(A/N: Thank you to my beta, lady valeyard. She's helped me tremendously and this story wouldn't be the way it is without her!)
Definitely awkward. I didn't reply to Logan, which caused a silence between us, but it was interrupted when Mac sat down on the other side of me with some macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. Before taking a bite, she asked, "What's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
I scrunched my eyebrows together. "What's the date today?"
"It's December twenty-ninth," she answered quickly. Think Veronica. Christmas was four days ago! Oh, the dinner!
"The last thing I remember was the Christmas dinner at my house." I can't remember four whole days... That's great.
Mac raised her eyebrows, "Veronica, that -" She was interrupted by Piz, who waltzed in the room and stood in front of me.
"Here you go." Piz said, handing the exact same food Mac had. He looked on both sides of me and realized he couldn't sit beside me so he sat cross legged on the floor below me.
I mumbled a, "Thanks," and ate in silence. The food was okay, just a tad too sat beside Mac and glared at Piz again. Seriously, what's with the whole glaring thing?
A few minutes later, I opened my mouth to interrogate Wallace, but before I could say anything Leo walked into the living room.
"Guys, it's getting late and we need to go over the plans, so try and make it quick," he said authoritatively.
"Yeah, yeah. We know. That means wrap it up." Dick stated from the other side of the room. He was with the pi sigs. Go figure. Leo smirked and disappeared into the kitchen as everyone finished their food. Piz led me to the back of the kitchen while everyone was piling in, but Wallace came up and took my hand.
"You need to be sitting down." He took me to a seat right beside the doorframe leading to the living room and stood behind me, making sure Piz stayed where he was. I really need to find out why he's acting like this. What could Piz have done within the past four days to make Wallace dislike him? Dad and Leo stepped up to the front of the table, right beside me, and Leo starting talking.
"At the department, Keith and I grabbed everything we could. There wasn't as many guns as there should have been, but we didn't find anyone else we knew who was-" Leo trailed off as we heard a knock on the front door. He turned to face the door, fear showing on his face. I turned my head and looked at the door, hoping it wasn't an infected person. Leo whispered, "Okay, no one make any noise. Keith, back me?" Dad nodded and they both pulled out their guns and headed towards the door. Leo looked through the peephole and immediately put his gun away, whispering something to dad. I felt a wave of relief. Probably someone we know then. He nodded and opened the door to reveal Sacks and a couple of other deputies with bags on their shoulders.
"We saw your cars out front, figured you were holding up here. Mind if we join?" Dad opened the door even wider. About six deputies in total walked into the kitchen. "There are guns and ammo in the bags," he said as they laid them on the table
Leo continued from where he left off and said, "As I was saying, we didn't find anyone else we knew who was alive, well until now. We also figured out a few things about the infected. Every so often, we would see some that could run. The only sure way to kill them is to disable their brain, so shooting or hitting them hard enough in the head will do it. Last thing, which most of you know, is if someone gets bit, they will become infected within three minutes." Leo glanced at dad and everyone else looked at me. Wallace put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. Yes, my inexplicable non-infection.
"We can't stay here that much longer, or if we do we need a lot more food and water. Right now, we have supplies just to last us for tomorrow. That means either we relocate or we create a team to go out and get supplies and possibly more people." Dad stated. He had a point, too. The latter would be easier, so we don't have to move entirely.
Leo nodded in agreement with dad and added, "Would everybody agree with the team?" Everyone murmured in approval. "If anyone knows how to shoot a gun or wants to be part of the team that goes, let me or Keith know in the morning. Everyone can go to bed now, but if you want to be part of the team, be up at five forty-five. Sacks, if you and the boys will come with me we can find you a place to sleep." Everyone dispersed and I started walking to Mac's room. I'll have to be up at five forty-five then. It might take some convincing, but I'm going to go. I opened Mac's door and jumped on the bed, sleep the only thing on my mind.
