"How did you sleep?" Keira asked me
"Not too bad" I lied. I'd woken up on a number of different occasions.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I stood out the front of the police station, Keira beside me.
"I slept amazingly" She yawned as she stretched her arms out wide
I breathed in the fresh warm air. The rain had passed, not a single cloud in the sky. Birds had returned, singing and soaring through the empty blue sea above.
"It's such a beautiful day"
I nodded
The others remained inside, collecting the rest of their belongings.
Silence was bliss, until the door behind us burst open and out strode Arden and his men.
I gave a sigh and stood aside, watching with my arms folded over my chest. I flinched, one, because my clothes hadn't entirely dried, the dampness irritating my skin with my movements and two, because my hand was hurting like a bitch.
"Sleep well?" Arden directed towards Keira and I
"Very well thank you" Keira answered as I simply nodded
"Good, because beyond this point, I have no idea what to expect" He told us, the sentence daunting. He was the 'leader', and he didn't know what the next appropriate moves were? Maybe I should have taken my own road.
I opened my mouth to say something, but I thought the better of it.
Slowly, the rest of the clan snuck out of the station, some groaning, some stretching wide with approving eyes towards the sky and sun.
We listened to Arden explain the rules, repeating what he had the first morning I'd travelled with them. Then, we began forward, another day, another trek.
The weather, cheered me up. It gave me hope that the chances of any kind of attack from Creatures, was extremely low. Like always, I walked at the back of the pack, dragging my feet along. I looked forward, watching the others talking, enjoying the weather. Most of them were laughing, making jokes, I even saw Keira skipping at one point. It seemed that a combination of the weather and a good night's sleep, served the atmosphere well. Every time I caught myself smiling, I forced it back, pushing to swallow it into my stomach.
Walking was now as easy as breathing. It was now essential for my survival, the more I walked, the more I felt alive.
Like we had before, the next few hours spent walking were accompanied by endless roads and endless fields. It was almost as though we weren't moving at all, and if we were, it were simply in circles. It felt pointless.
Then, I felt company.
"What are you thinking about?"
I hesitated "Nothing really"
Mason cocked an eyebrow "Nothing at all?"
I shrugged "What's Austin and Tricia's deal?" My mouth escaped
"Their deal?" He repeated "I'm not sure what you mean?"
"I mean, they're all over each other, there's hot tension there" I told him as I looked ahead and saw Austin and Tricia walking together, side-by-side, their hands brushing against each other's.
Mason seemed to take careful notice of it, his head tilting side-ways
"I've never really noticed it before" He mumbled
"Are you serious?" I quirked an eyebrow
"I don't pay attention to detail like that; it seems ... I don't know, pointless?" He answered
"The smallest of details can be some of the most important" I told him
"That" He pointed to Austin and Tricia "Is important?"
I shrugged, knowing it wasn't. I was curious, that was all.
"Although, despite my lack of notice in that" He pointed to Tricia and Austin "Don't think that I haven't noticed your hand" He turned the attention back on me
I rolled my eyes "You don't pay attention to their hands, but you pay attention my hand?"
He shrugged, averting his eyes forward.
It was then his eyes fell momentarily on Jesse ahead. It gave him away.
Like I had told him, it was in the small details.
My jaw tensed and I narrowed my eyes "Jesse told you about it, didn't he?"
I could tell instantly that Mason was brewing some kind of lie up, an excuse.
"I don't talk to him" He shook his head
I used this to my advantage. I remembered sensing some kind of bad blood between the two while Mason had stitched my arm "And why is that?"
He shrugged, avoiding my gaze "Ronan and I knew him before all of this"
Ah-huh. It was then I remembered Keira mentioning bad-blood between Jesse and Ronan also.
Jesse seemed to have a list of haters.
"What's the deal?" I prodded
"Why the curiosity?" He snapped "I thought you weren't interested in knowing these kinds of things?"
He was right, why was I so interested in it?
"I also thought everyone here was trying to persuade me otherwise?"
His face fell, slightly amused and defeated
"Jesse and Ronan were friends, lived in the same neighbourhood as me" He began "I don't know Ronan and Jesse's story, when I met up with them; they were already on bad terms"
"So how did you get involved?" I urged
"Mine and Jesse's beef was long before all of this" He waved his hands up.
