Chapter 48 "Newbies"
Day 124; Group A&B
The group was settling in nicely. They had been accepted, mostly, by the residents of West Little Rock, and everyone was making friends. Everyone in the group was beginning to volunteer for jobs, which were often with the new friends they had made, friends among the group, or jobs that fell into their usual role in the group.
Shawn, Greyson, Robert, and Seth volunteered to be on the scavenging and hunting crew. Beth, Selenis, and Taylor have joined the safety and patrol group, acting almost as officers. Malcolm decided to help Allan and Boyd with gate duty and recruiting, Lyrik joined the chefs, and Patricia joined the medics.
Any doubts or reservations they had about the community had vanished within the three weeks they had been there, learning the ropes and the ins and outs of the area. It seemed to truly be a happy, peaceful place of home and sanctuary. They had all began to get comfortable, and ease back into regular life. Things felt almost normal again.
Shawn woke late in the morning, already falling back into his old ways. His eyes opened wide in the bright sunlight as he soon picked up on the smell of eggs and waffles. A wide grin stretched across his face.
He pulled on a pair of sweatpants, foregoing a shirt in the warmth of the house, and trotted downstairs to see Mika and Malcolm sitting at the table while Beth scrambled eggs for them. The leader shrugged off the man being around Beth once again, trying to let it go. She was growing up, and the world has changed.
"Good morning," the farmboy calmly said to the room as he walked past the young girl and ruffled her hair, headed to the stove to help his sister.
"Morning," they all said consecutively.
"You goin' on that run today?" Beth asked with a false calmness.
"Yes, I am!" the man said excitedly.
Malcolm chuckled, knowing Beth wasn't nearly as excited about that, and wondering what could be so fun about going on runs. His own job was usually quite boring, as he often just sat around the gates playing cards with Allan and Boyd.
"Is it fun?" Mika asked lightly.
"Not exactly," Shawn shrugged. "It's just great to get out of these walls. And to let out some frustrations on the world out there."
"Do you really need to?" Beth asked, her falseness receding and allowing a frown to form. Shawn had been doing so good recently; he was calming down and becoming kinder, like he once was. The blonde was afraid that Shawn would snap and go back to his awful, hateful ways if he were to spend too much time around all that negativity again. The last thing the group needed was for Shawn to go back to being crazy and paranoid once more.
"Take out my anger? Maybe not. But go out there? Of course I do," Shawn said with a cocky grin. "They need me."
Lyrik stood in the lobby of the registration building, fidgeting nervously. A young girl Lyrik recognized passed by with her friend, a boy of similar age with a striking face, and waved at her.
"Oh, hi, Michelle," Lyrik said, her voice cracking as she greeted Jim's daughter and the unfamiliar boy.
A smile marked the teen's face, but deep down she was panicking. Today was her first day of work, and she was scared she might mess up. Tavia, Robert, and Greyson had reassured her everything would be fine, however, and she put faith in their words.
Why are you nervous about this? the teenager questioned, recalling some of the sights she had witnessed within the last few months. Even after all this, new people and new jobs still freak me out. She sighed, slightly annoyed at herself for being more scared about cooking than sleeping in strange houses with undead people roaming around outside.
"Lyrik?" Tavia interrupted. She was dressed in a black garb stereotypical chefs on television would wear, which fitted her dark form nicely. Her name was sewed into the uniform in bright gold, the same color as her nail polish. Her kind face stared at the nervous young girl, who nearly jumped from fright when her name was called. "Are you okay?"
"Oh," Lyrik sighed, waving a hand in her face as a fan, "yeah, I'm good."
"Don't be," the head chef told the girl, repeating herself for the seventh time. "You'll be fine. The others won't hurt or be mean to you, and if you mess up, we can always fix it. There's seasonings for everything," the older woman joked.
After Lyrik got dressed, her uniform lighter and more gray than Tavia's, they entered the large kitchen, where two other girls who looked to be about Lyrik's age were working in identical outfits to hers. One was white and quite round. When she smiled, it could be noted she was missing a tooth among her crop of yellow fangs.
"I'm Jessica," she greeted Lyrik kindly. Her accent was very southern, and very thick.
"I'm Lyrik."
"It's nice to have some more hands around here. You newbies really are a relief to us all."
Lyrik nodded and turned to the other girl. "You can call me Bella," she smiled. Lyrik recognized her to be the same girl that they had seen with a child in a baby stroller when they first arrived.