"Veronica! Wake up!" I awoke next to Mac, drenched in sweat and my leg throbbing in pain. "You were screaming, what's wrong?"
"I was screaming?" She nodded sleepily. "Well, my leg is killing me!" She started to lift my pants leg up, but it hurt too much. "Stop, that's making it worse!"
"I'm sorry, Veronica!" She moved away with her hands in the air.
"It's fine." I tried to smile, but the pain was unbearable. I let out another scream and the door flew open. Wallace, Leo, Logan, and dad walked in, all with a worried expression on their face.
"We were in the room next door and heard screaming. Is everything okay?" Dad's question was answered by another scream of mine. I couldn't stand it anymore. The pants leg has to come off!
"Mac, pull it up!" I practically yelled at her. Mac looked at me, confusion plastered across her face.
"But.. you said n-"
"I don't care what the hell I said! Just do it!" For a second, she looked taken aback, but she soon recovered and did as I said. She received another scream from me, but the pain subsided as soon as the pants leg was up.
"Veronica, look!" I looked at Wallace and he pointed at my leg. I looked at where the bite mark was. "How is there not a bite mark on her leg?" Wallace took the words right out of my mouth.
"I always knew she was.. what's the word? Ahh, different." I looked up at Logan to find him staring. Of course.
"Keith, what time is it?" Mac asked, making me pull my eyes off at Logan to look at dad.
"About five thirty." He answered.
"Fifteen minutes until you're supposed to be up, right?" My question was directed towards Leo, but dad knew the real reason I was asking.
"Veronica... don't even think about it. You're not coming with us," Dad said sternly. If he would have been any closer he would have pointed his finger in my face.
"I've had plenty of gun training! Plus, the FBI trained me for this kind of stuff, dad!" He sighed. He has to know I'm right.
"Don't forget the whole immune thing." Of course, Logan would bring that up. Like I could forget with everyone staring at me and bringing it up every five seconds? Yeah, right.
Dad looked at Logan and said, "Logan, I don't think any of us will." He turned to me. "Veronica, I'm okay with you going. But only if it's okay with Leo."
"It's fine with me. She's probably better with a gun than me anyway."
When everyone gathered in the kitchen, Leo sprawled a map across the table. "Okay, this is how it'll be. When we get to the store, Keith and Logan will go to this side," he pointed an area on the map, "Sacks and Jacob will go right here, Veronica and I will go to this side," he pointed at two more spots and continued, "And David, Weevil, and Clarence will keep lookout at the front of the store."
I bet dad made Leo promise to keep me beside him. We looked at the map and nodded. "Grab anything that is not out of date. Take as much as you can. Everyone got it?" We nodded again and walked outside, separating in two cars. The five minute car ride was spent checking the guns and ammo. We pulled up to the store, parked, and stepped out, surveying the area. No infected outside, but what about inside?
We walked up to the door. "Those who are searching for food and water, make sure you check every corner, one person keep lookout per group, and be as quick as possible. The ones staying up front, just don't let any infected in. Okay, after me." He pushed open the door, checking left and right before he and I took to the left. Please, no infected. Please let this be an easy trip.
We made our way to the isle furthest back, checking every corner as we went along. When we got there and saw no infected, Leo put his gun in his holster. "Keep a lookout." I nodded as he started looking over the shelf, grabbing anything not expired. He picked up a handheld shopping basket that was on the floor and put the items in it. I kept looking everywhere, making sure I didn't see or hear an infected.
"Did dad ask you to keep me safe?" I asked sarcastically, even though I knew the answer. I just wanted confirmation.
Leo grinned and said, "No. He made me promise. That and to keep you in my eyesight at all times. He said he felt that you'd be safest with me." I'd feel safer if we weren't at risk of being attacked every second. All of a sudden, I saw someone move around the corner and my heart started racing. I twisted my body and whipped my gun up, pointing it towards the person.
A brunette girl lifted her hands up and said worriedly, "Please don't shoot."