I waited for him to continue, but it seemed he wasn't about to follow up with the topic, so I pushed
"So?" My eyes on the side of his face
"So, I can't extend on the matter any further, it's his past, his business, when someone goes behind his back, he can be quite an angry man"
I shrugged "If it means anything, I don't really talk with him either"
It was an attempt to side with him, solely for the information
His eyes turned to meet mine "That's not entirely true now is it?"
I crossed my eyebrows "What do you mean?"
"You see" He began with a small smirk "That so called hot tension you feel between Austin and Tricia, I feel it as well, only it isn't with Austin and Tricia"
I rolled my eyes instantly knowing what he was insinuating "Why does everyone keep assuming that?"
"Maybe because you aren't as out of tune with your human instincts as you think you are"
I shook my head "No"
"Mhm" He mumbled
It seemed that he had averted the conversation; something that I was usually the one doing. Mason was smarter than I gave him credit for.
"So are you going to let me have a look at your hand, it looks swollen, bruised" He continued to divert topic
I sighed "It's not that bad"
"Pretty sure that's what you said about your arm too"
I sighed "If you feel that it is essential, fine, the next time we stop, you can have a look at my hand" I told him, defeated.
"I would be happy to" He smiled
I scoffed, but also felt a smile creep onto my lips.
As desired, the next time Arden had signalled us for a break, Mason found my side and waved his fingers out for me to show him my hand. He didn't miss a beat. He was fast.
Having Mason's fingers take a hold of my hand, was uncomfortable, a strange sensation overwhelming me.
I avoided touch, at all cost, it came with emotions.
"Oh wow, how did you manage to get her to agree to this?" Keira joined us as I leaned my backside on a stone wall that had crumbled to half its original size
"Charm" Mason winked with a new confidence
Keira sat beside me, her legs crossing as she stretched out her neck
"I think I'm sunburnt" She grumbled as Mason pushed his fingers into my knuckles one by one, the middle two of my joints causing me to unwillingly flinch and hiss through my teeth
I looked towards her and noticed her face, red and most definitely sunburnt
"You are" I told her as she delicately touched her features, wincing
"Ugh" She groaned "Why, why must I burn?" She complained before turning her gaze to me "You're tan, how did you get so tan?"
I shrugged unsure if she required a real answer.
When she realized I wasn't going to respond, she turned her gaze back to Mason
"What's the verdict Doc?"
Mason held my hand, his soft fingers now opening and closing my fist
I tried not to react, but it was hurting, hurting like hell
"In my professional opinion, I believe she has broken two of her knuckles" He told her as I sighed
"Knuckles heal on their own" I said
"A splint is usually the best approach, but yes, they do heal on their own" Mason nodded as he pulled his backpack off his back and crouched down to search through it.
I watched on, curious as to what he was searching for. Did he have a splint handy or was he about to construct one? Either way, it wasn't going to last long on my hand.
Keira nudged my knee with her own, breaking my train of thought. Her eyes were drawn down on Mason as she smiled, wriggling her eyebrows "Hey" She whispered as she leaned towards me
I looked at her, uncertain of what she was doing
"Look" She whispered as she nodded her head in Mason's direction, my eyes following hers
I was quick to notice what she had been directing me towards. As Mason leaned down, his shirt had lifted at the back, revealing tan skin as well as his boxers elastic.
Calvin Klein. As quick as I had caught on, I looked away, shifting uncomfortably
"Oh I forgot" Keira continued to whisper "You're a Jesse kinda gal" She winked as Mason stood back up, leaning towards me, a roll of medical tape and a wooden splint in hand
Keira giggled beside me and pushed her shoulder into mine. I ignored her the best I could, focusing on what Mason was doing
"I'm going to splint and buddy strap it" Mason told me as he unrolled the tape
I gave a sigh and slumped
"Better hurry, Arden is running a tight ship today" Keira sung as she stood and skipped off towards the other girls.
