Chapter 5

In the morning, Ryder, Reese, and I all head to a grocery store on the other side of town. Reese and I are both in the backseat keeping our eyes open for any signs of the Warriors, and Ryder is driving as carefully as possible. The last thing we need is a fight on the day we're planning to leave.

The brakes slam, and the car jerks to a stop, sending Reese toppling over me in the backseat. "Get off!" I smack at his arm, trying to shove him off me. His elbow is digging into my ribcage, and I can't breathe.

"Sorry," he grunts, trying to move.

"Shush! Get down."

We obey Ryder's command without further complaint, and he turns the car off. The three of us duck down as far as possible while still being able to see. About two-hundred yards ahead of us, three men dressed in camouflage and carrying assault rifles are dragging something behind them.

At first, I think it's a zombie corpse. Then it starts to kick and scream, and I realize that it's a young woman a couple of years older than Reese. Her hair is long and a reddish brown color and she has an hourglass build. I can't tell the color of her eyes from here, but I can see that they're open wide in terror.

Surprisingly, she's wearing a beautiful pink sundress. It hasn't been torn or bloodied, like most of my clothes, and she's wearing heels and makeup. From my spot in the car, I can see heavy bruising around her thighs and arms, and I immediately know what the Warriors kept her for.

My hands curl into fists, and I clench my jaw to keep from doing something stupid. As I'm watching, she reaches up and bites the hand of one of the Warriors holding her, and he viciously backhands her. She drops to the ground, holding her cheek and whimpering pitifully.

"We have to help her."

Ryder looks at me like I'm nuts. "You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking."

"Why would I joke about something like this? She's uninfected and in danger. She needs our help," I say, reaching for the handgun Reese taught me how to use.

"Sam, stop!" Ryder orders.

Ignoring him, I open the car door, careful to be as quiet as possible. I leave it open; closing it will attract attention. When I click the safety off, I feel dangerous and unstoppable. My nerves are humming in anticipation of the fight to come, and I try my best to ignore them and focus on my breathing. When I creep around the front of the SUV, I hear another door open, and Reese joins me.

"Sam, go wait in the car."

I shake my head. "No."

He sighs, but doesn't argue. We don't have time if we're going to stop them from executing her. He lifts his rifle, takes aim, and shoots. In the silent street, the shot is so loud I wouldn't be surprised if Frank heard it all the way back at their hideout.

One guy goes down, and the other two instantly drop the woman and take up defensive positions. Reese moves forward, trying to get a better shot, and I see it before he does.

Running forward, I knock him to the ground, just as the shot blows out the shop window behind us. We duck behind a burned car, and I turn to the alley where three more soldiers were acting as a lookout.

I don't even stop to think. I just raise the gun, take aim, and pull the trigger. I was aiming for the heart, but instead it hits him in the leg, and he drops to the ground with a curse. One of his partners reaches for him, and Reese shoots. The bullet hits him in the hand, and he screams.

The door shuts, and Ryder kneels down beside the front wheel of the SUV. He brings the rifle to his shoulders, and takes aim at the two remaining Warriors that are still surrounding the wounded woman. He pulls the trigger, and hits one of them in the chest when he stands to shoot at us.

Ryder gets up and runs to us, dropping down beside the car. "You two are stupid!"

I ignore him, and look up over the top of the car. A bullet whizzes by my head, missing by mere inches, and Reese drags me back down as more bullets riddle the car and the building behind us. As the bullets hit the car, they make a horrible sound, and I'm tempted to cover my ears and wait for it to stop.

The second the bullets stop, Ryder and Reese both stand and fire off two shots, before ducking again. Someone screams, and Ryder narrowly avoids a bullet to the chest. "Two left."

Reese edges closer to the hood of the car, and takes aim. I'm not sure what he's shooting at, but I trust him to know. When I look over my shoulder, through a blown-out window, I see a soldier go down with a bullet to the ankle.

They're heads and chests aren't visible, but their feet still are. There's still one warrior left, and he's near the wounded woman. I hope he doesn't think to use her as a shield.

As soon as I think it, he stands from behind his barricade, holding her out in front. He has a handgun pressed to the side of her head, and I wonder if he'll actually shoot her. "Let me pass!" he calls.

Ryder and Reese exchange a glance, and Reese leaves the shelter of the burned car. Ryder ducks away, trying to circle around behind the warrior. Reese lets his rifle hang from its strap, and puts his hands up. "It's alright. I just wanna talk."

