Before You

They didn’t get a good grip as I was able to wriggle free and had a gun on the head of my attacker in an instant. Elexus had done the same, drawing her twin handguns. The male who had grabbed me tried knocking the weapon from my grip but I brought my injured hand down on the back of his head and brought my knee up to meet his face. He staggered backwards, clutching his nose which was bleeding profusely and ignored the now extreme, throbbing pain in my right appendage. I turned just as a shot rang out, and watched as a brown haired female fell to the ground, shrieking as she grabbed tight to her leg, her jeans quickly soaking with crimson fluid. Somehow, Elexus and I were standing back to back, keeping our eyes on the small group who jumped us. I hadn’t aided in an attempt at teamwork in quite some time, but this was the first time I’d been grateful.

Just then a shot rang out. It was loud and echoed in the air; a shotgun no doubt. Everyone stilled causing a quiet to hang in the air. Well almost. The girl on the ground was still audibly in pain. I narrowed my eyes at the male who materialized out of the shadows, shotgun in hand. He held it pointed at us and I took a moment to get a good look at him. The male was tall, looked to be in his twenty’s, brown hair fell around his face in a halo of curls. He wore designer jeans, a button down polo in a pattern of gray and blue tartan.

“Ande, strip ‘em,” the male motioned towards us and a blond female I hadn’t noticed walked over and started to pat Elexus down.

“Touch me and I’ll put a bullet in your head so fast you’ll be dead before you can blink,” she snarled the words at the blond girl who wavered, then backed down after a nod from Aiden.

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” he said in a calm voice. "Who are you? Survivors? Have you been infected?”

His words weren’t making sense. Who weren’t we? Survivors of what? Infected? He must have seen the puzzled look on my face because he returned it with one of his own. My brows furrowed, and I decided I’d answer with truth.

“We aren’t from around here. I don’t even know where ‘here’ is. Mind enlightening us?”

“And telling me why the hell you set a trap?” Elexus spat.

We stared each other down a minute longer before he lowered his weapon. After close observation and some internal fighting, I did the same.

“We couldn’t be too sure you weren’t one of them.” A quiet minute passed before he spoke again.

“Seems we got off on the wrong foot. Let me start over. I’m Aiden Alexander Bauer.” He made no move to shake hands and just as well.

“And this,” Aiden held out his arm as the little blond child from earlier, the one with the dead cat, came running into his arm, burying her face in his side, “is Taylor.”

The little girl just stared with her big, green eyes from under her blond curls. I said nothing in return, awaiting further, useful information. Turns out the guy I kneed in the face has a name. Ian O’shay and he never took his skeptical gray eyes off of me for one second. He was tall, slightly muscular wearing a gray v-neck sweater and dark jeans. His hair flipped out in a brown, highlighted halo around his head, skin a touch darker than ivory. Ande, the petite blond with a death wish met Aiden in high school, Aiden being friends with Ian. It was one big, vicious, annoying circle.

The one named Ian hurried over to the girl on the ground, applying pressure to her leg which was bleeding profusely. “Damn it Aiden just kill them and lets go, the blood will attract them.”

Aiden chose not to acknowledge him, continuing on in the same calm fashion as before. “That’s Bree, the one your lady friend has so skillfully wounded. Which by the way, we’ll need to get her to a hospital very, very soon." Aiden’s eyes wondered to the female on the ground, her dark brown hair hiding the pain that edged her face. He held a calm, collected composure but his eyes held the weight of worry for the girl.

Elexus held her frame rigid; I could tell from her narrowed eyes she couldn’t care less. Didn’t care who they were, what their past held, just looked at them like roaches. Like vermin that needed to be eliminated, feeling disgusted by just being near them. In the pit of my stomach, I felt the same hatred. It was because of the rigorous training and a killer mentality. I knew these people meant no harm (mostly), and they had no previous affiliation with me but those factors meant nothing. Not when something is so drilled in your mind that it makes you sick not to feel hatred for those lesser than you. Thats how we generally viewed the rest of the populace.

“Come back with us. We’ll stitch up your wounds, give you food and shelter and I’ll let you know anything you want,” Aiden offered.

Before I could answer, Ian snapped, “Fuck no, we can’t trust them! They shot at us, we have no idea if they’ve been bitten, it would be near suicide!”

“I can assure you I’ve got some wounds, but non of such acquired orally,” I said a little irritated that I still had no idea what they were talking about. But according to Aiden, I’d know soon enough. I took a deep breath, “alright, we’ll come with you.”

“What?” Elexus spoke, and I turned to look in her direction. Her features had turned from disgust to complete disbelief. Her words dripped acid, “I won’t be going anywhere with anyone. Especially some low life scum that don’t even know how to properly ambush and secure.”

Aiden eyed her momentarily, looking as if he was deciding on what to say next. Finally, “your choice. Come if you want, stay if you wish, but we have to go before Bree loses anymore blood.”

I nodded in agreement. I would follow them back; I was in need of some medical supplies myself and I wanted to know what was going on. They seemed to have some sort of understanding and I was willing to get information by any means necessary. Ian bent over and put his arms around Bree, slinging her arm around his shoulders for support. The girl named Ande flanked her other side. It would be a slow trek to our destination.