Ep2

Scarlett"s eyes narrow into small slits, as she stares at me. I want to slap her. No need to be so rude. As much as I want to slap her though, my want to stay here, with Judy and the others, outweighs the need. I simply smile at her. "Sorry, you mustn"t have heard me. I was talking. My name is Charlotte. I"m guessing you"re Scarlett." Scarlett looks a bit taken aback by my boldness. The shock on her face tells me that not many people dare to speak back at her. I give her an innocent smile and quickly glance around the room to see what the others reactions are. Zion and Eugene are snickering, and Ethan and Lawrence aren"t paying much attention to the conversation. Hailey looks as if she wants to disappear and Jay, Sue and Judy are all smiling slightly. It"s only Harry that looks upset. He shakes his head slightly at me, as if to say, "Don"t push it." I sigh and lean back in my chair.

Scarlett"s face is turning red and she backs away from me. "Oh my God!" she screeches. "She has blood on her! She"s infected!" I try to keep a straight face without letting my reaction show. "I"m not infected." What is this girl"s problem? "Have you even checked her?" Scarlett demands. "She could kill us all!" She turns to me. "Why are you even still here? Leave! You wanted help, didn"t you? You"ve been helped. So, go! Before you turn us all!" I pause, biting back the insults that I want to say. Instead I stand up and face the room. "I"m not infected." I say again "Symptoms appear within one hour of being infected. You can be infected through the transfer of saliva, blood, even urine from an infected person. I have been here for over an hour. If I was infected, I would be showing symptoms or already have been turned." I look over at Harry, worried I might have sounded too rude, but he smiles and nods at me.

"Ok so you might not be infected but what do you have to contribute?" Geez. When will these accusations stop? Before I can say anything, Scarlett continues. "We are already low on supplies and it"s getting too dangerous to keep going out. How are we meant to feed another person when we can barely feed ourselves?" Judy starts shaking and stands up. "Scarlett, Charlotte is my best friend! We can always go out to get more food! Besides we have enough for now!" Wow. I"ve never seen Judy this angry before. I can hear chairs scraping and this time it"s Zion who stands up. "Scarlett has a point though guys. We can"t afford to keep going out for food." I can"t help but feel hurt. I really want to stay here. The hurt must show up on my face because Zion turns away and won"t look at me. Jay speaks up as well. "They"re right. We"re barely scraping by. Just give her some food and kick her out." Judy is practically screaming now. "NO! She is not going!" People begin to take sides and I start panicking. No, no, no. I don"t want them to fight. "Stop." I whisper. But no one can hear me. Lawrence looks tired but stands up and shouts over everyone. "ENOUGH!" The others quiet down and sit down. So, I was right. He is the leader.

Lawrence begins to talk, and I try to listen and ignore the look Scarlett is giving me. "I have an idea for you all." I"m sucked into his words, wanting to hear what it is. "We can vote. Majority rules." No. There is no way I"ll be able to stay. The others barely know me. "This is unfair, Lawrence!" Judy stands up. "Charlotte deserves to be here as much as the rest of us do! If we kick her out can we even call ourselves human anymore? It"s practically murder!" Scarlett laughs and looks over at us. "Judy, if you want why don"t you leave with her?" Judy looks shocked by this. Harry looks annoyed at everyone. "Guys let"s not argue. We all know what happened last time." The groups faces darken and Scarlett and Judy both sit down.

I take this as a chance to talk. "Um, before you guys vote can I say something?" Now I have everyone"s attention. "I understand that you are low on resources, but I have a solution." I pick up my backpack and dump its contents onto the table. Inside there are a couple full water bottles, unopened and tightly screwed shut. There"s a dozen different foods, from canned goods to lollies and chocolate bars. There"s a few changes of clothes for me and some sanitary items like body soap and hand sanitizer. I notice that my old music player and headphones have fallen out and pick them up from the pile. There"s enough food to feed all of us for a month or so. "I"m pretty resourceful," I continue. "I can run fast, and I"ve managed to survive this long on my own to. I know basic medical skills as well. I got all of this by myself and I can really help the group." Everyone is quiet. You could hear a pin drop. That"s when I hear the laughter.

