CHAPTER FOUR

Sam

It was slightly perturbing to Sam how for every patch of leaves he took care to avoid and step in a completely clear area, so as not to make the ever-so-loud crunch that comes with stepping on leaves, that Doug was not being as careful. Finally, Sam rolled his eyes and clenched his fists before spinning around. "Doug!" he hissed. "Will you please be quiet?! A whole horde of zombies could be hearing your idiotic stomping around in the leaves."

Doug's face flushed red with embarrassment. "Oh . . ." Doug whispered to himself. "I-I'm sorry, Sam. My . . . my mind was wandering a bit."

Sam sighed before giving him a slight nod. "Okay. Just please, be more aware, alright?"

Doug quickly nodded in return. "Y-yes, sir."

Now, that did make Sam laugh. At only twenty years old, it was pretty funny to him for Doug, who was a couple years his senior, to be referring to him by "sir."

"You don't have to call me sir, Doug. You are older than me."

Doug let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, yeah . . . right." He ruffled his short-cut black hair and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "So, Sam," Doug said after a few seconds of silence. After another bout of silence passed, Sam arched an eyebrow, glancing back to Doug, waiting for him to finish. Finally, he added, "What did you do before . . . all this happened?"

"You mean the walkers?" Sam asked. Doug nodded. "Well," Sam continued, "I was in college, taking some courses to help me with my repair work. I've always had a knack for working on cars, trucks, bikes, pretty much any kind of road vehicle. I took shop classes as a kid, that really helped me learn a lot that I know now."

"Ah. I see." Doug gnawed at his lip before continuing, "Your parents make you do it?"

A flicker of a shadow took over Sam's expression, as his mouth curled down. "No. They died when I was three."

"Oh. Geez." A few seconds passed, and Doug realized Sam's dark countenance still was present. "Sorry if I brought up some . . . uh . . . bad memories."

Just like that, Sam's disposition quickly changed again. "No. It's fine." He nodded ahead. "The camp's just up here. Hey, if you see Alex or Allie, tell 'em to come see me at my bike, alright?" That was Sam's roundabout way of telling Doug he wanted to be alone.

Doug got the message. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. See you around, Sam." He gave Sam a wave and Sam reciprocated with a nod before he turned at the fork leading into the campgrounds that the group had set up.

There were sixteen in the group now, having grown tremendously rather quickly. The apocalypse had been going on for nearly a month now. It had been two weeks since Sam had joined, and he was the tenth one to join the group, joining just after Doug and the Kratt family had. Prior to them, Sam had learned, it had just been the Bloom twins, Sage, and Annalise. Shortly after Sam had joined was when Alison Meunier had joined, and she came with Nigel McAdams and his grandson. Following them was Elsa and Dayana, and the newest member to join was Elodie Kowalski.

As Sam walked along the cleared trail—Sage and Alex had decided to clear out a "road" throughout the campsite to act as a path connecting the camp together—he glanced up, seeing Elodie, Brennan, and Sahale walking together, Elodie's hand wrapped around Sahale's. Sam flicked his eyes to the ground. He didn't really want to speak to anyone right now, he really just wanted to get to his bike. Hopefully they'd get the hint and—

"Hey, Sam," Elodie said, and Sam cursed mentally. He glanced up and did his best to offer up a slim smile.

"Hey," he replied, glancing to Brennan and Sahale, nodding to them.

"You haven't seen Sahale's grandfather, have you?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I haven't." He gestured back towards the wood. "I just came from a scouting run in the woods."

Sahale's eyes widened and Elodie's jaw dropped a bit. "Really?" He caught what looked to be an impressed smile coming to her lips. "That sounds pretty cool."

Sam ran a hand through his shaggy black hair, which had already begun to grow out a bit since his last haircut before the apocalypse. "Yeah . . . I guess so." He glanced back up, and noticed Brennan shooting icy daggers into his eyes. What's his problem? Sam thought, before it clicked. Ohhh. He's jealous.

The awkwardness quickly coursed into Sam's mind as he shifted from one foot to the other. "Well, I've got to go check on my bike and do some maintenance on it. I'll catch you guys later." With that, he kept moving, not looking back to the trio he had just left.

A few minutes later, Sam had come to what was essentially the parking depot of the group. His bike, a rat bake made using an old Harley-Davidson Low Rider frame, wasn't the only vehicle there; there was another Harley that belonged to Dayana, as well as Elodie's Subaru Forester and a fairly new Ford truck, dragging along a camper behind it, that belonged to the Kratt family. That is where they slept, as opposed to a tent.

Brian, Emily Kratt's wife and Brennan's father, was currently standing outside the truck, fiddling with something in the bed. As Sam approached, Brian glanced over his shoulder. "Hey. What's up, Sam?" he asked, nodding.

Sam nodded back. "Nothing much. Just doing some work on my bike."

"Ah. Anything in particular wrong? Maybe I could help," he said, stepping from his truck towards Sam.

In a quick motion, Sam twisted to Brian, as if he had been pulled. "No," he said quickly and sharply, and Brian's easygoing smile quickly faded. Realizing the sting that his exclamation carried, Sam added, "I mean, no thanks. It's nothing major. Just a check-up."

