They Walk

Chapter Forty Five

For the last couple of minutes I’ve been staring down at my bowl of fruit, and still can’t find the nerve to really want to eat. Gabe and Claire are on either side of me, but are too wrapped up in the table’s conversation to notice if I eat or not. Which is fine, I just wish they would talk quieter or that everyone in the Stadium would for that matter. After getting out of the cot that morning, my head has been throbbing even worse with every breath I take and hasn’t even started to subside.

I know I’m probably being rude by not joining in with the others.

We have a full table with new people introduced, but it takes everything I have to just keep moving.

When Noah, Gabe and I arrived at the rec area for breakfast we ran into Claire and her mother, and we all sat at a table together. The guy our age that we met last night, Hunter, was already at the table when we sat down. After just sitting down, Noah’s sister and her boyfriend joined us. He introduced them as Hanna and Logan, and the first thing I noticed beside the way Noah’s face lighted up at seeing her, was that she was very pregnant.

I can see the family resemblance between them right away, and it makes me miss my brother.

She has Noah’s features but is slightly more delicate than defined, and her hair is slightly darker. Her boyfriend Logan is a tall guy and a little on the skinny side for my tastes, but from the way he hovers over Hanna I can tell he is a decent guy. When they sit down with us, he keeps fidgeting with his glasses and messing with his short dark hair, and I can tell it’s a nervous gesture of his. If it was any other normal day meeting new people, I’d probably do everything I could to make them comfortable, but not today.

Today, I’m having trouble being comfortable in my own skin.

I’m just placing my spork down on the table, and leaning over to place my head on Gabe’s shoulder, when Noah asks Hanna and Logan how they ended up here.

“Believe it or not, we were already on our way into the city when things went south.” Logan says as he places his arm around Hanna and gives her a sad smile.

“I was having labor pains and we were heading for the hospital, when we heard the reports on the radio. It turns out it was only false labor thank goodness.” Hanna tells Noah, who had looked worried when she said labor.

“What did you do?” Claire asks leaning her elbows on the table and stares at them with wide eyes.

“We pulled over in a pharmacy, and waited it out with some other people. After a while though, we got overrun and we drove here after a day or so.” Logan says with a haunted look on his face.

I can sympathize with that, we all hid out before having to leave for someplace else. It’s crazy how we are all brought back together while experiencing more of the same things. It makes things seem more real to me, and while I try to block out reality, it’s starting to cave in on me.

“I’m just glad you guys made it here all right. When I got to your apartment and you weren’t there I was out of my mind.” Noah says, as he reaches across the table and grabs from Hanna’s hand, which she reaches for his at the same time and they share a smile.

It breaks my heart seeing them like that, it should be a good feeling, but it’s not. All I can think about is my parents and now my brother, who is still at said apartments. I just hope they are still there. Gabe, who is finished with his own fruit, places his arm around me and holds me close to him.

“You’re lucky to make it here before the horde got the place surrounded.” Hunter says on the other side of Logan.

We all look at him, and know he’s right. My friends and I had to fight through the dead and we even lost someone to it, but they got here early. It’s more than luck, a good thing since she is pregnant.

“There was more to my group when I got here, but now it’s just me.” Hunter says, as he glances around the table at us and sends us all into a reserved silence.

“It’s certainly a rough time we are all in that’s for sure.” Gabe says beside me.

As everyone else talks about theories about what the outcome of all this will be, I keep going back to my plan to leave here. I know I have to do it soon; otherwise I might lose my window of opportunity. Communication was lost yesterday from Bates, and anything could be going on there. Gabe said that the place has a ton of buildings for people to hide out in, and he’s right. It’ll make for a hard search party, but I’m willing to look over the entire property if it means my parents are there.

I wonder if Noah would let us use his car, or if he would come with us?

I know I shouldn’t even ask anything from him, he’s already done enough by getting us here, plus he has his sister to look after now. Then there is Claire, whose spirit has lifted since finding her mother. I know I can’t ask her to come with me, it wouldn’t be fair. I mean what if she got hurt and could never see her mother again; I wouldn’t ask her to give up something I’m trying so hard to search for.

When we are finished eating, I’m just getting up to leave when I catch Hunter’s eye from across the table. From the way he watches me, I have the feeling he’s been staring for a while, and I wonder what his problem is. I ignore him though, and let Gabe lead me from the room. From the way everyone was talking the plan for the day was to just get some rest, which is fine with me.

My head hasn’t stopped pounding.

My legs are wobbly as we walk back to the Pal Hop Stadium.