I was relieved the moment she was gone, almost surrendering into a more relaxed position, until a new figure replaced hers, opposite me instead of beside me
"I'm glad you allowed someone to tend to that" Jesse spoke as Mason seemed to stiffen a little
"Not by choice" I told him
"Persistency, that's all it took" Mason mumbled as he kept his eyes firmly down on his hands
Jesse ignored him, moving from opposite me to exactly where Keira had been, leaning his body on the stone wall beside me, too close beside me
"I'll try to be as gentle as I can" Mason told me, his eyes settling on mine, soft, direct
I nodded before he picked my hand up and slowly began to place the wooden pieces on the underneath of both my middle fingers, soon followed by tight tape wrapped around
Silence settled, it was so quiet, so quiet that I could almost slice the air with a butter knife.
The wrap up of my index fingers took a further suffocating five minutes. Five minutes long enough. Arden had called for continuation earlier, but Jesse had quickly persuaded him to hold off until Mason was done.
Ten minutes in total, and we were back walking ahead, towards something Arden was unsure of, towards something any of us were unsure of. It was hard to even know if we were going to find a safe place to camp for the night. For all that any of us knew, we would be stranded in the wilderness after the sun had set. It was worrying, but deep down, I knew that eventually, we'd come across something, something small enough to find shelter amongst.
A further two hours produced nothing. Fields, fields and more fields of emptiness. The heat grew more intense, only because the rain had subsided and moisture was being sucked from the air roughly like an outdated vacuum cleaner.
Arden was becoming more aware of what I was becoming aware of. We hadn't passed a petrol station in miles, it set the both of us on edge. I had instructed him on taking this route and if it lead to us to becoming stranded, or worse, I would have to explain to it.
It would be my fault.
"What if we don't find something by sunset?" Keira panicked as I walked alongside her
"We will" I lied
"I don't know" She mumbled "I mean, it's been a while since we've come across anything at all, even a barn"
"Even more a reason to come across something soon" I told her convincing not only her, but myself
The splint on my fingers had begun to annoy me about ten minutes after it had been put on. My palm was sweating more than it did from the closed in space between my fingers. It made things hard to do, simple things.
I hated being constricted.
As I walked alongside Keira, my ears pricked up, just like a hunting dog on the sniff of prey deep in the forest. I could hear something approach, it was moving fast, loud. A low grumble and groan of something that I had not forgotten the sound of despite the years.
I picked my pace up, trying to reach Arden and warn him, but before I could, he had caught on, the sound becoming loud enough for all to hear.
"Stop!" Arden screamed as he spun around, his eyes alert and searching the space we'd come from.
"I think it's a car, maybe more than one" I told him as whispers started, panic
There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, we were trapped.
"Everybody down in the grass!" Arden demanded, pointing to the side of the road where long grass had overgrown. It was long, but it wasn't long enough to hide a person, we all knew that. Everyone hesitated.
"There's no way we can hide in there" Austin spoke out
"What are we hiding from, they could help us" Tricia then backed him up as the two moustache men agreed with nods.
"Or they could take all of our supplies and leave us with nothing" Jesse snapped back, avoiding Tricia's deathly glare
"Those who value what we have, in the grass!" Arden again repeated
Surprisingly, no one moved, not even me.
"We can't keep going like this" Jarod said, moving forward. His eyes were similar to Austin's, his bone structure and his hooked nose. But his attitude was not the same, he was more a push-over, more reserved and quiet.
"These people could be good for us" He continued
"You don't know that for certain" Ronan stepped in "They could kill us"
"Why would they do that?" Austin shook his head as a few others scoffed
I now realized there was a divide, a divide that had finally cracked the earth and separated the two sides.
"Arrow" Mason then called towards me. All eyes turned on me, quiet.
"What do you think we should do?"
I looked towards everyone, everyone who stared at me, waiting.
I shrugged and then opened my mouth to say something, but thankfully I was cut off, even if it were by Austin.
"She's the last person we should be asking for advice from" He scoffed
"We're running out of time" Arden called, "Make a decision"
"I'm staying here" Austin folded his arms like a child and turned his body in the direction of the noise, now closer.
"Me too" Tricia instantly sided as she did as he did.
"I'm with them" Moustache man named Zack chose, his side-kick Kyle nodded in agreement.
"No disrespect Arden and co, but I'm with them" Jarod began "We need to take more risks. It could change things, it could make things better"
I agreed to some extent. It was suddenly about making a choice. Risk it all to either gain or to lose. It was difficult, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to make such a decision.