"Isabella?" Lyrik guessed.
"Yeah," Bella nodded politely.
"How old are you two?"
"Just turned twenty the other day," Jessica stated.
"I'm seventeen," Bella nodded.
"I'm nineteen," Lyrik nodded. "Why are there only teens here?" she asked Tavia, who was much older than any of them there.
"Well," Tavia shrugged, "that's just the way it worked out today. We have another, older guy named Kyle. He's off duty today, though. But not many of the older people want to cook, I guess," she said with a laugh. "Come on then, girls. Enough yammering. Let's get this shop open!"
Boyd and Allan sat at a table, cards in hand and many on the table as they played poker. Malcolm stood over them, walking back and forth along the wall with a pair of binoculars in hand and a rifle strapped over his shoulder.
Boyd leaned over and spat down to the ground from their elevated platform, high up on the walls by the gates. It landed on the ground and made a loud splat. There were similar wet spots along the road below them, all at different distances. Allan observed the spit and chuckled, "Beat me again. I fold."
"Beat you in more ways than one," Boyd grinned, showing off his winning hand, causing Allan to groan in annoyance.
"My turn now?" Malcolm asked as the two fought between themselves, laughing and yelling.
Allan stood up, still yelling at Boyd, "You have to be cheating!"
"You're just not that good, boy."
Allan looked over the wall and tapped Malcolm on the shoulder before he could sit down. A car was approaching the walls. It was light blue and looked very old and beat up. The two remained silence and ducked down, readying their guns. "You got this?" Allan asked Malcolm.
Malcolm bit his lip in thought, nervous about leaving the walls for the first time. He recalled how he had reached out to Patricia, Beth, and Allan, though, and remembered that he could handle it. Allan and Boyd would be on the walls, covering him.
"Yeah," Malcolm said, his voice hard as he summoned courage to face strangers.
Malcolm slipped out of the large, metal entrance, Boyd careful to only open it enough for the man to walk through. Malcolm kept his gun cocked and ready in its holster as he approached the car, which was now beginning to slow as the driver noticed him.
The small, blue car stopped directly in front of Malcolm, and he could see through the windshield a woman with a stone-cold face in the driver's seat and an Asian-looking man with a scarred face next to her.
When they only gave him cautious glares, Malcolm walked to the driver's window and hesitantly spoke up. "Hello," he greeted, struggling to find words.
"Hi," the woman said coldly.
"Um," the long-haired man coughed nervously, "my name is Malcolm. I live behind these walls here."
"Okay," she said, making the situation much more awkward as she continued glaring him down, warning him to try something.
Malcolm fidgeted in place, adjusting his sleeves and wiping his brow. He collected himself and remembered what Boyd had told him to say. "This community is called West Little Rock. Behind it, there are nearly one hundred citizens. It is a safe, warm, family-friendly environment for people of every background and age. It is truly a community for all. If you would like to live here, you are welcome to; assuming you pass the interviews."
"Interviews?" the stone-cold woman repeated. "What, are we applying for a job?"
"In a way," Malcolm shrugged. "We can't have just anybody coming into our home, now can we?"
The woman nodded. "Smart. Never thought of interviews at the old place."
"Maybe that's why you're here," Malcolm said warmly, not realizing how harshly that struck the trio in the car, and causing the woman's anger to come back.
"What if we don't want to live here?" the woman asked.
"Then I'm going to have to ask you to leave immediately."
"What, no food for the road? Not even going to let me through the gate just so I can make it onto the other side of this road?"
"I'm sorry," Malcolm shook his head. "I cannot do that."
The woman smiled and nodded to the man beside her, then to a very thin dark woman in the back seat.
"When can we audition?" she asked.
Selenis arrived at Robert's house with Patricia and Seth, her housemates. The sun had set and the three of them were each carrying something. Seth held a large jug of sweet tea in one of his bulking arms, Patricia carried a plate of organic cookies, and Selenis held a plastic container full of mashed potatoes.
Selenis knocked on the door and admired the dazzlingly bright white color painted onto the wood. The door opened slightly and an eye peeked out.
"Hey guys!" Greyson smiled, throwing the door wide open and letting the three in. "Can I help anyone?" he asked kindly.
"Could you please take these?" Patricia asked. "I nearly dropped them all on the way over!" she laughed.
"Of course," the boy laughed in return as he carefully took the plate of cookies and led them into the kitchen, where the rest of the group sat.
