Chapter 13

I drive to the next town over hoping that this town will give the same excitement as the last one did. I can now see why Braydon got so cocky the last time. Escaping those monsters is a thrill when you make it out alive.

My heart sinks thinking about my father. I wonder if he ever felt like that after a mission. Did he want to go out there for the thrill or because he had to? I'm starting to think because he had to. He had me to worry about and dying wasn't an option. But that thrill probably lingered within him to escape the humanoids.

Everything starts to make sense why father didn't want me going out. He was trying to protect me from the thrill. It's like a drug, addicting. But a dangerous one when not careful. I understand now why you wanted me to stay indoors. If only I learned sooner.

Father wouldn't have wanted to escape his problem and Braydon wouldn't look so messed up. I would've had it all if I had only listened. Poor Braydon. I did that to him. I made him feel guilty and drowned him within himself. I also forced him to let me go.

I notice the gauge telling me to gas up soon. I'll gas up at the gas station that's always on the outskirts of these towns.

I drove for what felt like forever before I saw the gas station coming into view. The place looked so abandoned that it looked dead. I pulled up to the pump that looked pretty decent.

I take my keys out of the ignition and place them inside my pocket. I force myself to forget about my injury, for now. I take my rifle out to check the area to make sure it's safe to stop. I slowly walk into the store part of the gas station. I check left then right before entering. I peek over the counter and continue to check the isles.

The room appears to be empty but I keep my alert sharp. I take a couple of rations to snack on later. I also grab a bag of candy because Father wouldn't allow me to ruin my teeth on the sugar. Not to spite him or anything, but now that he's gone I can do whatever I like. The thought unsettled me so I put the bag back.

After checking a second time, I make my way out and fill my tank with gasoline. It didn't take long since it's two-litre. When I put the gas pump back on the station, I heard a noise coming from the inside of the store.

I raised my rifle and slowly made my way inside. I checked everything once again and found nothing. What I did find different was a rock on the floor that wasn't there before. I whipped around but he tackled me to the floor. I fell on my bag making the landing softer.

He grabbed the rifle from my hands but I pushed it out of both our hands and it flew across the floor before he got the upper hand. I grabbed his shirt and head budded him. He fell backward. I was forced to take my bag off to try and get up. Once I did, he was up with me.

His hair's a sandy blonde colour and wore a red bandana to cover his mouth. His brown eyes held that same look I've known for years which revealed that he was around Braydon's age. He charged at me and knocked me into the wall. I kick his stomach as hard as I could.

My elbow raised and came crashing down on his kneck. He grabbed my jacket and threw me over the side. He went for the sniper but I pulled my gun out and made a reload sound.

"Suggest you stop before you die." He stopped and raised his hands. "Who are you and what do you want?"

He turned around to face me. "Just shoot me already."

His clothes were funny looking. They were torn and ragged. It was clear he's been out here for a while. He looked like a soldier that has gone rogue. It was strange.

"No. I don't kill people."

He chuckled at me. "Wow, a girl who doesn't kill. That's rare."

"How do you mean? People kill each other?" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

He cocked his head at me like I was the most interesting person he has ever met. "Where have you been living, under a rock?"

I suck in my cheeks. "Technically yes. But that's beside the point. Who are you?" I point my gun to his face.

"Ok little girl, careful where you point that, you could hurt someone." He's playing with me.

I grit my teeth. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll just leave then."

His face immediately falls to a worried one. "Wait. It's Alaric. Just don't leave me yet."

I point my gun at him. "Why?" He looks away not meeting my gaze. I walk up closer to him. "Why Alaric?" I say forcefully.

He smiles down at me. "I like the way you say my name. You make it sound angelic and holy."

My eyebrows raise at him. He's distracting me from something. I stop, realizing why he didn't want me to leave. There's a second.

"I'm sorry," I say sweet and innocent.

"Why do you got to be sorry for, baby?" The way he said that made my stomach turn.

I smile, "For this." I shot him in the leg. I grab my sniper and place my handgun in my holster. It appears a girl is trying to steal my bike.

I walk out to her. "Looking for these?" I raise my keys in the air.

She turns around to face me. Shock spread through her pretty features.

I pointed my gun at her. "Move or do you wanna be shot like your friend over there?"

She gives me a disgusted face. I point for her to move into the gas station. The moment she sees Alaric, she immediately goes to his side. She put her hand on his leg wound and tries to stop the bleeding.

"You bitch, what did you do to him?" She asks with venom.

I roll my eyes. "Now is that any way to talk to your saviour?" I dangle a spray bottle in their faces.

Her face falls and mutters under her breath, "Sorry."

I smile, "But before we do the saving, you're going to answer a few of my questions." Her blue eyes stare into mine as she would rather kill me but instead, she nods. "Good. I'm Zeria by the way and you are?"

She rolls her eyes at me. "Natalie."