"I don't wanna talk! I wanna get the fuck out of here in one piece."

"Alright, I can make that happen. All you have to do is give me the woman, and you're free to leave. She's the one I want, not you."

From my position behind the car, I can see the warrior thinking. His chest is heaving, and he's starting to sweat. This trained soldier is panicking, and he doesn't see a way out of here. "If I give you the girl, what's to keep you from just shooting me?"

"What's to keep me from just shooting you right now? I'm a good shot. I could probably get my gun up, and take you out before you even knew what hit you. Do you want that?"

The warrior's thinking all of his options through, and I see his decision. He moves the gun and aims it at Reese. There's a loud pop, and I scream. So does the woman he's holding. She looks confused for a second, until the warrior slumps to the ground with a bullet in his head.

I rush out to her as Ryder steps from behind a minivan. He reaches the girl first, and she hurls herself into Ryder's arms. He grimaces in discomfort, but doesn't let her go. When she starts sobbing into his shirt, he gently pushes her away. "Are you alright?"

She hiccups. "T-they were g-gonna k-kill me."

She starts crying again, and this time Ryder takes a few steps back. When he joins me, I look up at him. "Don't enjoy being thanked?"

"Not by hysterical crying women."

Looking at this hysterical woman up close, I notice that her eyes are almond-shaped and a bluish green color. She's almost as tall as Reese with the heels on, but she might only be about five and a half feet tall without them.

That's still taller than me...

The woman's calmed down some, and I notice that she might be one of the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time. She's got the perfect body, perfect heart-shaped face, and full lips. Cute is the best I can hope for. For a minute, there's a spark of jealousy, but I stomp it down, ashamed of myself.

Her beauty obviously made her a target for the Warriors. I can't forget what they've done to her.

Reese takes off his jacket and hands it to her. She recoils automatically, as if he'd been trying to hit her instead of hand her a jacket. For a second, she just stares at it as if it's a cobra ready to strike, before taking it slowly.

"Thank you," she whispers.

She shrugs on the jacket, and I try not to stare at the bruises around her throat and arms.

She edges away from both Reese and Ryder, and I take a few steps forward. "Hey, my name's Sam," I say, extending my hand.

She hesitantly takes it, "Tobe."

"Isn't that a boy's name?" Ryder asks. Reese and I glare at him, and he just shrugs. "Isn't it?"

"It's short for October. I don't know what my parents were thinking, but it's not as bad as it could have been. My sister's name was Rosalind. She used to hate it when people called her Rosy."

"Tobe, why were those Warriors trying to kill you?"

She sniffs, and pulls the jacket tighter around her. "They keep women at their camp for their own pleasure, for entertainment. I was the favorite, because of my, my figure."

"Why did they bring you out here to die then?" Reese asks.

She goes silent, and her eyes get a faraway look in them, almost like she's remembering the traumatic experience. "After a while, you just stop fighting and try to imagine yourself someplace else. They don't like it when the girls stop fighting."

"They have others there?"

"Not anymore. There were two others when I got there, but the men got bored with them pretty quick. The only thing they dislike more than not fighting is fighting too much. One girl bit the lip of a man off, and knocked out three of his teeth. They executed her on the spot. The other starved herself to death so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore."

"How long did they have you there?"

"A little over a month, I think. They kept me tied up in a tent. After that girl starved herself, someone would come in every morning and force me to eat. Then whenever one of the men got bored, they could just come in and..." she trails off, but she doesn't need to finish. We all get what she's saying loud and clear.

Reese glances at Ryder, and they exchange looks. Reese's is a little demanding, and Ryder's is exasperated. "Tobe, would you like to come with us? We're getting out of the city today, and we're gonna find a safe place to stay."

"There is no safe place anymore," she says stubbornly. "The Warriors will track you down for killing their men. Whether it's a week from now, or a year, it'll happen."

I think about that. Would Frank really cross the country searching for us? If he's as crazy as I think he is, the answer is yes. He'll probably stop at nothing to get revenge.

"Then the sooner we leave the better," I say, heading back to the SUV.

I climb into the backseat, leaving Reese and Ryder up front. It's probably best if they aren't so close to her right now. I wouldn't want her to freak out and accidentally hurt one of them. As much as I hate to admit it, the last ten minutes has taught me that I'm definitely not as capable of taking care of myself as I thought. If it weren't for Reese and Ryder, I'd probably dead right now.

Again.

Tobe hesitantly gets into the car beside me, and just stares out the window the entire way back to the apartment.

