I have no idea how I ended up where I am today…
When I, with a little group of survivors I met along the way, found this warehouse at first, it was the perfect safe spot to hide but we quickly realised it could become more than that and we turned it into something better, bigger, and even safer. Soon, more joined us. We found weapons or created some, we had supplies in here and easy access to other places through tunnels free from zombies. Obviously, we have to travel further now but we are more organised, more prepared and more armed. I even brought trust with another community not too far from here. They are travelers, merchants, dealers of any sort. We have established rules between our two communities to exchange goods and information to live in peace. Things are looking good for us. I mean, not as bad as it could have been.
This morning, I decided to go visit the Store, as we call it, to get more supplies, especially some weapons, before a big upcoming raid. One of the women in our town is about to give birth and we need to go to the closest hospital to get some medical supplies even the travelers don't have. I took a couple of men with me and we walked for a few hours, stopping from time to time to recharge. We only ran into a couple of zombies on the way. It looks like the area is getting cleaner by the day. We arrive at the Store and as the guys there see me, they call out for their leader. They know who I am, they know only their boss is to deal with me.
My men wander around, looking at some treasures the Store offers, chatting with the others, offering food in exchange for some alcohol.
“Guys,” I yell out to catch their attention, “don't overdo it, we're not staying here and I need you sharp for the next trip!”
They acknowledge my warning like an order then return to their deals.
As I wait for the leader, I see a group of four strangers entering the Store. My eyes narrow. I have never seen these guys before. They're not with us or with the Store. Are they lost survivors who have just found their way to civilisation or are they from a community further away? They look pretty clean and healthy. There's no way they were alone in an infected area, especially considering they don't seem to carry any weapon. I keep an eye on them until Jax shows up.
“Yo! Angie!”
I roll my eyes. I hate that stupid nickname.
“I don't know how many times I'll have to say this but my name is Chloe.”
“Yeah, but you look so much like an angel, I can't call you anything else!” he teases me.
We have this discussion every time we see each other. I know he means well so I let it go. Plus, we have a very fragile relationship. Better not ruin this by correcting this very tall, very tough, very war chief-like guy. He's not hurting anyone. And, yes, next to him and his skin as black as night, I do look like an angel with my very fair skin and my light blue eyes, but it's not like I chose to look like that.
“What can I do for you this time, Angie?”
I give him the list of what we need.
“Whoa, that's a lot. It's not going to be cheap.”
“Name your price.”
“You're going to the hospital, right? We could use some stuff from there.”
“Of course. We'll bring anything you need here on the way back. Why do you guys never go there anyway?”
“Are you kidding? Even my best guys don't go near the hospital. That's where it started. It's completely infested. Too dangerous even for us. Even if the treasures we can find there are worth their weight in gold, so many have tried and never came back, it's now a red zone we don't want to approach.”
“I get it, believe me.”
“Why are YOU going?”
“Pregnant woman expecting soon,” I just say.
“Well, that's very brave of you. But you do understand I will need to have a little something in advance. I don't mean to bring you bad luck but there's so little chance you or any of your men will come back…”
“Not a problem,” I cut him off as I drop a bag of supplies on his bench. “Hope that's enough to start with.”
“You're a good woman, you know that? I'd love to make you one of mine one of these days.”
He winks at me with a twisted smile. I'm not sure if he's teasing me again or if he's actually serious. He does have a harem of helpless girls following him around for protection and in exchange, they give him anything he asks of them.
“I'm good, but thanks for the offer.”
Before he goes to the back of his warehouse, I see him eying the newcomers.
“Who are they?” I whisper, my gaze following his.
“Never saw them before. But I don't like their faces.”
He says that with a serious, almost challenging tone. His deep, low voice is enough to give me chills.
He turns around and, with one of his large hands, moves the curtain from his path to get in the back of the warehouse where he keeps all the most precious merchandise.
I go back to my contemplation of the four new guys. Two women and two men. They don't look like warriors with these slender frames but if they have made it this far on their own, they're probably worth something. I take a few steps to get a closer look when I see one of Jax's guys picking up a fight with one of them.
“Were you never taught to ask permission before touching what isn't yours?”
My heart skips a bit. Not only because I fear a fight might explode in a second, but also, something weird caught my attention. I can be mistaken but I am pretty sure I saw his eyes glow red as he said that. Diego excuses himself and turns away. What just happened?
