Chapter 44: That Way (Christians POV)

I stared at the ceiling for quite a bit of some time, as I felt like I could not sleep at all tonight, once again. This time it was not due to the fact that I had been having the same thoughts that I had been having practically my entire life, or rather, my life before the world had changed, and it had ended for me.

I closed my eyes, as I was so tired, and I knew that I wanted to sleep, but I also knew at the same time too, that I could not sleep until the kid had fallen to sleep. It was not due to the fact that I might think that he would go out side if I was asleep, which would be quite a bit of an idiotic move by him.

It was more just the fact that I cared about the kid. He was just about the only thing that I had left with me any more. Before I had begun to train the kid, my soul felt quite a bit empty and bleak if I was not going to lie to my self. I had nearly chose not to train him, but some how Angela had changed my mind.

I knew that the kid was not a popular kid around the community, so there was not all too many people that would want to train him, as she had told me. I felt a bit bad for that, but the real reason that she had made my mind, was the fact that she had brought up my best friend, and Bens step father.

I did in fact see a lot from him, that I saw from my friend, even if he was a lot more on the quiet side, very much unlike my friend had been. I was not sure if it was a good or a bad thing, as I was often annoyed when my friend did not want to shut his mouth.

At the same time too, I wanted the kid to speak up more, as he was a very smart kid. He might not be like his brother, but I had noticed that he had in fact learned a lot faster than most others had, even though we were still together, I just wanted to make sure that he was going to be okay.

He was nearing the age of 15, and it was time for us to split apart, like it or not. We needed to be heading off any ways, as our community had a lot less resources than it had once had, and we needed to set ourselves up to be in a good position. I squinted my eyes as I knew that the other community, that had attacked us before, was coming back soon...

In just a few more months at that, as Shannon had told me, and every one else not too long ago. I had told her to tell every one the real truth of the deal that she had made with them, but she had decided not to. A lot of people had threatened to leave, but even they knew that it was a terrible idea, and we were still safer in here.

I sighed a bit to my self, as I then opened my eyes at the exact same time too, as I noticed that I had not heard Ben rolling around in his bed, much like I had heard him doing not too long ago. I sighed a bit to my self, as I then turned my head away, from the ceiling finally, and back over to Ben.

I stared at him for quite a bit of some time, perhaps several minutes on end, just to make sure that he did not roll around in his bed, as I wanted to make sure that he was asleep, before I finally managed to pass my self out. As I kept my eyes squinted on him for a bit longer, I then gave up, as it seemed like he had in fact finally managed to fall in to some sort of sleep.

I nodded to my self, as I then turned my head away from him, and over to the front of the door way that we were at right now. I had it locked and all, but I still could not help but to always be a little bit worried that some one might come in and kill the both of us in the middle of the night, as if they could see through the walls.

I let out a bit of a heavy sigh to my self, as I knew that we were safe for the night in here, and that things were going to be okay, even if the area that we were in was quite a bit nasty, and grown with all sorts of different types of nasty shit. We also did not have a bed to sleep in, such as we usually got to most nights.

We just had a blanket on the bottom, and the top of us. One to some what relax the floor that we were sleeping on just a bit, and the other to keep ourselves warm during the night, as it was in fact quite a bit cold out side at this current moment in time. I squeezed my self in to the blanket a bit, at those thoughts, as I felt how cold it was in the room.

I closed my eyes at the same time too, as I knew that it was probably around mid night right now, and I needed to get some sleep. I began to feel just how tired I was at this very moment, as I did in fact remember that I had not got much sleep last night. After I cleared my mind from all of the thoughts that it had seemed that I had been stuck on, it did not take all that long for me to fall to sleep after that.

I woke up, to see that I was in a bit of a secluded area out in the woods. It was clear to me right away, that I was in a dream right now. It kind of annoyed me, as I just wanted to wake up in the morning, and continue on with the day that I had planned on having not too long before now.

I shook my head, as I stared in front of me for quite a bit of some time, to see that there was some one right next to me, as I heard foot steps, though they were quite a bit quiet, meaning that they were trying to make sure that they were being silent in the first place.

