"Trudy?" a voice asked. As I opened my eyes and searched for where the voice came from, I found Glenn. The new comer. I didn't like him, he creeped me out. But he was Zandra's friend.
"M'okay." I said as I pulled myself up to a sitting. It had been over two months since the dance.
After the dance Mam had got Amber sent away. She told our principal Mr. Addams, that Amber had been making out with one of the boys, and that both the boy and Amber should be sent away, I had overheard them when I was heading to the toilet in the middle of the night. The teachers and boot camp leaders had started to drop like flies about two weeks after the dance. It surprised us all, since we hadn't heard much about the Virus, until I found a stack of papers and showed them the front page, with the text, "Virus Death Toll Rising." I never bothered to read the whole article.
"That's good." Glenn said as he went off. I didn't know where, but I could guess, to speak to Zandra.
"You're awake." Ryan said smiling as he entered the room, I just nodded. As I looked at him I noticed the tinned cans of food.
"Here's some beans." Ryan said as he handed me the tin and a spoon. Yum, cold beans again. I thought to myself as I ate a spoonful. As I swallowed it, I could feel how my stomach was turning and a few seconds later I threw it up. It wasn't the first time I'd thrown up during the morning.
"I'm sorry." I said to Ryan. Who had moved and was standing behind me. He had seen how I was about to throw up.
"It's okay, you can't help it. You're sick." Ryan said as he squatted down and put his hand on my back, and rubbed it gently.
"I'm not so sure about that. Cause if I was sick, then wouldn't you guys also be sick?" I asked Ryan who just shrugged his shoulders. I was lying on my back again, still feeling nauseous. I was trying to think of a reason why.
"Not necessarily." Zandra said as she entered the area where I was lying on a sofa.
"What do you mean Zan?" I asked and looked over at her. Ryan had scooped my up so I was lying in his lap.
"Well what if you aren't sick." Zandra said as she came up to me. I had told her about me and Ryan and what we'd done during the dance.
"Then what could it be?" I asked still looking at her.
"Well, remember about two months ago? At the dance?" Zandra asked and I nodded, as it dawned on me what she was talking about.
"You think..." I trailed off staring in disbelief at Zandra.
"Yeah." Zandra said as she lifted my feet and sat down on the sofa next to Ryan.
"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked us looking baffled. At this point Lex and Glenn came in.
"Nothing." Both me and Zandra said giggling.
"What's so funny?" Lex demanded and looked at Ryan who just shrugged, since he hadn't figured out what Zandra and I had been talking about yet.
"None of your beeswax." I pointed out to Lex as I pulled myself up a bit more, so that Zandra could fit better in the sofa. Preferably I wanted to be alone with Ryan, but that wouldn't happen any time soon. As the time passed by we stayed on the move, searching for new shelter and more food each day and sometimes we stayed for a few days. We were on our way back to the city we had all grown up in. With Zandra's help I'd cut off my hair and colored it purple, Lex had let his hair grow out. While Ryan kept cropping his off. Zandra had colored a quarter of her hair neon pink, and on quarter blue. It looked funny, but if we said anything about it, she'd snap. And as the months passed, I grew bigger, but luckily, with Zandra's help, I managed to hide it quite well, always wearing loosely fitted dresses. The latest one I wore was brown, with a green trim. With a furry sweater. I was also wearing a pair of green pants. Zandra on the other hand was dressed in a knitted sweater and pants with a skirt and a west of some sort. Ryan wore cameo pants and a hoodie, while Lex wore colorful clothes.
We had been on the move for several of months, I'd lost track of the time quite soon it bothered me, I wasn't sure but I thought about five or six months had passed. Never staying in one place for more than a few days. It was tiring, especially since we didn't have much food, even though we didn't have much food, I was still huge. And it was getting harder to hide. We were at the city limits. The neighborhood where I'd lived. We were in the house I'd grown up in, it didn't look the same anymore. It'd been completely looted.
When we were in the house we spoke of what to do next. Lex said he'd arrange something with the Locos. I didn't trust Lex one bit. I knew him too good. We'd have to head to sector nine the following day. It bothered me. It was the Locos territory. It meant that we'd have to run a lot, most likely.
"Come on, let's get going." Lex said after a while. He was sick of waiting, I could tell from his stance. Me I was sick of listening to him. I just rolled my eyes as Zandra helped me up from the sofa. She knew that I was having slight problems with getting up from sitting.
"You should tell him." Zandra whispered in my ear as she hugged me.
"I know." I whispered back as we departed laughingly from each other. The boys just stared at us.
