Chapter 12

Ruby heard the faint sound of someone mumbling beside her in her sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Emily still asleep in front of her. She looked beside her and saw Brad praying. He muttered Helena's name and the name of some other people who had died. Ruby smiled sadly at him, sad that Helena had joined the list of names he called when he had his morning prayers.

She looked away from him and to Dave who was up already and looking out at the road behind them, the picture of Helena's grave on his mind. 'Dave,' Ruby called out but he didn't answer. She expected that; she knew he would have been lost in thought. She opened her mouth to call him again when she realised that the vehicle wasn't moving. She turned to the passenger area of the truck and saw both Lucy and Tyler sleeping. She knocked on the glass separating them and they both woke up. 'Why'd we stop moving?'

Lucy sat up and blinked a few times, trying to remember what happened. 'I think we're out of gas.'

'Just great,' Tyler said and then yawned.

'Looks like we're walking from here,' Ruby said. She stretched towards Emily and tapped her. 'Wake up sleepy head.' Emily stirred awake and squinted at the sunlight.

'What's that sound?' she asked and Ruby gave her a confused look.

Tyler looked up from where he was and saw a car approaching. 'Someone's coming,' he said. Dave turned around on hearing him and saw the car. Ruby looked at him and a glimmer of hope flickered in her eyes. His eyes were red and puffy from all the crying and he looked tired and pale but she was just happy to know his mind was still with them.

'We have to be cautious,' he said. 'We don't know who they could be.'

'We don't have much for them to loot though,' Brad said, having finished his prayers.

'We should still be careful,' Ruby quickly said, supporting Dave. She looked at him, hoping to get some eye contact but he wasn't looking her way at all. Tyler held on to the axe beside him and Lucy held on to the sickle. Emily got on her knees and scooted closer to Ruby. She had left her weapon at the lakeside and she was unsure of what to do. The vehicle came into view and it rolled to a stop beside them. A hairy man put his hand out the passenger's side window and smiled at them despite their offensive stances.

'Survivors!' he said, happily. He then opened the door and got down from the SUV. He looked at all of them and his smile grew wide. 'A good number of them too.' Dave frowned at him and pointedly flexed his wrist, holding a knife in his hand.

'Don't mind my friend,' a woman in a messy bob said from the back seat, noticing the tension. 'My name is Gabrielle and I'm glad to see more survivors like us.'

'Alka's the other way,' Ruby said, narrowing her eyes at them. 'Why are you turning back?'

The hairy man laughed at her. 'We're not going to Alka, not anymore.'

'Do you have a death wish?' Tyler asked from the passenger seat, frowning at him.

'No,' Gabrielle replied. 'What we have is a colony.' They became silent and had confused looks on their faces which made her smirk at them. 'Why go all the way to Alka and probably die before reaching there when you can stay in a safe house here.'

'All the safe houses were invaded by zombies,' Lucy said, repeating what Dave told her. 'What makes you think your place is any safer than Alka?'

'Those safe houses didn't have one specific thing that we have.'

'What's that?' Ruby asked.

'Why don't you come and find out?' the man replied.

'Why should we trust you?' Dave asked, looking for some conviction.

'What do you stand to lose? Killing you won't help us in any way, besides you all look like you're at your wits' end,' Gabrielle said. 'I don't see much supplies with you and you haven't moved an inch since we saw you. I'm sure you've run out of gas.' They tried to hide their shock about her accuracy and the hairy man chuckled while she continued talking. 'There's no town for miles. We can give you fuel enough to come to our colony and there's more fuel and supplies you can get to stock up again… that is if you'll still want to leave.'

They all kept quiet as they considered her offer. 'What's the catch?' Dave asked.

'Let's just say, we like visitors,' the hairy man said.

'Victor!' a man said from the driver's seat. He opened his door, stood up and turned to all of them, leaning on the top of the car. 'Get in! If we don't bring something useful back, Amelia will have our heads.' Victor's smile quickly faded and he turned around.

'Looks like your leader is strict,' Tyler mockingly said but Gabrielle only smirked at him.

'How else will you direct an entire colony?' Victor got into the car and the other man followed. 'This is your last chance,' she said in a sing-song voice as the man changed the gears.

Dave looked at the group but they were uncertain. He tucked away his weapon and turned to them. 'Fine, we'll follow you.'

'Good choice.'

