Kelley's POV
Chapter 2: Kelley’s POV
Kelley glances over at Alex and sees the worry etched across Alex’s face. She quickly tried to assess the situation and the possible ways that it could be resolved without resorting to violence. Which God knows, is pretty much the only way to resolve things these days. Especially in the unclaimed territories.
“Ok” Kelley says as she lays her sword down. Alex looks over likes she’s crazy but follows suit and drops her gun. “What can we do for you ladies?” Kelley asks.
“This is our home, you came in here and stole our food. Now give it back.” The one with the gun said.
“Hey ok, we didn’t realize. We thought it was abandoned. If you let me grab my pack I’ll get the food out.” Kelley replied.
As she was reaching behind her the one with the crossbow spoke up, “Hold it! I’ll grab the pack, don’t need you pulling a gun and doing something stupid.”
Kelley put up her hands in a sign of peace and let the woman grab her pack and open it. She took out the cans of food they had foraged and shoved the pack back into Kelley’s hands.
“Look we’re just trying to get to Seattle see if we can do some good up there. We’ll get out of your way and just move on.” Alex said.
The two women looked at each other. The one with the gun, who had dark hair and a face that said she tolerated no nonsense spoke, “Why? You’re just kids what could you possibly want there?”
“We want stability and to help the Republic create some sort of peace and order.” Kelley responded. “We’re sorry about the food.”
“That doesn’t matter. Seattle is dangerous right now. We recently left from there to come here and start over.”
“Everywhere is dangerous right now. The territories more than the republics. We just want to feel safe.” Alex responded.
The women laughed. “If you believe that your stupid. These territories are by far safer than the republics. At least out here you won’t go missing just because you said something bad about the wrong person.” The woman with the gun said.
“Why do you say that?” Kelley asks, suspicion clear in her voice.
“Just trust us ok. We’ve clearly been out in the wild longer than you guys have.”
The woman with the crossbow had been silent throughout much of the conversation, but suddenly she spoke up, “Maybe you guys should stick with us for awhile. We’ll show you what we mean.”
The woman with the gun looked quickly at her friend, “Abby seriously, all they will do is slow us down!”
“Hope, their just kids. Plus it would be good to have a couple more eyes right now.”
The woman named Hope walked over to the one named Abby and started talking. Kelley could tell that they were arguing but in the end they seemed to agree and walked apart.
“All right you guys are gunna stick with us for a bit. We’ll take you close to Seattle, then you can decide if you wanna keep going or stick with us.” Abby said.
“Uh, Kelley do you think this is a good idea?” Alex asks, with a hint of alarm in her voice.
Kelley thought about it. They had no idea who these two were, but it would be nice to have a larger group. But that didn’t mean she trusted them.
“Ok, more people seems like a good idea,” she said.
Alex looked at her but didn’t argue.
“Cool follow us to what was the staff room, we got one more that we need to get before we head out.” Abby said.
They followed Abby and Hope brought up the rear. Kelley knew that they did this so she and Alex wouldn’t run.
They walk to the very back of the store, through the toy aisles which depressingly enough were still stocked to the fullest. Kelley thought about grabbing some lego’s but decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea that she’s ever had. When they get to the door that is marked “Staff Lounge” Abby stops and knocks three times on the door in quick succession followed by two long knocks. The door is opened quickly and another woman around Abby and Hopes age stands there.
“What the hell guys, are we just picking up any random stragglers we see now?” She asks.
“No Carli, these two want to go to Seattle, and we’re going to show them the way.” Abby responds.
“No, no way are we going back there.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll change their minds soon enough. And oh I don’t think we actually ever got your names….” Abby says.
Kelley looks at Alex and knows that she isn’t going to say anything so she does.
“I’m Kelley, and this is Alex.”
*********
After the three older women packed their gear and made sure they had everything that they needed they left the Wal-Mart. Carli took the lead like it was her job to take point. Abby grabbed Alex and said something about watching their rear. Which left Kelley with Hope. Hope who hadn’t cracked a smile since they had met her. Kelley was a little intimated but resolved not to make a fool of herself in front of this woman.
“So your friend doesn’t seem to trust us all that much. But to be fair I don’t trust you guys either,” are the first word out of Hope’s mouth after they start walking.
“Well right back at ya, Hope.”
Kelley swore she saw Hope almost smile when she said that. “That might be the smartest thing that you have said all day.”
That did make Kelley smile. As she smiled Hope frowned. Kelley realized too late that Hope wasn’t joking and was being serious. Whoops, Kelley thought way to make them respect me more.
They kept walking for the remainder of the day until Carli told everyone to stop about an hour before sundown.
“Hey guys it looks like there’s a little clearing with at least some tree cover that we could spend the night under.”
Kelley followed the others to the spot. It was off the road which was nice but it really didn’t have that much cover if it decided to rain.
When they got there Alex went to work building a fire until Carli came up beside and asked her what she was doing.
“Building a fire so we can have a hot meal,” Alex responded.
“No, not out here. People could see and that could be a whole mess of problems.”
“But….”
“No buts about it, we eat a cold meal,” Abby said as she entered the conversation. “Did you guys make fires?”
“Yes,” Kelley responded.
Hope walked up to her and said, “I guess it’s good your with us now. We’ll teach you the smart way to survive. Sounds like you guys would probably die without us.”
Kelley felt anger rising inside of her at being so casually dismissed like that. However she knew better than to actually argue with these women, who seemed to honestly have much more survival experience than either her or Alex.
Alex however couldn’t stop herself from saying something.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she retorted.
Kelley cringed to herself knowing that now they would probably be getting a lecture.
Abby started to laugh while Hope glared at Alex.
“Well let’s just say that the wildlife isn’t the most dangerous thing out here. Neither are the random people that you will encounter. Just hope you never run into a patrol from one of the Republic’s. They are nasty.” Abby explained.
“But the Republic’s are here to help people and make the territories safe.” Alex argued. She looked to Kelley for support, but Kelley decided that being quiet was the best option.
Carli looked at Alex. “Yeah that’s what they want you to think. Until you get in their way or don’t do what they want.”
Alex had no answer for this and Kelley didn’t really want to find out. So she ate her cold meal of beans. (It would be beans, only supporting all the cliches that there was before the apocalypse actually hit.)
When they were done eating, Carli told them that everyone had to take a turn keeping watch sometime during the night. When Kelley and Alex gave them a blank stare, Carli rolled her eyes and told them that for an hour and a half each of them would make sure that nothing disturbed them at night. If anything dangerous was around they were to wake the others up and they would take care of it. Of course she gave Kelley the first watch. Thankfully nothing happened during her watch and she woke Abby up and fell asleep.
Luckily nothing happened during the night, so when everyone was fully awake and a had a little water they set off again towards Seattle. They walked for a few hours before they stopped for lunch, which was of course cold.
After lunch they walked for a bit until they smoke rising up into the air.
“That can’t be good.” Carli said.
“We should be fine, they generally don’t start burning things until they leave,” Hope responded. “Plus might be some good stuff that we can’t afford to miss.”
Kelley glanced over at Alex, who just shrugged her shoulders. They continued walking until they were in sight of the small village. The fires had pretty much burned themselves out, but what Kelley saw made her want to cry.