Chapter 3: Seeking Solace/Break Away
When morning light hit the safe house the group exited the room they were sleeping in to find their young leader Stella. They found her in the main room of the safe house, sitting on the floor quietly writing in a new notebook she must have found in the middle of the night. The scene before them was dead quiet except for the occasional whine and panting of pain from the sick young man behind her.
"Ms. Stella?"
She acted like she didn't hear them. Instead she was still writing in the new notebook with the fury of a storm, pausing only to flick through her notebook a few pages or to erase what she had written in it. Her concentration was held by the notebook, but occasionally her hand would ghost over her pocket and lightly pat it, making sure what was in it was still there. The group knew that it was a gun she held, and they knew why she was keeping it so close to her. It was the same reason why she was ignoring them in her self-imposed task. The evidence was on Ms. Shara's face as she walked out of her room to see what was happening as well.
"So when are you all leaving?"
She looked up at them at last, her face an image of perfect calmness as she asked the question. The group was shocked at her calm, as they were so use to her screaming in outrage and her sarcastic replies. However, as she patiently waited for their reply as she continued to write in her notebook, a certain dread began to bubble up in them.
"We were wondering when you were leaving Ms. Stella."
"Oh…..I thought we already went over this fact. I'm sorry, about that. I'm not going with you all anymore."
Silence sling-shot thoughts across the room as she continued writing. The eeriness of her calm state had reached it pentacle that morning as certain people began to look her over. Her eyes were dark but not puffy, a sign had not cried anytime in the night. The fact that she was not crying over her choice now meant that to her, there was little to lose in letting them move. The older ones chalked it up to her slowing cracking. The stress of unknown events, leading a group of survivors to safe houses, and seeing the world she knew crumble was too much for the young woman. The younger ones of the group saw an angry and desperate girl. One who knew how to hold on to a grudge. She was blaming them for the turn of events and was in her own way, washing her hands of them. She chose a dying man over them.
This wasn't shocking to Shara. She understood that they were the ones leaching from the tough girl in front of her. One that was being driven by an unknown promise to do the things she had done so far, including her dedication to the pained man behind her.
Adam was another thing entirely. His jaw was dropped, agitating the wounds that Star had given him in the night. He knew that she was angry about him messing up and having one of them bit, as well as her rage for his attack on Shara, but he was going to apologize to her about it and fix things so that way she would forgive him and maybe even like him. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that she was leaving them after the small amount of time being in the group.
"You see he is changin'"
She did not answer Adam; she went on writing, her hand finally slowing down as she was writing. Adam looked upset and stepped forward ready to try again, so he was caught off guard when Star finished her writing and threw the notebook at him, making him step back as it hit him on the chest.
"Congrats, for that obvious observation, you get the notebook."
Adam's look of shock and the silence of the others mad her sigh and look at them all in disgust before she turned around and walked into the other room, the sound of the door slamming shaking them up more as they all looked at the little notebook she had left on the floor.
Yet, no one followed her.
Star decided to look out of her tempory room once she was finished packing. When she looked again, they had all left, all except one. "Why are you are here Barbie? Did the group kick you out?"
The young woman just shook her head, staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Star sighed when she realized that she would have to look after another person beside Wolfee, in her mind she thought Barbie was a bit suicidal for coming with her.
'Wait, what does that mean about me doing this?'
She pushed the thought away to be examined later.
"Got your stuff Barbie?" Star asked as she rearranged her bags and grabbed Wolfee's.
"Yes, I do. Where are we going? To another safe house?"
Star motioned for Barbie to grab Wolfee's feet and she picked him up by his shoulders.
"Yeah, in a sense."
Star pulled out another map and sat it beside the one she had been using for the last several weeks. The other one had marks that she had put down several weeks before. She took out a pen and began to circle streets in an orange highlighter, stopping once she looked at the areas and opened her notebook to check she was written in it. Flipping back and forth from her notebook to her maps she began to lightly curse under her breath, not wanting Barbie to worry about what she was cursing over.
"So, how far to the safe house?"
"Not that far, however it seems we will be running into Boomer territory."
"Oh…"
Star grabbed Wolfee's arms again, making sure that they were secure with her roll of duct tape. She knew that his light moans would turn to howls and thrashing soon. She just hoped that they would be in one of War Time's safe houses when it happened.
'Did you think of bringing in infected people War Time?'
Barbie walked with her slowly, hoping that no common infected was nearby. To their luck it seems like most of the trouble party was out that day.
"Tell me something Ms. Stella."
"What is it?"
"I know your name is actually Star. Stella is nothing more than that same word in a different language."
"Italian, yeah I know. What about it?"
"What's Mr. Wool's real name?"
"Why do you want to know his real name?"
"Well…It's like the whole 'Barbie' thing. You know my name but you choose the nickname over my name on any given time. Some people would see it as a demising thing…"
"Hush, Barbie. Something's coming."
A low burpping sound confirmed Star's suspensions and earned Barbie's silence. There was a Boomer down the street. The same street they needed to go to.
"Barbie, we have a problem."