It was a group meeting between only the eleven of them. They tried to do this every other night, so that they could make sure the group remained on the same page and up to date with each other and their activities. They had the freedom to be their own people now, which Allan had taken full use of, but they knew it was not smart. They had to remain a unit, at least behind closed doors. At least while they were still getting a feel of the place.
They all held hands and hugged, celebrating their being together. Before long, they decided it was time to eat and they all dug in to the food they had brought for the night.
"Yeah, Olga's great," Robert said with a smile as he swirled his fork in the spaghetti on his plate.
"She's really funny, too," Greyson added, delighted about the woman they referred to.
"Well, I hope we all get to know her, too," Patricia laughed. "She sounds like someone we'd want to keep around."
Robert and Greyson nodded, giving each other a knowing look.
"Who made this cornbread?" Taylor asked.
"I did," Lyrik smiled.
"Well, it's great!" There were nods and hums of agreement all around the table.
"Didn't you start cooking today?" Shawn inquired.
"I did," Lyrik said after a gulp of sweet tea.
"How did that go?" Robert asked.
"It went okay. I didn't really learn anything new about cooking yet, though."
"What about the people?" Shawn asked seriously. "Who worked there?"
"Well, we all know Tavia works there, right?" Lyrik asked, getting nods in return. "Apparently, a guy named Kyle works there. Haven't heard of him yet. Mike's oldest daughter Jessica works there, too."
Robert scoffed in response. He had no reason yet to hate Jessica or her sister Alana, but their dad was despicable to him. "Is she nice?" he asked.
"I think so," Lyrik squinted. "She's kinda weird, but she's cool." Robert nodded, turning back to the food before him. "You guys know that mom? The Mexican one with the little toddler?" Instantly when the baby was mentioned, heads flew up. Robert and Greyson locked eyes, but remained deadpan, giving no hints to their thoughts.
"She works there?" Shawn asked.
"Yup. Did you guys know she's only seventeen?"
"Wait, what?" Malcolm raised a brow, he and Patricia instantly looking to Beth.
"Right?" Lyrik said, her eyes wide as she showed the surprise she felt. "Her name's Bella and her son Angel's two years old!"
"She had him when she was fifteen?" Malcolm asked, getting another nod from Lyrik. "The dad's not Tavis, is it?"
"No, no, no," Lyrik shook her head. "Does that baby look black to you?" she joked. "The dad left her when he found out she was pregnant. Tavis is just her boyfriend, helping raise Angel. He's the step-dad, basically."
"Wow," Malcolm said, once again looking to Beth.
"Why do you all keep lookin' at me?" the blonde asked defensively.
"I'm sorry," the long-haired man said apologetically. "It's just 'cause she's the same age as you. It's weird to think of you having a baby of your own."
Beth looked down to Mika and shrugged. "In a way, I do."
Malcolm shrugged. Patricia smiled and patted the child's head. "You sure do."
"Well," Malcolm said after a long pause, "today we got some new people in."
"We did?" Shawn asked curiously. "Nobody said anything about new people since I got back from the run."
"Yeah," Malcolm nodded, making a personal note to remember to ask Shawn about his run when they finished this topic. "That's probably because they were being interviewed then. No one else had seen them yet. It's three people."
"Do you know their names?"
"I know the leader's name is Carley. I'm not sure about the other two, though, but I think it's Gale and Ken."
"Gale and Ken?" Shawn smiled. "Well, those are different. What do they look like?"
Malcolm laughed, remembering how nervous Carley had made him. "Carley, their leader...she's scary. She looks like she was a real nice person, but now, she just...yeesh. She has this dirty, intimidating look about her. It cuts right through you. You definitely don't want to be on her bad side."
Beth giggled at how put off Malcolm seemed. She had never seen him so uncomfortable, and she thought it was amusing and a bit adorable.
"Anyway, Ken's definitely the next guy in charge. He had a sniper rifle in his lap, so I think he's probably a good shot. He's Asian, and kinda buff. The other one, Gale, I didn't get a very good look at her, but I know she's black and really thin. Like, too thin. I think something really bad might have happened to her."
Everyone continued on quietly, recalling some of the things they saw out there. Walkers that were clearly abused and mistreated before they had died. Tied up and nothing more than bones, now reanimated and snapping soullessly for flesh. There's no telling what might have happened to those people before they arrived. They all took comfort to think, though, that now, they had finally found peace. Those people, no matter what took place with them, were now in what they all believed to be their eternal sanctuary.