I turned my head over, to see who it might be, even though I knew that it did not matter all too much, as this was simply just a dream. I still could not help to be just a little bit interested in it, as I looked over to see that the person who was walking right next to me, for some reason happened to be Ben.

I was a bit shocked, but Ben was not the reason that I was so shocked, as I often saw people that I knew in my dreams, so it was not all too much of a surprise to me at all. What did shock my how ever, was the fact that he was staring at me right in to my eyes, which was not normal for me at all.

I was not so sure as to what it was that I should do, as a part of me felt like this was real, but I also knew that it was simply just a dream, as I had not just mysteriously teleported to this location. I shook my head a bit at the same time as well, as I then all of the sudden heard Ben begin to speak to me, as I then listened as to what it was that he had to say to me, in my bit of a dream state of mind.

"Those foot steps look to be a lot more recent." He said to me, as I stared at him for just a few seconds, almost as if I had not heard as to what it was that he had just said to me in the first place. I saw that it did in fact make him feel just a little bit off, due to the fact that I had not shown any sort of reaction to what it was that he had just said.

But to be fair, that was because the part of me that I was stuck in at this very moment, did not want to seem to show any sort of emotion, as I was not so sure as to what was going on with me. This was a lot different of a dream than I was often used to being in.

I had no sort of control at all, as to what it was that I was doing, as well as the fact too, that my mind seemed to be a little bit more awake than it often was when I was in this state. My body was seeming to be thinking a little bit different than my head was, as my head seemed to have no sort of control as to what was going on with me.

I turned my head over to some where else, as I all of the sudden remembered just what it was that Ben had told me about, as soon as I saw in with my own eyes right in front of me. I saw that in fact, there were footsteps as we were in a heavily wooded section in the woods at this very moment in time.

I blinked a few times, as I was a little bit shocked. This seemed to be quite a bit real to me, as I was fairly certain that I was not in some sort of memory, as I had not remembered this ever happening to me ever before. I blinked a few times how ever, as those thoughts went away from my head, as I got my focus on the fact that there were foot steps in the dirt in front of me.

I stared at it for quite a bit of some time, as I was not so sure as to what it was that I should say about it at all back to Ben. It was clear to me that it did not matter any ways, as I was fairly certain that I had no sort of control over my self at this very moment, as I turned my head back over to Ben, which of course, I had no control of.

I looked at him for just a bit of some time, as I felt like I should just give up, and let things play through, as it was clear that there was nothing that I could do at all. I wanted to close my eyes, and just give up, but it was clear that the form that I was in at this current moment in time, did not want me to do as such.

I just stood there for quite a bit of some time, as if I was some kind of idiot, and I did not have a clue as to what was going on. Not the form of my self that I could not control, nor my head space either. I was about to just give up, when finally, it seemed like I was finally ready to speak back to Ben, which I did in fact due as such of course.

"Yes... They are close, so we need to make sure that we are paying attention to our surroundings from hear on out." I said to him, as I squinted my eyes, like I usually did, to make sure that he had heard what I said. It relaxed the tension that had been building up on me, as I knew that it was me that had spoken, as I did what I always did, as well as the fact that I had noticed that it was my voice that had spoken to him. If I could sigh a bit of a sigh of relief, than I would do as such, but unfortunately that was not the case for me at this very moment in time. I shook off all of those thoughts from my head at the same time too, as I then began to hear my voice speak up once again, as I listened as to what it was that I had to say to him as well. "Make sure that you are being quiet... This is important..."

I looked at Ben for quite a bit of some time, just to make sure that he had heard what it was that I had just said to him in the first place. It was clear that he had heard me in fact, as I saw that his head was a little bit low to the ground at this very moment, as if he might be a bit embarrassed about some thing that he had done.

I was a bit lost, as I really did not have a clue as to what was going on right now, as I then saw Ben finally lift his head up to me, and he then nodded to me at the same time as well, to let me know for a fact, that he had heard as to what it was that I had just said to him, which seemed to ease my self in just the slightest too.

