Tegan's POV
We've been encased for...30 minutes? I stopped counting long ago. The pounding coming from outside sends a jolt through my system, but they've quickly died down with the passing of time. Sara seems not at all bothered by this, breathing slowly through her mouth. Her eyes are closed in deep concentration, and her head is tilted back against the metal interior, exposing her long neck that glistens with sweat and grime. No one has said a word, and the eerie silence hangs in the air with a stench. Emy and the others can't be that far behind. They were driving right behind us, but when did the sound of a second motor disappear...at the first light? Near the convenience store? They should have spotted the van by now at least. My thoughts are running at a million miles per hour, what I really need to do is focus on our current situation: How to get out?
"Leave me." Is the only thing that I can come up with. Sara's ears perk up at my plan, giving me a look of confusion.
"What do you mean leave you? Tegan we're not leaving you, you're coming with us."
"Sara, lets face it it. I'm useless, except for the fact that you could use me as bait while the two of you escape, but other than that, I'm just a burden on you guys."
"Tegan, you're not a burden, you're a human being that will not be left behind-Johnny tell her she's not a burden."
" Well...I mean, she's not completely out of mind. She kind of does have a point..." Johnny says, leaving me kind of hurt, but hey, I'm the one that mentioned it. Sara has taken his remark to the extreme, and you can see her face fill with disgust at Johnny's honesty.
"Seriously Johnny! So when me and Bruce picked up you and Stacy off the side of the road-Stacy who had broken ribs-you're saying we should've just left the two of you to die?!"
"No, no, we'll come back for Tegan, but we need to clear the area before we can move her anywhere."
"Oh. Oh... well that's fine with me, what about you Tegan?" Sara asks looking embarrassed that she didn't fully catch on what Johnny was saying.
"Yeah, just come back quickly."
"Of course we will." Sara cups my jaw in her hand, sweeping the grime off my cheeks with the pad of her thumb and looking me deep in the eyes. I can see worry form at the edges of her hazel orbs, and it warms up my heart to see her worry about me. I try to reciprocate my feelings by nuzzling my head into her hand. It's warm and sweaty, but I don't care, it's Sara. I can feel my heart slowly swelling with...love? Am I already falling? That can't be, I've only known her for a few days. But how can you not fall for her? Despite the environment we live in, she never fails to bring out the light whenever there's darkness.
Suddenly, a huge wave of force rocks the small tank, causing us to tumble. We all end up on the left side, as we try to force the tank to tilt back to balance itself and not fall on its side. Silence filled the following seconds, as we perked our ears and desperately tried to listen for any movement.
"Stay here. I'll try to see what that was." And with that Sara unlatched the metal doors and popped her head outside without precaution.
Emy POV
"Guys...Did you check the roof? For all we know they're up there." I yell up the stairs leading up to the roof. I may be 32 and they might be 30, but that's no reason for me to be lagging up the stairs. So, far we've scoured all the malls in downtown, including the one on the edge of town. This is the second to last one, only one more mall to check out before I really start to worry. My feet feel like they're made of lead, throwing themselves down to the floor every time I try to pick them up. My feet are literally going to fall off and cause me to tumble down the flight of stairs. The sound of a rusty, creaking door opening tells me that they've made it to the top. I wait to hear back, or the sound of the door closing.
"Em, no one's up here!" Their voices echo all the way down to me, making me stop halfway up the stairs. I breathe a sigh of relief, thankful for not having to walk the rest of the way. In less than five seconds, I can see their bodies making their way down the steps.
"Jesus, how do you have the energy?" I ask, stopping to catch my breath.
"Oh Emy, are you getting tired already?" Jasper starts to mock me, a smirk playing on his lips. We all start our descent back to the van, trudging down the steps.
"I have an idea on how you could get back into shape." John interjects from behind me. There's a certain playfulness to his tone, one of many signs to not continue with his playful banter, but it just pulls me in.
"Oh really? Well I don't need your wisdom, I'm already fit." I say with a gummy smile, proud to show my muscles anytime.
"But my way is a lot more fun, I think you'd like it." He says, and I can hear him bump arms with Jasper.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa there." I say, stopping and turning my attention to both the idiots. They hold up their hands in surrender, getting the message.
"Although I'm pretty sure Lindsey would like my idea." I hear John mumble, followed by Jasper's giggles. I turn around, punching John in the stomach. He doubles over, pain written all over his face. Maybe he'll think first before making silly thought of Lindsey doing "exercise" with me brings butterflies to my stomach, but I could never think about her that way. It amazes me how I can get so worked up at the mention of her name, and I don't even know where to start when it comes to describing her beauty. I know she and Tegan are an item, but what if Tegan was out of the picture? I know Sara definitely has a thing for her, but what about Tegan? Well this is going to bother me. Hmm...If I could get Sara and Tegan alone...maybe Tegan would leave Lindsey? Tegan doesn't seem the type though...Maybe if I just insert myself into the picture? Better start getting proactive.