Reese helps me pack the remainder of my supplies, including the water pitchers, remaining seeds, and sleeping gear. We only have two sleeping bags, so Tobe and I will have to settle for blankets, and hope that the ground isn't wet. While preparing, I notice that Ryder watches Tobe like a hawk. He refuses to let her out of his sight for long, and it starts to worry me. When Tobe heads back up for one more armful of things, I corner Ryder and keep him from following her.

"What is your deal?" He ignores me, trying to shove his way past. "Dammit, Ryder! What are you doing?"

"I don't trust her," he snaps, glaring at me. "We don't know this girl. She could be a spy for the Warriors. She could take off and lead them right to us. And neither you nor Reese seems to realize that we could be in serious danger right now."

I snort, earning another glare. "Ryder, have you seen this girl? She looks more pathetic than I do, and that's saying something. Besides, we have to trust someone."

"How do you know we can trust her?"

"How do you know we can't?"

We just glare at each other until Reese come back down and intervenes. "Alright, you two, nock it off. Now is not the time to be fighting. At least wait until we get away from the city."

He and I turn away from each other, and start packing more stuff into the back. Tobe comes back down-wearing a clean pair of my sweats, boots, and an old t-shirt-with the last of the stuff, and I help her load it into the back. When we close the hatch, she gives me a small smile, and I feel like jumping for joy.

She hasn't done much in the two hours since her rescue except cry and tremble. I was beginning to think she might be damaged, or on the verge of a psychotic break. Feeling better, I climb into the backseat with her, and Ryder starts the car. I buckle myself in, and we leave behind my apartment of almost a year.

There's a cooler sitting at my feet, and I open it. Inside are the remaining vegetables from my rooftop garden: four cucumbers, six tomatoes, and three green bell peppers. Tobe's eyes widen. "You have fresh vegetables?"

I nod. "Yep. I grew them in boxes on my roof. Here," I say, handing her a cucumber. "Freshly picked and washed."

She tears into it like she hasn't had anything edible in months. For a second, I just watch her ripping it apart, fascinated by her behavior. "You know, the rest of us are hungry, too," Ryder says from the driver's seat.

"Should you be eating while you're driving?"

He reaches a hand back and snaps his fingers twice. I sigh, and hand him a cucumber. It's the easiest of the three to eat with one hand and little to no attention. "I'll take a pepper, if you have one," Reese says, flashing me a smile. "Unless you were planning to save them."

I hand him a pepper, and sit back with a tomato. As I eat, I start to think about my family again. My grandpa used to make sandwiches out of tomato, mayonnaise, bread, and pepper. Nothing more. When I was little, I thought they were the grossest thing ever but now, as I'm eating, I think it sounds pretty good.

It's a shame he'll never make me another one...

I down part of a bottle of water from my apartment, and hand Tobe one. She guzzles it, and for a second I'm worried she'll make herself sick. When she stops, she wipes her mouth, and looks at me. "Thank you, for not leaving me there. A lot of people would have."

I glance discreetly at Ryder, and his eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. He looks quickly away, but not before I notice something on his face that just might be shame. He would have left her there, but only to ensure that Reese survives. Nothing's more important to him than his brother.

He'll do whatever it takes to keep Reese alive, including leave helpless people to their fate. Would he leave me behind?

Something crinkles from the front seat, bringing my mind back to the car. I lean forward and look down at a map in Reese's hands. "Michigan's about a ten hour drive from here. Think we should drive through the night?" Reese asks.

"No. Today was trying," he says with a pointed glance at me. "I don't wanna risk us going off the road. We'll find a safe place to stop before sundown, and we'll pick back up in the morning."

Reese doesn't argue. He just keeps looking over the map in his hands, oblivious to everything else. There's nothing to do except stare at the window at everything as we drive by. I haven't traveled this far from my apartment since the infection hit, and it's a little saddening to see my city in ruins.

Blood covers everything, body parts line the streets, buildings have been destroyed and burned by looters, and zombie's wander aimlessly through the streets. Ryder doesn't stop or go around; he just goes right through them, apparently not caring that they used to be people capable of thought and feeling.

By the time we reach the city limits, it's almost two in the afternoon. Michigan is a little more than nine hours away, and Ryder plans on stopping before nightfall. That means that we should be at Beaver Island some time in the afternoon tomorrow. We'd be able to set up a semi-permanent and safe life.

I sigh, rest my head against the window, and close my eyes.