Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Hope’s POV
Hope saw the bodies. She saw the way that they were strewn across the streets and seemingly discarded at random. She also say the way Kelley tensed and the way Alex nearly threw up. She figured that this was the first time either one of them had seen something like this. She however was used to it. Abby, Carli and herself had seen things that were straight out of a horror movie countless times.
“Shit,” is all she says.
Abby looks over at her and arches an eyebrow and then glances at Kelley and Alex.
“They’ll be all right. They have to be.” Hope says.
Abby just shrugs and walks over and starts to investigate the scene.
“I can’t believe that raiders would torch a whole town.” Alex said with a hitch to her voice.
“I seriously doubt this was just raiders,” Carli snaps.
“Then who would have done it?” Alex asked.
“The Pacific Coast Republic.”
When she heard the random voice, Hope turned around and raised her gun. She saw that the speaker was a woman about Alex and Kelley’s age. She had her hands raised in the air like it was a stick up. She had an amused expression on her face.
“You can shoot me, but by the content of your conversation, I’d say we’re on the same side.”
“Who are you and how do you know the Republic is responsible for this?” Hope asked.
“I live here. Or used to live here. I was out gathering supplies and when I came back the Republic was in the process of burning the town. So I hid. I feel like a coward, but that’s the only way I survived. I’ve been here looking for my family. And you can guess where they are.”
“Why did the Republic do this?” Kelley asks.
“Hmm, dude you don’t know much do you. We haven’t been paying our dues. Guess we decided to put our faith into something else. But didn’t work out for us.”
“Are you saying this whole town joined up with the rebellion?” Hope asks in disbelief.
“Yeah, I mean it’s a good goal to reestablish the United States, don’t you think?”
“It’s a pipe dream,” is all Hope says as she walks away. “And this is what happens when you join up.”
The three older women begin to walk out of the town.
“Hey wait, shouldn’t she maybe come with us?” Alex asks.
“Whatever.” is all Carli responds.
The other women runs and catches up to them. “Thanks, I’m Tobin by the way.”
“Cool, I’m Alex and this is Kelley. The three up there are Hope, Abby and Carli. You’ll get used to them.”
“Awesome.”
“So our group keeps growing.” Abby says to Hope with a grin.
“So it does. Hopefully they don’t slow us down.”
Hope turned to the three younger women. “We’re still going to Seattle right? To help the Republic,” she asks with a smirk.
Tobin instantly tenses up and looks questioningly at Alex.
“No let’s go to where you guys wanted to go.” Alex responds. “Sorry we didn’t believe you guys.”
“Ok good let’s go. At least now you guys aren’t so naive to the dangers that are out there.”
Hope turns around and they start walking back the way they came. She thinks that hopefully these three will begin to understand what they are up against, and that they will be able to hold their own against the world. They need to so that they can survive, and now that they are traveling with Abby, Carli and herself, they need to so that they don’t get us killed.