Day 643
"I'm sorry, what'd you just say?" asked my Dad hiding no ounce of his shock.
She looked at my Dad skeptically with her deep blue eyes that seemed to darken with anger.
"I'm Everett." She restated. This time sounding a bit colder. If that was even possible.
"Wow." My Dad let out. "You are amazing. So tough and so young too." He exclaimed like a proud parent. I blushed in embarrassment on the behalf of my Dad.
Everett scoffed obviously not having any of this. Already she was feeling like she was being underestimated because she was a kid, and you could tell she did not like that. I guess I could relate to that feeling.
"Are we done here?" She said irritated. She didn't even wait for an answer, she just turned on her heels and walked away. My Dad practically jumped for her putting a hand on her shoulder as he yelled, "Wait! Everett wai-"
As soon as he made contact with her she turned around and pulled out her knife in one swift motion pressing it to his neck. My Dad stopped instantaneously.
"Don't. Touch. Me." She said. "Got it?"
My Dad visibly gulped and murmured, "Um, Everett we need your help."
She pulled away from my Dad and took three steps back crossing her arms against her chest.
"How exactly can I help you?" She said with her eyes on me.
Why are you looking at me?
My Dad's the one talking to you.
Stop staring. Staring is rude.
Wait...aren't I staring at her staring at me?
Dang it, I'm the rude one.
Quickly I took my gaze away from her as my Dad tried to explain the situation.
"Um, we heard you have a home here...that'd be ideal for a group of our size. We heard you'd take us in." said my Dad with a shaky voice. Usually my Dad was a brave leader, but this girl gave him the creeps.
Everett smiled and let out a giggle. She then opened her mouth to speak.
"Whoever told you that is sorely mistaken. I don't take people in." She said nonchalantly as if there weren't lives at stake here.
"But Miss, we have a kid with us." My Dad said. My cheeks flushed from embarrassment again and Everett bust out laughing at my Dad's reasoning.
"A kid?" She scoffed. She made her way over to me standing right in front of my face where as I could barely see hers being that it was covered with a scarf.
"You don't like being called 'kid' do you?" She asked with her eyes never leaving mine. I held onto the stare being that there was nothing else of her to look at; practically every inch of her was dressed heavily. I then opened my mouth to speak.
"Only half as much as you do." I answered. She smirked at my response.
"I'm sorry, Andrew, but I don't take people in. I live alone." She restated.
My Dad raised his voice slightly saying, "But we came all this way for you! Roy told us you'd take us in." Suddenly Everett's eyes widened at the mention of that name.
"Roy sent you?" She asked sounding shocked.
"Um yeah. He said you owed him a favor." explained my Dad. Everett shook her head and cursed under her breath.
"Roy that fucking asshole." She yelled putting her head in her hands. Were we really that much trouble?
We allowed her a few minutes of silence as she paced around cursing Roy's name. Mainly because we didn't want to get in her line of fire as she ranted and raved down the street.
Soon enough she calmed down and walked back to us. She only said two more words.
"Follow me."
We all shared a surprised glance as we did what we were told. She led us around the city for about twenty minutes until she stopped in front of a storage unit property that was heavily gated.
"Wait here." She mumbled as she disappeared behind the building. Minutes later the large barred gate in front of us began to swing open. No way.
"Whoa." exclaimed Eddie as he took in the environment.
Everett was expressionless to our wide-mouthed reactions as she said, "I seriously considered not coming back out for you guys. Come in."
Slowly we walked inside and took in the long aisle created by the two tall buildings that were side by side.
"What is this place?" I wondered aloud.
"It's an abandoned storage unit. Well, now it is. It was very well populated by the dead when I found it." She explains nonchalantly.
She then proceeded to take us inside one of the buildings. White walls, black tile flooring, and even more hallways.
She explained that each aisle contained three storage rooms, and that we could each have a room on whatever hall we'd like. We all split up picking different halls. Typical.
"Roy really downplayed this place." said Kaitlyn.
"Yeah, this place could fit tons of people." exclaimed Eddie.
Everett stayed quiet. She looked angry.
"We'll talk about rules tomorrow, until then goodnight. Don't be stupid, and do not touch my stuff." She warned.
"Wait, where will you sleep?" My Dad wondered aloud.
He looked at her questioningly while she just responded back to him with a cold emotionless glare.
"I sleep upstairs." She said tiredly, she let out a small yawn.
"Oh, okay. Goodnight then." My Dad said to her. He then turned to me and said, "Goodnight Jack. See you tomorrow."
"Hopefully." I added with a joking smile. He chuckled dryly and messed with my hair.
