"Hey, Ryan," Jonah said. "What do we do if this town doesn't welcome Survivors?"
"Or me?" Ellie put out there, surprising Jonah, who almost lost his grip on her after taking a little slide in a mud puddle.
"Why wouldn't they? You're still an infected, right?"
"But she's a Witch," Ryan said. "No offense meant in the least Ellie."
"I know," Ellie replied.
"I don't really get it," Jonah said.
"Witches aren't exactly known for their social skills," Fred explained. "Ellie is the only Witch I know who doesn't attack often when startled. In fact, I've only ever seen her become enraged once. But only once."
"Ellie is truly one in a million," Geoff said, putting in his two cents. "Well, assuming there are more than a million Witches. But she is indeed the first one I have met who is so…timid, I suppose is the word."
"Well, if worse comes to worst, then we can scout out the town after this one before bringing you two in," Ryan said.
"What is the next town?" Jonah asked, curious.
"Don't know. One reason we're stopping in this town is to get a map," Ryan replied. "In fact, I think that's the town right up there," he said, pointing ahead. They saw a ring of buildings ahead. At first glance, it looked like it was just five or six buildings at max, but as they got closer, they realized those were just the outer skirts of the town. Once they got there, they saw Special and Common Infected intermingled everywhere, talking, laughing, drinking, everything one didn't expect to see an infected do. It looked like a normal town, though the inhabitants were a little strange to look at. But once they began walking through the streets, they began to receive glances from people, most of them directed at Jonah and Ellie.
"Ryan…" Ellie began.
"Just stay calm, Ellie," Ryan said, now beside Jonah. Fred and Geoff still were in rear guard position, Geoff receiving his own fair share of glances. "Jonah, you just try not to look intimidating."
"Right now, I'm trying to not look scared," Jonah replied under his breath. "I don't think I like the way that Smoker is looking at me." Ryan glanced at said Smoker, giving a low growl, the Smoker promptly turning the other way around.
"Better?"
"Yeah. I don't suppose that'd work on the rest of this town?"
"I'd rather not try my luck," Ryan replied. "Let's just find out where we can get a map of the towns, maybe find a place to stay for the night. We can restock our supplies while we're here as well."
"I hope we don't need money," Fred said. Ryan smacked his forehead.
"Shit. Didn't think about that. I mean, it's the apocalypse, after all. Money kind of lost its shine for me."
"Hey, where did Jonah and Ellie go?" Geoff asked. Ryan turned around to see that they had indeed disappeared.
"We've been in town for less than two minutes and already we've lost them?" Ryan asked incredulously.
"I got the map," Jonah said from behind Ryan, startling the Hunter.
"What? How did you get behind me?" Jonah shrugged as best he could with Ellie on his back before holding up a folded up piece of paper.
"Like I said, I got the map," Jonah said again.
"How?"
"I think they run on a barter system," Jonah replied. "The guy at the storefront," Jonah pointed at what used to be a small grocery store, a Boomer calling out to people passing by, holding up a sign, "gave me the map for two of the magazines for that Uzi. He said if we needed to find more ammunition, then we should try heading up…um, I think…that street there," he said, pointing at a sign to the right of the Boomer. "He said that there's a couple of infected running a guns shop."
"How do you do that?" Ryan asked.
"Do what?"
"This…thing you do," Ryan said. "Your ability to make friends with infected so easily. One second, you're getting suspicious glances, the next you're talking business with a Boomer." Again, Jonah shrugged.
"I don't know. But I'm still getting suspicious glances. The guy at the storefront was tolerable of me, at best. For a second, I thought he would turn me away."
"Well, since Jonah has already taken care of one of our immediate concerns," Geoff spoke up, "why don't we get to work on seeing if their something like a hotel."
"You mean like that Holiday Inn?" Ellie asked, pointing over Jonah's shoulder at said building.
"I think that'll do," Fred replied.
"You know, you three could have stayed there," Jonah said as the group of five trudged through the wooded area. The renovated Holiday Inn had refused to allow him into any of the rooms, and Geoff wouldn't have been able to fit into any of the rooms, meaning only Ryan, Ellie, and Fred were the only ones able to stay there. They had promptly refused the second the employees turned Jonah away.
"Too uptight," was all Ryan had to say about the hotel, Ellie asleep on his back. "Besides, if we had stopped there, then it would have just been a day more to get to that Cherrygrove place."
"That's our next stop for sure?" Jonah asked.
"Yeah," Fred answered this time. "Oh, by the way, while you four were trying to find food, I managed to get some info about what's been happening lately. There've been rumors of some sort of hybrid running around that recently escaped from a CEDA place. Supposed to be half Hunter and half Witch. Word is that he was being experimented on, because he was the first Special Infected they ever caught that still retained sanity and intelligence. And then there was something I heard about there now being female versions of other Special Infected, like Hunters and Smokers."
