Chapter 5 "New"

Day 11

One beautiful, breezy day, the group decided to have an outdoor picnic. Patricia, Lyrik, Beth, and Maggie chipped in to make a nice feast. They brought out the foldable table and chairs and took them outside to watch the sunset and have a family dinner. They stayed there and chatted for a very long time.

Soon, it was getting quite dark and the group decided to start cleaning up. As they were beginning to carry in the food, a car turned the corner to the farm about half a mile out. Stunned, no one moved for at least a minute.

Snapping into action, Beth, Jimmy, Patricia, and Lyrik realized that it was people. Actual, real people. They had not heard anything from outside of town and had been too preoccupied to try leaving the farm. There were no televisions on the farm and radio signals were no use this far out during most hours of the day, but they did hear occasional reports on the radio that things were getting worse around the Atlanta area.

The foursome ran to the side of the road, waving their arms, flashing their flashlights at the car, trying to get the attention of those within it.

The car slowed down, noticing the four. It pulled in right next to them, and the person driving it was a very buff man with half-blonde, half-black hair, and a moderately long black beard. "Well, howdy, there," he said, seeming to mock the group's farm clothes. "The name's Seth. What's yours?"

The girls were obviously stunned by him as they all failed to find words. Jimmy spoke up for them. As Jimmy introduced them, Seth's eyes went to the crowd standing in the field, finally taking notice of them. He realized that this farm was their home, and that they were a big group. He smiled and turned back to Jimmy just as he finished.

"I'm sorry, son, you'll have to say that again. I got distracted. Mind if I get out and you introduce us to all of them, too?"

"Uh, sure, I guess so," Jimmy replied dumbly.

Seth pulled in and parked the car on the far side of the barn, out of sight from most of the road. He got out, followed by four white women and a black man. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention all of my friends here." He pointed to the black man who was now standing next to him. "This here's Lee. He's my good buddy. He helped me out of my apartment building when this all started." He pointed to a woman with short, black hair who seemed very shy, and said that her name is Jessie.

A young brunette girl, no older than sixteen, introduced herself as Allison. She had very large, Harry Potter-like glasses. A very scrawny woman with bleached blonde hair raised her hand and said that she was named Amanda. She very obviously does — or did — drugs judging by her appearance, her face sunken in and damaged. Seth pointed to the final girl, a blonde, middle-aged woman who had obviously been crying. "Excuse her, I'm sorry. She just lost her son."

Jessie looked to the ground, upset at Seth's words. "I guess I did, too," she said, obviously having history with Seth.

"You don't know that, Jessie," Seth retorted. "Sorry Erin," he flashed a hand to the sobbing blonde, "but we actually saw her son die, Jessie. Yours was lost when we tried to escape the refugee center. He could be with other survivors." The two glared at each other for a few moments, which seemed very suspicious to Robert and Hershel. "Anyways, sorry," Seth said, realizing how awkward things had just gotten. "You were saying, your names?"

Jimmy was stumbling over the names, so Hershel took over for him, introducing himself, his family, Robert's group, Otis, Patricia, and Jimmy. "So, what do you want?" Hershel inquired.

"Well, I don't know," Seth began. "What do most survivors want? Food, home, friends. You all are the ones that flagged us down, by the way," he chuckled. "We have supplies in our vehicle, and we can combine inventories. We could team up. It's a rough world out there. You all probably don't know how bad it is, do you?" Most people shook their heads, not knowing much more than second-hand stories over the radio. "People dying everywhere out there. Y'all got it good here? We can help you all out. Do you need guns? We have plenty! So what do you say?" Seth smiled widely and looked between everyone at the farm. "Can we be a part of your group?"

Everyone looked to Hershel, seeing him as their unofficial leader. He looked between everyone, with a general consensus that it was a good idea. After a long period of silence as he contemplated the decision, he looked into Seth's eyes and said, "Alright. You can join us. But remember two things: if you try to hurt one of us, you're all dead. These people are my family, and if you hurt them, you'll regret it. Second, if you live here, you will be expected to help out, at least a bit. Help keep the house clean, do chores, help out with animals, the lands, and anyone who needs help."

Seth nodded his head and looked to his people. They all nodded at him and he smiled back to Hershel. "So we're in?" he asked for clarification. Hershel nodded his head again. A wave of happiness washed across Seth's face.

About an hour later, Patricia and Lyrik made up the only bedroom left, and Hershel told them that they could either pile into it or sleep in the living room. Lily told them that their friend died in the room they were trying to move into and Erin and Jessie freaked out. Seth rolled his eyes when he thought no one was looking, though Robert and Lily caught it, and he told them they would sleep in the living room. Shawn and Arnold helped them move a couple of mattresses downstairs, grumbling the whole way down. Seth, Jessie, and Erin slept on couches while Lee, Allison, and Amanda slept on beds on the floor.

Robert was sitting in his room, listening to the quiet of the house. He was expecting the newcomers to be dangerous. Lily and Lyrik told him he should stop being so paranoid and just go to bed, but he couldn't help but worry. "Robert," Lily had told him, "they gave us weapons. They wouldn't do that if they planned to kill us." Though she had a point, Robert couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. After about thirty minutes of just staring out of the window, listening, he began to drift to sleep, against his better judgement.

Downstairs, the new group was trying to get some much-needed rest. Seth was obviously upset about having to sleep on a couch when he could have been upstairs in a bed. He felt that Jessie and Erin were way too sensitive. They're not the only ones who lost people they love and care for, he thought to himself. What gives them the right to be so whiney? I lost my dad, fiancé, and daughter, and I'm fuckin' fine.

He attempted to sleep, but ended up tossing and turning for a few hours before finally falling asleep in the strange new environment. In most of his dreams, all he could think about was fighting. Visions of a car, stealing supplies, and running from dangerous people ran through his head.