Survivors: A Curtis Everett Story ✓

Chapter 2

The next morning dawned cold, bitterly so. I had kept the fire going all night but because of it, I was dead tired. Yona seemed to notice and took the kids into the kitchen to find something to eat, allowing me a few minutes of shut eye.

But my sleep is subpar at best, nightmares of the explosion and the loss of my wife, again, play behind my closed eyes. This continues on for several weeks as we move from town to town. I'm doing my best to keep the others alive but the constant moving is starting to get to us. At our most recent stop, I notice Yona has started to get nervous. "What's wrong?" I whisper to her as we walk through the center of town.

"Somethings coming." She says before I see movement down an alley.

...
*Gina's POV*

Our alarms ring out throughout the compound. Someone has entered town. I grab my things and head towards the exit. I throw my dark hair up into a ponytail before sliding on my headband to keep my ears warmed. "Hurry up Gina!" Ethan, my father's right hand man yells from the door.

"Stop yelling! I'm right here. It's not like I can't fucking hear you." I grumble. "And you're not in charge here. This is my job, my team. You're just a silent observer." I remind him. "Remember everyone. These could be survivors. We all saw that explosion a few weeks ago when the train went up. They may be hungry, injured. I want everyone out there to be as non-threatening as possible. We're here to bring people in, not scare them off." I aim that last part at Ethan. "Leave that here." I say, motioning to his gun.

"Absolutely not."

"Then you're not coming. We don't use unnecessary force." I tell him. He sighs before locking his gun in the box by the door. "There. Was that so hard?" I ask. He just gives me a look and we head out. "Remember, eyes peeled." I say before we split off in pairs.

...

Somehow I get stuck with Ethan and I'm trying my hardest to ignore him as he regales me with the promises of how my father plans to give him more responsibilities and how he's aiming for him to take over for him when that time comes. I mentally scoff at that. The only thing my father should be preparing him for is scouting duty.

I notice movement off to the side and I'm a little on edge. "One adult, 3 minors." Ethan says as he moves closer.

"Do not engage. Your people skills are subpar at best." I say before walking ahead of him. Once we're close enough and they see us coming, I speak out. "Hello. My name is Gina. Are you all ok?" The man is immediately on edge and as we come closer to each other I hold my hands out in a non threatening manner. "We saw the explosion a couple of weeks ago. Did you come from the train?"

"Yes." He says shortly before starting to approach. I watch him hand off the youngest among them to a young woman, she couldn't have been older than 18, if that. He walks towards me and I hear a shot ring out before I watch him fall to the ground.

"What the fuck Ethan!?" I yell back. "He wasn't going to hurt me. And you were supposed to leave all firearms back at base camp. If you think my father won't be hearing about this, you're wrong." I yell at him before ripping the walkie talkie out of my back pocket. "I need medical! We have a survivor down. Single gunshot to the shoulder." I got a response from Tom, our head field medic, stating that he'd be right here. "Sir, can you hear me?"

"Sirena?" He mumbles.

"I'm sorry. My name is Gina. Who's Sirena? Tell me about her." I say, trying to keep him conscious. His eyes roll back in his head just as Tom gets here.

"Keep pressure on that wound while we carry him in." He orders me and I do my best as we run. As soon as we make it back to the entrance we're met with a gurney to take us down to medical. I hop on top, straddling him while applying the pressure needed. My hands are soon soaked in his blood.

As soon as we get into the operating room I'm lifted off and our team of doctors starts working on him. Without even changing or cleaning myself off I head to the command room, where my father is already talking to Ethan. "Everyone out!" I demand and even though Dad's the leader, no one hesitates to follow my order. "That's how you follow orders Ethan." I say as I walk further into the room.

Turning to Dad I inform him of what happened. "He was informed to leave his gun at the compound. He refused to listen. He shot a survivor who is now in surgery in hopes of repairing the damage to his shoulder. He's not allowed on patrols with my unit again. He undermines my authority and refuses to listen to orders." I say before turning on my heel and walking out.