I n f i n i t u m

Chapter Thirteen

I glanced up as Aliyah and Jess grabbed a seat on either side of me. Emily sat down in front of me with a bowl of food, already digging in. A glance around showed that all of the men, and Teejay, had yet to return from their trip to the nearest town.

"Emily, you're cooking is so good!"

Emily giggled at Aliyah's compliment and spoke from behind her hand, "You always say that whenever I cook."

"But seriously, were you a chef?"

She shook her head, "No, but I did take a few culinary classes in high school. I like baking."

"No shit?" Jess said, surprised, "You're like, perfect girlfriend material."

"I think you're perfect girlfriend material," Emily smiled, "You're the girl version of a 'bad-boy', the guys gotta dig that."

"Oh, I think Marquis digs that a lot," Aliyah interjected.

Jess threw a piece of bread at her and managed to get her in the eye, to which had Emily and I doubling over in laugher.

Aliyah looked over and sulked, "What're you laughing at, huh, Fang? You're being awfully silent— come on, you probably had girls lining up at your door!"

"No way, he's too attractive," Jess said, "all super attractive guys that dress nice turn out to be gay."

I raised my brows, but managed to conceal my smile by shoveling in a spoonful of rice. The door of the lodge creaked open and I glanced over my shoulder, expecting to see that the guys had returned, but instead saw Teejay's head peaking in past the door frame, "Fang, they need you."

I frowned.

"Is everything ok?" Emily questioned.

Teejay nodded a little too enthusiastically, "Everything's totally fine, Em! Nothing to worry about!"

She nodded despite the concerned look that took over her features. I put my bowl down and met Teejay at the door after discreetly tucking a handgun away from the sight of those I left. 

The door shut behind me, "What happened?"

"There's a group of survivors in the town down the mountain."

That surprised me. I hadn't seen a single face that wasn't a zeds' in months, much less heard word of any survivors. Could they have been from Bethel city? I waited for him to continue as we made our way to the Beatle.

"Nine people, settled with only two day's worth of food and water. Marquis was the one who found them."

"And I take it they want some of ours?"

"I mean..." Teejay drawled.

"That's risky for us, Teejay. We just ran out of canned food and we've already hit up all the towns close by. Our water supply will last us a good month from last week's storm, but it'll deplete drastically if we give some of it away," I sighed, "they can hunt for themselves. They're in a forest after all. There's wildlife everywhere. They probably have a filter for the lake and streams, for all we know."

Teejay had a crestfallen look on his face, but didn't say anything else further. It took quite a while to get to the spot Teejay said he'd left them at, and when I drove further down the dirt road, I could see a small gathering of people off to the side, near the tree line. It was hard to make out where Marquis and Jebadiah were among the throng of people.

"I hate public speaking."

That elicited a laugh from Teejay, who'd been sulking the entire way. I got out of the car, squinting at the faces that stared back at me, trying to find anyone that looked familiar. My hopes of finding Wren had long been diminished when my mom had died, but I couldn't help the small spark that lit up in my chest upon hearing news of survivors.