The man driving, whose name was Winston, turned off the engine and went to the boot. He brought out a gas hose and a jerry can and went over to their vehicle. Once the truck had enough gas in it, Winston drove his car around and led them to their colony. Brad took the wheel. He didn't say anything during the last conversation but once he heard they had a colony, his interest was piqued. He got a bit suspicious when the car in front of them drove off the road and went down a path in the forest beside. He nervously followed after them, weary about any zombies that could jump out from the trees.

They saw two figures moving through the forest and they were about to reach for their gardening weapons when the figures waved at the vehicle in front of them and Gabrielle and Victor waved back. They passed by a few other figures who had different tools and guns with them and were patrolling the area. They drove a little further down and saw a tall wooden fence in front of them surrounding a large area; an area that they couldn't keep their mouths from hanging open when they took in every detail of it.

It was filled with multiple tall trees that had tree houses erected on them. There was a small building structure erected on a tall tree in front of the tree house village like a watch tower. Two men were standing on it and looking around with a pair of binoculars in their hands, checking if there were any zombies around. The tree houses were connected by various canopy walkways and they could see people going up and down the place.

A one-armed man came out from a gate in the fence and went to talk to Winston. He pointed behind them and the man immediately smiled and went back to open the gate. They drove inside, astonished. As they got in, the gateman that had come out, smiled at them and said. 'Welcome to the Amelican.' They smiled back at him and drove to a place where three other cars were parked. The three of the other survivors came out of their car and walked up to the pickup truck Dave's group was in.

'What do you think?' Gabrielle asked, smirking at Dave, and Ruby frowned at her. 'Not bad, right?'

'Not bad at all,' Brad said from in front.

The group got down from their vehicle and followed Gabrielle to a tree which had a tree house on it. 'Steve!' Gabrielle shouted. 'Ladder please.' A few seconds later, a rope ladder was let down and they climbed up two by two.

'Back so soon?' Steve asked in a mocking tone.

'We have visitors,' she proudly said and he let out a low whistle.

'Amelia's going to love that.' They came up one by one and he greeted them with a smile, saying, 'welcome to the Amelican.'

Winston told them to stay in the tree house which was more like a waiting room and he and Gabrielle both left to meet with their leader. A few minutes later, a woman in a brown knee-length gown come out. She had her black hair held up and in a bun and she wore a firm smile. She walked to them with pride and Steve whispered to them to stand up as she approached them. They stood up without question, the woman facing them had an aura of authority around her and Steve and Victor immediately greeted her as she came into the tree house.

'I am very delighted to see we have visitors,' she said with a voice lighter and friendlier than they expected. 'Let me introduce myself. I am Amelia, the leader of this colony and I am pleased to have you here.'

'Your colony is wonderful miss,' Ruby said with her signature smile and Amelia smiled back at her.

'Oh, you haven't seen anything yet.'

'How were you able to build all this?' Emily asked, astonished.

'I'll tell you all about it, but first, may I know who you all are?'

They all introduced themselves and just after, Gabrielle and Winston came back with bottles of water and berries in small bowls. The two of them went down the ladder and they left the colony with Victor. When the group was done eating, Amelia took them on a tour of her little village.

'As you can all see, the Amelican is well above the ground and is well guarded,' Amelia said as they walked about and everyone that saw her pass greeted her. 'If any zombies are seen in the area, my watchmen will alert the whole village and my men will immediately rush to protect us. Even if the zombies get past our men and our high and strong fences, they can't climb up here to attack us; they don't know how.' She gave them a confident smile and they couldn't help but feel at ease. 'Everyone here has a role to play. Some of them patrol the area, some go out to bring more supplies from the neighbouring towns. Some go hunting for squirrels, rabbits or birds, or go picking berries or mushrooms, or fishing in the lakes around. This is all to ensure the colony functions properly.'

She led them down a canopy walkway and to a tree house where people were sparring in pairs. 'Here, we train ourselves in physical combat to be prepared in case we have to use our hands while dealing with zombies.' Tyler and Ruby raised their eyebrows, intrigued. She led them to another. 'Here, we keep some of our arms.' All of them except Brad and Emily were intrigued by the guns, bows and arrows, knives, cutlasses, hoes and other weapons they kept there with a person guarding the place. She led them to where they preserved food, where the little ones played, where they attended to the injured, where they ate, where they slept and then. 'This is where some of the more religious ones pray for everyone in the village,' she whispered.

