Survive - Zalfie (BOOK 1)

4. The Warehouse

Chapter 4 - The Warehouse

Poppy and Megan had returned with a lot of food and cans full of water. They kept shoving food towards me because 'I needed it the most'. I found it ridiculous. I had bumped my head and a broken wrist. It's not like I had a deadly disease.

"Where are we exactly?" I wondered out loud. When they'd carried me here I was semi knocked out and I had no clue where they brought me.

"Doesn't matter, we won't stay here anyway," said Jim toneless, a blank expression on his face.

I looked at Poppy for an answer. "Some kind of old warehouse, I think," Poppy told me.

Megan was sitting at the complete opposite of the room. She seemed to be playing with a knife. I felt a shiver down my spine. I had actually no clue who this person was. She saved me at first but when the dead creatures started following us she just abandoned me. She also hadn't mentioned anything about herself and I supposed she wasn't going to any time soon.

"She's kind of a loner, isn't she?" said Poppy who had followed my gaze.

"I don't know if we can trust her, Poppy," I whispered so only she could hear.

"What do you mean? I'm sure somebody will come to save us soon. We don't need her."

I sighed and stared at my feet. I noticed a little blood stain on my shoe. It was probably from falling so many times.

"Nobody's coming," Jim said. I jumped as I hadn't noticed him standing so close to us. "Bloody hell, this is an apocalypse. What do you expect? Rainbows and unicorns tomorrow morning?"

I saw how Poppy got tears in her eyes. I instantly got very angry at Jim for talking to Poppy like that. "At least I'm not dragging everybody down with that pissed off mood!" she yelled back at him whilst getting up. She looked angry. I did not like where this was going.

Jim shot up towards Poppy and got dangerously close to her teary face. "I am being realistic unlike you. It's like you expect your family to wake you up soon. Well, I'll tell you this: they. are. dead."

Out of nowhere Megan shot up and hit Jim against the wall, the knife she was playing with against his throat. I gasped, got up and grabbed Poppy's hand. Poppy was sobbing uncontrollable at this point.

"Never, ever talk to her like that again," she hissed, pausing between each word. Jim looked at the knife and then at her face again. Anxiety filled his eyes.

"Stop it!" I screamed at the both of them. Nobody even paid attention to me. Poppy was screaming in between her sobs and collapsed on the floor.

Megan pushed her knife a little in his throat. "Do you understand that?"

Jim nodded quickly but stopped immediately as he was now almost cutting his own throat. Megan pulled her knife away and started walking back to her spot on the opposite of the warehouse.

"Freak," I could hear Jim mutter. I walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. I was furious.

"How could you say that to her?!" I yelled at him. I was angry at him for saying that about Poppy's family, Alfie's family. I felt a knot tied up in my stomach.

He just shrugged and walked away from me. I swear, if Poppy wasn't crying on the floor I would have jumped on his back and knocked him out. I gave his back a nasty glare and then went over to Poppy to comfort her.

"You know he's just acting strange because he lost Tanya, right?" I asked her. Poppy nodded between her sobs but didn't say a word. I just hugged her for the next hours until we fell asleep.

In the middle of the night I woke up with a start. I shot up and saw nothing but darkness at first. Once my eyes were adjusted to the night I could see Poppy who was sleeping next to me. Jim was also sleeping a bit farther away from us. Megan however was still at that same spot. I decided to go over to her and try to get to know her. I sat down next to her against the wall.

"How's that wrist of yours doing?" Megan asked me not looking me in the eye.

"Painful," I replied.

"Tomorrow we'll head to the nearest hospital. Get you fixed up."

"Why are you helping me?" I blurted out. "There were so many people on the road but you helped me. Why?"

"Because you seemed the most helpless," she answered my questions.

"But," I wasn't satisfied with that answer, "why aren't you looking for your family or friends?"

Megan now looked straight at me, her eyes seemed to be trying to tell me something but I couldn't figure out what before she moved her index finger to her lips. I gave her a confused look. She then pointed her finger at her ears. I listened carefully and then I heard it too. In the distance there was a noise. That noise that sounded like a dying elephant. But this time it sounded slightly different. It didn't sound threatening, but sad.

Megan moved her face closer to mine and whispered: "I think there are other creatures than the ones we saw earlier."

I shivered but not because I was cold. I had seen enough horrible things already. Please don't let there be any more.