"The infected heard us and they're coming for us. I'm leaving, if I were you I'd pack my dog and I a bag and leave the area." Ashley petted Charm and checked the bike. It wasn't starting, sometimes bikes they tampered with wouldn't. She began to walk away from them and Charm was right on her tail despite Mason's calls. "I have a military vehicle! Found it a couple months ago, I have gas. You can call it my fail safe in case the property's overrun. I can take you further away from here faster than you can walk." Ashley stopped walking and faced him. "And what do you want in return? Huh, Mason? Sex? A thank you card?" The farm boy flushed. "No, I'm offering you a ride because we're headed in the same direction. You're right the infected are coming, I knew that. I've survived this long without anyone telling me how to. You can hitch a ride or you can walk."
Mason whistled and Charm followed him. She heard the engine before she saw the military vehicle come out of the gate. He pulled up beside her and she hopped in. "What's your story?" Mason asked, Ashley laughed her story was non-existent. "I was born in Chicago, I traveled here during the apocalypse and I like long walks on the beach." Ashley was in the passengers seat and Charms was in the back. "I was ten I think when everything happened. A man saved me and raised me, he taught me how to take care of myself. Everything I know is what you see." Mason thought she was older, he was actually gagged. He had memories prior to the apocalypse. He played baseball, he remembers his family cheering in the stands. He liked going to work with his dad. His dad was a mechanic and owned a small shop. He'd work there after school for an allowance. In highschool he had his first girlfriend who played the trumpet in the school band. Looking out the window he saw the walking dead, dried blood, burnt buildings, fallen trees, garbage and abandoned cars. Everything Mason cried about, everything he mourned about the world is everything she ever known - And he couldn't wrap his head around that.
He would've blown his brains out if he didn't have anything to reminisce about. "I'm sorry, I'll tell you more about me. My family and I are apart of a group but we chose to live separately. I live off base and report back to them from time to time, maintain a safe house. The groups friendly, we're the Ventures. A rag-tag group who assist each other and survive. I'm headed there and informing them about the safe house. There was a small group of men who went missing on a scavenging trip and they haven't returned." Ashley gasped and slapped her hand against his chest. "OH, MY GOD there's dead bodies in the Sanibel mall. Dead bodies are everywhere but these bodies were fresh. I didn't know what happened so I hightailed my ass out of there." Mason pulled over and demanded she sketched him a map in a notebook. She roughly drew a parcel piece of the mall and wrote down a few street names and a few landmarks. "Thank you, thank you so much. We find our people and bring them home. We bury our own, I don't know if you've ever been in a group?" She shook her head. "A group actually killed or abducted my dad and brother for muscle. Groups can be vicious, I've only been shown the greedy, gritty side of them." Mason did a hand motion and Charm climbed into her lap. She rubbed underneath his neck. "You are way too big to be in anybody's lap charms!" Charms barked and licked her face repeatedly.
Lying was a part of surviving, deception was how you got people to do what was necessary. It wasn't pretty and Ashley didn't like it. Mason was a good guy, she could tell, Charms was an even better boy. Ashley needed them to love her, love her enough to do anything for her. Like help her unknowingly convince the Ventures that The Scholars killed the their own. The Ventures would surely avenge their men, right? Ashley pretended to fall asleep and felt Mason remove the gun out of her hand. She could hear the gun get placed on the dashboard. Charms curled up in Ashley's lap and Mason drove for a long time. Mason shook her shoulder and she pretended to wake up inside of what looked like a very active camp. A huge camp, she underestimated the Ventures numbers. People were cooking, hanging laundry, farming, building, training and children were playing. "I'll introduce you to our leader. He's fair, tell him the truth and you'll be offered a place here. You already providing information is helpful."
Ashley stepped out of the vehicle on shaky legs and retrieved her gun. She tucked it in the back of her jeans and put her backpack on. A gentleman around Voight's age who was chopping tree wood a couple feet away approached them. Mason came around the car with Charms holding the notebook. "And you are?" The man asked, he held his hand out and Ashley reluctantly shook it. "I'm Ashley, um Mason said I can stay?" The man nodded immediately. "You're a child, you're welcomed here without question. Any adult however will require a lengthy initiation. I'm Leonardo, the leader of the Ventures. We live commune style, what we have we share. We work to keep the community going. You're expected to find something to do. Garden, fish, hunt, build, laundry, scavenge whatever your heart desires." Mason interrupted. "-Sir my apologies but you should know she has information on our missing members. The recent scavenger group, she found them in a Sanibel mall… Dead. We both know she couldn't have taken them out and she's traveling alone." Leonardo looked at Ashley from head to toe. "Are you telling the truth Ashley?" Ashley looked him in the eyes and nodded. "I-I went to the mall because I like trying on clothes and when I was leaving there were bodies in the Food court. I ran out of there I thought they'd come back." Leonardo was intrigued he asked 'who?'. "The Scholars, a man raised me when my parents dead, Kelly. Kelly, his co-workers and I traveled from Chicago to Florida together. We ran into a group in Georgia called the Scholars. They wanted Kelly because he was a mechanic. We wouldn't join their group and there was a shootout. We got away and when we crossed the Flordia line the scholars were there. Kelly and Gallo were taken. The Scholars always want something, what do the Ventures have?" Leonardo rubbed her shoulder and another woman ushered her away. Mason was talking to Leonardo as Ashley and the woman headed further into town. Leonardo looked tense, like he had something the Scholars would find valuable. She asked herself 'what are you worried about the Scholars taking Leonardo?'