Welcome to chapter 5, sorry it took longer! Don't forget to leave a review or favorite the story!

I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the car, or on the road I was just on. I was at...Gil's Pit stop? When did I get here? I searched around, seeing a small silhouette near the road. I started to cautiously walk towards it. It looked like a little girl, "...Farah?", I whispered out to it. It turned around, I was greeted with the big brown eyes of none other than my Farah. I ran over, hugging her tightly, tears started flowing from my eyes. "I'm scared..." was the first thing she said, I felt something warm and wet flow onto me, coating me. Blood. It was blood. I jumped back, seeing blood drip down her neck, onto everything. I started to shake, make this blood stop, please–SLAM.

I was brought back to consciousness by the sound of a door shutting, we seemed to be here. The sign read "Howe's Hardware", holy shit, this place was huge. Troy went inside, should I just get out, or should I wait? I don't want to be weird. Troy came back with two women, "You gonna get out? Or do you need me to hold the fuckin' door for you too?" Aw man, this wasn't a good first impression, was it? I quickly got out of the car, politely shutting the door. "Uh, h-hello."

The ginger woman eyeballed me up and down, "Well aren't you just a bag of bones, we need to get a good meal in you. I'm Bonnie." she held out her hand, walking over I went up to her and shook hands. She seemed pretty nice. Looked a lot like Lauren...

"Shouldn't we wait for Bill to come back before lettin' him in?" The other woman said, she didn't sound as friendly as the rest of them. I understood though, guessing that Bill is the leader, why they would want to wait, but to be honest I wanted to get in now. They had water, food, shelter, all the things I don't have. I looked over at Troy, waiting to hear his reaction.

"Why the fuck wouldn't he want more people working?", Troy's voice got harsher every time he spoke. He had a point though, from what I can gather they like workers, I'm a worker. I might be weak now but I sure as hell can be strong, not that silent stuff either, I can actually be strong. "Follow me." is all he said and he turned and head into the big building.

This place is huge, and there's ton of food in here! "So, uh, where we goin'?" I was dying to get a shower. "C-Can I get a shower maybe...?" I felt like I was being a pest, but Troy was right, I do smell like shit. He turned around, staring for a second, and continuing to walk. I wonder what that meant?

We walked for a while, and Troy opened a door, it lead to the outside, but the outside was blocked off by boards and fences. "Shower's over here." he stopped walking. There was shower heads coming out o the walls, sorta like the ones you see at the beach. I walked up to one, peeling off my old clothes. I got my hoodie and vest off, that's when I turned around. Troy was still there, "Um, do you need to stand there?", I have to admit, this was pretty fucking uncomfortable. He frowned at me, "Just get your fuckin' shower.".

While slipping off my pants I grabbed the knife out of them. My hair has gotten out of control, I raised it up to the back of my neck, chopping off a good couple of inches. Next I trimmed my body hair, this sure wasn't attractive. I chopped off a bunch of hair from my body, cutting myself a couple times, I was already feeling cleaner and I haven't even showered yet. "Hurry the fuck up." Troy yelled from behind me, forgetting he was there I jumped a tiny bit. I twisted the knob and warm water started flowing out onto me, this was great, despite being watched. I scrubbed all the dirt out off of me, all the dried blood, all my worries were going down the drain.

I spotted a tiny bar of soap on a ledge, so I picked it up, scrubbing my body and hair with it. I turned my head to see if Troy was still there, he wasn't. That's weird. I rinsed off and went to pick up my clothes... They're gone. What the fuck. I guess I'll just sit and wait? The door busted open, I covered myself hoping it was just Troy, it was. "Here, wear this." he threw a shirt, underwear, and a pair of jogging pants. I quickly started getting dressed, being naked in front of people is weird, the shirt was too big and so were the pants. "Your clothes are getting' washed. C'mon, I'll show you where you're sleepin'."

I followed Troy back in and saw him heading for a giant shutter door, is that where I'm sleeping? He opened it and sure enough there were beds and other people in there, two men and a woman. "Go on, get the fuck inside. I'll come to get you for supper, Bonnie's idea." I walked in and he shut the door behind me. One of the men walked up to me, he...was missing an arm.

