After a less than expected hiatus, hello!
I'm back with the 12th addition to Jason and Kate's story to safety!
Enjoy...
~Jason~
The Witch barely spoke Infected, let alone English, but she was definitely more sane than I was. After a couple minutes of attempted conversation, I finally learned that she knew her name was Elizabeth (Kate nicknamed her Lizzie), she's been here for a few days, and has a shelter where she stockpiles supplies from killed Survivors.
Nick and Francis were the last to get to the building, with a pissed Witch sprinting after them, but a loud shot later and she fell immediately, a bullet between her eyes. We looked around, only to see Lizzie with a beat-up hunting rifle in her hands. She held it awkwardly with her long claws, but... how does she know how to shoot a gun in the first place? She's barely Kate's age AND Infected!
...Awesome...
"Who the hell is that?!" Nick asked, pointing to Lizzie. She already put the hunting rifle away and put her hands in her pockets, so to us she looked a bit more human than me. In the dark light, I remembered that humans had poorer vision, so she must've looked like another person.
"This here's Lizzie," Coach said, putting a hand around her shoulders, "she's gonna be with us too."
"More kids?" Nick questioned, "Why? Just why?"
"Because the last person I knew who left outsiders in need to die sacrificed his damn life," Zoey spat back, "if you're going to do that, then hurry the fuck up."
I stifled a laugh, but Nick heard me make a small giggle. "Oh, shut up!" he yelled angrily, stomping up the steps to the ancient elevator.
Once he was out of hearing range, Kate motioned us into a group. "What if we made this a game?" Kate whispered, "hiding Lizzie being Infected from Nick?"
"She-... she's infected?" Francis asked loudly, but quieted down before Nick heard. "Yeah, why not? We need something fun to keep us sane."
"I'm in," Ellis chimed, and I grunted in agreement. Everyone slowly agreed in some way, and we turned to Lizzie, who was watching us curiously. As the humans started coming into the building, Kate and Coach have been helping Lizzie understand English a bit better, but I could tell she couldn't figure out some of what everyone was talking about.
"O... k..." she finally said, and Coach shrugged. "Hell, it's a bet."
"What the hell took you guys so long?" Nick demanded once we were at the elevator. "I found some Chocolate Helicopters n' wanted a snack," Coach joked. I think I remember them saying that was Coach's favorite snack.
"Wait, how're we gonna do this?" Ellis asked. The elevator was far too small for all of us to fit in. I could tell Lizzie was as claustrophobic as I was just by watching her nervously look at the small box. I almost immediately grabbed on to her as she shrieked in surprise (thank god Witches sound human), ran to the edge, and jumped off, landing softly on the roof below. I knew Lizzie could of landed unharmed, but Nick would get suspicious.
"Holy shit, kid!" Nick yelled, but everybody else shrugged it off. "I can climb down, that's one less person," Katelyn suggested, swinging over the ledge and using footholds and hanging vines to get down. She might be naturally agile, but I swear no human could climb down so easily or quickly. Parkour seemed so useful now...
The Survivors came down in 2 groups. First the northern Survivors, then the southern. When everybody was down, we crossed the sugar field, making sure not to disturb the Witches sobbing in the dense field of crops. Lizzie grabbed one of the stalk things and nibbled on it as we went.
"There it is," Ellis pointed out, and I saw the gas station across the street. I bolted over just as an intense light flashed over the entire area as a loud crack went through the sky, and I stumbled back, blind. What was that?!
"Jason, are you ok?" I heard Zoey ask behind me after a few seconds. I risked opening my eyes to see the bright flash was gone, and everybody was staring at me confused. Lizzie was rubbing her eyes, irritated by whatever the light was, and Katelyn had her hood pulled over her head like shade if it happened again. How could they be so calm about that?!
"It was just lightning, kid," Nick said, walking past me towards the door, but I saw it happen before I could do anything.
A One-Armed busted through the door, ramming into Nick as it roared, and slammed into a truck. Everybody shot at it before it could pummel him, and Ellis ran over to help him up. "Now that's what I call a Karma Charger," he chuckled, earning an "Ass..." from Nick.
"Guys, come on, let's go," Katelyn said, most of the group already at the busted opening of the gas station. I crawled over into the safe room, the light already dim enough for me to handle, and I started sketching into the muddied floor, listening to the patter of rain hitting the roof and doing my best to ignore the horrible smell of gas.
"Can we just rest here for a couple hours?" Coach asked, "It's too early to start headin' back if the storm hits."
"I agree," Louis piped in, "if we get caught in a thunderstorm halfway back, we'll be in deep trouble if a Tank finds us." Everybody settled in, and I curled up next to Katelyn in the corner and drifted off.