saw a long sentence written at the end of page. The words were very small but very clear.

The words "I missed you mom and dad every single day of the past 16 years of my life, I am sorry Grandma you had to suffer protecting me and Grandpa I hope you're still alive...from Amelia"

Being in an army helps you to be strong inside out but after reading the words written on that piece of paper, Sargent felt tears rolling down his eyes.

Not only him, you put the Army general or a Captain they would also cry...

The Sargent was rooted to a place, unable to move immediately. He imagined how hard life had been for Amelia since young.

***

AT THE SAME TIME...

OUTSIDE...

As soon as Amelia stepped out she saw the beautiful colours fill the whole place and it was like magic. She was calm for a while.

Soon the noises around started filling her head. She was used to being alone in California. Even the zombies didn't make much noise.

She was getting frustrated. She saw a shop selling technology and gear outside the entry. She went through the crowd. Her cold nature making way for her.

She reached the shop and saw a man who was about in his thirties in that shop. He was probably speaking to someone on the phone.

There were robots and AI stuff in there. Amelia went inside without permission and picked up a phone and noise cancelling headphones.

She banged her hand on the shop and asked the price ignoring the fact that he was talking to someone and there was closed sign outside.

"What's the price?" asked Amelia.

He was taken aback by the sudden appearance of such beauty but the arrogant words that followed brought him back from his dreamland...

"What? didn't you see the board outside or that I am busy" said the man.

"Sorry, not sorry for disturbing you Mr.." said Amelia.

"not sorry? I mean Egnar, Mr Egnar" said the shopkeeper proudly.

He thought that she knew who he was and for whom he worked for. But who knew she was indifferent and would ignore him completely.

"Whatever, I am leaving" said Amelia with a smile.

"You have to pay for that!" said Mr Egnar.

"Isn't that what I asked earlier?" said Amelia calmly.

"Yes, but.. what's the use..give the stuff here" said Mr Egnar giving up.

Who is this girl?

Is the crazy?

She can't go around bossing everyone, can she?

Amelia gave him the stuff and he checked the price. He calculated by just speaking and a robot did the work for him.

But before the robot could even speak, Amelia had already calculated and took out the money and kept it on the counter.

"Do you still use dollars 'cause I see you don't use your brain" said Amelia casually.

"Calculated...4530" said the robot.

After confirming that dollars are still in use, Mr Egnar took the money and counted it and was surprised that it was the correct amount.

He handed the stuff to Amelia and guns on her waist caught his eye and fear shivered down his spine.

"Girl you need to learn to fit in" Mr Egnar adviced.

"Living with Zombies around, I learnt that fitting in, never helps you survive...if you want fit in, you are courting you own death" replied Amelia.

She was casual and indifferent to him and his pride drained with her words. She took her stuff and left.

Mr Egnar was frozen in a place after hearing Amelia's words. He couldn't help but think about her words and fell in deep thought.

Amelia put on the noise cancelling headphones and typed a few keys on the phone. The phone immediately logged in.

She pressed play on a playlist filled with retro rock music like "Work by pop evil" which is her favorite to be exact too.

She sat down on a chair amongst the bunch. Her mask covering her face and her cap lowered to reveal nothing.

Almost all the seats were filled within five minutes. Especially two chairs around Amelia were left empty because no one dared go near her as she had guns with her.

This made her look even more sinister and scary. After some time she took out her laptop and started typing a list of numbers.

The laptop opened to the home screen which was still with the same deep red background. It was to strong to even look at it for others.

[I hope you are not looking for me]

After few seconds of wait a message arrived in the inbox..

K: [No boss, I dare not offend you]

[Good]

Then another train arrived...

The remaining seats were all filled but still the seats near Amelia were empty. But just then a girl about the same age as Amelia arrived.

There were no other seats left so she sat beside Amelia. Their was another boy following her. He sat on the other seat beside Amelia.

After taking long and deep breaths, the girl finally reacted. She looked around and saw not many trains were there.

Amelia closed her laptop and kept it inside her bag. She then pressed replay on the phone. She looked up.

She saw as the train left the station. She had been sleeping and busy with the thief on the train that she didn't see how the train went over the water.

It was like a transparent bridge between the rest of the states. It directly connected to the west of California.

Moreover, since the people here knew zombies can't act if they can't see, the choice of making the bridge transparent was not bad.

The girl was about to introduce herself to Amelia, "Hi, I am Ruby.." but stopped after seeing the guns and bullets hanging on Amelia's waist.

Ruby now thought that it was a bad idea sitting near Amelia but she couldn't help but feel curious about this strange girl.

"Go on" said Amelia calmly.

"Oh" Ruby could see that Amelia was not bothered by their conversation she continued "I am from California, you probably heard of Long Beach"

"Yah, I am from California too but from the centre of this state" said Amelia lazily.

"That must have been tough since you needed to be near the edge of California to be able to get on a train" said Ruby but seeing that she didn't want to talk about it, Ruby changed the topic.

"I came with a friend. We met on the...Ah!" said Ruby painfully.