We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Fourteen

Pocatello, ID

          Jared stared down at the woman. He gave Casey a small glance and a smile when she ran up, but besides that he kept his eyes on her. Tom had been trying to get her to talk, but she wouldn't say anything. Looking at her, Jared guessed that she was in her mid-twenties. She had dirty-blonde hair that was tied up in a pony tail, but he couldn't tell much else from where he was standing. She was still laying close to the edge of the roof where she was shooting from. Ella had taken her gun, though, and was off to the side looking it over.

           "What's your name?" Tom asked for the fifth time. The woman didn't answer, but Jared could see her shaking her head, just slightly. Tom sighed in frustration and pulled her to her feet. She pulled away from him and Jared froze when he saw her standing with one foot halfway off the edge. She didn't seem nervous, though. As she glared at Tom, Jared got a better look at her. Her eyes were bright green, but the rest of her face was covered with dirt and a little bit of dried blood smeared her left cheek. She looked over at Casey, and her look softened a little.
          "I'm sorry. I couldn't take any chances. Not after what happened." Casey looked shocked at first, but replied.
          "It's okay, I guess..." The woman nodded and pushed past Tom. Jared let out a slow breath. He didn't like heights, and seeing someone so close to falling from that height didn't help.
          Tom opened his mouth as she walked by, but Jared interrupted him.
       "We're going to the airport. You should come with us." She looked at him. "Unless you wanna stay up here until someone or something else comes after you."
        "No, she is not coming with us." Tom said, almost yelling. "I'm not risking that."
        "It's a good thing you're not in charge, then." Ella said as she walked over.
        "I'm older." Tom said it in a way that made Jared want to laugh, if it hadn't been a serious situation.
        "Doesn't matter." Ella smiled like a little kid who had just won an argument as she handed the woman her gun and walked towards the door. "We're going now, so if you want to stay then go ahead." No one said anything as they followed her down, not even Tom. He looked like he was pissed, but he didn't say anything else. Because he was scared of her? Jared wasn't surprised. He wouldn't want to get in a fight with her. He was at the back of the group again, behind Casey and in front of the woman.
        "What's your name, anyway?" he whispered back to her. She didn't say anything for a minute, and Jared didn't think she would answer until finally she answered in an equally quiet voice. 

       "Renee. What about you? And all these guys?"

