Life as We Knew It

The small group of survivors made their way towards the man they had talked to on the Walkie-talkie, Gareth's, camp, silently observing them from a distance. A couple people were sitting at a portable picnic table, eating breakfast. A man got up to help himself to a second serving, his short brown hair moving slightly to the breeze as he passed a plate to a short woman nestled in a lawn chair, her red hair tucked into a braid. One woman shot up from her chair.

"Hey, look over there!" a woman's voice suddenly shouted, pointing to the exact spot they were at. A couple people raised their weapons.
"Shit," Sam whispered, his hand gripped to his gun, the others doing the same.
"The infected?" the young man with the brown hair shouted back, and Amber instantly recognized the voice. Gareth.
"I-I don't think so," the woman said, raising her pistol. Not wanting to seem suspicious, Sam hesitantly walked into view, and the others soon followed.
"We come in peace!" the other group stared at the survivors as if they were aliens from another planet, as if they didn't believe they could actually be alive.
"Everybody calm down! Put your guns down! These are my friends!" Gareth boomed, motioning for everyone to do what he said. They immediately did, leading Amber to automatically assume he was the leader.
"You know these people?" the woman who had first spotted them said, her turquoise eyes tracing back to the survivors.
"Yeah, yeah, I do. I talked to them through the Walkie-talkie. I forgot to tell you guys, it must've slipped my mind, Elizabeth," Gareth said. The woman stared at Gareth in disbelief.

"Slipped your mind? Are you serious? How could this possibly slip your mind, Gareth? These are people we're talking about! Hell, we don't even know their names, or if they're here to kill us!" Elizabeth said furiously. Suddenly, a loud shot rang out, firing close to Rebecca's foot. A couple people screamed.
"What the hell was that?" Amber shouted angrily, aiming her gun at the group. "
"Dan, what the hell!" Gareth shouted to a man who looked in his 30's with sleek black hair, "Everyone just CALM DOWN!" Gareth yelled.
"Put your weapon down, Dan!" he furiously said to Dan, who had shot his rifle in panic as a result of the suspicion of the new survivors. Dan laid down his gun hesitantly and stared at Gareth as he continued.
Gareth sighed. "We'll get to know them. They needed help. I didn't tell you guys because I know what you would've said about letting people in. You would've said no," Gareth said, putting his hands in his brown leather jacket's pockets. Their argument continued for a while, the two going back and forth, other members joining in. The survivors awkwardly stood there, waiting for Gareth's group to work it out, their hands on their weapons in case things went south. "Fine. Fine! Have it your way, Gareth! I'm just trying to keep the camp safe. We'll see how this goes," Elizabeth snarled at the newcomers and walked away.
"Sorry about her," Gareth said, smiling at the newcomers, "Welcome."

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Gareth showed them around the camp, from the river which contained cold, fresh, water to the berry bushes nearby. He introduced them to several other survivors, including his mother, Mary, the red-haired woman, who enthusiastically welcomed the group. His brother, Alex, gave them each a water bottle and a small portion of food. The camp was surrounded by a field of wheat and tall oaks. In all, there had to be about ten people here. The other survivors seemed like decent people, all except Elizabeth. After the argument between her and Gareth, she had angrily stormed into her tent. They had met other people, too, even some children.

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"What's her problem?" Jack blurted out, pointing at the tent Elizabeth was in, causing his mother to shoot him a look.
"I-I'm so sorry, I don't know why he asked-" his mother, Lily, stared, looking at Gareth apologetically.
"Nothing to apologize for, Lily," Gareth said, smiling at her, "We had a bad experience a couple weeks ago. One of the newbies- well, they robbed us and killed Elizabeth's dad, along with my friend," he stated sadly. The survivors looked at him in shock. They had always thought that roamers were the only threat-they hadn't given a lot of thought that humans could be, too.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Sam said, "But we aren't bad people. We just wanna survive," he continued look around at his group.
"We watch out for each other here. We survive together," Gareth stated, "and we would like for you and your group to be apart of that."

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The new blended group of survivors laughed and talked around a campfire that night, eating freshly-caught fish while learning about one another. Even Elizabeth had come to the fire and Amber could see a small smile tug at her lips when Jack had spit out his first sip of alcohol, claiming that it was "disgusting", causing the group to laugh. Gareth's voice suddenly rang out among the fire, "Let us make a toast to the newly found members of our group-and to the members we have lost along the way, and to the hope that we will see them again someday," Gareth said, clinking his red plastic cup filled with wine with several other people's cups. They cheered and laughed, oblivious to what would happen in the next couple of days.

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The moon shone above the forest as the soft thud of footsteps could be heard sinking in the mushy, watery mud. Screeching in fear, birds glided out of their nests and soared into the sky. Attracted by the loud shot fired earlier today, the infected staggered into the night, moaning in hunger. They were close- and they were coming.