Across from me, Eugene is laughing. He stands up and walks out of the room. "Just let her stay." He says. "She looks pretty resourceful and does it even matter? We"ll all be dead soon anyway." I smile at him as he walks out. He has helped me, even if he didn"t word it in the best way. Ethan gets up and walks over to the door. Lawrence nods and turns to the group. "Alright, well Ethan and I will go set up the voting. You guys stay here and do whatever." As Lawrence and Ethan leave, Scarlett gets up to follow. "Have fun on the streets!" she barks at me. "What a drongo." I mutter. The others looked confused at what I"ve said. "Uh ok. I"m going with her." Zion walks away and Jay follows behind. Hailey looks nervous, but she walks over to me. "Um, hi." She whispers. I smile at her and start up some small talk.

We"ve been talking for about ten or so minutes when I hear a bang from down the hall. Smoke fills the walkway as the rest of us rush out of the room to see what was going on. I pull my shirt over my mouth to stop the dark black ashes and smoke from going into my mouth. We reach a small classroom where everyone else is already gathered. Ethan and Lawrence are coughing, and Harry is trying to help them. Behind them the classroom is on fire. Red and orange flames dance around, casting an eerie glow over the room. Zion rushes over, swearing profanities. Between curses, he manages out "The food is in there!" Time seems to slow around me. I don"t know why but I run towards the room dodging past Ethan and I slip into the room. Where is it? I can hear the others yelling at me and Scarlett"s ugly laughter. Sheesh, what"s her problem? I see a glimmer of red metal and I rush over to the fire extinguisher. I rip it off the wall and pull out the pin. I press down as hard as I can onto the nozzle and white, sticky foam sprays everywhere.

The flames die out and I"m grabbed from behind. I turn around ready to throw the fire extinguisher at a zombie, only to find Ethan and Zion pulling me out. Coughing and spluttering, I stand in the hall, covered in ash. "Charlotte!" Judy runs over wrapping me in a warm hug. I laugh and straighten my back. "Are you mental?" Eugene is shouting in my face. Everyone is either looking mad or worried for me. Harry steps forward. "You shouldn"t have done that. You could"ve gotten seriously injured." My heart sinks. Maybe I shouldn"t have done it. But one question lingers in my mind. "What about the food?" I splutter out.

Lawrence looks over. "Most of it"s burnt, but some is salvageable. We wouldn"t have any if it weren"t for you." He gives me a weak smile. I smile back tiredly, and my legs give out from exhaustion. Ethan catches me and sets me down on the floor, gently. "Sorry," I start to rush out my apologies. "I"m just so tired." He looks at me, his gaze piercing. When have I ever seen eyes so blue? "Get some rest." He turns and walks away. "Well, while she naps here like a bum, why don"t we vote?" Of course. Scarlett is whinging again. "Why does it matter?" Surprised, I look up at Zion. "She"s proven herself. She moved when we did nothing. Let her stay." He turns and walks away. Some of the others follow behind, yawning. "That was the last classroom on this floor that was free." Harry says. Judy speaks up, talking fast with excitement. "She can stay with me!" Harry and Lawrence look at me. I give a weak smile and a thumbs up. "Fine with me."

As they walk away, Judy helps me up. "Next time be more careful. You could have died!" I laugh at Judy"s attempt at lecturing me. "Judy, I grew up in the outback. We have bushfires all the time. I"m used to it!" She leads me to a classroom and opens the door. The desks and chairs have been pushed out of the way to form a clearing in the middle, where a large tarp lay. On top of it was a few makeshift pillows made from backpacks stuffed with cotton stuffing from the sewing class. A thin blanket lay to the side. Along on wall was a line of windows, which let in some light. To make the room look less depressing, Judy had drawn little, silly drawings on the chalkboard with the butt of a piece of chalk. "It"s not much but it works." Judy"s words snap me out of my trance. I give her a comforting smile. "It looks pretty homey! Let"s get some sleep"

I wait until I can hear Judy"s breathing, until I know she is completely asleep before I let the tears fall. I cry, deep into the night, softly, quietly until I fall asleep. I want to go home. I was meant to go out to dinner with my family that night. It"s only been a week or two, but the world feels dead. I"m in another town, heck another country even! I might have lived here for a year, but it still feels foreign. Everything feels so different and with my family gone, I just feel lost. I want this to end. How am I meant to survive when I can barely live a normal life?

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