"Female versions?" Ryan repeated. "That's a new one. Never saw anything like that back in our hometown."
"Nor have I seen any such thing," Geoff said, nodding his head.
"I wonder if we'll see that guy," Jonah said absentmindedly. "Or maybe even meet some of these female versions of the Hunter and Smoker." He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "So, how long until we reach Cherrygrove?"
"I think we might be able to make it in two days," Ryan replied. "So, do you guys wanna try hiking through the night or stop and rest?"
"I say we may as well go through the night."
"If Jonah's up to it, then I suppose I can make the effort," Geoff said.
"Majority wins," Fred put in, shrugging his shoulder.
"Alright then, we keep going," Ryan said. He then perked up. "Oh, I forgot. Fred, have you shown Jonah what we found for him?"
"Oh, no I haven't," Fred replied.
"What?" Jonah asked. Fred walked over to Geoff, who was carrying Jonah's backpack. He unzipped the largest pocket and produced a full body rain poncho with a deep hood. "A poncho?"
"We figured you can use it in the next town," Ryan explained. "But we, meaning me, Fred, and Geoff, are going to scope it out first, see if we can bring Ellie and you in. You're going to wait on the outskirts for us."
"Okay," Jonah said. "Certainly sounds reasonable."
The next day, Jonah was scrubbing the pot in a nearby stream, only after making sure the water was pure. While it had been difficult back at the city to find clean water, the wilderness was proving to be more than a match for the Green Flu virus. Although there were animals that were affected by it, the meat proved to still be safe enough for Jonah to eat once cooked, while the water in the streams had managed to cleanse themselves. "Almost done, Jonah?" Geoff asked, walking up behind the human teen. Jonah turned around, nodding.
"Yeah. We can let this dry as we walk," Jonah said, standing up and dumping the water a little farther downstream. "So, any sign of Cherrygrove yet?"
"No," Geoff replied. "Ryan thinks it may be another three or four hours before we start seeing any sort of structure. Although, if that map is correct, we're going to have travel close to some Survivor camps. I'm not exactly looking forward to that."
"Well, then, we'll just avoid them completely," Jonah said. "There's no reason for anyone to get shot at."
"You understand our trip time will be a little extended, correct?"
"I know. But it should only be by about an hour, two hours at the most," Jonah replied as the two walked back to the rest of the group, where Fred was kicking dirt onto the last of the embers from their fire.
Later that day, they arrived near Cherrygrove, Fred plucking out the last bullet from Geoff's back. "Wow. They really got you good," Fred commented.
"I still can't believe they spotted me," Geoff grumbled. "From more than three football field lengths away."
"Yeah, that's a little weird," Jonah agreed, leaning back against a tree.
"Well, at least it's over," Ryan said, setting the hiking pack down and dropping to the ground on the left side of Jonah, using the same tree as a prop. "We'll check out the town in the morning. For now, let's all try and get some sleep. Who wants first watch?"
"I'll take it," Fred said. "Jonah, you better go ahead and put on that poncho."
"Right," Jonah replied, standing up and pulling out the poncho, shortly after pulling it over his head, letting it fall down over his body. It did a wonderful job of hiding his body, while the hood did an even better job of hiding the fact that he was human by completely shadowing his face. "Hey, is anyone else feeling a little cold?" he asked, noticing Ellie was shivering, though she was saying nothing about it. Ryan turned his head to see her shivering as well, nodding.
"Yeah. Let's get a small fire going," he replied. He looked up at the tree canopy, water starting to splash his face. "And hope this rain doesn't put it out." Jonah nodded, while Ryan pulled a large blanket out of the hiking pack, offering it to Ellie, who accepted it, wrapping it around herself. "Tomorrow, let's see if we can find you some better clothes." Ellie nodded.
"Okay," she replied, laying down, curling into a ball under the blanket as Jonah brought back firewood, while Ryan produced some lighter fluid and a box of matches.
"Hey, Ryan?" Jonah asked as they got the fire going, Jonah adding small branches to build it up. "Why do you always wear that hood?"
"It's…a comfort thing, I suppose," Ryan replied.
"Oh," Jonah said. "Um…Ryan…"
"What?" Ryan asked.
"…Never mind," Jonah said, shaking his head, water dripping off the hood as it followed the movement. He walked over to the tree, taking the katana off his back and setting it so that it rested lightly against his shoulder, his head now facing down. He closed his eyes, drifting into unconsciousness.
"Ryan, what happened to my notebook?" Geoff asked as he held up a notebook missing pages.
"Um…" Ryan quickly jumped into a tree, pulling himself out of what he hoped would be the maximum height the Tank would be able to reach him.
"It's in the fire, isn't it?" Ryan nodded, hiding behind the branch. Geoff shrugged. "Hey, I can wait until morning."
They've finally gotten to their destination. Sort of…kind of…okay, they're still a long ways away. Please Review.