I then nodded to him back as well, which of course, once I did as such, I then all of the sudden turned my head over, to where I had seen the foot steps in the dirt a few moments ago. I had no control over that at all, as it once again was my current self that had full control over all that I was doing, including what it was that I was saying to him too.

I sighed a bit loud, which once again was the current self of me, even though it was some thing that I would have been planning on doing in the first place, so it really did not bother me all that much at all. I blinked a few times at the same time too, as I then suddenly began to follow the foot steps that I saw in front of me.

I walked for quite a bit of some time, as I then suddenly turned my head around to make sure that Ben was following me clearly, which of course, I did see was the case thankfully, as it was clear that he had learned quite a bit from not too long ago, as I thankfully did not hear any of his foot steps any more.

Once I knew that he was safe, I then slowly continued with what it was that I had been doing in the first place, as I looked around a few times, to make sure that no one was near us, and that no one was watching us either. I did that for quite a bit of some time, until all of the sudden, every thing went dark.

Every thing had gone dark, I began to realize, was due to the fact that I was no longer in the dream that I had just been stuck in. I was a bit rielieved at the same time too, due to the fact that I did not like it when I did not have any sort of control over my self, which was the case in the dream that I had been in just a few moments ago.

It freaked me out when it was like that for me, and it was a very strange and freaky dream to me, even if nothing scary had happened at all, I hated being stuck in some thing like that. It was rare when it happened to me, and it most certainly had never happened in a dream to me up until this point.

I shook my head at the exact same time too, as it did not matter any longer, as I realized that I was awake, and that I should no longer be worried about the dream that I had just been in, in the first place, not too long before now. I opened my eyes, as I saw that there was a little bit of light in the room, from the crack in the corner of the locked door way.

It took me a few moments to get my eyes adjusted to every thing, due to the fact that I had just been asleep, and my eyes had been closed that entire time. I sighed a bit to my self, as once my eyes were back to normal, I lifted my self up a bit, only to see that Ben was right beside me, and he was wide awake, to my surprise, as it was very rare for him to be up first.

That was not the reason that had me a bit confused at all at this very moment in time. I saw that he had his eyes squinted at me, as if I had done some thing very stupid, which confused me even more, due to the fact that I knew that I had simply just woken up to another day out side of the walls.

I then also realized at the same time too as well, as it felt like my brain was starting to wake up, as I saw that he had quite a worried look on his face, as if he was worried that some thing might have happened to me whilst I had been asleep. I had to assume that was due to the fact that I had slept in a bit, as I usually woke up right around the time that the sun rose, and based off of the light that I saw under the door, that it was a lot later than that.

I sighed a bit to my self, as I lifted my self up fully from the bed, still a bit lost as to what was going on at the moment, and why it seemed that Ben was a little bit freaked out. I turned my head right over to him, to let him know that I was in fact giving him my full attention at the moment as well, as I then began to speak up to him too.

"What? What's going on?" I asked him, as a was in fact quite a bit lost as to what it was that I might have missed. I felt like it was mainly due to the fact that he had woken up before me, and that he had been a bit worried for me, as I usually had to wake him up early in the morning, so that we could get to the day ahead of us.

I was not sure what time it was, as I felt like it might already be half way through the day for all that I knew, and it would make sense that Ben would be so freaked out about me. It was simply just due to the fact that I had got nearly no sleep at all just the night before last how ever.

I looked at the locked door way for quite a bit of some time, as I saw that Ben noticed me do as such, as he turned his head over to it at the exact same time too, and he all of the sudden shivered for some odd reason or another. Perhaps that was due to the fact that it was quite a bit cold in the room, I realized.

I felt like that was not the case at all how ever, as I felt like there was a completely different reason as to why he had done as such. I was not so sure as to why he might be so freaked out at this current moment in time, as it was not normal for him to do as such any more, even when we were in a bit of a sticky situation.

I turned my head to him, to make sure that he knew that I was now a bit worried about him all of the sudden, instead of it being the other way around. Normally when he saw me do as such, he dipped his head to the ground, but this time, that was not the case at all, even though I could still see quite the worried look on his face.

