Chapter 7 - Camp
Hailey looked over the seat in front of her, she could see Miss Summers and Mark had occupied on seat together on the opposite side middle, talking amongst themselves with Zac, James and Rob all by the front with James still in control. Hailey looked at Kyle who was awake, but seem out of it, "Hey," Hailey whispers, nudging Kyle in the arm, he blinks a few times and looks at Hailey, "Hey.." he responds weakly, coughing to catch his voice, "You ok?" She asks, and he nods looking down. "Well what is it?" Hailey asks, he leans on the seat in front go him, turning his head to face Hailey, "Julie…" he says, trailing off. Hailey hadn't really thought of what would've happened to Julie, she was more concerned about her parents. She pulled out her phone, "signals gone," she says out loud noticing. "check your phone," Hailey asks as Kyle pulls out his phone, "Mines dead," he says, showing her the black screen and putting it away. Hailey didn't know it at the time, but it was the last time she'd think about Julie or Barry. It had been about 15 minutes of travelling through town, seeing brain eaters walking the streets before they landed on James' street. The bus slowed down, everyone moved to the right side of the bus, looking at the property owned by James. He had a large few aches with high fences, there was a house in the front, but a large warehouse built at the rear of the property. James drove past the main entrance as it had been blocked up. There were a few brain eaters at the front of the property. "Here," James said, talking into a walkie talkie he pulls from his pocket. "Hold on everyone," he says, passing the property and turning at the corner, moving onto grass and sand. "Where are we going?" Zac queried, Rob looked back at him and smiled. He was standing next to his Dad and moved to sit next to Zac, "It's is our camp, we enter through the back," he replied, everyone else sat down and held onto the bus as it rocks back and forth, moving across the uneven the bus followed the length of James' property, a concrete wall had been installed along the corners of the warehouse with a small section situated in front of the concrete wall which appears to be an entry but couldn't fit the bus in it. James stopped the car and the concrete wall moved, Hailey could see a man and a woman opening the area, holding guns out. At first she was apprehensive, especially once James stopped, but they aimed their guns around the bus. "Come on," Mark rushed, running out the door once it was open. Miss Summers, Zac, Hailey and Kyle jumped off the bus. Rob and James had already left, Mark was standing by the door with one of the women, "Your a nurse?" the woman asked, looking at Miss Summers. "Yes," "Come with me," she said, gesturing with her hand for them all to come inside. She would've been in her late 40s, wearing dirty jeans with a black top, blending with her short black hair. "I'm Sarah," Hailey overheard her say as she, Miss Summers and Mark walked inside. Hailey, Kyle and Zac followed without hesitation. Getting away from the school was a big accomplishment and finding anyone that can help them was a bonus.
Walking inside the warehouse revealed a small sitting area, surrounded by food and weapons. "Wow," Kyle said, looking around. Hailey noticed James and walked over to greet what would be presumed as his wife. She was shorter, stocky but had a smile on a face regardless. "You kids are really lucky to get out alive," a deep curious voice from behind can be heard. Hailey, Kyle and Zac turn around, a muscle man, roughly about 6'4 appears and checks out the three. He is holding a large rifle to his side with his hand hovering over the pistol in his belt holster, "Are you bit?" he questioned aggressively, "No," Zac responded back, grabbing Rob's attention. He was greeting his family with James but hadn't noticed the tough guy circling the three new comers. "Are you hurt?.. scratched… cut?.. bruised?" He questioned, looking down at Zac with disgust. Rob walked back over, "Steve," he called out, noticing his demeanour didn't change. "Steve!" he calls out again, this time getting closer and seeing the guy stop moving around, "Stop it mate, they're cool!" He assured, walking up to him, "We picked them up at the school, we did our checks," he continued, Steve looked back at him with a not-so-pleased look on his face and let out a huff, walking away from the group into the large stacked shelves of food storage and containers. Rob looked back at the group, making sure Steve had distanced himself for now, "Ignore him," Rob rolled his eyes, patting Zac on the shoulder and looking at each of their faces which clearly seemed shaken up by Steve's "Warm welcoming". "Come on," He pointed towards the seating area, where his dad and a few others had gathered. Hailey, Kyle and Zac walked up and stood near a long couch, "Please have a seat," a woman sitting besides James offered, pointing to the couch. They all sat down, Rob sitting on one of the arms beside Zac with Hailey in the middle. "Guys, this is my love wife, Betty," James begins, pointing to the woman beside him. "This is my daughter Rachel," a young petite girl with dark blonde hair gives a little wave to the group from across the area, she gives a big smile and her braces shine against the hanging down light above the coffee table. "So good to have friends," she says, looking at Hailey with a big grin, Hailey flashes a smile back to her. She presumes this young teen has been sheltered from whats happening outside in the world. "This isn't a holiday Rach," Rob said annoyed by her innocentness, grabbing a pillow behind Zac and throwing it at her. "Sorry man," Rob said, playfully hitting Zac in the arm for taking the pillow, Zac smiled back at him, "All good," and noticed Rob giving him a quick wink.
