Don't Talk To Strangers | BOOK 1

seventy nine

Elle McBriar
September 10th, 6 months and 60 days since the first zombie report

I made it out alive, barely.

Paxton held me until I stopped crying or until I didn't feel the need to throw up anymore. He told I had a panic attack, which is weird to me because I've never had one.

Sure, I get anxiety and panic a bit but I never get anxiety attacks, it was a foreign feeling to me.

"I don't want to go out there." I said to him. He was sitting on the ground now, back pressed against the wall, he kissed my forehead as I lay on his chest, "I know but we have too. It's getting late and we have to find some place to stay before it gets dark."

I nodded my head, "I know. But I like it here. I like when it's just us, no one around to tell us what to do or anything like that."

Paxton squirmed underneath my body and I sat up, rubbing my red, puffy eyes and flipping my hair over my shoulder, "Okay pretty girl, lets go." He put out his hand for me to grab and I did, groaning momentarily, "It's fine, don't stress, okay?"

My eyes twitched as I was revealed to the harsh sunlight of midday. I stayed completely quiet as I held Paxton's hand for support. Everyone was talking amongst themselves as we entered the scene. Instead of staying for chit-chat, I hopped straight into the car and closed the door.

I don't care how hot it is, I'm not leaving. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. A couple minutes go by and the drivers side open. I sneak a peek and close my eyes again once I see it's Paxton. He climbs in without saying a word and starts to car, sparking a few wires to get the engine going.

Once it's up and running, he reverses and drives out of the parking lot, still not saying a word. I worry that he's mad at me, but his hand finds its way to my thigh and I relax a bit. But when his fingers start inching upward, I slap his hand, "Not the time." I smirk. I hear him chuckle under his breath, "Worth a shot."

* * *

We passed streets and streets of houses that were too big or too small. Ones that had so much damage and some that had barely any.

I was tired and bored, wasting away the day sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

"Do you think we'll find an ideal house?" He asked me. I shook my head, "Who knows. All we need right now is a room that will accommodate us all. But once Riley is a bit older and Megan has this kid, we're gonna need a bigger house. Most of the houses in Washington aren't big enough to hold 8 people."

"I guess you're right. What if we got our own house?" Paxton asked. He'd pitched the idea to me before, and it sounded like a great idea at the time, "You know I want too Pax, but it's too dangerous right now. Maybe in a year or so, when we know those people are no longer a threat to us, okay?"

He nodded and continued following the cars down the roads.

They got windier and windier as we went up a steep road, heading to a hill, "Why am I getting Twilight vibes?" Paxton mumbled, "You watched Twilight." His guilty blush said it all, "Busted."

As we continued up the road, my stomach churned. I didn't have a bad feeling, but it wasn't exactly a nice one either. All the houses I could see were mainly roofs, nice ones. White picket fences, red-tiled roofs with little to no damage.

"Are we entering the rich part of Washington?" I asked.
"Don't ask me."
"I mean look, it looks pretty rich to me!"

My mouth fell open at the sight in front of me. Trees as tall as houses surrounded everything, spacing neighbours apart and giving them a fair distance. That must be a long walk if you need a cup of sugar.

"Who knows, maybe we'll all get a nice rich house to live in one day."

It made me sad to think that we'll never get the option of building a house, or paying for one we want.

But everything is free for like, ever. So that's pretty cool.

"Okay, here we go again. Maybe this one will be a winner." Paxton said, parking his car behind Alex's.

I unbuckled myself and got out of the car, my breath leaving my body as I looked at the house, "Christ Almighty, this place is huge."

"Isn't it magnificently beautiful."

I nod. "Well, let's enter shall we folks?"

Gage opened the front door and we went inside. I got a bit of a chill and rubbed my arms up and down each other.

Aside from the place being a little messy - pieces of the wall caved in, furniture tipped over, that kinda thing.

It was relatively clean and tidy.

"Okay, me and Penny will take upstairs. Megan and Alex take outside and Elle and Paxton take bottom floor."

Paxton took my hand and laced his fingers through mine. We walked around the perimeter of the house (inside). It looks liveable.

There was a living room with a fire place, some couches, a broken flat screen TV, a coffee table and other knick-knacks.

"What do you think?" He asked me, "I think it's great, actually. If the others like this, it could be a possible solution."

Paxton nodded his head, "Let's go find the kitchen and the other places on the bottom floor."

I left Paxton to search around. Since all he wanted to do was find the bedrooms. I checked out the bathrooms, the kitchen, laundry and other rooms.

I love this place so far. It's big and will definitely hold all of us.

I found Paxton wandering around upstairs, "You summoned me?" I asked, referring to him asking me upstairs.

"Look what I found." He said.

I followed him to a room. A room with a big bed, chest of drawers, TV mount, en-suite bathroom, window and built in shelf with books!

I gasped, looking around the entire room. The walls and roof were a cream white while the carpet was a dark grey. Everything else was white or black, "I like this bedroom." I said.

Paxton nodded, "Every room upstairs has a room like this, en-suite and everything." He smiled. I ran my fingers over the bed and picked up a dusty book, "Why'd you pick this place?"

"Because I know you like books and I thought you could read them." He shrugged. I felt myself blush and couldn't help but smile, "You chose it for me?"

He bit his bottom lip and nodded, "You're so sweet, thank you!"

I hopped into his arms and he hugged me back!

This place is perfect!

* * *

hey!

i know it's taken me a long time to update this chapter - i've had writers block.

BUT - thank you 6k reads!! that is- absolutely insane. i never expected this much love or support. so thank you thank you THANK YOU!!

we're nearing the end of this book and i'm really sad, but if you guys have any other ideas of books genres you'd like to read, let me know down below!

thank you!