The Road to Nowhere

Chapter 44: Connections

Chapter 44

I followed one of Jaw's minions to the open area in the center of Moen, next to a small market. He assigned me to hunt with the hunting group that goes out every night, which I wasn't happy about.

"Cameron, right?" The guy asks as he leads me into the group of people. The group is pretty big. There are about twenty people standing in a circle, talking loudly between each other. The minion and I both make our way into the crowd, and we stop a quarter way in. I guess we're just going to wait for something to happen.

"Yeah, and your name was?" I say, after realizing I never answered him.

"Darren, nice to meet you Cameron. Looks like you've had it rough lately." He chuckles and points to my dirty clothes.

His shaggy brown hair stops just above his eyes. The darkness of his hair makes his eyes seem less brown and more golden. He has thin lips, a slim face and when he smiles I can see a couple crooked teeth in there. He wears a gray t-shirt with a navy green cargo jacket over it. The jacket has many stings hanging from it, lots of zippers, and golden buttons going up and down the opening. His jeans are dark and somewhat clean, from what I can tell. And he's wearing black Converse shoes and bright pink socks. I can tell because there's a hole in the top of the shoe, and the sock pokes through just a tad.

From what I can tell, he's a normal guy. Not too stuck up, not to nasty, and not weird at all. Just normal. But normal these days means they're hiding something. Something freaky.

He looks more put together than me. I look like I rolled through a dumpster and then got up and dove straight into a freshly planted garden. Dirt. I'm covered in it.

"Well we've been hiding out in the woods for a couple days. I know I'm a mess. I probably smell. Sorry if I do by the way." I say.

"No worries, all good here. We don't have working plumbing or power, so we all stink." He laughs.

I smile and laugh, but I quickly pull my head up above the crowd at the sound of a whistle. A larger man, probably in his late forties is standing up on a table in front of the group.

"Alright everyone, we'll split off into the usual groups, and everyone takes the third circle sites today. We'll hunt until dusk, then meet back here. Anything caught will be hauled to the kitchen tent for skinning. You all know the drill. Move out." He jumps off of the table, and his head disappears within the scattering crowd.

"You'll come with my group." Darren says and he pats my shoulder with his hand.

I give him an awkward smile and follow him over to his group that have already gathered by the main campfire in the middle of Moen.

These groups are small, made up of only two or three people. I guess the less people in the group, the less fuck ups there are. The two other people in the group are a small boy, about the age of Brianna, and I'm guessing his father, that looks like he's aged like fine wine. Gray hair covers his head and beard. The boy looks just like him, except with blonde hair.

"I'd like you to meet Pete, and his son Duck. They will be in a smaller group together. You and I will stay together, since you're new." Darren says.

I introduce myself and shake their hands. It's weird to be formal in a world like this. I've almost forgot about it. Everyone is always a threat, there's no place for respect and kindness.

"Where are we scheduled today Pete?" Darren says as he swings his arm over his shoulder to look at the map he is holding.

"Well our third circle site is on the edge of the Reindeer woods. About fifteen minutes out." His voice rumbles like he's recently lost it. That's probably not the case though, he looks like a man that has a voice like that.

"Alright lets go!" Duck says and starts sprinting away from us.

We eventually catch up to him at the armory. We're all handed a shot gun. Which I'm surprised they let a stranger have this early after they arrive. If they always allow this, it could be a bad thing. I'll make a mental note to keep a look out for that.

We make our way out of Moen and to the many cars parked in the place we saw when we first got here. Pete takes the wheel and I sit in the back with Darren. The whole fifteen minutes were spent doing nothing other than listening to music. It was nice, not having to talk to people and act like a civilized person.

Once we reach the forest Pete drives the car a ways into the trees. We all get out and get our things ready. Pete and Duck decide to go North, while Darren and I decide to go West. We split off almost immediately.

I follow Darren as closely as I can. I still can't trust him. I'm out here by myself with someone I don't know, this couldn't end well.

We walk quietly through the trees. I make sure to watch where I'm stepping. Even the sound of a twig crunching can scare away animals. And probably attract infected.

"So, what brought you to Moen?" Darren whispers.

"Uh well my friends sick, and we ran into a girl named Naomi. She brought us here and we're trading labor for medicine."

"Oh, sounds like a good deal."

"I guess." I say, "If you bring us back to Roman times when that was normal."

Darren laughs and covers his mouth to stop himself from being too loud. "It's the best Jaw can do, you know that right?"

I sigh. "What's he like? Can I trust him?"

"Jaw? Yeah totally. I've been assigned to help him for a month now and he's great. Just don't get on his bad side."

"Why?"

"Uh." He laughs nervously. "He can take his punishments a little over board."

"How?"

"Well I know one time he made someone clear out those circles in the corn. Took them a week."

"That's not too bad. What did the guy do?"

"I don't really know. Jaw keeps everything private. Everyone thinks your new here, not that you're trading labor for our medicine. Jaw doesn't like conflict. He will avoid it at all costs. He knows telling the people about giving the meds to outsiders would cause trouble."

"Oh well that's good to know-"

Darren swings his hand in front of my mouth to tell me to shut up. He slowly points into a clearing in front of us. About fifty feet away is a small pig eating off of the ground. It hasn't moved, so I don't think it's seen us yet. Darren raises his gun, and fires.

The squealing from the pig fills the trees. Looks like we're having roasted ham for dinner tonight.

A/N

Surprise!!!
Hey guys! I know this is just a filler chapter but I really wanted to get something out. I know I haven't updated in like a month and a half and it's probably killing you. I'm extremely sorry for making you wait this long. The semester ends in about a week so after that I think I'll have some time to write. Thanks for being patient!

If you want me to continue writing, please vote! It will give me motivation to keep this story going.

Again, a big thank you to all my readers. Every single one of you means the world to me!