Chapter 16: Close Call

Todd was walking down a narrow street followed closely by nine others. Their clothes were all covered in snow and dirt and they all looked worn out. Todd was the de facto leader of the group after their previous leader had been taken by those psychos who grabbed him and brought him to their lord as they called it. He was tall and slender with coarse brown hair and hazel eyes. He was rather attractive all things considered despite the obvious exhaustion on his face. They had suffered heavy casualties from the attack with their number dropping from twenty one to only eight. It was a wonder they survived at all if Todd was being honest with himself but their previous leader and some of the others had distracted them long enough for them to escape. 

That stupid bastard. Todd thought to himself as he replayed the events over in his head, trying to see if he could have done anything differently to save his fathers life, but he knew no matter what he did things would have turned out this way. His father was always a moral bastion, willing to cast aside his own wellbeing to help others even if it made his son worry. If only he had listened to him and allowed someone else to lead the group, then maybe he wouldn't have felt responsible to protect them all and ran away with him. His father had always tried to instil those same values he had onto him but Todd never was as morally righteous as his father, no he would sooner have abandoned everyone to die if it meant he and his father could live. Todd could feel tears welling up in his eyes, he missed his father and he felt hopeless without him. He wondered if it would have been better if he had stayed and fought with him, at least then they could have died together, or whatever those freaks planned on doing to them. 

His father had told him to lead them others to safety though and that's exactly what he did and now he was then leader, a position he wholeheartedly loathed. It had been less than twenty four hours since he had been in charge and he already hated all of the responsibility. Sighing he looked over his shoulder to look at his ragtag group. They were all young, the oldest being him and he was only nineteen. Most of the group was made up of parents and their children and now only the children remained and not even all of them. 

At least the parents didn't have to watch their kids die. He had become rather cynical as of late. If he was being truthful to himself he had no idea where they were going, he was just trying to put as much distance between them and those psychos as possible. Todd wasn't overly confident of their chances of surviving the following few days. They were forced to leave behind nearly all of their food and supplies and only a half of them had weapons, the only positive being that one of those weapons was a gun. It was a small revolver and only had three bullets left but out in the Boundary where guns were rare it was priceless. Todd felt much more reassured holding it than he did when he used to only carry a bat around, still he would rather someone else hold the damn thing as long as it meant he didn't have to lead. 

"Todd." A girl's voice called from behind him. 

It was Isabella Todd realised. "Yes?" 

She was looking ahead of them through a pair of binoculars. "I see two people up ahead." Her voice was shaky with nerves. 

"Well that's just great." Todd muttered under his breath. He had hoped that they could rest up somewhere before coming into contact with another group. 

"What do we do?" 

"Should we avoid them? 

"Let him think guys come on." 

Todd was glad of whoever had said that as he was too deep in thought to even recognize whose voices they belonged to. If they avoided the group they could avoid a fight but who knows how long it would be till they came across another group of people. Todd and his people were only going to grow hungrier as time passed and it seemed like every shack they searched had already been ransacked. Todd wondered if those psychos had taken most of the food in the area already since there seemed to be so many of them to feed. This other group could have supplies that they desperately needed and if there were only two then maybe they could intimidate them into giving them their food and avoid a fight all together. There were ten of them after all, not exactly a small number. Even if there were a few more in houses he doubted there would be an overly large group out there that wasn't already dwindled down by an attack by the psychos.

Why do I keep calling them psychos? He thought. I guess that's their name now.

Todd remained silent for a while before he finally spoke. "We are going to confront that group and demand they give us any food or supplies they have." 

The others looked at one another with uncertainty before Isabella nodded in agreement and soon after the others followed suit. No matter how frightened they might be of a fight they were all more hungry than scared especially after their run in with the psychos. No matter what, this group couldn't be worse than them. With that they all approached the other group, clenching their fist and holding their weapons tight. 

"All right when we get there let me do the talking and you guys just be prepared in case shit goes bad." Todd said.

After about a two minute walk they were there and now there were three people instead of two that greeted them on the snowy narrow street. One was a short stocky bald man with ebony skin, another a petite girl with a similar skin tone and black hair. She had deep dark brown eyes and was very attractive. She was also holding a rifle of some sort. The last one however stood out from the others. She was a tall and athletic woman with raven black hair, alabaster skin and bewitching green eyes. She was without a doubt the most beautiful person they had ever seen. She looked otherworldly and for a moment Todd forgot all about why they had even approached the group in the first place. He shook his head and snapped himself out of it and looked back up at the three, making sure not to look directly into the woman's eyes, only now noticing the massive hand cannon she held in her hand. 

"Yes?" The tall woman asked calmly.

The calmness of her voice both soothed Todd as well as unsettled him. "Are there more of you?" 

"Maybe." The woman said with a smirk. "Why do you want to tell us tales of your adventures over the fire?" 

