The Silver Death

chapter seven - dinner

Hey! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating. I've had a lot of stupid shit going on at school, and it's crazy how I'm starting a fourteenth chapter when the seventh hasn't even been uploaded. I really hope you enjoy this chapter!

Dinner is served. A boy comes out first, carrying a huge plate of rice, distrustful hazel eyes scanning the room. His messy brown hair bounces as he walks. Following him is another redhead. She has long, thick dark red hair like Edward and Emily, but the similarities stop there. A short, slim build, huge, round green eyes, with the longest, thickest natural eyelashes I have ever seen on a human being. Tiny button nose, covered with freckles that stand out against her porcelain pale skin, previously round cheeks that now look as if they're thinning out. She would be beautiful, had she not been as skinny and scared-looking as a Holocaust victim. I suspect these two are the aforementioned Patrick and Alli.

"Let's go," says Edward, standing up along with the rest of the table. Dawn has Ozzy perched on her hip. He plays with her curly blonde hair, fascination etched in every feature of his face. Matthew and I follow everyone to the serving window, where we get in a line. As we move forward, I see the fried rice on a plate, along with broccoli, water chestnuts, small slices of red peppers and carrots, and with a thrill, baby corn. When it is my turn, I take three of the baby corns and pile them atop my fried rice. I'm afraid I have taken too much, but they all look at Matt and I with sympathy in their gaze. I look back at Emily, who is in the back, and she nods silently. They know we need to eat.

I sit down at my last seat and begin eating. I consume it so fast I hardly have time to taste it, but when I do, it's well cooked and soft. Although the absence of butter and soy sauce is jarring, I'm so hungry I don't care. Finally, I scrape the last few grains of rice off my plate and gently set my fork down, observing everyone in the room. I look past where Eyebrows and Pregnant Girl - Jack and Grace, I mean - are seated. The sun tells me it's about noon, as it's directly situated over us. I look down at my empty plate and then up at everyone at my table, thinking. I smile at Ozzy as he stares over at me, and then trace the outline of his father's bumpy nose with my eyes, wondering how the bump could be that defined or if it was broken. Bored, I take out one of my decks of cards from my pack and shuffle it, the noise easily masked by the chatter created by the not numerous, but very loud people.

"Hazel?"

I turn around, only to find Matthew, his blue eyes amplified by his glasses. "Should we put our plates away?"

"Yeah...yeah, we should." I shove the cards into the waistband of my pants and stand up, taking my plate and fork with me. We stack them atop a precarious pile of dishes, and start to walk back when Matt grabs my arm. His eyes bore into mine with such a terrified intensity I almost have to take a step back.

"Can we trust them?"

I now notice that he looks exactly the same as he did when Edward, Emily and Vale found us - shaky, clammy hands, sweaty forehead, pale skin, wide eyes. Is he really this nervous? He still has his gun. And I could protect him, too.

"Are...are you okay?"

He doesn't answer.

"Do you need to go calm down?"

Again, no answer.

"You look like a corpse. Go take care of yourself, Sparky."

Apparently my rude comments work - he nods and slowly starts out of the room, trying to ease his shaky hands by gripping the edge of his shirt. Poor guy.

I head back to the table I was at, and sit by Emily, starting to ask her about chores, when Edward stands and calls everyone over with his deep voice.

"It's time for everyone to meet our newcomers." All the people that weren't already at our table stand and walk over. Vale sits next to me, still holding hands with Checkered Sweatshirt - or the Fox girl. His little cat jumps up besides him, purring. She sees me and seems to freeze, but I rub her ears gently as Edward begins to speak.

"Hazel, Matt, would you please stand." I stand up quickly, realizing Matthew is still absent. Edward continues with only a sideways glance at me. "We found them near the gas station where Avery was taken. They say they have information. We welcomed them into our home, fed them, bathed them, clothed them, given them a place to stay if they wish to do so, and now it is their turn to give us something - give us information about Avery." Edward, along with everyone else at the table, looks at me.

"I..." I frown. "I set out that day to gather food and water. I found that gas station and went inside. I met Avery and Matthew, but then the people came. They were dressed in...in navy blue suits and had .22 rifles. There was....a man, too. Outside by the helicopter. Really tall, stocky, well-built kind of guy. Black hair. He seemed to order the other people around." Everyone sucks in a breath, but I notice a particular tension in Edward, his jaw setting and his fists clenching, bushy eyebrows narrowed in pure lividity. I pretend not to notice and continue on my story. "I don't know where Avery and Matthew hid, but I hid beneath the counter, in one of the cabinets. A...a boy found me." I attempt to swallow the lump in my throat and steady my hands on my shirt, tears fighting to escape my eyes. "There...was a different man, too. I..." I finally lose my strength and look down, submitting to the public display of guilt. "I found Matthew outside and took him back to my house," I finish in a monotone voice.

There's silence. Finally Ari frowns at me. "Which way did the helicopter go?"

I pause, realizing I didn't know. I had been so caught up in the moment, I hadn't been paying attention to such unavailing details. "I...."

"South."

Matthew is suddenly next to me, looking much healthier. He glances at me, then back at the group. "South. It went towards the mountains."

"They took her to the one in Denver." Emily frowns at all of us. "It's reasonable, at least."

"How do we know for sure?" pipes in Ari again.

"We don't know!" I retort back before I can stop myself. "Emily gave us an idea, do you have to find everything wrong with it? We're closer than we were five minutes ago!"

She stares at me with renewed fury in her eyes, the stupid honey brown eyes that are so like mine that I hate it. Before a fight can break out, Edward begins to talk.

"Let's go to Denver. I don't see the harm in it, and if she's not there, we can check that one off our list. Who's going?"

To everyone's surprise, I see a small, pale hand raised into the air by Alli. Not to everyone's surprise, Patrick's follows hers. "I want to save Miss Avery," says Alli in a soft, quiet voice.

Edward raises his hand, and so do Vale and Fox. A moment of silence, then Edward asks, "Is that it?"

I frown, debating my options. I could either stay here, safe and sound, with a full belly and the run of the place. Or I could go on a ridiculously long trip to save someone I have never spoken to, where death may greet me at every turn.

So, naturally, I pick option number two. Social expectations, am I right?

I raise my hand. "I want to help. I didn't meet her for long, but everyone here seems to respect her."

Matthew starts to raise his hand, too, but I cut him off. "You still have a concussion, Matthew. No, absolutely not."

This sparks a debate among the audience: Do we let the socially anxious, injured, inexperienced boy come along on the stupidly dangerous mission, or do we make him stay here, safe, where he can heal much faster? Finally Ari slaps her hand on the table, quieting everyone. "Oh, let him go. It sounds like he's doing better; he can do guard duty, for all I care."

I'm mad, and Edward looks that way too, but apparently we're too tired to argue with such a hard-headed human being, so we let it slide.

"Patrick, Alli, Vale, Fox, Hazel, Matt and I. Is this decision final?"

No one disagrees. Edward nods, his dark red hair flopping as he does, and steps back. "This meeting is over."

It's settled. We're going to rescue Avery.