Chapter 4
It didn't take very long for us to find the quarry that Shane had found on the map. It was still dark when we came across the clearing. Shane had managed to round up quite a few people, there was a blonde woman about the same age as Lori and her younger sister who was my age, a Hispanic man with his wife and two kids, and an older man with an RV, as well as Shane, Lori, Carl, Carol, Ed, Sophia, Max, Anna, Ethan, Camille, Spencer and I. It was clear that everyone was exhausted but we couldn't rest until everyone had a place to sleep. Because everyone else had packed for the situation, they all had tents, our little group however only had what we had carried with us onto the plane. Luckily some of the group were much more prepared.
"I have two tents you can use," the older man said to Max, "I can sleep in my RV." he smiled handing them over.
"Thanks so much!" said Max, gladly accepting them, "I'm Max, this is my girlfriend Anna, my sister Zara and her daughter Camille. These two are Spencer and Ethan, they were with us on the bus out of the airport." Max said pointing to us each in turn.
"I'm Dale and that's Andrea and Amy," he said pointing to the two blonde women, "I picked them up in Fort Valley being chased by those things."
"The soldiers were calling them Walkers." said Max and Dale clicked his tongue.
"Walkers huh? As good a name as any I guess." he mused.
"Thank you for the tents Dale." I smiled and the old man smiled back.
"No problems, if you need anything else, let me know."
"Likewise." I replied with a nod. Dale nodded back and headed into the RV. I looked over the camp-site, Shane had already set up a tent for Lori and Carl and was setting up the tent for himself, the women who I now knew were Andrea and Amy were finishing their tent and the Hispanic family were beginning to set up theirs. I couldn't see where Carol, Ed and Sophia were.
"Ok well, obviously one tent will be for me and these two," I motioned to Camille and Spencer, "and the other is for you and Anna, then Ethan can decide which tent he wants to stay in."
"Sure, well I will set up yours first so you can get the kids to sleep. Anna can you help me?" he asked his girlfriend, who was currently sitting on a tree stump.
"I might break a nail or get dirty!" she squealed shaking her head. I sighed and rolled my eyes.
"Well could you at least hold Spencer so I can help?" I asked her holding Spencer out to her.
"Um ew, I don't do babies." she replied turning her nose up, I groaned loudly and she glared at me.
"Useless!" I muttered under my breath turning away from her.
"What did you say? You slut!" she hissed.
"Excuse me!" I yelled, "why the hell am I a slut?"
"Well you couldn't keep your legs closed and you have that brat to prove it!" she screamed.
"Call me what you want but don't you dare call my daughter a brat, she's much more polite and kind than you are so shut you god damned mouth!"
"LADIES!" Max yelled, "stop fighting!"
"Sorry Max but your girlfriend just insulted us both, you might be ok with her calling your family names but I'm not, all I asked was her to hold Spencer so we could get this done, she has been nothing but difficult from the start and you know it. Normally I wouldn't say anything but with these Walkers running around and killing people, she needs to come down to earth and stop with the pampered princess act before she gets herself or someone else killed!" I ranted. Max turned back to the tent and Anna got up and stormed off over to where Shane was. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, turning around I saw Carol and Sophia behind me.
"Oh god, I am so sorry you saw that just now." I said mortified but Carol just smiled.
"It's ok, someone had to say something. I was just going to ask if you wanted me to watch the kids while you put up the tents?" she asked.
"Oh Carol that would be amazing thank you and you to Sophia," I smiled handing Spencer over, "I'll come grab them once we are done, you are an angel. Camille go play with Sophia ok baby?" I nudged her and she grinned at me before taking Sophia's hand. I turned back around and began helping Max with the tent. I could tell he wasn't exactly mad at me but he wasn't happy either.
"Max, I am sorry but you know I'm right, she can't sit around all the time, we need to all work together."
"I know but I love her Zara, I really want you two to get along." he mumbled.
"Well for a start maybe she could not call me and my daughter names." I rolled my eyes and Max nodded. Setting up the tent didn't take very long, it was one of those four man pop up deals, once we had set that up I looked over to where Camille was playing happily and Carol was sitting with Spencer on her knee.
"Well while those two are happy I will help you get the other tent up." I said. We started setting up the other tent and realised this one was a little bit more complex, we had been struggling for around fifteen minutes when the Hispanic man came over.
"Need some help?" he asked with a good natured smile.
"Definitely!" I grinned back throwing my hands up, the man chuckled and began to help.
"I'm Morales, that's my wife Miranda and our daughter Eliza and son Louis, we were on the highway out of Atlanta when the bombing happened, we were on our way to Alabama to check on Mirandas folks." Morales explained, "lucky for us or we would have been caught up in all that craziness in the city." he shuddered slightly.
"I'm Zara, this is Max, my brother, his girlfriend Anna is the brunette in the short skirt. My daughter Camille is the little one over there."
"What about the boy and the baby?" he asked fiddling with a tent pole.
"Ethan is the older boy and Spencer is the bub, their family was killed by the Walkers at the airport in Milledgeville. Well their mum and sister was, I didn't see what happened to their dad." I frowned looking for the tent pegs.
"Where are you guys from anyway?" he asked.
"Australia, great time for a holiday right?" I rolled my eyes and Morales laughed.
"Yeah, wow, talk about the worst possible timing." he chuckled as he bashed on of the pegs into the hard ground. I rolled my eyes again and laughed with him as I did the same.
"There you go." Morales got up and brushed off his knees.
"Thanks a lot mate." Max said holding out his hand.
"Mate, how Australian!" Morales said shaking my brothers hand, "well we are just over there, if you need help, you know who to call." he pointed to his tent, where his wife was settling their children. I grinned at Morales.
"Ghostbusters?" I asked cheekily and Morales and Max both laughed loudly, " I better go grab these kids." I said heading over to Carol.
"Hey Carol, thanks a bundle. Ok time for bed Camille." I said scooping up Spencer.
"Ok mama!" Camille bounced grabbing my hand, then she looked like she had forgotten something. She ran back over to Sophia and gave her a hug before bounding up to Carol and giving her one too.
"Night!" she called waving to them. They both said goodnight and waved back. I lead Camille over to the tent and saw that we now had two small mats and two sleeping bags beside our tent. I looked a Max questioningly.
"Dale had them, he said he wouldn't need them. Also Morales had a spare for Ethan and Shane gave Anna and I a blanket to use." he told me. I smiled widely, we were very lucky to have found a group like this one, so willing to share resources. I turned to Ethan who was sitting on the stump Anna had been using before she wandered of to shamelessly flirt with Shane.
"So which tent do you want to stay in?" I asked him and he shrugged.
"Yours I guess." he said quietly and I nodded unzipping the tent and waving him in before grabbing the supplies and setting up the kids sleeping area. I settled Camille in and kissed her, she was asleep within minutes. Ethan had settled himself on the far side of the tent so I set up the sleeping bag for Spencer and I on the other side. I called out goodnight to Max who was in his tent beside us and got myself comfortable with Spencer in my arms. It had been a very long day. I could hear Shane talking to Dale about guard duty but my eyes were heavy and I began to drift off, hoping that tomorrow would be less eventful.