I look at the stranger, not believing what I just witnessed. He must feel my insistent gaze on him because the man turns around to face me. I lower my face immediately but he definitely saw me. I look up once more and I realise he's coming toward me now. I'm afraid I may have crossed a line not minding my own business but as he gets closer, he gives me a genuine smile. His eyes are so tender.
“You seem to have dropped something,” he tells me pointing to the radio on the floor.
“Oh thanks, my community would have killed me if I had lost that.” I chuckle, picking up the precious object to replace it in my backpack. “Hey, are you guys from a community nearby? I've never seen you around.”
As I engage the conversation, his three friends almost run to the rescue. But before they can even answer my questions, the guy in front of me stops them simply by raising his hand.
“Yes, we are. Our... “community” is not nearby, per se, but close enough, I guess.”
He grins again. Man, this guy emanates some serious Latino charm with his big brown eyes and slightly tanned skin. And his hair looks so silky I want to run my hand in it. I shake my head to try to focus.
“I presume you’re the leader,” I ask him to confirm what I suspect.
“He's our king, you pretentious peasant!” One of the girls spits at me.
My eyes widened. I don't know if I'm more shocked by her tone or the fact they call this guy their king. What are these people? A cult of some sort?
The “king” turns to the girl with a voracious glare and the girl lowers her head with shame.
“Excuse Melinda,” the king says as he faces me again with an apologetic look. “She doesn't have very good manners when it comes to strangers.”
I try to smile it off but I simply nod awkwardly.
“I'm sorry I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Alexander. This is Martin, Gabriella, and Melinda. We have never come this far before, that's the reason you have never seen us around. I heard you were going to the hospital for a raid, I suppose to get medical supplies. Maybe we can assist you?”
“Are you offering to come with us on this infested hell-mouth? Why would you do that?”
“Well for starters, we also could use some of the treasures the hospital offers. If we go together we would have more chances to survive, don't you think?”
I narrow my eyebrows. I feel like this guy is hiding something.
“Actually,” I correct him, “this place is crowded with zombies, so it's best to use stealth rather than numbers on missions like that.”
“We are very skilled in combat but also incredibly sneaky. We would be an incredible help.”
Before I can think this over, Jax is back with my merch.
“There you go, Angie!” He announces proudly.
I move away from the little group of weirdos but I gesture to Jax to keep quiet with a finger gently pressed on my lips. He interrogates me with a curious look so I point to the group behind me with the top of my head. He peers at them for a second then comes back to me. His eyes lock with mine but his ears are focused on them.
“Why did you tell her that? Why should we help them?” One of the girls asks.
“Would you be foolish enough to discuss your king's order?” Alexander answers.
Woah, arrogant much?
“I'm sorry my lord, this won't happen again. I know all your actions will lead us to greatness.”
Jax makes a funny face, between surprise and mockery, one of his eyebrows much higher than the other. I try not to burst into laughter.
“I promise to you, I will explain myself when the time comes,” I hear Alexander continue. “For now, please trust me. This Angie is our answer, so whatever the cost we need to protect her.”
I roll my eyes not knowing if I'm more concerned about them thinking I'm some kind of God sent, or annoyed that my nickname is now catching up.
Jax puffs. I give him my angriest look but somehow it's nice to see him look so human. He usually keeps this scary poker face on, maybe we all do nowadays, but he looks almost fun and kind like that.
I focus my attention on the goods he brought over and test all the weapons before calling my men over so each of them can equip themselves. Then I turn to Alexander again. If I don't include them in our group, I fear they'll follow us anyway. It might be best to keep an eye on them by having them close by.
“Fine, you four can come too. But don't get in our way.”
Alexander bows slightly to show me he accepts my conditions and thanks me for letting them join us.
I offer them some weapons but they refuse. I shrug, not wanting to know why they're acting suicidal, and glance at Jax.
“You have a list of things you need from there?”
“Nothing specific. It's at your own appreciation. Really anything you can think is valuable somehow, either to trade or to use for our own squads.”
I keep eye contact with him for a moment. This man is a mystery to me. I can't seem to figure him out. Is he a tyrant, chief of the mercenaries, with the heart of a pirate and the twisted mind of a selfish man, or a highly educated and gentle person who cares about his team and plans ahead in an incredibly enlightened way?
I nod to his request, hoping I won't disappoint him. Then I lead my men and the four additions to our group outside.
“I hope you brought your own provisions,” I mention to Alexander as we all walk out of the Store, “cause we have nothing to spare.”