       "Shut up!" Tom called quietly from the front of the group.
        Jared answered her, barely loud enough to be heard. "That one's Tom. He's always like that. At least  he's been so far. I haven't known him long. I barely know any of them, really. The one behind him is his sister, Ella, and this is Casey." Casey looked back and gave a little wave. "And I'm Jared." He added.
        Renee nodded. "Nice to meet you."
        "I'm gonna shoot you two if you don't shut up!" Tom called back, louder this time. Too loud. Almost as soon as he finished saying it, a zombie jumped down and landed on him, pushing him to the ground. Jared looked up. The only place it could have come from was that building, but it was tall. Even jumping from the lowest window could break both a person's legs. The thing attacking Tom didn't seem to notice if anything was wrong. He managed to get his feet underneath it and threw it away from him. The thing was back on its feet in a second, and charged at him. His gun had been knocked out of his hands and was out of his reach. Jared saw Ella trying to aim, but the thing was swerving back and forth. Then the gunshot went off. It wasn't from Ella. It was louder than her gun, and Jared had to cover his ears from the sound. The zombie collapsed in front of Tom, and Jared turned around to see Renee, with her rifle still at her shoulder.
        She smirked at him. "Still wish you didn't give it back?" Tom muttered something under his breath and picked up his pistol.
        "Let's go, we're almost there. The airport's only about a block away." Jared couldn't help but stare as they neared the airport. He'd seen a bunch of zombies wandering the streets, eating from bodies(which helped as a distraction), but there were none past the tall fencing surrounding the airport. He thought he saw some people walking around one of the planes, but they were far enough away that he couldn't tell. He saw the ones guarding the fence more clearly. There were two at the entrance they were nearing. They both had guns. There were others, too, walking along the inside of the fence and shooting at any of the zombies that got too close. The guns they used were quiet, though, so they wouldn't attract a lot of attention. He noticed Tom, Ella, and Renee all tense up as they walked up to the fence. One of the guards met them there.
        "Were any of you bitten?" Was the first thing she asked.
        "No." Tom answered, watching her carefully.
        "How many are with you?"
        "Just us five." He replied. "Can we come in now, or are we gonna stay out here all day?" Jared wondered if he was always in a bad mood. Then again, he couldn't blame Tom for the stress of the past day.
        The woman hesitated for what felt like hours before finally unlocking the big padlock on the gates and swinging one of them open.
     "Get in then." Jared followed the group in. He tensed up at the sound of the gate being locked behind him. He knew it was safe here, but being locked in made him nervous. The woman whistled and waved an arm over her head, catching the attention of someone closer to the main building. The person waved back and ran over.
        "Are one of you Jared?" He asked, catching his breath.
        Jared recognized the voice, even though it sounded slightly different from when he heard it on the radio. "Yeah, you're Joe right?"
        The guy nodded and held out his hand, still breathless. He wasn't exactly overweight, but it was obvious that he wasn't an athlete. "Good to meet you. And who's this?" He gestured to the others.
        Tom answered for him. "I'm Tom, that's Ella, Casey, and Renee." Jared saw Renee smile. Turns out Tom was listening to them, however much he told them to shut up.
        Joe nodded at the woman who had let them in and started walking toward the main building. They all followed, but Jared could tell by Tom's face that he was still suspicious. Looking around, Jared noticed something about the people watching the fence.
        "Where'd you get all the guns?" He asked.
        Joe didn't look back when he replied, "A couple of guys came here packed with them; two big 'ole military backpacks filled with pistols and ammo, and a few rifles strapped to the sides. They said they both worked at the gun shop in town, and when they found out what was going on, they grabbed as much as they could get. Unless they're lying, and they're just serial killers with a big gun safe."
        "If they had that many guns, then why are there only seven people guarding?" Tom asked. Joe stopped suddenly, and Jared could almost feel the tension between them.
        Joe didn't say anything for a few seconds. He seemed lost in thought. Then he finally answered. "You'd be surprised at how many people here can shoot a gun. Let me tell ya, there was a lot more than seven. But that was before someone turned. They said they were okay, and we believed them, just let it go. When he turned, he took out most of the others." Jared thought he could hear his voice breaking. "There's only 11 of us left."
        "You said there were 20 over the radio." Jared said. "That was just last night."
        "A lot can happen in less than a day." Joe didn't say anything after that. No one did. Not until they reached the main building. The first thing Jared noticed when they walked in was that it was huge. Seeing it so empty felt...unnatural. It wasn't completely empty, though. The two people inside looked up as the group entered. They both smiled, but Jared could tell they were anything but happy.
        "Guys, this is Bill and Louis, the gun brothers." They didn't say anything when Joe introduced the two groups. Bill looked like the older one, probably in his mid-twenties; they both had the same dark skin and darker brown hair, but Bill's was darker, almost black, and he had brown eyes. Louis, the younger one, had slightly lighter hair and hazel eyes. Jared guessed he was around 20 years old.
        "Where's Lynn?" Joe asked.
        "She went to go check out the planes. She said she wanted a small one that could still fit a lot of people." Louis answered. "
        "Did she-"
        "Yeah, she took a gun." Louis interrupted. "She's a good shot too, but she says she's never used a gun before. Kinda scary."
        Jared sat on one of the waiting chairs, suddenly feeling exhausted. Tom, Ella, and Renee kept talking to Joe and the brothers, but he zoned out of the conversation. Casey came up and plopped down on a chair next to Jared.
        "Have you ever been in a plane?" she asked him.
        "No." Jared replied. "Mom never trusted them."
        "I've never been in one either." She said. "Now's our chance."
        Jared stared at her. "Wait, what?"
        "Come on, there's a bunch of planes out there. I wonder what first class looks like. We can go see. Just real fast, no one will even notice we left."
        "I guess..." He started, still uncertain. Casey just smiled and pulled him to his feet. He followed her out past the hangars. A few of the giant machines were sitting outside. He'd never seen a plane, like an actual commercial airplane, up close. He'd seen plenty of crop dusters and even fighter jets at air shows, but never any this big. Casey found one that had its door open and the steps laid out. She didn't hesitate to enter the plane, and Jared couldn't do anything but follow her.
        "It's kind of a tight space." He muttered as they got in.
        "It's 'cause this is Coach." Casey said. "We're going up to First Class." Jared couldn't help but laugh as he followed. "What? I just wanna see it." She smiled as she led Jared up to First Class. He just stared once they got there. Casey laughed and walked around the aisles of seats. "Now this is a lot better." She laughed. Jared laughed too.
        "Just imagine a bunch of those rich, fancy people all crowded in here at once." he said.
        "Yeah. A bunch of people calling for waiters and foot massages and everything... I wonder where they are now." She sat down in one of the seats. "Ah, it's so soft."
        "I'm sure they closed it down beforehand." Jared plopped down next to her. "We could just live out the rest of our lives in here." He said.
        "Yeah, we'll wait out the zombie apocalypse and when people ask how we did it, we could just tell them we hid out in First Class." Soon they were both joking and laughing, getting into the topic of the end of the world and old George A. Romero movies.

       "Where are your parents?" Casey asked suddenly.
        Jared stared at her. He'd never really had a chance to think about it. "I don't know." He answered honestly. "My mom was asleep the last time I saw her. Dad was sitting in the living room, watching T.V. I went into town to get some food because all we had was cereal. I didn't really say anything when I left. I didn't think I'd need to. I didn't know something like this could happen. They could be dead for all I know."
        "At least you don't know." Casey said quietly. He looked at her. "At least there's a chance that they're still alive, that they're out there and looking for you."
        "What happened to your parents?" Jared asked.
        Casey looked down. "I shot them. Them and my little sister." She was trying to hide the tears, but Jared could tell she was crying. He didn't think she'd meant for the conversation to go in that direction. "I don't know how it happened. They had me trapped in my room, and I had my gun with me. They let me get an m.22 my senior year, and I just kept it in the room. They started to break through the door, clawing at it so that their nails tore off, biting at the air...so I shot them. I didn't even think about it." She sniffed. "Then I left. I dropped the gun and just ran. That was just a while before I found Ella and Tom."
        "What's the story behind them?" Jared asked, trying to change the subject.
        She just shrugged. "Older brother protecting his younger sister. From what I saw, she didn't need much protection though. I still barely know them. I know that Ella was a veterinarian, and Tom was in the Air Force.

          Jared laughed. "That explains a bit. I didn't think of Airmen as naturally grumpy though."

          "Yeah." Casey smiled, then went quiet. "I was surprised, when he said he wanted to leave you. I'm just glad that Ella got through to him."
          Jared smiled. "Me too. Except I haven't really been much help."
        She shrugged. "That's not your fault." Jared was about to reply when they heard footsteps behind them and Renee's voice.
          "Hey, you two need to get back with the others." She said it seriously, but Jared could see the almost-hidden smirk on her face as she looked between the two of them.
          "What for?" Casey asked, looking over the back of her seat.

          "A sort of meeting. Just come on."
          "Alrighty then." Casey said in a slightly sassy tone and stood up, followed by Jared. Renee gave him an almost suspicious look that he couldn't read, before turning around and heading back.