Brad quietly entered the house. It was like cupid had shot an arrow into his heart. He was almost brought to tears by the small group of people quietly seated together and praying in their hearts. 'We still have two more tree houses undergoing construction. We plan to accommodate more people, after all, there is strength in numbers.' She turned proudly towards men at work, hammering down nails into planks as they built the tree houses. 'This place started off with just one tree house, owned by a small family who hid here when the apocalypse began. They accommodated me and a few other people when we were chased by zombies on our way to Alka. We had lost three people already and I didn't think we would make it, so I decided to start a colony here. It's not been an easy feat but now, see how far we've come.'

'I won't lie, this is much better than we imagined,' Tyler said, still looking around the place. They were all entranced.

'You've got a perfect place right here,' Dave said and she smiled.

'Please, make yourself at home. If you need anything, you can ask anyone at all and they'll be sure to help. We'll meet for dinner later in the day. I'm sure by then we'll both know if you'll need gas and supplies for your journey, or not.' She smiled at them and they nodded and then she left them.

'I think I'm dreaming,' Brad said and Ruby pinched him. He yelped in pain and she laughed at him.

'It seems too good to be true,' Tyler said.

'They work a lot though,' Lucy said, looking around. Every one there was doing one thing or the other. 'It's not an absolute paradise but it's a win-win situation. We work hard for ourselves and we benefit from ourselves. I don't know how the safe place in Alka is but I don't see it being any better than this.'

'I think we should still go to Alka,' Emily said, looking down at her feet. 'This place is good but Alka is guarded by the government, it'll be more secure.'

'Come on, they have everything we need here,' Ruby said. 'And they want us to stay.'

'We thought the motel was paradise too.' Dave said with his voice low. 'We have till night-time to decide. I'm going to check out the place more.' Ruby beamed at him but he wasn't smiling at anyone. He then left to the sparring house and Ruby went to check out their arms. Brad stepped into the prayer house and the rest walked about, taking the whole place in.

By evening, they sat at a long table with a few other survivors and Amelia was seated at the end of the table. They had vegetable and fish for dinner and it tasted delicious. They ate in a comfortable silence and by the end, the leader popped the question again. Brad immediately answered with a yes, then Lucy, then Tyler. Ruby wanted to say yes but she wanted Dave to pick first, when he answered with a yes, she answered quickly after him and then, Emily was left. They all looked at her, expecting her to say yes too but she hesitated.

'Mrs Amelia,' Emily said, looking down at her empty plate. 'Your colony is wonderful, it truly is… but I can't stay.'

The others looked at her, surprised and Amelia frowned at her for a split second and then her smile was back. 'But, why? Your group wants to stay, I'm sure you'll love it here.'

'I know… it's just…' memories of the last time she saw her mother came back to her, memories of her telling her to go to Alka and that it was important. 'I can't.'

Before Amelia could persuade her any further, the sound of someone shouting was heard across the colony. 'Emergency!' Steve shouted and a few people including Dave's group, came out of the tree houses. Gabrielle stepped out of the waiting room tree house and onto the canopy walkway with a rope tied tightly to her arm. Victor supported her by the waist and Winston followed behind her with a look of concern. Their clothes had been torn in a few places and they had dirt on them. Two people from the tree house where the injured were attended to, rushed out to meet her. They held her tied arm up and that was when the group noticed the bite mark on her it.

'Why did they bring her back?' Ruby asked with unease.

'She can still be saved, she'll be amputated,' Amelia said and Dave's eyebrows went up in shock and a flicker of regret crossed his face. Everyone else steered clear of Gabrielle and when she was brought closer to the dining tree house, Amelia went out to meet her. She stood in front of her and Gabrielle whimpered with an unusual look of fear on her face.

'I'm sorry, I don't know what… happened,' she weakly said, her eyes on the ground, and Amelia hushed her softly.

'I don't know if we got to her fast enough,' Winston said as he held his gun tightly and worry lines were on his forehead. He was afraid of what he might have to do.

'Then let's get her help quick,' she said and turned around. She walked past the group and to the next canopy walkway, leading them. They brought Gabrielle to the end of the canopy walkway before the next and then she suddenly slumped. Victor and one other medic carried her up by the shoulders and when they saw her raise her head, they became relived. But she opened her eyes and Dave's group, in front of her, saw that they were completely white.

Before Victor and the rest could react, she lunged at Dave's group. They all recoiled but Emily shut her eyes and stood still. Gabrielle came to a sudden stop in front of her as if she was afraid to attack. Everyone around stared at the both of them, shocked and the only sound that could be heard was Emily hard breathing.