AVERY’S POV
“Here.” Joel uncapped the bottle of water he found in the fridge, handing it to the man who was now sitting on a low barstool, still not meeting our gaze.
“You look like you need it.”
Hannah grabbed our half empty bag, nodding to me.
“I’ll stock up with anything I can find.” She sauntered off with Nadia, deeper into the restaurant.
This time, the man looked up slightly, gaze following the both of them.
“Name.” I demanded, snapping him back to reality.
We had been here for about fifteen minutes and he still hadn’t said a word yet.
It was starting to get really annoying.
He wasn’t mute, we were all shaken up, the least he could do was make this easier for us all.
Joel sighed, pinching his nose bridge.
“Avery, we don’t have time for this.” He stepped closer to me, keeping a keen eye on the man.
“We should leave soonㅡ”
“Waitㅡ” The man suddenly croaked, his voice hoarse.
That got our attention and I immediately took a step forward.
“My name’s Derek…” The man muttered under his breath.
“Don’t go yet. You’re the first ones I’ve seen here since all this started.”
My gaze darted to Joel who was now quiet.
“What happened here?”
His gaze flicked around the whole space, as though taking it in for the first time.
“When they came…everyone left to see…I stayed behind because I wasㅡ” His voice cracked.
“No one came back and I uhㅡ I barricaded the door and I’ve stayed here ever since that day.”
His shoulders were trembling, and I felt tempted to comfort him, but it didn’t feel like that was the best thing I could do to help him.
I couldn’t assure him that we could get to safety.
We were literally going towards a place where our safety wasn’t guaranteed.
We didn’t even know if it existed.
But he could come with us.
If he wanted.
He looked like he would lose his mind completely if he stayed here a second longer.
I guess that’s what a few days of isolation in a dying world did to you.
Something snagged in my head ㅡ what if I ended up just like him?
I immediately brushed it aside.
His gaze moved between Joel and I.
Then dropped to my gun.
“Can Iㅡ I uh…get one ofㅡ”
I let out a sound that sounded like a grunt.
“No, you may not. I think you need some food because you’re obviously not eating well even with so much stuff around.”
The last thing I needed was giving a firearm to someone who didn’t look like they were stable enough.
Finally, Hannah and Nadia returned, the backpacks filled with stuff.
“We’re done here.” Hannah looked at Derek.
“Did he talk?”
I nodded.
“Name’s Derek. He’ll tag along with us.”
She looked at him skeptically.
“Okay thenㅡ I couldn’t find any drinksㅡ”
“Cooler. To the left.” Derek spoke up, his voice low.
Everyone turned to him for the flash of a second.
Thenㅡ Hannah nodded, disappearing again.
Over the course of the next few hours, we had set up a little spot in the restaurant to rest up for the night before continuing in the morning.
I watched Derek curl up in the corner, his form lightly illuminated by the sliver of moonlight creeping through the blinds.
He hadn’t said anything much since then.
He just listened and contributed when necessary.
Telling us the shortcuts.
The places he had noticed the Fractured mostly stumbling towards so we knew to avoid it.
He was a liability.
I wasn’t going to lie.
He was a very big liability.
But I had a kid on the team so that wasn’t an issue.
He would be useful with his information.
But if things got worse and he froze up?
I don’t think I would be able to do much to help him.
Nadia stirred in her sleep, and I looked down at the little girl still in her torn school uniform.
My fingers traced my wrist and I sighed.
It was caked in dried dirt and a bit of blood. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
There was some water in the back, hopefully we could wash up before leaving.
My head tipped back against a table, my eyes becoming drowsy with sleep.
Just for a few minutesㅡ I didn’t know when I dozed off, overcome by the exhaustion of the day.
I woke up to a firm hand on my shoulder and I jerked awake, my chest heaving heavily as Derek’s face came into view.
His expression was filled with panic and his skin pale.
Immediately, I sprang up, looking around everyone who was still sleeping.
“What happened?” I whispered, fingers reaching for my gun.
He didn’t say anything for a second, just stared at me with the expression of someone who had seen a ghost.
Finallyㅡ “There’s something you need to see. Up there.” He pointed to the door to the stairwell in the corner.
Uncertainty gnawed at me and I felt uneasy, but I still followed him.
Whatever had him shaken up could be serious to our safety.
It was too dark out to start moving.
Slowly, he took me up the stairwell, past the second floor that seemed to be a boutique that was now shut tight, and up until we got to the roof of the building.
From this high up, we had a wide view of the city.
Suddenly, it felt like I was seeing it for the very first time since the apocalypse.
Fuck, that still felt so surreal to say.
Collapsed buildings filled the distance, some reduced to a rubble, some missing large chunks.
From here, I could spy movement.
Stragglers, it seemed.
But even more glaring, I noticed the direction they were headed toㅡ The city’s stadium that looked dark and eerie in the distance.
My eyes scanned as far as I could, unease crawling up my spine when I noticed hoardes of Fractured all stumbling to the same direction.
Derek was right behind me, his breathing ragged.
“Do you see that?”
My grip on the gun tightened.
“There’s no sound coming from there. Why are they all heading there? There’s no Rigs too.”
He turned to me.
“Rigs?”
“The mechs.” My gaze remained on the stadium in the distance.
“It’s almost likeㅡ” I paused, not wanting to finish the sentence.
Mostly because it scared me to say.
But Derek helped me complete it anyway.
“It’s almost like something…or someone is assembling them.”