"Ooh, I almost forgot. Jack, your gun." He reminded me making a give-it-to-me motion with his hands. I let out a defiant groan.
"Do I really have to?" I whined. My Dad nodded.
"You know what you did." He said. I then proceeded to give him my gun reluctantly.
"Thanks." He said as he walked away. I tried not to notice that he went into Kaitlyn's room instead of his own.
I sighed staying in the same spot for a moment. I didn't even realize she was still there, staring at me.
"What did you do?" She asked with curiosity, her expression becoming lively again.
She then began to strip down from the many layers she had on. First her scarf, then her boots, then her jacket, then her beanie.
The last thing she did was pull a clip out of her hair that seemed to hold up a long braid that went down her back. I could actually see her now. Like the actual her.
Her skin was fair and her hair was chestnut brown, and as I said before very long. Her body features were small and petite, but she definitely looked fit and not malnourished like me.
Finally, I returned my eyes back to hers only to realize she was waiting there, watching me look at her. Awkward.
"Soooo...?" She said expectantly, her eyes searching mine.
My mind went backwards looking for an answer. Shit, did she ask me something?
"I'm sorry, what?" I said breaking into a laugh. She laughed a bit too, but just as quickly returned to her receptive self.
"What did you do to get your gun taken away?" She asked again. Ohhhhhh...
"Um...I shot a member of the group because he was infected." I said nervously. I definitely didn't want her to think I was some sort of maniac.
She didn't say anything, she just stared intently with her large observant eyes. Damn it she thinks I'm psycho now.
"Follow me." She says quickly as she takes off for the front door. I watch her leave and stand still shocked by her words.
I look left and right as if someone might've been watching us, and then I look back at Kaitlyn's room where my Dad surely is. Screw it.
I then take off for Everett. I find her right outside the building standing in front of the other one.
I begin to speak. "Where are we go-"
"Shut up." She says abruptly. She then takes out a set of keys to open the next building.
When we enter she leads me straight to a storage room in the farthest aisle from the entrance. She proceeds to open that door with another set of keys.
The anticipation is building inside me from all of this hiding, shushing, and opening of doors.
The door clicks unlocked and Everett motions for me to come inside. She flips a switch and the room is illuminated. What the?
"How does that even work?" I ask with utter shock not even taking notice of the room around me.
"I'll explain later, first pick one." She says facing the wall. Pick one? What does that mean?
I face the wall and then I understand. I am now looking at a wall covered with guns of all sizes. What the hell?
I look at her with wide eyes saying, "How in the hell did you get this many guns?!" She shushes me again and points to the wall.
"No more questions, just take the gun before I change my mind." She says raising her voice a bit.
I then look at the wall searching for something small and easy to conceal from my Dad. My eyes find the perfect one. A Lugar.
I take it off the wall and show it to her. She nods and runs to get me extra ammo. When she returns I say, "Thanks Everett." She looks at me and shrugs her shoulders.
"No one should be weaponless these days." She says pretending like it was no big deal.
"No seriously Everett. Thanks." I say. Right now I'm so confused about how I should feel about this stranger.
She stops dead in her tracks and turns to face me again. She swallows hard before speaking.
"C-Call me..." She starts to say but stops. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes before she tries again. "Call me Amy."
"Amy?" I ask feeling confused.
She nods. "It's my first name." Ohhhhhhhh...I see.
"Okay Amy." I say. We then walk back to the other building in silence.
"Amy?" I say trying to catch her attention. She turns around to look at me.
"Yes?"
We're now back inside the other building by the staircase waiting to part ways.
I swallow hard trying to build the courage to say what I want to say. It's about what Roy said earlier. Say hi to Cal for me.
"Um...who's Cal?" I ask looking at her nervously. I instantly regret speaking. Her face becomes grave and her eyes darken. She's angry.
She then grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me fiercely. For a girl she seems to be very strong.
"Don't you ever say his name." She says coldly returning to the wall-like state she was in earlier. Any progress in befriending her is now lost.
"I'm sorry." I apologize quickly trying not to make things worse. What did I even do?
She lets go of me and stumbles back a few steps pressing a hand to her head and shaking it softly.
"Whatever. Um, go to bed. Try not to die alright?" She says looking at me with tired eyes. I nod.
When I go to my room I lie on the ground having forgotten to get blankets. I woke up several times that night due to my restless mind and once because of a strange noise in the room above my own. That's her isn't it?
Sometime that night I decided I didn't like her, but I'd tolerate her enough to live here. The main thing was I just didn't understand what her problem was.
As I said earlier, every place has its flaws. Here our barriers were secure, but our relationships obviously weren't.