"You've met Steve I see," James says pointing behind them, Kyle turns his head but can only see the back of Steve as he loads a gun. "He's intense," Kyle says, turning back towards James, "Yeah, he's just a big monkey," Rachel said smiling, looking to see if he heard her. Apparently loading bullets can drown out near by conversation. James shrugged, "He's just protective, that's all," Hailey looked around, "Where did Miss Summers go?" Hailey questioned, curious where she was taken to. "She went with Sarah," James' wife Betty began, "I better go check on him," James said under his breath, getting up as Betty continued, "My brother-in-law, Trent, He cut him self putting the fence up," She noticed James had left the area, "he was finishing the last of the barb wire outside the fence with.." she paused, looking at Rachel, " the next door neighbour came up and knocked the ladder," "He was a freak," Rachel added, nodding along as she said it, "Rach honey, go read your books," she asked her, shooing the reluctant child out of the room, "Go go," when she walked out of sight, Betty continued, "He wasn't working alone, and when we lost one of ours to the freaks… Trent was holding onto the barb wire when Steve came by," She shook her head, like a disapproving mother. "Silly.." she mumbled, still recalling the day. "Sarah knows very little first aid, we're so grateful we found Miss Summers," she said smiling, clapping her hands together as if it to finalise the discussion. She stood up and pointed towards Rob, "Rob, would you show them a place they can sleep," Betty requested, he quickly jumped up, "Sure thing mum," he said, walking in front of the group, "Come on," he said, getting everyone off the couch and following him through the warehouse. "You have the storage," He points to the area Steve is occupying, he looks over at the group passing by who look back at him wearily, he cocks his gun to put a little fear into the newcomers. "You were at the seating area, kitchen and bathroom in the back," he points in the corner beside the seating area where a door can be seen. "We have rooms behind this wall," he taps on the nearest wall, you can see above the concrete spaces between the warehouse roof they have what appears to be a lookout point. "Mum, Dad, Rach all sleep in there. Trent and Sarah are in one room which I guess is now more of a sick room… used to be their bedroom, Steve sleeps on lookout up top," they kept walking to a dimly lit area with rows of single beds and mattresses lined up. "Here," he pointed, "We prepared for more," he said smiling, pointing to the excess beds. "This is great, thanks," Hailey said smiling, touching Rob's arm and walking down the row of beds with Kyle following. Zac turns to Rob, putting his hands in his pockets, "So where do you sleep then?" he puzzled. Rob grinned, "Why you wanna know?" he asked, sitting on the nearest bed, Zac flustered by his response, stuttered, "Uhh.. well you d-didn't say wh-where you slept?" he said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking away from Rob. "Depends on my shift, I might be keeping watch or i'll just pass out where I can," Zac nodded taking in the information, but still not keeping his eyesight "but I get my own bed if I sleep out here," he added, smiling up at Zac. "Oh… okay, cool," Zac replied, giving off a little shade of red from his cheeks. Rob could see he was uncomfortable and stood up, "I'll let you get settled," he said, walking away from the area. Zac turned and could see Hailey and Kyle were talking closely on the bed and ran after Rob, "Hey wait up…"
"That Steve guys a bit of a dick," Kyle said, looking back to see Zac run after Rob. He sat down on the bed Hailey had put her bag on. "Yeah, can't you blame him though…" Hailey queried as she unzipped her bags. "I guess not," Kyle said rubbing his face with a look of exhaustion on his face. "Did you sleep much last night?" Hailey questioned, putting her bag on the floor beside the bed and sitting with one leg crossed facing Kyle. "No… I .. I couldn't," he stutters, looking down. She puts her hand on his shoulder, "Hey… whats wrong?" she questioned, her long brain hair falling in front of her face as she tilted her head. He looked up at her, and smiled seeing her caring eyes look back at him but then looked back down to continue, "I dreamt you were attacked… It was all too real," She put one arm around him, bringing him in for a hug. He agreed, and held her tight with his head over her shoulder. "I really want to keep you safe," he whispered, she released her grip, "Keep yourself safe first," she said, putting her hand on his cheek. He looked deep into her eyes, "Hailey…" he said, pausing and breaking the gaze, she lowered his hand and he grabbed it with both of his. "We've been going to the same school since Grade 1…" she looked at him and nodded, not really sure what point he was trying to make, "You don't understand how I feel about you," he said, too nervous to look back at her, she smiled with a blush and said, "What is that?" He looked at her and put both his hands on her jaw, pulling her in for a kiss.
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