oneoddood: Another great chapter, thank you! I can't wait to see what the group will do when they get inside the barn; steal all her stuff and bolt, take her with them despite her Zero connections, or there might be a nasty surprise waiting for them inside: zombies or Escorpion! I was also wondering if you planned on having any romance in your story? Regardless, the story is awesome and I thank you again for adding to the Z Nation fandom, there definitely isn't enough fan fiction for this fantastic show!
Author; Thanks! As a matter of fact, I do have some romance planned for this fic. I'm not saying who it is yet, but you'll figure it out soon enough!
Thanks to everyone who reads this! I'm glad that you guys like it. I've worked very hard on it so far, and we haven't even gotten to the exciting part yet!
I walked up to the side of the barn. "Entrance is in the back." I called to them.
"Why can't we just use the front?" Murphy asked.
I spun around and faced him. "Because the door barely works." I stated.
"We might as well try." Murphy said. He started trying to open the door.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yeah, lets try opening a door that barely works, so that if it ends up getting stuck and being unable to close again, zombies will have a free walk in." I said sarcastically.
Murphy stopped trying to pull the door open.
"That's what I thought." I said. I walked around to the back of the barn. "I hope none of you guys are afraid of heights." I said, stopping in front of a ladder.
The ladder was 20 feet tall, and that only got to the roof of the first floor. It was another 10 feet up the roof to get to the top floor, which was the official entrance.
"No way. I'm not going to climb that ladder to death." Murphy said.
I sighed. "There's no other way up."
"Are you sure it's safe?" Addy asked, eyeballing the ladder. "It looks kind of unstable."
I shrugged. "It's worked for me. I don't know how it'll work for you guys." I leaned against the edge of the barn.
"Well, if it's the only way up, I guess we'll have to take that chance." Warren said. She grabbed the ladder, and got ready to start climbing.
"When you get to the top of the ladder, you'll have to climb the roof a little bit, just to get to the window." I told her. "But go quickly, because the roof can be slippery."
Warren nodded, then started climbing. We waited two minutes.
"Send Murphy up next!" Warren shouted down.
"Why me?" Murphy muttered under his breath. He started climbing.
Then Addy, Vasquez, 10K, and Doc went up, until it was only me left.
I looked around. There was a large field behind the barn, that stretched for a few miles. Then there were the woods that stood on the outside of clearing. It was a beautiful view from the top of the barn.
I noticed something on the edge of woods. I squinted at it. I couldn't tell what it was.
I was about to go check it out, when I heard Vasquez's voice from above. "Are you coming up?"
"Yeah." I shouted up. I looked once more out towards the edge of the woods, then started climbing the ladder.
When I climbed into through the window, everyone else was waiting for me. "What were you doing?" 10K asked.
"I thought I saw something in the woods, but it's nothing." I said.
They didn't seem to believe me, but there was no surprise there. I had lied to them before. Well, I didn't really lie. I just... With held information from them about my past.
Okay, maybe that's lying, but whatever.
"So, this is where I've been living." I said after a moment of awkward silence.
The floor we were on was huge. There were several stacks of hay scattered all around. In the corner near the window was my stuff. And that was it.
"Well, I'm starving." Doc said. "Where's the food?"
I pointed down. "I keep it downstairs."
"Why?" Addy asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know, it just seemed easier at the time." I walked over to the ladder. "This is how you get down." I said.
"Great, another ladder." Murphy said.
"If you don't like it, you can stay up here all the time." I told him. "It really doesn't matter to me."
I climbed down the ladder. Everyone else followed.
"And, this is where I store things." I said when everyone had gotten down.
This floor was bigger than the top floor. There were stalls along all of the walls, which was good for storing items in different places.
I walked out into the middle of the barn. I pointed to my right. "I keep most of the stuff in those five stalls. Food, water, ammo, guns, clothes-."
Addy cut me off there. "Wait, you have extra clothes?"
I nodded. "Most of it doesn't fit me, but it'll probably fit you guys." I told them.
"Sweet." Addy said.
They all split off and started wandering around. Warren stayed here with me.
"This is a pretty nice setup." She told me.
"Thanks." I said.
"And you got all of this stuff by yourself?"
"Actually, no. I had some help." I admitted.
"Is this help still around?" Warren asked me.
I shook my head. "Not for a while now." I told her.
"Oh." Was all Warren said.
"Warren! There's all sorts of food in this stall!" Doc shouted. "Come check it out!"
Warren walked over to him.
I walked back over to the ladder and climbed up to the top again. I walked over to my things and dropped my pack down with it. I left my food and other stuff in there though.
Who knows how much those guys might eat.
I walked over to the window and looked out. The sun was starting to set, and the sky was turning orange. I smiled a little bit.
I bet Petunia would've loved this view.
I shook my head of that thought. It wouldn't help to think about her.
That was when I realized it was very quiet below me. I carefully walked over to the ladder and climbed down. I could hear them talking in the stall next to me, so I crept over and listened to their conversation.
"What are we going to do about Trin?" I heard Warren ask.
They're trying to figure out what to do
"She's a Zero, we can't trust her, and we should leave now before anything bad happens." Vasquez said. I frowned. I did not like that guy.
"I don't know. I mean, when I talked to her, she seemed kind of sad and lonely." Addy said.
"Remember what happened last time we got into trouble with Zeroes?" I heard Murphy ask them. "They're still hunting us down now."
"Yeah, but Trin is an ex-Zero." Addy pointed out.
"And she did lead us here even when we knew her secret." Doc added. At least, I think it was Doc. He sounded like he was eating something while he talked.
Silence followed for a couple of seconds.
"It could be good to have a Zero with us." 10K said. "I mean, she knows what Zeroes think like, and what hey might do next."
More silence followed.
"I think we should keep her with us. For now." Warren said finally. "Who agrees?"
No one said anything, so that either meant they were raising their hands, or no one was agreeing with her.
"I still don't think this is a good idea." Vasquez said.
I chose this opportunity too run back to the ladder and climb. I had just finished climbing the ladder, and was standing above it, when I heard Warren ask "Trin?"
"Coming!" I said. I waited a minute, then climbed down the ladder.
"Where are some clothes at?" Warren asked when I was down. She didn't mention the conversation they had just had.
Oh, so you guys can keep secrets, but I can't?
I realized they were all still wearing Zero clothes from however long ago they had been there.
"Follow me." I said. I walked over to one of the stalls and opened it.
Inside there was all sorts of styles of clothing. "Knock yourself out." I told them.