"What was that about?" Glenn asked as he poked his head in through the door, he was standing guard.
"Nothing." Both me and Zandra said simultaneously which sent us in to a giggling fit.
"We need to leave, the Roosters are moving in." Glenn said as he entered the living room where me and Zandra were standing talking, Lex and Ryan were still sprawled on the floor. Well Lex wasn't sprawled out on the floor, he was crouching down next to Ryan.
"Since the Roosters are coming here, we need to split." Lex said as he straightened up. Ryan was fast up on his feet. Zandra and I just grabbed our bags and went up to the boys. We left the house the same way we'd entered it, through the broken high window in the kitchen, it went from the floor to the roof. I had some trouble getting out of the window since I wasn't exactly thin anymore. As we were walking I was thinking over the fact that I was pregnant, I still hadn't told Ryan, even though I knew I would have to. I was mostly just wishing that I hadn't told Zandra, because if I knew her right, she'd be pressuring me to tell him, and she was and had been for the past couple of days. I just ignored her as best as I could. When we were outside again I stayed behind, for a few seconds, long enough to get a reaction from Ryan. He came up to me and took my face in his hands and locked his eyes to mine and asked "Are you okay?" I just closed my eyes and sighed. As I opened my eyes again I said a sincere "Yes. I am fine Ryan." The baby was kicking my bladder, and it wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world.
"Come on, let's catch up with the others." I said as I grabbed Ryan's hand and hurried after Lex, Zandra and Glenn, they hadn't gotten too far. Just after we'd reached them, we all hid in bushes, because three members of the Roosters were coming toward us, and we would be considered strays. This meant, if we were caught, it wouldn't be fun.
When the Roosters had passed us we headed toward the city, it didn't take us long. About two hours, we were at the railway yard waiting for the Locos. Lex had taken off before us and he had found us sitting, eating in an old warehouse half an hour ago, and told us we had to get to the railway yard soon. I' just rolled my eyes, but did not comment on it. We were now standing around in an old train cart that was completely broken and it had most likely been burned down, it had scorch marks all over. I was leaning against one of the broken windows sitting there, Ryan was standing next to me with his arm around me. Glenn and Lex were fighting to Zandra's despair. She was urging Ryan to do something, but he didn't. He was staying put next to me.
"They're here." Lex finally said and pushed Glenn off of himself. Lex did all the talking which suited me, since I was focusing on staying on my feet, which were hurting.
"Ryan, the bag." Lex said and handed the bag of food to Zoot, and mouthed run to us. Zandra made sure to help me down from the train and then we all ran. It didn't take long until we had to climb a fence, Ryan and Glenn helped me over, then I saw Lex make sure that Glenn couldn't get over. I pretended like I hadn't seen it, and ran with Ryan. It didn't take long until we reached a place we thought were safe. The only reason we found it was because we heard a dog bark.
We found a playground with kids and a golden retriever.
"I'll share out the food." a blonde with knots on her head said to a red head and a younger guy.
"You just better friend." Lex said which didn't surprise me. I hung back with Ryan, not wanting to be spotted.
"You see I own this sector." Lex said as he circled around and the blonde girl with the knots was now standing just in front of Zandra, with her back to us.
"I don't recognize your tribe." I guessed it was the blonde that said it since the others looked scared and were quiet. Two young girls and a boy, one of the girls were holding a teddy bear and the dog. The other one was hugging the boy, I guessed they were brother and sister. Ryan hurried over to Lex, and I saw why.
"Lex, Locos." Lex said as we ran head over heels the way we'd come. It didn't take long until we were faced with Demon Dogs. We hid behind a bunch of trashcans, because when the Locos saw the Demon Dogs, they forgot about us and fought each other, which gave us an opportunity to get away.
"What's up there?" Lex asked as Ryan came back. He'd scouted a car park.
"Nothing." he said as he came closer.
"We should head to sector 12 while it's still light." Lex said as he started to walk, he kicked something, a can, and picked up a hat.
"Follow me." Was all Lex said and led us in to the car park, and soon enough we were inside a mall. We found the kids from the playground. We could hear what they were saying.
"Dal, this is Patsy, and Paul. Patsy does all the talking, I think Paul is shy." Amber said and just as that moment the boy spoke.
"I'm deaf, not dumb."
"What does that mean?" the red head asked.
"Trouble." the boy who was standing said, and at this moment Lex walked forward and said
"So where were we?" At this point a gate fell down in front of us.
"You'll regret doing that." Lex said and turned around and we all tried to leave, when a second gate fell down. We were trapped.