Chapter 6: Questions and Answers

"I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you."

-- Roy Croft

We had walked for at least an hour and half now but we got pretty far from our starting point. As we walked, I noticed the fires and more corpses on the ground. I stayed closer to Alex and wondered if we would be heading into the survivors again. I shuttered at that thought and touched my necklace in hopes it would calm my nerves. It did only a little soothing and I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. As always, my thoughts drifted back to Adam and the happy times we once shared. Then to the night when he was taken from me. I looked to Alex and realized that feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to get us anywhere. Everyone had lost someone but they managed to keep it together so why couldn't I? I turned my attention to Cornelius and Dustin who seemed to be quite occupied in their own thoughts. To stray away from mine, I sparked a conversation

"So, Dustin, what was your life like before all of this?"

"Oh, pretty good actually. You wouldn't believe that I was an athlete before all of this." He responded in that hearty tone of his

"Really?" I questioned and looked at him slightly.

"Yeah. the infection caused the size increase." He said quieter now but topped with a smile.

"I see. And what about you Cornelius, what about your life?" I asked

"Nothing I want you to know." He responded with irritation

"Oh, come on. It's not like we're gonna tell anybody else." I said trying to make it easier on him. He was like a stubborn rock that wasn't going to budge. I could feel his intense glare at the back of my head so I needed to say something else. I cleared my throat and offered

"I could tell you about my life."

"That would be nice." I heard Alex say

"Well. As you know, my father is Francis and my mother is Paige. I'm an only child because my father left me at a young age. Um...I've lived here my whole life but I was born in Canada."

"So you're Canadian?" Dustin responded

"Yup, born Canadian raised American." I responded proudly

"I see...that's actually pretty cool" Dustin said and it sounded as if he would ponder about it. I looked towards Alex and he smiled at me. I smiled back and asked

"What about you Alex? Anything we should know?"

"Alex is a rich boy from a rich family." Cornelius shot at me. It caused everyone to go silent. It got pretty awkward too. Alex fell extremely silent and Cornelius continued

"I've known Alex all of my life. He got whatever he wished for when he was younger and still did up until the infection."

"There's nothing wrong with that." I responded back, trying to make it easier on Alex.

"That's what you think." He scoffed and was about to continue but Alex interrupted

"That's enough Cornelius." I looked to Alex and saw that he wasn't smiling. His eyebrows were knit together indicating that he was deep in thought. He still held my hand and tightened his grip but loosened only a few minutes later. As we walked further, more and more bodies piled up. Then we could hear them as they yelled and shot. We didn't want the same mistake to happen so we went the other way around. I was sure it was father considering all the curses that I could hear coming from that direction. I silently prayed for his safety as we continued. I looked up towards the sky and saw that the sun was almost at it's highest point. We weren't even close to being out of the city and they were going to destroy it at midnight. I took in a deep breath and continued along side everyone. I did wonder about Alex and what Cornelius said. what did he mean by "That's what you think?" I didn't look at him. I didn't want to surrender my thoughts to him. So I thought about my Adam again. I lowered my eyes and continued our long journey in silence. It was for the best I suppose.

Side Note: Sorry it's so short :/