"I don't have anything to tell I'm afraid." Todd replied. "I'm going to need you to hand over all of your food and supplies."

She gave Todd a curious look "Shame, we would have loved to hear some stories, you see I'm afraid ours are all terribly violent." 

Before Todd could reply, a shack door to their right flung open which startled him. Out of the door stepped a small and frail looking man. He approached them slowly as the snow crunched under his footsteps. He stopped right beside the beautiful woman who towered over him. The man looked young and he was deathly pale. He had dark circles around his dull grey eyes and dirty blonde hair… which had dried blood covering it. His clothes also had a tint of red.

"What's going on?" The man asked as his eyes observed their group. 

"Seems these guys want our food." The petite girl said not taking her eyes off of them. 

The man glanced over at her before he turned and locked his gaze onto Todd. "Is that true?" He asked without a hint of emotion in his voice. 

Todd gulped. For some reason this man made him feel incredibly uneasy. Todd didn't reply, still trying to think of what to say. 

"Well is it?" The man asked, still glaring at Todd. 

Todd was about to tell him no and that they would be on their way but before he could a voice from behind him spoke up. "We don't want any problems, so just get us the food and we will leave you guys alone." 

It was Carl, someone Todd had distaste for since he never thought before speaking. Todd glanced at the tall woman who wore a confident smile on her face and then back down at the man with the grey eyes. 

"Well thanks for asking politely and all but I think we'll pass." The raven haired women said. 

"We aren't asking." Carl bellowed. 

Todd felt like his head would explode. He turned back to Carl who had a defiant look on his dumb face. Todd wasn't confident that they could avoid a fight but now it was looking less and less likely. 

The grey eyed man turned his attention to Carl. "That's unfortunate. I had hoped I wouldn't have to kill any more people today but it looks like fate has forced my hand." His voice was icy and bored. 

Todd paled and he felt Goosebumps run all along his body. They were going to die if they fought these people, his gut told him as much. Todd hardly had time to blink before the tall woman had her gun raised at them. He knew he had to act fast or they were all about to be lifeless husks covered by snow in a few hours. Another thought entered his head before he spoke, one that might benefit them greatly. 

"Wait!" He shouted. He was sweating and looked like he was about to vomit. "We didn't actually want to fight, we just thought we could scare you guys into giving us food. We're sorry, we'd love to join you guys instead if you'll have us." He bowed his head down like one would to a king or queen and stared at the white snow. 

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds seemingly taken aback by what he'd just said but then the raven haired woman began to laugh. Todd looked up to see her leaning on the man with grey eyes as she continued on laughing. Todd thought he noticed the man's cheeks go a little flush. Todd glanced back over his shoulder at his group who were all staring at him wide eyed. They all looked even more anxious than he was. 

Eventually the woman stopped laughing and stood up straight once more. "Fine, you can join us." She said with a smile that almost sent Todd into a coma. 

"Really?" Todd and the grey-eyed man spoke at the same time. They both looked at each other but after a moment the grey eyed man looked back up at the tall beautiful woman. 

"You really think this is a good idea?" He questioned.

"No, not really." She replied. "But once we move back inwards we are going to need more numbers or we will be crushed by the larger groups that have formed, plus that guy has a gun which we could use." 

"I suppose we will need more meat shields in the future. You're right, they can be helpful to us." The man replied 

"You hear that guys! Welcome to the club!" The gorgeous woman said excitedly. "Oh I'm Elise by the way and this cheery fellow beside me is Asher. He's kinda my second in command." 

"When was that decided?" Asher asked.

"Just now." Elise replied smugly. "Oh and this rough looking guy is Josiah and that's his lovely daughter Misty. They are just the best." 

Misty waved at them and Josiah grunted. 

"Oh and before I forget that woman sneaking up behind you with a knife is Sarah and that is my deputy here's mother." Elise waved past them at Sarah who was metres away from the group. 

Todd looked back at her, realising just how close they had all come to death. He let out a deep sigh. "Good to be part of the team." He said with all of the enthusiasm he could muster. He heard a few more sighs of relief from his comrades behind him as well. He turned back for a moment and gave Carl a menacing glare which made him look away in either shame or fear, Todd didn't know which. 

They began to move closer but after just a few steps Asher motioned for them to stop. This seemed to even catch Elise off guard. 

A devilish grin formed on Asher's face. "Before you come any closer I'm gonna need you to give me that gun." 

Todd grimaced. "I'd rather hold onto it if that's okay with you. Makes me feel safer ya know?"

Asher measured him with his gaze for a few moments before he answered. "I'm afraid I wasn't asking." 

As he said those words Todd could have sworn he saw something dark and sinister swirling around in his eyes. Todd reluctantly handed over the gun and just like that they were part of the group.