"What was that for?!" He asks wheezing, struggling to get the words out. I crouch down to his level and let my finger do the talking.
"That's for not being quiet." I look up at Jasper, his hands immediately go up in the air, again in surrender.
"Now that everything is understood, we've got a group of frightened girls to find."
I slowly push open the door that leads out. I look around, checking to see if the coast is clear, and pinpointing our next destination. I see our destination off in the west, so I lock my eyes towards the west side of town, trying to remember what direction to walk in. I look back and meet two pairs of eyes, staring off into the distance at who knows what.
"What are you staring at?" I ask, completely oblivious to the situation.
"Look," they both say, using their heads to point in the direction ",there's a huge crowd...and a lone van." I think for a moment and reevaluate my plan. We could risk getting too close, or we make a run for the other building. Right now, the only reasonable option would be to run to the other building and climb all the way up to the roof top.
"Guys, change of plans. We're running over to that building." I say, pointing straight ahead.
"What? Why?" Jasper asks in confusion.
"Well we can't just go over and see for ourselves, now can we? We'll have to climb up to the rooftop and get an aerial view. Sound good?" I explain, and they both nod in approval. Technically, I don't need their approval as much as they need it, but hey, I like the decision process. I open the door a tad bit more, the cold rushing in and instantly cooling our bodies. I can see that it's closer to getting late, which means we have only about 2 hours before everything becomes pitch black.
"Alright. Ready...run!" We all sprint across the street with no walkers in sight or trailing behind us. I open the door, quickly shoving them in. We start to make our way up the stairs, John and Jasper quickly leaving me behind. We arrive at the top, downtown laid out before us. The view is surely breathtaking, but I've got bigger things to look at. Right across the street, there's a crowd of zombies surrounding a lone tank, igniting suspicion inside me.
"You don't think it's them inside there, do you?" I ask, hoping that they say no, but at the same time that they say yes.
"Well-I mean who else could it be?" Immediately, the gears in my brain start to work, already trying to devise a plan.
"Alright…and how exactly are we gonna lure them away?"
Bruce's POV
"Turn right here." I instruct them. They turn onto the dirt road, the road that leads to the hidden camp. It takes only five minutes to reach the entrance, where John and Jasper should be stationed, but they're nowhere in sight. Well this is going to be easier than I thought. The car came to an abrupt halt, causing all of us to jerk forward. The driver takes the keys out of the ignition and hands them to me, which I gladly accept. I motion for the others in the truck to climb out, and they open their doors, climbing out and carrying their weapons. They all file one by one behind me, while I stealthily walk past the entrance, making my way further into their supposed "haven." I'm met with no one in sight, but all of a sudden a woman steps out of one of the tents. We immediately raise our arms, and I shout in her direction, "Hey! Who the fuck are you?" She sees the guns and immediately starts to run. She makes it halfway up the hill before one of my men tackles her to the ground. He pinches her chin, forcing her to look at him. She gathers up some saliva and spits it in his face. He slaps her, disgusted by the rude action. I kick her in the stomach, just to make sure she doesn't try anything.
"Hey! Look at-look at me." I say, stepping in front of the man and forcing her to look at me. She doesn't look right away, but stares into my eyes anyway. I see nothing but annoyance, something that surprises me. Usually I'm able to strike fear into people's hearts and terrify them, but something is different in her expression, causing me to falter.
"Where is everyone?" I ask.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She looks annoyed by our presence, and sensing no real threat, I get off of her and back off. I signal with my hand to the men, telling them to search the entire place.
"Who are you?" I begin, wanting to know more about her.
"Who wants to know?" She scoffs. At first I didn't mind her cocky attitude, but now she's getting really frustrating.
"Listen, I just need to find Sara, and T-Tee something."
"You mean Tegan?"
"Yeah her, son of a bitch shot me. I'm looking for some justice." She cringes at my words, and seems to be afraid. Finally, I'm getting somewhere. If I can't make people afraid, how effective would my interrogations be?
"Well I don't know where she is, but why do you need Sara?"
"She's my wife, I'm coming back for her."
"Aww, how sweet." She says sarcastically, back to her confident, cocky self. She looks behind her, watching the men bring back two people, one who I recognize as Stacy and her children, and a man I've never seen before.
"Who are you?" I ask him, getting up from the ground and walking over towards him. He struggles in the man's death grip, causing me to chuckle.
"No use in trying, they're properly trained." I chuckle. He eyes me with disgust, something I'm used to. I stand before the children and ruffle their hair. They flinch at my touch and immediately run towards Stacy.
"Don't you dare touch them!" She says, standing in front of them to protect them from my touch. I walk over to her, standing dangerously close to her face. I lean in, stopping near the entrance of her ear and whisper, "You do realize one of them is mine, so guess what? I can do whatever the fuck I want with the boy." A small tear makes its descent down her cheek, and a smile soon forms on my face. Satisfied with the hurt I've produced from her, I move back to stand before all of them.
"Well boys, I guess we're staying the night. We'll just have a surprise waiting for Sara and Tegan."