Both leaned over to see what was going on. The Boomer was surrounded by a swarm of normal infected, currently sniping a survivor on a roof with its bile.
"Boomer can do that?"
"Yes. They can. A rare few of them of course, but it makes them deadlier."
Star felt Barbie looked around trying to find another way to get to their blocked way, glancing over at Barbie when she stopped her rushed motions she noticed she was staring at Wolfee's bandaged over face.
"Did he try to…?"
"Claw his eyes out? Yup. He was doing it last night while everyone was sleeping. I had to pour at least four cups of purified water into his eyes. He's alright now, well the eye part he is….."
Barbie looked at her like she had lost a few marbles. Star just looked away looking at the Boomer and wondering if she should waste what she had found in the safe house. "Say Barbie…. ever wonder what happens when a Boomer is hit with its own bile?"
Barbie began to pay attention the Star as she asked the subject changing question. She was personally amazed that she sounded so nonchalant she was with the fact that the girl's love was changing right beside them, and the fact that she was not even a street away from a horde and a special infected.
"No, I don't." Barbie admitted weakly as she tightened her hold on her bat.
"Let's find out." Star said as she dragged out a small green tube from her bag. She calmly walked away from them and to where the Boomer was. She lifted the tube and threw it, smirking as it was sailing quickly to the Boomer's face.
"Watch out!"
Star turned quickly to avoid being bitten. The zombie was a middle age man, a teacher if the child sized bits told her anything. She kicked his head off quickly, running as she heard the zombies coming out of the woodworks to attack the Boomer. She didn't look back as she heard the sickining "pops" and "splats" as they took the Boomer apart, dooming themselves as the bile landed on them with each blubbery claw out and bite. Star was more concern with the howling that was behind Barbie as well as the sickening cracks that silenced them.
"What's going on?" Star asked as she ran to where they were, quickly holding down Wolfee's hands and sitting on his chest.
"It's his legs. He was trying to scratch at them with his bound hands when he started howling in pain. By the time it was safe to look back his legs were bent at an odd angle. Do you think he broke his legs?"
Star shook her head as she began humming a dark tune. "It's the infection, its changing his legs. Hold them down." Barbie grabbed his legs, eyes going wide as she felt the muscles shift and bone change under her hands. "My god…how is he surviving this?"
"Barely." Star muttered as she took out two tent poles and duct tape from her bag. She looked at Wolfee again, only to duct tape his mouth as he was howling again. "I'm sorry, but you need to be silent now." He only snarled out his pain as she kissed his duct taped cover lips. The pole she dragged out was reinforced by the duct tape, and she tapped his legs on the poles, making it easier to carry him. Once she was done, Star and Barbie where carrying Wolfee like a caught pig, quickly running past the massacre.
"Is this place safe?" Barbie asked as they reached the building. "It's more than safe. No one was looking for these rooms unless they were given coordinates from War Time himself." Star walked up the stairs quickly, her mallet swinging at her side.
"Shouldn't we be careful for…"
"No one lived here originally. It was being remodeled to be a high-rise apartment." Star interrupted as she walked to onto the walkway of a certain floor.
"Who said survivors didn't try to occupy this place?" Barbie asked, winching slightly at the gurgling sounds of pain that there third member was making.
"I never said they didn't. I'm just sure we are not going to get mobbed by a horde soon."
'I was not thinking about a horde!'
The calm, nonchalant comment put Barbie on edge, making her want to get to this mysterious safe room sooner. They soon reached a worn looking door with a golden and purple handle. The handle was the only thing that looked new, the rest looked as though it went through a booming. Barbie was unsure if this was a good idea but changed her mind quickly as Star opened the door to reveal a more futuristic door inside.
"H…How?"
She looked at as Star visibly relaxed and made the hand motion to come quickly. Barbie walked in with Wolfee, looking back as she heard clinking sound and saw the door was closing behind them. She turned to see Star forcibly opened Wolfee's eyes. "What are you doing?" Star continued what she was doing, dropping eye drops in Wolfee's eyes before lifting him up. "Getting the door between us and a hot shower open."
Barbie wondered what she meant by that before an odd light shot out of the wall and scanned Wolfee's eyes, causing a high pitched squeal to come from him. Barbie was worried for a second but calmed down as Star just put him down gently, cooing nonsense at him and petting his hair as another light shot out from another part of the walls and scanned her eyes as well.
"Status, Alive. Welcome. State name and ID."
The mechanical voice shocked Barbie. 'How and who got this technology? Didn't the booming disrupt electrical power?' Barbie watched as Star stand up walked up to the door.
"Names, Star North and Wolfee Skynns. IDs, Stella and Wool." The computer went silent for a second before a light shot out and scanned Barbie's eyes, shocking her. "Other organic organism located. Status?" Barbie was shocked that the computer didn't even know her status but Star didn't even flinch. "Survivor. Status, 'to be adopted.'"
The computer voice went silent once more before gears whirled and clicked as the metal door in front of them slowly opened. The room inside made Barbie almost weep. "Welcome Stella, Wool and Guest. To safe room #216."