Brian, eyeing Sam a bit differently, nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I got you." He took a step back, holding up a hand in a wave. "Just let me know if I can help you with anything."

Sam only nodded in response as Brian turned back and returned to his truck. Sam got down on his knees and started his bike's check-up. Finally, some alone time.

Sage

"Whoa there, buddy," Sage said, calmly and carefully. "Just put that gun down. We don't mean you any harm."

The guy, his skin a dark tan, kept his auburn eyes focused on both Sage and Allie, his aim never faltering. "I've heard that before. Then the liars who said it killed my father." His voice was coated in a thick Spanish accent.

Sage's demeanor fell slightly. This guy had seen some stuff, that much was clear. "Who were they?"

The guy's hard, stony gaze slowly faltered, as if he was shocked by Sage's question. "Liars. Like I said. They told us they were just on a supply run, looking for food and medicine for their group. My father put his gun down, and then they shot him in the head."

Swallowing hard, Sage let his eyes focus on the man—no, the boy before him. "I'm sorry about what happened to your father, but you have to believe me: we aren't going to hurt you. We really are just runners, looking for supplies." He pressed a hand to his chest, adding, "I have a little girl waiting for me back at our camp, and she has a brother waiting for her." Letting the truth show in his face, Sage said, "Just believe me. We're just trying to survive, same as you."

The young man flicked his eyes from Sage to Allie, and then finally sighed. He lowered his rifle, letting it hang loosely, kept slung over his shoulder by a strap. "I-I'm sorry. You just . . . you just can't be too safe in a world like this."

Sage nodded. "I believe you. My best friend since high school nearly killed me because he had become one of those . . . things." He sighed heavily. "A lot of things are different now." He stretched out his right hand. "My name's Sage. Sage Belmont."

The guy eyed Sage's hand warily before slowly reaching out, taking it and shaking it. "Santiago Vazquez. You can call me Iago."

Sage offered him a smile. "Iago. Nice to meet you. This here is Allie Bloom," he replied, jutting a thumb to Allie. Sage could tell instantaneously that Iago was a bit stricken by Allie's prettiness. A goofy grin—no doubt an attempt at swooning her—came to his lips, but Allie didn't offer any reaction to it off the bat. He's in for a surprise. She might beat his ass for pulling a gun on us at all.

Iago quickly turned around and gave a shrill whistle. Immediately, Sage felt his brow furrow. He didn't just give a signal, did he? Sage feared that within moments he and Allie would be swarmed by other gun-toting survivors, but thankfully his fears were allayed: all that appeared was a horse. The horse was—as far as Sage could tell with horses—a beautiful one, and it quickly trotted up towards the group. It let out a little whinny as Iago ran a hand along her neck.

"Wow," was all Allie said. Now she was interested. "She's beautiful." She stepped forward and held a hand up. "Can I?"

Iago shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead. She's gentle."

As Allie ran a hand along the other side of the horse's neck, Iago continued, "Her name is Rooster. She's all I have left." Sadness glossed over Iago's eyes. "My parents and brothers are all dead. I found her back home, roaming in the wilderness and my parents let me keep her."

"Rooster," Sage mused. "An interesting name for a horse."

Iago chuckled. "Not for this one. When I found her, she had three chickens on her back and a rooster on her neck. So . . . Rooster."

"Uh huh. Interesting, all the same." Sage let out a chuckle, glancing to Allie. "Elodie would freak if she saw her."

Suddenly, Iago's expression shifted to a more serious one. "How many do you all have in your group?"

"Sixteen," Sage said. Allie's brow contorted in confusion, and Sage shot her a glance telling her to keep quiet. A thought crossed his mind as he glanced back to Iago, noticing he looked as if he had a deep thought on his mind. "You said Rooster is all you have?"

Iago nodded.

Sage sucked in a sharp breath, mulling his thoughts over carefully. Just put it out there, Sage. "Would you like to join our group?"

Iago seemed taken aback—as did Allie. "Do you—do you mean it?" he asked, his mouth curling into a smile.

Sage nodded. "Certainly. We can always use more members, and we won't turn down someone who has no one else."

A rush of relief seemed to flood Iago's face. He nodded. "I think I'd like that."

Sage grinned. "Glad to hear it." He turned to Allie. "We'd better get loaded up and head back to camp, introduce Iago to everyone else. Then we can get a bit bigger of a group and come back to do a more in-depth search. Since we'll have to go on foot because of the traffic jam, we're gonna need more boots on the ground to make sure we don't get caught off-guard and surrounded." Allie nodded her agreement as Sage turned back to Iago. "You need anything else before we head back?"

Iago shook his head, patting the backpack slung over his shoulders. "Everything I have is either in here or Rooster's carrying it."

Sage nodded. "Alright. Let's get back to camp then."

A/N: Chapter 4 is here! Another character has joined the group! Thank you everyone for your help in submitting characters, helping me brainstorm ideas for the story, and giving me support through your reviews and kind words! It means the world to me that you guys are enjoying the story so far. As always, if there is anything you want to say, suggest, or request, feel free to shoot me a PM, I'd love to hear from you! And, if you still would like to submit a character, we still have a few slots open! Thank you all for reading. Until next time!