Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Kelley’s POV
With the addition of Tobin, Kelley felt like her and Alex were on more equal footing with the olde women of the group. They finally had a third person who identified more with them than with Hope or Abby. Tobin fit in easily with Alex and Kelley, and sometimes it felt like she was their long lost sister. Kelley could tell that their conversations and actions sometimes annoyed the older women, especially Carli. She could tell that Abby was amused by them, but she couldn’t get a good read on Hope.
Now that they were heading east instead of back to Seattle, they pace slowed a bit. They spent more time at abandoned buildings and towns looking for supplies that they would need to continue on their journey. The hardest things to find were clean water and food that actually still had a little bit of taste to it. Kelley was used to drinking water that wasn’t 100% clean, but she knew that in this world you had to make sacrifices and chance things. So far she hadn't had any issues.
After a few days of walking, they decided to stop in what used to be a small town. Hope and Abby starting to make a small camp while Carli stood lookout. They sent the three younger girls to go scavenging.
“Just make sure you guys are back soon, and don’t get yourselves killed!” Carli yelled at them.
Kelley walked next to Alex while Tobin walked a little ahead of them. They went to the center of the small town and were immediately drawn to a large house in the center of town.
“Wonder who lived there?” Tobin asked.
“Probably someone who didn’t really care for people less fortunate than him,” Alex responded.
Kelley lightly punched Alex in the shoulder, “You would think something like that.”
Alex punched her back and Kelley felt lightning move down her arm. “Let’s go in shall we? That place has to have some sweet stuff left over.”
They walked up to the door and found that the latch had already been broken. Kelley hesitated but thought that whoever had done that was probably long gone. As they entered the house they were in a large foyer area with a hall leading to the left and right. The foyer extended back into a living area.
“Let’s go left!” Alex said as she headed that way.
Tobin and Kelley looked at each other. “She doesn’t think before she does stuff does she?” Tobin asked.
“Not really.”
They followed Alex into what was once a master bedroom. The room was pretty much trashed. The bedding had been ripped to shreds and all of the dresser drawers were thrown all over the place. Clothes were strewn across the floor, like someone had been looking for something. It was apparent that looters had already been in this room. They gave it a good search, but they found nothing that was useful. They walked back to the foyer and went down the right hallway. Here they found a dining room and a kitchen.
In the kitchen they found it had been relatively untouched. They found some old bottles of water in the refrigerator. They quickly grabbed those and stuffed them into their packs.
“Hope will be happy we found some clean water. She is always complaining about having to drink contaminated water.” Kelley remarked.
They went back to the foyer and went upstairs, using the back stairwall.
Here they found two more bedrooms and a bathroom. They searched the bedrooms, which were also in sad shape. Here the furniture was completely destroyed. They found some old stale chips in one of the bedrooms, but they decided to leave them there when a small rat scurried out from one of the bags.
Finally they decided to check the bathroom. Tobin went in to check it out and a minute later she called out, “Hey I think I know why this person was so rich.”
She came out of the bathroom holding a bag of cocaine. “So this was a drug lord’s house.” she said.
“Well maybe not. He could just have been buying from someone,” Kelley replied.
“Well we just need to check the basement before we leave,” Alex reminded them.
They headed down stairs and walked to the basement. They started searching the basement and soon found that they wouldn’t be able to find anything useful.
“Well I guess that was a success based on the water we found.” Tobin said.
Suddenly a group of armed men turned the corner. “Well take that water. Requisitioned by the Pacific Coast Republic.”
“Wait what, no!” Kelley exclaimed. “We need that for our group!”
“Doesn’t matter, plus didn’t you know it was illegal to be out in the wilderness without a military escort? And you must be with the other three we apprehended.”
Suddenly Kelley felt a hand grasp hers. She looked over and Alex was gripping her tightly. Weirdly enough Kelley got butterflies. What a time for this, she thought to herself.
Kelley looked over at Tobin and Alex. She gave them a look that hoped said that they should try and make a break for it. Suddenly as if on cue all three girls started to run. Kelley didn’t look to see were Tobin or Alex went but she ran as fast as she could. She ran down a small side street. She wasn’t really looking when she tripped over a piece of debris in the middle of the street. Before she could get up she felt someone roughly grab her.
“Got ya. Did you really think you could outrun us?”
The soldier pulled Kelley to her feet and started walking her to the center square, where they first were confronted by the Republic soldiers. She say that Alex and Tobin were already there in the hands of the soldiers. Tobin had a fat lip and was bleeding from her arm. Kelley smiled weakly at the other two. Kelley felt a sense of relief that Alex was okay.
They were then marched to were the older women had set up camp. They too were in the hands of the Republic. Hope, Carli and Abby were in much worse shape than the three younger women.
“They put up quite a bit more of a fight. Lucky for you, we didn’t have to hurt you guys as much.” The soldier marching Kelley mocked.
Kelley looked at the older women and suddenly felt ashamed. She should have put up more of a fight.
“Ok ladies,” the commanding officer said with a smirk, “you are out here illegally without escort and with weapons. Now what should we do about that? I’m thinking we’ll take you to a prison camp about ten miles from here.”
Kelley grimaced to herself. This was the worst thing that could have happened to them and she didn’t see a way out of it.