I was normally against people, against groups, but this, this was an opportunity. I knew that I wasn't going to be alone for the rest of my life, I knew that eventually, I was going to have get used to being around others. I mean, I was after all headed in the direction of a survival camp. But that didn't mean I was ready to all aboard a car load of strangers and join them on their quest, I was barely making it through this weird bunch I'd decided on sticking around with. I hated people, I hated choices. I should have been on my own, I should have been walking by myself on the way to the camp without this choice, but I wasn't, and now, I needed to decide.
I stepped forward, my eyes on Arden directly "I think I'm with them on this one" I told him, my head directing towards Austin and his small army "I think we should be cautious, but I also think that this could be a chance to find strength in a larger number" I told him
Coby now stepped towards me, his eyes fixated; enraged
"Are you serious?" He spat "The entire time you've been here, it's been all been about you hating us, hating people. You can't stand being around anyone here and now you want to enforce strength in numbers?" He argued.
He was right.
I nodded "I know"
"So what the hell is with the bullshit change of heart?" He cursed
I looked at the ground, guilt riddling through me "I prefer being alone, that's what I, myself prefer, but this" I looked around to the group "This is what is best for the group, not me, the group" I told him "I know that most people here have my back, regardless of what my beliefs are, and someone once told me that I should extend the same courtesy, so that's what I'm doing." I directed my gaze to Ronan whose lips lightly uplifted. That was the choice I was making. Not for myself, but for them.
"Like Jarod said Arden" Ronan now spoke, moving to stand beside me "No disrespect, but I'm going to be siding with Arrow on this one"
Arden's mouth straightened and his jaw twitched, and then, Jesse moved towards me.
"You better be right about this" He whispered as he pointed to me with a stern gaze
"I think we should do it" He then spoke towards Arden, standing on my other side
Arden had lost, all because of me.
"If anyone dies because of this" Arden spoke between his teeth, his fists clenched "It's on you" He pointed as Jaxon stood silently beside him, undecided
I nodded, cringing at the possibility of being responsible for yet another death. I was still attempting to scrub the blood off of my hands from the last time.
"Let's be prepared" Arden snapped back into leadership "Everyone take a gun, everyone on the side of the road, everyone ready, just in case" He told us as he shuffled around inside his backpack, apparently full of weapons and ammo.
We all took position on each side of the road, aimed, ready. I held my bow and an arrow in place, each and every one of us quiet, waiting. The noise of more than one car approaching became louder and less distant and within five minutes, it came to sight. We all watched, narrowed on our gaze as a large modified pick-up truck rolled closer, the roar of its engine louder than natural, behind the pick-up, rolled another three cars, also modified heavily. These guys were prepared, well assimilated.
"Hold aim, until I say it's okay to release" Arden shouted. I had trouble curling my fingers around the string of my bow - stupid splint. I used my pointer finger to pull back, my hand shaking at the strength I had to muster into my on single finger.
As the trucks grew convenient, we began to make out the full scale of preparation and organization of the group. The sides of the trucks had been altered, enhanced with full steel layers to deter bullets. I knew if this group were to attack us, we'd be doomed, straight from looking at the set out.
Once the front car had caught sight of us, it stopped, as did the others behind.
"Hold aim" Arden directed us
Seconds later, a megaphone rang out from inside the vehicle.
"Put down your weapons" I loud male voice spoke overhead, louder than necessary
Arden moved up from the side of the road, a shotgun sitting evenly across his arms as he walked slowly to the middle of the road a few meters from the car.
"Who are you?" Arden began, his voice beaming loud, deep and strong
The megaphone squeaked "No harm will come to you if you put down your weapons"
"We will not be stolen from" Arden shouted back
"That is not our intention" The megaphone man replied
Arden kept straight as we watched with anticipation "Then what is?"
My heart beat loud in my chest, each pump throbbing with fear. I was strong, but they were stronger. I was stubborn, but I wasn't an idiot.
The megaphone was cut off. Silence reigning.
A minute later, as we all listened to the rapid sound of our own breathing, a door to the pick-up opened and out stepped a well-formed man dressed in heavy boots, vest and jacket and a belt surrounded with nooks and pockets. His hair was brown crew cut, the resemblance between him and Arden was striking.
He was army.