Chapter 33

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Isaac, Alex, and Philips are continuing their journey on the abandoned highway. They are tired, but still keep up the steady pace. They can't afford to be slow, as they need to find that place.

But their peace doesn't last long as they hear a car coming in the distance behind them. They think quick and head off the high way, and hide behind a car that was crashed into a tree.

They are crouching behind the vehicle, waiting for the car to pass, but to thanks to their bad luck, the car stops just next to them, on the road.

They hear three people get out of the car, causing them to curse under their breath. "What now?" Alex whispers to Isaac, Phillips looking at him for advice as well. Though Phillips maybe older than Isaac, but he only knows medicine and that's it.

"I...uh...we wait, I guess. If we run away, they'll see us." Isaac whispers with a shrug.

"But if we wait here, they'll see us either way." Alex whispers with a frown.

"What do you want me to do? Fight them? They might have guns, we don't." Isaac whispers annoyed.

Before Phillips could say what he wanted to, they heard a young male voice speak. "Alright guys, search the cars. Make sure to not get bitten, and make sure to not use firearms, alright? I don't want to deal with bites and walkers that come hear cuz of the noises." He said with a tired voice.

Then they hear the three people split up. They look under the car to see where they are heading, and they see a black boot head their way.

They start to back up, but then they hear a female voice behind them. "Where are you goin?"

They look behind them, and see a woman in her possibly late 30s pointing an AK-47 at them. They immediately put their hands in the air.

They also notice that the person that was heading their way, was a young man in his early 20s, smoking a cigarette. He sits down on the trunk of the car, and throws the smoke on the ground.

Alex, with a trembling voice speaks up. "We...we don't w-want any trouble. We were j-just heading to a safe place."

The young man makes a small smile that looks friendly, but they feel unnerved by it.

"Really...? And where's this..'safe place'?" He asks.

But before they could answer, the young man speaks up again. "Andrea, tie them up."

"Wai-" before Phillips could say anything, again, Andrea hits the back of his head with the butt of the AK, and Philips falls on the ground, unconscious.

Seeing what she did to his friend, Isaac stood up, ready to fight, but the young guy turns around and points his Glock 19 at Isasc.

Isaac saw how the, seemingly, leader of the group pointed the weapon at him, so he settle down, and got back down on his knees.

"Good boy." The guy said, and walked away.

Andrea tied up the three of them with zip ties, and waits for the others to be done with their searching.

While waiting Alex speaks up. "Please, let us go. We didn't mean any harm. If you let us go, we'll just go on our way, and never meet again."

Andrea, who has been playing with a Rubic's cube, looked up from the toy, and smiled. "You don't have to worry. We don't mean any harm, unless you'll wrongly answer." She says with a shrug, and goes back to the toy.

"Answer what?" Isaac asks with a furrowed brow.

"Uh, duh...our questions." She looks at him like he's dumb.

"But you didn't ask any questions." Alex says.

"Hm...you're wrong. Pedro, the guy who told me to zip tie, you guys, just asked 'Where's the safe place that your talking about?', if I'm not wrong...anyway, we'll be taking you three to the place where we reside, and question you. If you answer the questions the way that our leader likes...then you'll have a chance to stay with us, and believe me when I say this...You won't ever regret it." She say with a serious look.

Isaac and Alex exchange worried looks before just staying quiet, looking down on the ground, while Andrea continues trying to solve the puzzle on the Rubic's cube.

Eventually the other two came back from their scavenging, and got into the pick up truck they came in, and loaded in their captives on the back.

They rode in silence, unlike the ones in the seats; they joked around, smoked, and drank except the driver, who looks to be in his teens.

On the ride, Phillips came back to his sense and woke up, but was surprised to see himself on the platoon of the pick up truck.

They continue down the abandoned highway, heading towards the unknown destination of their captors. As they ride in silence, the tension is palpable.

------//------

I get out of bed with a big yawn, still a bit tired after last night with Carley.

It's been a few weeks since we got here, and we already made a great progress with the mall. We fixed up most of the walls, the windows, we renovated the shops into rooms, kitchen, armory, etc. and we also in the process of making a few bathrooms. We're working on making a sewer or such. What matters is that we made great progress.

I get dressed up, and go to the kitchen area to get my breakfast. As I head there, everyone greets me without fail, and I greet them back.

It seems most of the people accepted me as their leader, as well as Rick, as thanks to my leadership, his family is safe. He also forgot I called his wife a brick head, but she hasn't.

Shane? Well, he's still scowl at me, but doesn't retaliate. It's only matter or time before he accepts me as well, either reluctantly or other ways.

We also accepted a few people, among them there were a nurse, whose name is Sandra, and a construction worker called Puma. Not going to lie, I almost laughed when I heard his name, and a video came to my mind where it says 'Mf called Puma'.

Anyway, we've been good. There was a time when a small herd of walkers came, but we took care of them, as their numbers were around only 20-25.