"Nice to meet you, Natalie, could you tell me what are other survivors like?"

Her eyes spike fear like the people she's thinking about are cruel. I push her forward by shaking the bottle. She lets out a shaky breath. "There are some really kind survivors and others more... savage."

"Savage?" I don't understand.

"Since the world went to shit and run by Humanoids, some people believe that there's a caste system. Humanoids, the savages, nice groups and then the loners. The nice groups are going extinct because of the savages. They like to kill for sport. So people like my brother and I become loners. We hide from the savages."

I process the new information being handed to me. It becomes clearer why Father didn't want me out here. There's more than one threat. I nod at her and toss her the bottle.

"By the way before spraying, remove the bullet, you wouldn't want to have a bullet stuck in your skin. It hurts like hell."

"You've been shot before?"

"No, but my friend Kahlen has. I was the one that accidentally shot him. We tried to cover it up but that didn't end well." I smile at the memory even though it was terrible. Funny now, not so funny then.

"So you're in a group then? Judging by your kind hostility, I'm guessing the nicer group."

I nod. "You should probably hurry, he's going to go into shock soon." I turn to leave when she yells at me.

"Wait! Please help me, I don't know what I'm doing."

My stupid be nice to people instinct kicks in. I turn to face her and pull out my medic kit. I grab a pair of surgical tweezers and sit next to Natalie. The wound isn't too deep, the bullet grazed his leg but I could see some fragments on the surface.

I take out my flashlight and hand it to Natalie. "Hold up."

She turned it on and held the light up for me. I grab the injured leg and tied a turnkey on it to help stop the bleeding. I grab disinfecting wipes from the shelf and wipe the blood so I could find the fragment.

I've seen Kevin do this a couple of times. Shouldn't be too hard. I hope. I quickly pull out the fragment so I could heal him faster. I found about five but I feel as though there is one more. I take another look to make sure. I grab the light from Natalie and poke around the wound.

Turns out that I was right about there being a sixth fragment, but it's deeper. I'm afraid I'll screw him up or something but hitting a nerve. But he did try to steal from me so I feel half as bad. I dig into the wound and I could hear him moan in pain.

"You're doing great, Rick. Just hold on a little longer." She soothes her brother.

I grab the piece and take it out. Ok, now I'm certain that he's clean. I spray the wound head-on with the medicine. We watch as his skin patches itself up faster than the regular human rate would. I wipe the extra blood off his leg.

There now they can't say I didn't help. That's when I heard it. I pulled my handgun out and started shooting the bugger again. How did it find me? I went outside to get a better look at it. I was about to stomp on it when Alaric told me to stop.

"What do you mean stop? It's a drone from them. They could have a tracker on it or something."

Alaric rushes to the shot up drone and gets down on his knees, examining the stupid thing. I stare at him questioning his integrity. Wait, he has none.

"This drone could help my sister and I find their main base." He says.

"Main base?"

"Yeah you know, the city where they take 'civilized' humanoids to pretend that there actually human. It's also the place where they transform our people to be one of them."

I try to wrap my head around the fact that they have a city full of them. Or that they have a central operation. Actually, that's not too hard to believe.

"What are you going to do?"

Alaric took a device from his pocket and attached the drone to it. "I'm going to pinpoint its exact location and try to save my sister's boyfriend."

I look over to Natalie who happens to be checking out my bike. "Don't you think her boyfriend's dead or taken over?"

His chocolate brown eyes stare into my green eyes. "That may be true but I want to at least try to save him. He deserves that much."

I blink a couple of times before thinking about it. He's such a nice guy but he's also a dick.

"How old are you?" He asks me out of the blue.

I back away. "I'm ten, why?"

He shrugged. "With those eyes, I would've guessed older."

"What about you? How old are you?" I ask more curious than I wanted to sound.

"Sixteen."

"You're the same age as Braydon." I slap my mouth.

I didn't mean to say his name or mention him but it kind of slipped. Why is it that when I want to escape him he never leaves me? He's the first thought I have and the last. This moving on is harder than I would like it to be.

"Who's that, your boyfriend?" He asks with something lingering in his voice.

"He's six years older than me. Plus I'm angry with him right now. He's ancient history."

Alaric stands up and towers over me. "His loss." And walks back to his sister. I blush. I shake the weird thought that crept into my head. I follow him over to his sister.

"When do you plan on going?" I ask Alaric and his sister.

"We're planning on leaving as soon as we can. But our mode of transportation is a slight problem. It's why we tried to rob you."

In the corner of my eye, I spot a little trailer. "How about I give you a ride?"

"Sweety, your ride won't fit the three of us."

I laugh at him. "No, but I can pull you." I point at the little thing on wheels.

He snorts. "I'm not getting on that."

"It's only until we get to town. Look it's faster. The faster we get to town, the faster we can find an actual car to drive." I know I'll have it my way because he has no other choice.

He bits his lip and chews on it. "Fine."