When We Were Humans | Book I

Chapter 16: Thomas and Jessie

Viewpoint: Nate

I looked through my scope again and saw that the Lurkers have all ran off.

"That's weird," I said skeptically, as I heard a loud groan coming from the clearing.

"He's still alive?" Athena said, as she bolted towards the clearing. As we approached the body, we determined that it was a man, who looked to be in his early thirties. His torso region was completely exposed to the air, as organs such as kidneys and intestines drooped over the sides of his body. Some organs, I noticed, were missing. I doubled over and vomited on the ground. Athena just held it in. He stared blankly at the sky as he tried to speak.

"They... weren't... they weren't..." the man stuttered. Each word came with a splutter of blood that prevented him from uttering the next.

"They weren't what?" I asked, as I got on my knee next to him.

"Please..." he said weakly. "Make sure... my wife... help Jessie." The man took one final breath. His eyes remained open as he ceased his movements. Athena and I both bowed our heads in respect to the man.

I pulled out my knife and stabbed his temple, so that he wouldn't turn. Athena checked through his pockets to see if he had anything of importance.

"You gonna help me or not?" Athena said, as she continued.

"It doesn't feel right," I said, as I leaned back slowly.

"I'm trying to find some sort of identification," Athena said, as she pulled out a wallet. She opened it and found a driver's license. "His name was Thomas Charter," she said softly. "His wife is beautiful..." She said, as she showed me a picture. Thomas and Jessie looked really happy. The picture was of them right after their presumed wedding. She had long brown hair with dark green eyes. Athena also managed to find a loaded handgun, a knife, and a granola bar.

"We should probably get back," Athena said, as she looked at the distance of the city. "No flares yet, they're still doing good."

"What do you think he meant when he said 'they weren't'?" I asked. Athena just shrugged. This whole situation was extremely odd. First, they run away from a gunshot, and then they apparently 'weren't' something. "We should find this Jessie girl," I said.

"No chance," Athena responded. "There's a one in a million chance we would find her, dead or alive."

"We still have to try," I said in a hopeful tone.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Athena asked. "Run through the forest yelling her name? Sounds like a hell of a way to get yourself killed."

She was right, the chances of finding her were slim to none.

"Besides, this guy worked in a law firm in the city. He was probably going on a hunting trip and probably left his wife in the city," Athena said. "The city is way to big to look through."

"You're right," I said, in a slightly low tone. "What worries me is where those Lurkers went. They act different from the others."

"I'm not sticking around to find out," Athena said, as she grabbed her things and started walking back towards our camp. I looked back to the city. No flares yet, we were still good. We got back to the camp and saw Kristen was cleaning her knife and Zoey was cleaning her bat.

"Find anything interesting?" Kristen asked, as she looked up to us.

I looked at Athena to try and see if it was okay to tell them about the guy in the forest. She just shook her head slightly.

"No, but keep your eyes open for anything," I said.

"I cleaned your machete by the way Nate," Zoey said, as she held her bat to eye level and inspected it.