"Hi, I'm James." I smiled, pulling up my sleeve, damn this shirt is big. "Hey, I'm Reggie. Come on, I'll show you around" He seemed really nice, but at the same time I feel like this wasn't real. "Over here are the bunks, pick whichever you want." I put my bag up on the second to last top bunk, I liked being up high. I looked over to the man and woman sitting across the room, "Who're they?". "The guy is Mike, he's pretty cool when he isn't tired." he leaned in closer, whispering into my ear, "The girl is Jane, she's weird." Weird? What's considered weird anymore? The door lifted up, and in walked Troy, was it supper time already? Wow. "C'mon Sleeping Beauty, time to eat." I walked up to him, "Sleepin' Beauty?" We walked out of the pen, heading for who knows where they eat,"Yeah, you were sleeping up a storm in the car." he chuckled, opening the double doors, there was a lot of people in here.

"Everybody, this is James, he's our new recruit!" Bonnie stood up and yelled out, looking at me she said "We'll introduce you to everyone properly later. Come sit down." I sat over with Bonnie, Troy sitting with us, that one lady Tavia wasn't here though. I stared down at the plates and bowls, it was grilled cheeses and tomato soup. Wow, but how do they have cheese..and bread? I searched around, and saw a bunch of empty cans of "canned cheese" and "canned bread".

"Thank you." I peeked up at Bonnie, smiling. I started to eat the sandwich, sure it tasted weird, but I haven't eaten this well in years. The soup still tasted really good, reminds me of when I was sick as a kid. I could hear somebody say "Ugh, he looks like such a tool." I turned my head to see who said that, it was a little girl. A tool? What does that even mean? –BANG the doors flew open, an older guy came walking in, had a nice fur coat. Bonnie turned her head over to the man and said "Welcome back, Bill.". He searched the room, "So, I heard we have a new recruit. Everybody get back to work, I want to have a talk with him." he walked up, taking a seat across from me, I hope this doesn't go bad.

"So, what's your name?" he asked while holding out his hand, I grabbed his hand and shook it "I-I'm James, sir.". "I'm William Carver, but you know, I liked that "sir" thing you had going. Keep it up." Staring him in the eyes I gave him a semi-confident, "Yessir.". "So, James, where are your people at?" I looked away from his eyes, tilting my head down and slumping my shoulders, "We got...separated, over the years.". Carver leaned back, looking me up and down, "What brought you here?" this guy sure had a lot of questions, but I would too if I was him. "Troy brought me here, I was dyin' on the side of the road." I scratched the back of my head, smiling, this guy was intimidating but he didn't seem bad. "Well James, I'll let you go, I have...business to attend to." he got up and started walking away.

Curiosity got the better of me "What business?" Carver turned around and stared at me, shit I'm being nosy, "S-Sorry, Sir! I just– " I got cut off by him, "It's okay, since you asked I'm finding some old friends." he said as he walked out. Troy came walking back in soon after, "Come on, it's time for bed." I started giggling, I couldn't help it. "What's so fuckin' funny?" I walked over, still giggling, "Ya sound like my mom." Opening the door, Troy sighed, "Shut the fuck up and come on." I was so pushing it, "Whatever ya say, mom." We approached the gate to the pen, Troy shoved me in, "Everybody go the fuck to sleep, big day ahead of ya." I looked back before he shut the gate and waved, smiling "G'night Troy.". He replied with a small "Yeah." and shut the gate.

I head over to my bed, climbing onto it, everybody was already laying down. I grabbed my bag and took out my diary.

"Today was good, I got food, clothes, a shower. I met new people, possible friends.

Carver talked about finding some old friends, I'm excited to meet them.

Well, lots of work tomorrow, I better sleep."

I closed the book, putting it back in my bag and laid down, drifting off into sleep.

Again, sorry for this being uploaded later than usual. Lots of school work! Tell me what you thought of the chapter! We'll be seeing lots of familiar faces next chapter. ;)