Ben, instead, did some thing completely different than that, as he then nodded to me. I was a bit shocked by it, but I did in fact nod back to him, as it was clear that he was about to speak back to me. After just a few more seconds of silence, he looked back to the door in a bit of some worry, but he did in fact begin to speak to me, as I then listened as to what it was that he had to say to me at the same time too.

"How did that not wake you up? There was some people in here not too long ago... Sounded like some adults, and some little kids... I wanted to wake you up, but I didn't want to get the attention of them." He said to me at first, as I blinked a few times, taking in what it was that he had just said to me. It did in fact kind of shock me quite a bit, due to the fact that I was normally aware of stuff like that, even if I was very tired, it never ceased to not wake me up. I breathed in heavily for just a few moments, as it was taking me a while to take that in. I knew that they very well could have been good people, due to the fact that they had kids with them, but at the same time too, I could never be too safe, and Ben knew that too. I looked at Ben, as I then heard him continue to speak to me once again. "I don't think they were from our community... Do you think we should try to follow them?"

I looked at him for just a few moments, as I was a bit tempted to the fact that we did not have all that many people left in our community in the first place, but at the same time too, I also knew that we could not be too sure. Perhaps we could try to track them, but I did not want to just fully trust them, simply due to the fact that they had kids.

I am sure that they had done a lot of shitty, or bad things, to make it this far in a world like this one, so either way I looked at it, I knew that I could not just walk up to them, and be friendly. I sighed a bit to my self, as I dipped my head a bit low to the ground, due to the fact that I was not all too sure as to what it was that we should do.

Ben had likely made the right call on not waking me up, as no matter what, even if the people that had come through were good people, it was not a good habit to get in to, to simply trust any person that came near you. More than likely, they had to kill some one at some point, as well as the fact that they were not the same person after what the world had come to.

I sighed just a bit to my self at the same time too, as I then nodded to Ben as well, to let him know that I was about to speak to him. Ben looked at me for a few moments, as I could still see a bit of a worried look on his face still, but he then in the end, nodded back to me, to hear what it was that I had to say to him in the first place, as I then all of the began to speak to him.

"Well... Let's go out there and find out who it might be... For all we know, it could be people leaving our community..." I said to him, as I felt like it had to be the most likely option due to the fact that we were still less than 15 miles away from the community, and for all we knew, they more than likely were running off, as other wise, they should have met some one else along the way.

I shivered just a bit, as I still could not help but to be quite a bit worried, due to the fact as to what had happened the last time we had let some one in. It had been nearly a year since the last time some one had joined us, as I was sure that I was not the only person that was not willing to trust any one that came near us any longer.

I sighed just a bit to my self, as I then looked over to Ben at the exact same time too, to make sure that he had heard, and that he had been paying attention to what it was that I had just said to him in the first place. Ben was staring at me with quite a blank look on his face, which I squinted my eyes at him for being that way.

He saw me do as such, as I expected him to lift his head to down to the ground, such as he usually did, but to my surprise, that was not the case at all this time, as he instead nodded to me, as he then looked at for just a bit longer too, until he suddenly turned his head back over to the locked door of the room that we had slept in last night.

I turned my head over to it at the exact same time too, as I saw him do as such, as if I expected to see some thing move from there. That was not the case at all how ever, as I instead just saw the crack of light come from the bottom of the door. I breathed in just a bit to my self, as I then nodded to my self at the exact same time too.

I looked over to Ben one more time, to make sure that he was paying attention to what it was that was going on at this very moment, which of course happened to be the case. Once I knew that it was safe to go ahead, I then began to walk over to the locked door, and I unlocked it, as well as slowly opened it to make sure that it was quiet.

For all that we knew, those people might have been watching us last night, and might be waiting for us to come out of this room. There really was no such thing as being too safe in a crazy world like the one that we were in right now. I looked around for just a few moments, just to make sure that it was safe for me to come further out.

Once I saw nothing around, I then did in fact begin to walk ahead, still keeping me eyes out to make sure that nothing was to sneak up on us at all. I heard the foot steps of Ben right behind me at the exact same time too, which kind of freaked me out at first, as I was nearly ready to take out my gun, and shoot.

