HEATH'S POV:
Admittedly, I couldn't have thought of anything to say as Beth and the woman known as Haley conversed rather awkwardly, perhaps the most out of everyone talking to the respective people. Beth talked about some random childhood memory while Haley tried to begin a different conversation.
"So, how long have you know Sal's brother?" I abruptly asked, hoping to get at least something out of the conversation. Haley smiled. "At least for about four months." Haley said. "Back then, we never talked much, but as soon as we escaped, we talked more."
"That's good." Beth spoke up.
"Hey, was anyone else with you?" I asked, and Haley looked down in sorrow. "Yes, there was…"
"Who?" I asked, and Haley hesitated.
"The kid's father and uncle…" I tilted my head in curiosity. "What happened to them?"
Haley hesitated. "The father...was not a very nice man to the kids…" As soon as she said that, I covered Beth's ears, knowing where this was going. Haley didn't protest, much to my relief. "The uncle heard him beating those kids…" Haley said, and my heart dropped. "Ben tried to do something about it, but Eric had the kids too scared to do anything and the leader placed a lot of trust in him."
I scratched my head, waiting for something else. "One day, Ben confronted him about it, and they fought." Haley paused, her voice beginning to break. "Ben got pushed...onto a hook...through the neck." I sighed. "What about Eric?" I asked.
"During our escape, he tried to stop us…" Haley said. "We had no choice but to shoot him dead."
"Oh…" I simply replied.
TYLER'S POV:
Noah had left me due to having to deal with something I didn't bother to ask, so I was left alone with the green eyed teen staring right at me, not saying a word. Honestly, I was more confused and weirded out by him than anything else. The way he tilted his head when I thought of something to say, the way he played with his hands absent-mindedly, the way his eyes seemed to bounce around all the while staying focused completely on me.
All in all, it was pretty damn unsettling.
"So…" I forced myself to say. "Who are you?" The teen took a bit to speak. "Kirby, you are?" The teen asked, confusing me more. "Tyler, Tyler Horvath." Kirby proceeded to reach his hand out and touch my face, caressing it almost. "Umm…" I began, and Kirby retracted his hand.
"Umm...listen, I think I'm going to go for a walk or something." I quickly said, unnerved at Kirby's actions. I proceeded to walk outside, and briefly see Terrance and Noah sitting next to each other. "Noah, Terrance, how are you?" I asked.
"Curtis just passed…" Terrance said. I gazed over at Curtis, and saw the stab in his head.
"Dammit, does Sal know?" I asked, and Noah shook his head. "It just happened, so we didn't have a chance."
The door opened again and Jenny emerged carrying a spear of some kind. "Hey Jenny, what's that?" I asked. Jenny looked at me, down at the spear, then back up. "It's a harpoon."
"Really?" Terrance asked. "That should help." Jenny nodded. "An old friend of mine taught me how to use one." Jenny said, and proceeded to chuck the harpoon at the wall, embedding itself in a wooden column.
"Remind me not to mess with you." Noah spoke up, causing a small ripple of laughter between us. However, it was abruptly cut off by the sounds of screaming out in the woods. "Shit, let's go!" Jenny yelled, and we dashed towards the source of the noise.
Eventually a clearing came into view, and we saw something we were all too familiar with.
Three people laid on the ground, with chunks of flesh missing from their corpses. I noted there were no beasties around them at first, but then I saw a thin asian man with brown hair dangling from a tree, trying desperately to hang on.
"We gotta help him!" I yelled a bit too loud, and the beastie noticed quickly. "Dammit Tyler!" Terrance yelled as he brandished a dagger with a hint of blood on it while Noah picked up a large branch, leaving me defenseless. Terrance noticed this quickly. "Tyler, you need to head back, we got this."
I shook my head in response. "No, I'm not running." Terrance shrugged and proceeded to stab a beastie in the head while Jenny thrust the harpoon into another one. Noah slammed the branch over the head of another beastie, and to my horror, two of them staggered towards me. Without thinking, I grabbed one of the beasties by the head and threw it down, and one stomp to the head caused it's head to explode.
The beastie that I had forgotten proceeded to fall on top of me, and I heard it's teeth crash and grind against each other as it's rotten breath assaulted my nostrils. Looking closely at the beastie, I noticed a hole in its neck, perhaps the killing blow that caused it to turn.
Without thinking, I wriggled my hand into the gaping hole and began to tug at the exposed bone. Skin ripped, and the body slowly began to fall limp as I tugged. Finally, the head separated from the body and I tossed it aside, its jaws still mashing against each other.
"Tyler…" I heard Jenny say. "Holy shit…" I looked over at the head, turned, and stomped on its head three times to put it down for good. "How about that guy?" I asked, and I noticed that the guy had dropped down and was simply staring at us.
"Thanks for help." The man said. "You guys have a group?" Jenny nodded. "Yeah." The man looked around at the dead bodies. "Well, Mitchell, Eugene, and Tyrone are gone, so I'm alone." He said. "I got a lot of food in a stash I keep."
Terrance stared at him intently. "What's your name?" The man paused. "Cody."
"Well Cody, mind if you show us first?" Terrance asked, and Cody nodded. Cody then took us to a moving truck, opened the back door, and my mind nearly exploded at the amount of food in the back of the truck.
"Holy hell, how'd you get all this?!" Noah gasped. "And how'd you keep it hidden?" Cody turned back and grinned. "I used to work as a manager for a food production company, so I could tell which foods were good." Cody said. "As for the disguise, I was also a graphic designer." Cody then climbed into the driver's seat. "You wanna direct me?"
We didn't hesitate to climb in, and it didn't take long for us to reach the fishing emporium again. Heath was the first to step out, glaring at Cody. "Who the hell are you?!" Heath asked, while Cody, to my surprise, simply laughed off Heath's threatening attitude. "I'm Cody, Cody Hoàng." Heath glared at him and followed him to the back of the truck. What Heath said next confirmed he now instantly liked Cody.
"Holy shit, banana chips!" Heath yelled, causing a near uproar of laughter amongst the people who had joined us outside. Heath emerged from behind the truck, tearing open a bag of banana chips and chowing down on them. He then looked up at us, staring at him. "What?" Heath asked. "I fucking love banana chips." I leaned towards Beth. "It's true, every day I'd see him eating them."
Cody then emerged from the back with a large carton. "I think we need to have a bit of a celebration." Cody opened the box to reveal a large amount of different alcoholic drinks.
Needless to say, not even ten minutes had passed and Cody cemented himself as a valuable member of the group.
MY LONGEST CHAPTER YET! HUZZAH!
We meet a new guy, the conversations are good, and we got a cool kill!
NOW STAT ME DADDY!
THE RV: Matt, Tyler, Heath, Eli, Terrance, Beth, Henry, Drew, Zoey.
PENELOPE'S GROUP: Harley, Garrison, Pete.
THE BANDITS: Dan, Kal, Kimmy, Tara, Reese.
JOHN'S GROUP: Noah, John, Xander, Alice, James.
CONSTANTINE: Sal, Kaitlyn, Eve, Jenny, Zack, Riley, Issac, Pierce, Curtis, Bryan, Jeff, Gavin, Frank, Brianna, Brittany, Janet, Jack, Tyson, Zeke, Alicia, Philip, Gwen, Dennis, Tony, Trent.
INVADERS: Fredrick, Miranda, Sally, Harold, Kathy, Robert, Steven, Joe, Verne, Andre, Brie, Jacob, Luther.
HOWE'S: Quinn, Lex, Garrett, Haley, Kirby, Paige, Gage, Ben.
CODY'S GROUP: Cody, Tyrone, Mitchell, Eugene.