Dead Earth (old version)

Chapter Eighteen ~ Martin

They ended up actually working with vegetables, not dying, but Martin could tell that Scarlett was still extremely tense. She was picking tomatoes quite forcefully, and somehow seemed to be managing not to throw them in Julie's face. 

Julie wasn't doing anything at all, and instead stood at the front of the greenhouse glaring at them, holding a hose like a dangerous weapon. 

Martin continued watering all the vegetables, glad he got to walk around. Watering vegetables required movement, picking and pruning plants did not, and the others seemed a little grumpy. 

Martin sidled up to Scarlett, and whispered in her ear, "Are we staying here, or can we leave soon?"

"They're providing us with food and shelter. I don't trust them," she replied in a low voice. 

"Hem-hem," someone coughed behind them. They turned to see Julie looking at them haughtily. 

"Less talk, more work." She strode back to the front of the greenhouse and sat back down. 

They worked in the greenhouses for a good two hours, before finally going inside to get washed up for lunch. 

This time someone was serving them food, and Martin noticed that everyone there got the same amount of food, no excess, but still plenty to fill them up, but his group got a little more than everyone else. 

The food was some kind of mystery meat on bread with fruits, vegetables, and water. Martin got to the end of the line, and was handed a glass of milk. 

He looked at the guy, quite confused. He knew that there were goats and a few cows in a sectioned off part of the courtyard, but he thought everything was reserved for making food. 

The man smiled at him and said, "For yer firs' day. Every'un ge's milk on their firs' day."

Martin left, wondering why the man spoke like a redneck movie character. 

He sat down at his group's table, and immediately Scarlett leaned slightly towards the table, indicating she wanted a private conversation with the group. 

None of them leaned in, but pretended nothing had happened. Behind Scarlett's back was Arran at another table, and he was watching them again. 

"I don't think we should stay here," Scarlett stated simply, not eating her food. 

"Why? They were kind enough to take us in, I don't want to be on the run anymore, we're safe here."

"Exactly, they took us in without batting an eye. It's apocalypse now, and we are all survivors. No one can be that trust worthy," Scarlett hissed, Martin nodded in agreement. Matt, however, didn't seem to be listening, and was nearly completely turned in his seat, watching everyone in the cafeteria. 

Thorne didn't look so sure, but Natasha turned to her and said, "We can't trust them, Thorne.'

Thorne sat there stonily and didn't say anything. 

"I think we need to investigate that third floor," Martin said, ignoring Thorne's antics. 

"Matt and I already tried, there's only one staircase that goes up there, and it's boarded up. There might be dead up there, you never know what these people might be hiding," Scarlett replied, shaking her head.

Matt turned back around. "How many people did Arran say were here?"

"Eleven, why?" Natasha replied. 

"Because there are two people taking food up that staircase over there, and, counting them, Arran's group of eleven people are already in here."

They all looked at each other, even Thorne now seemed suspicious of Arran's group. 

"We're going to do some investigating tonight, and we're going to find out what exactly is on that third floor,"

Instead of going back to the greenhouses, they requested to move their cars to a safer place than the front of the school. 

They ended up finding an abandoned warehouse and stashed their things there, bringing only a single backpack each back to the school and pretended that was all they had. 

After a dinner of yet again some kind of mystery meat on bread, they retired to their classroom. 

However, they didn't stay long, and instead made sure their bags were packed and ready by the door. Scarlett led the way into the hallway, lofting her flashlight before her, so they could solve the little mystery of the third floor. 

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Thank you to everyone who's been reading!! Please don't forget to vote and comment! Voting let's me know which parts of the story you all like, but comments are even better!! Comments tell me what you like and don't like about the story, notifies me to any mistakes I made, and let's me know what you guys think is going to happen!

~ Felicia Bradbury ~