I saw that it was just in fact Ben how ever, as for some reason he was not doing any thing to try to control his foot steps. I sighed a bit, as I then relaxed my self a little bit, as I moved my hand away from my pistol. I squinted my eyes at Ben at the same time too, as this time, he did dip his head quite a bit low to the ground, as it was clear that he knew what it was that he had done.

I rolled my eyes, and then sighed just a bit, as I turned my head back in front of me, to make that I knew that there was no one coming after us from that direction either. I stood there for just a little bit longer, as I could practically see every thing in the store of the gas station, so I knew that it was safe in here at the very least.

I turned my head back to Ben, to see that he know longer had his head down to the ground thankfully, as I then nodded to him, to let him know that I needed him to follow me. He looked at me for a few moments longer, as I could tell that he was a bit embarrassed about it still, but he did in fact nod back to me in the end.

I turned my head back in front of me once again, as I sighed a bit to my self, and I then began to walk over to the front door of the gas station, still making sure that I was paying attention to my surroundings at the exact same time too, as I did not hesitate to look from side to side every few seconds, just in case.

I did not hear the loud foot steps of Ben behind me thankfully this time, as we went out of the front of the gas station, as I stopped my self such as I had done last time, just to make sure that the people that Ben had been talking about, were no where near the area that we were at right now.

I looked all over the place, as I had learned to be good with my eyes, so when I saw that there was no one near trying to hide from us, and ready to shoot us at any moment, I knew that we were safe. It was more than likely not to be the case any ways, as I began to realize, if they actually did have kids with them.

I breathed in heavily once again, as I then nodded to my self, and then I began to walk a little bit further, as I was still not too sure as to where it was that we were meant to be going right now, and how long ago Ben had heard them in side of the gas station whilst I had still been asleep.

As we walked a bit further in, I all of the sudden heard the voice of Ben speak to me from right behind me, as it scared me nearly to death, as I jumped just a little bit, and I then turned my head behind me, and squinted my eyes such as I usually did when I heard him speak, as I then listened as to what it was that he had to say to me.

"I don't know where they headed off to though..." He said to me, as I squinted my eyes at him. I knew that I could not blame him, as I was sure that he was more worried about putting the both of our lives in jeopardy, but I still could not help but to be quite a bit annoyed as to the fact that we might have lost a good opportunity.

I stared at him for quite a bit of time, as I did my best to not get too upset with him, as I knew that he had a fair point in the reason that he did not want to track them. I shook my head just a little bit, as I then let out quite a bit of loud sigh at the same time as well, as I was not so sure what to do.

I looked away from Ben, as it felt like the more that I looked at the kid, the more upset I kind of got for some odd reason or another. As I looked away, I seemed to spot some thing not too far away from me at all, as I tilted my head, and squinted my eyes at what I was looking at, at the exact same time too.

I was not sure what it was for just a little bit of time, as it felt important to me, though I really did not have a clue as to what it could be. I stared at it for some time, until it all of the sudden it hit me all at once. What I happened to be looking of course, was foot steps in the dirt about 50 feet away, though they were far away, and it was a bit hard for me to see it.

It hit me at the same time too, as to where they were from, as they were going in the same direction as I had been planning on going, except for the fact that they seemed to be going in to the woods, which I did not blame them, especially if they did in fact have kids with them, as it was a lot more safe in the woods, due to the fact that the dead tended to like to be in more open areas.

I shook my head, as I shook off all of those thoughts all at once at the exact same time too, as I then turned my head to Ben, as I blinked just a few times at the same time as well. He seemed to be a bit lost at the moment, as I knew as to why, as he had not a clue as to what was going through my own head at this very moment in time.

I shook my head at the same time too, as I then all of the sudden then nodded to him, to let the kid know that I was about to speak to him, as I waited to get a nod back to him. He took just a few moments, but in the end he did in fact nod back to me, as I then felt safe to begin to speak to him, which I did do so of course as well, as I pointed a finger in the direction that I had just been looking at.

"Well... They went that way..."