“Don't worry about our meals,” he reassures me, “we can find food on the way. It's one of our strong suits.”
The corner of his lips curls up but this time, his grin gives me chills. As we all reach the sunlight, I realise I may have made a mistake taking these guys with us. They don't exude trust. But what is done is done. I guess it won't harm to have some extra hands to help out at the hospital. I just hope they won't be a burden.
We both sit by the back window, keeping a sharp eye and ear out. Once everyone is asleep, Alexander gets closer to me and whispers as he leans toward me, his shoulder almost touching mine.
“Good job out there,” he congratulates me.
He's probably talking about the group of zombies we fought in the afternoon. To be honest, we barely did anything since he and the three others took them all bare-handed without a single drop of sweat! I'm used to incredible fighters but these guys are on another level!
“What's your secret?” I ask, going straight to the point.
He smiles in the dark, his handsome face very close to mine.
“If I tell you, you won't believe me!”
“Try me!”
“We are vampires,” he simply drops.
I peer into his eyes to look for any sign of amusement after his joke. He's dead serious.
“Is that how you survived the zombie apocalypse?”
“You don't seem surprised to hear about our nature nor do you look doubtful,” he says with a satisfied grin.
I chuckle.
“We are surrounded by freaking zombies. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to run into a werewolf!”
“Werewolves are instinct in this part of the world, but I get your point.”
Again, I expect him to laugh at this joke but he's very serious about that too.
“Were you expecting me to ask you for some proof?” I wonder out loud.
Before he can even answer, his eyes turn with the same bright glowing red I saw at the Store and his teeth grow, canines coming out of his lips making his face look like one of a dangerous predator. My heart skips a bit but I don't bulge. I've seen much more terrifying things than this. He stays like that for just a second then changes back to normal.
“Did you guys tag along to drink our blood?” I ask him with no fear in my tone.
“I would never feed on you,” he immediately corrects me with a slightly offended tone. “As I said before, I can sense our paths were meant to cross to lead us to our salvation, and I will give my life to protect yours. Your blood was marked as sacred when I declared so. No one would dare try to drink a single drop of your blood.”
He knew I was eavesdropping back at the Store. I can't help but smirk.
“Why is that? Why do you think I, a complete stranger, would help you and your people when you could destroy us all, just the way zombies can?”
“Are you comparing us to these errors of nature?”
“How are you different? You feed on us too, don't you?”
“We are different because we are much more clever than them, or even you for that matter.”
My eyebrows skyrocket.
“I mean, we know what's good for us and we can work toward a mutual goal if that brings survival and peace.”
He got me there. Humans are definitely not the best at working together. Most of us are selfish and greedy, we don't often see the big picture and some can even lose focus when something shiny comes along.
“Why don't you and your community come and live with us?” I suddenly offer.
My words came out before I could even think about it. I probably look as surprised by my own proposition as he does.
“I thought you said we weren't any better than those milky-eyed monsters?”
“I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to offend you. The truth is, we could definitely use the extra strength your kind could offer. And think about it, you guys would have a supply of food as payment. As long as you can control yourselves and don't kill any of us, for everyone's benefit, we could live in harmony and provide help to each other in our own ways.”
He moves back, his eyes glancing at the ceiling and his fingers running along his perfectly drawn chin, as he's considering the option.
“I'm sure some of you won't be happy about living with us, but we live with our own food too, we raise animals and feed off them with parsimony to survive in these crazy times. And we would welcome you warmly. None of you would have to take part in our town's active life unless you wanted to and we would only ask to help with defence around our borders and during raids.”
He turns his gaze to me.
“I don't think I have ever encountered someone as selfless, brave, and wise as you are, Miss Chloe,” he smiles.
I'm glad the dark around us covers the blush of my reddening cheeks.
“And do not worry about others, if I order my people to live peacefully with yours, they will do as I ask without questioning my words.”
Must be nice to be king, I think to myself.
“I'll give you my answer after our little mission to the hospital, but I can already tell you it sounds to me like a great opportunity for both our people so chances are pretty good.”
“You're not as bad as I thought,” I tease him, bumping my shoulder into his.
“You thought I was bad?” he looks offended.
“Well, not bad, but I had the feeling you were hiding something.”
“Technically I was so I won't hold that against you!”
He winks at me and my cheeks heat up again.
“Now you should rest up,” he advises me. “We can talk some more about all this later, but in the meantime, sleep, you'll need your energy tomorrow. I can take it from here.”
