Chapter 2 "Laura Alcott"

Laura had no choice but to follow him, because she was already running out of bullets. Noah was a mascular man, she could tell from the way she was panting like an ass and he was jogging like he could go on like that for a week. Noah must have noticed her speed slowing down so he offered a five minute break which Laura accepted gladly.

"You never told me your name blondie." Noah said taking a sip from his water bottle.

"You can call me anything but that."

"Anything?" He smirked.

"My name is Riley." She lied with a smile.

"So, since you have only been out here for around a week, I assume you don't even know about the men in black?"

"Men in black? That's a movie." Laura frowned.

"Yeah, but we see armed men all dressed in black, patrolling around the south west area. Human like us who somehow manage to survive are not allowed in the vicinity. Rumor has it they have a huge facility in that area and they do some pretty nasty stuff there."

"That sounds like a movie plot." Laura chuckled.

"If things ever turn normal again, I'll remember to make a movie on that."

"What did you mean by nasty stuff?"

"I am not so sure myself. But they collect dead humans and zombies and take 'em with them. Noone knows what they do with them. Anyone seen around their area is forced to leave." Noah shrugged. "He stood up. "Come on, I know you are tired but we need to get to the safe house before night. That path is dangerous during night, also since the safe house is far from their facility's perimeter, there's more chances of finding a mutated zombie there."

"Then why do you live there?"

"Did you not hear me? It's a safe house, no room for break-ins, plenty of provisions, clean water river, just around the wood where alot of animals can be hunted. I could go on forever."

"Will they accept me?"

"What are we getting married and they are my parents? We mutually agreed to find a few humans to increase the group strength but not so many to avoid fights. And you seem quiet harmless."

"Don't make me prove you wrong."

"And how are you gonna do that?' Noah said with a teasing smile.

"You haven't seen me kill a zombie before. I once killed one with a pen, jabbing it all the way up to his throat."

"Speak of the devil." Noah whispered, when they heard a low growl from the bushes in front of them. "Okay princess, where's your pen?"

"I only used it because he caught me by surprise and I lost my revolver. He's right in front of you just shoot him."

"Blondie, only use, bullets when you need to"

"Need to? What is that? A rabbit?" Laura glared at him but he simply put his chainsaw and revolver down, and took out a knife from his backpack. He tossed it up in the air and then caught it by the blade. He pulled his hand back towards his shoulder and with an incredible speed, threw it at the zombie. The next thing Laura saw was that the knife was pierced in the zombie's neck. He made some gurgling sound and collapsed on the ground. Noah went towards him to get his knife back.

"How did you do that?" Laura was pretty impressed.

"Practice makes a man perfect." Then he looked at her. "I don't know about women." Laura frowned and followed him.

"Tell me about the mutated zombies." Laura asked only to distract herself from the tiring walk.

"Before coming to the safehouse, I was with a girl named Stefanie. Before you think we were dating, let me tell you I wasn't her type. She and I were in the woods talking as the sun was shining bright. And then suddenly a zombie jumped on her from the back and bit her on the neck. I obviously ran away, she was already gone I knew, and I had to save myself." Then he looked at Laura and smiled. "You know what? Before her, I was surviving with my friend, he couldn't run fast, so he became a victim too. You should be more careful now, those who are with me alone tend to share the same fate."

"Shut up!" Laura said, but her grip on the rifle did get tighter. Noah chuckled.

"So I was saying that we were in broad daylight and we didn't even hear him coming towards us. Which leads us to believe that for some zombies now sun is not a problem and they know how to hunt. Unlike others, they can think, not like a human but certainly like an animal who knows how to hunt for food. Later we lost another member of our safe house when he tried to shoot a mutated zombie in the head but the bullets did not work. The problem is that you cannot tell by the appearance of them that which one is your average zombie and which one is the mutated one. But if you look closely the way they stand tells a lot about them. The mutated one's don't limp, they can walk, and yeah they can look into your eyes perfectly." He said looking into Laura's eyes. "Just like this." He whispered. Laura punched his shoulder. He didn't even flinch, instead he grinned.

"I am actually surprised how did you trust me so easily. What if I was lying to you about the safehouse and mutated zombies? What if I am just taking you to my hideout to do what? Possibly rape you, or maybe chop you off into little pieces and throw you infront of the the zombies to save my own skin?" Noah said and turned to look at her, who was standing behind him, and staring at him doubtfully. Her eyes actually showed fear. Noah laughed. "Oh God, you bought it. Blondie if that's what I wanted to do, first, I had many chances, second, I wouldn't let you walk behind me with a rifle, third, if you're still doubtful wait till night, in this area. The mutated zombies will proof their existence themselves and when you die, the men in black will come to proof their existence, and then maybe I'll come to your grave, if you would have one, and tell you, 'see? I didn't lie'."

"I am sorry I asked you to speak, you can mute yourself now." Laura spoke angrily and Noah kept trying to contain his laughter as they continued walking.

After what felt like an hour Noah finally announced that the safehouse is only about ten minutes away.

"One thing I should tell you is that, the safe house was actually found out by Peter, and he kinda took us all in so he is what you can call our boss. He is a good person but very serious. So make sure you do not do anything to piss him off. Other than that stay away from Henry, if you are innocent and wants to stay that way." Noah had to stop because they both heard footsteps.

"Noah? Is that you?" A woman called out to them while coming towards them.

"Yeah it's me." Noah called out back to her. He then turned towars Laura. "She is Melissa. She has nearsightedness and she lost her glasses. That's all I know about her. She's new." Melissa finally reached them after stumbling multipe times on her way.

"The men in black came again and they searched our safehouse. Peter is pissed."

"Why did they come?" Noah frowned.

"They were looking for a girl named Laura Alcott. They didn't tell us anything else." Laura's heart skipped a beat. They are going to hand her over to a couple of sickheads, who knows what yhey will do to her. Noah turned towards her.

"Didn't you say your sister-?" He left the sentence incomplete, as he didn't want to say something that might hurt her. Then Laura realized she lied about her name.

"Our last name is Cranham. And she died three months ago." Laura said with fake sadness on her face. Noah nodded.

"Uh, who's she?" Melissa raised her eyebrows at Laura.

"She's Riley. I found her alone in a candy shop. Let's get to the safe house first, we'll talk later." Noah put his hand on Laura's back to walk her to the safehouse while Laura had just one question in her mind. Why were they looking for her?

                        ***

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