Breath

Chapter 11

 Joseph looked over at the rest of the group. Everyone had gone quiet. The only sound was the wind blowing and the psychopaths scratching and hitting the barricade.
"We should probably kill the psychos before they attract more." Cathy said walking over to the barricade. She climbed up followed by others in the group. They began stabbing the psychos from the top of the barricade.
"Here, come inside and rest." Joseph said to the two girls. He helped them up off the ground and lead them into the house. 

 "Here, you can stay in my room, I'll crash at Jay's place for a while until we extend our bases. At the moment, we're just finishing up the barricade." Joseph said as he walked up the stairs to his room.

"Thank you so much," the two girls said smiling.

"There's food in the cupboards and fridge if you need some but y'know don't eat all of it." Joseph said pointing to the kitchen.

"Thanks," Ellen said smiling. "Joseph wasn't it?"

"Yeah, here you should get some rest, you both look pretty torn up."

"Thanks, Joseph." Amanda said.

Joseph smiled and left the room. He walked back outside to help the others with the barricade. Most of the psychos on the other side were gone. Jay was securing the barricade. Cathy was talking to another girl from the group Joseph probably never communicated with. Everything was looking good for the group.

 Joey emerged from a house down the street dragging something behind him. It was a basketball net. He had a basketball in his hand too. He finally reached the barricade. Luckily there was no psychos around. He threw the basketball over the barricade, it hit Lisa in the back. Jay and Alan help pull the basketball net up over the barricade. Then they help Joey climb up. Joey didn't need much help seeing as he was very tall.

"Where'd you get this?" Samuel asked Joey once he was over.

"It was on the ground in one of the back gardens." Joey replied laughing. He pushed the basketball net up. 

"Now, we can actually have fun, y'know, score some threes." He said throwing the basketball and missing the net completely.

"Thought you'd get that." Alan said laughing.

"Why, cuz I'm black?" Joey asked looking at Alan

"Oh shit, no, I didn't mean it like that at all." Alan said so quickly putting his hands up.

Joey burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding bro, haha, your face."  Alan laughed, embarrassed.

"Who wants a game?" Joey asked the group. Cathy, Alan, Lisa, the girl Cathy was talking to and others put their hands up. After they picked teams they began playing. Lisa seemed to be the best out of all of them. She easily beat them and scored multiple times. Joseph walked over to Jay and Stan.

"Who's that girl with the ball right now?" he asked nodding to the girl he had seen Cathy talking to earlier that day.

"That's Miranda, she usually cooks our food if need be, how do you not know her." Jay answered.

"I just never talked to her before."

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  Alan opened the door to his room, he had been playing basketball for hours. It was now, judging by his watch, 9:00 pm. He heard crying. It was coming from the bathroom. He walked over and attempted to open the door, it was locked. He could hear someone whimpering behind it.

"Rita?" Alan asked. He heard a sob. "Rita, open the door."

"Rita, please, or I'll kick the door down." Alan heard Rita get up, the lock clicked. Alan opened the door quickly. There in front of him stood Rita. She was holding a razorblade. Her wrist was covered in blood. 

"I-I'm sorry. It's just....because of what happened with Samuel." she stammered. Alan took the razorblade off her. 

"Why would you do this? Why? This whole world is bad but you're making it worse? For yourself. How is doing that going to help anyone? Who is benefitting from this?" Alan shouted.  Rita couldn't look at him, she was crying. She sat down at the wall. Alan sat next to her and hugged her. She leant into him. 

"I- I'm sorry Alan." She whispered. Alan got her up and cleaned the blood away. He cleaned the cuts.

"You haven't hit any major arteries, there's not enough blood." He said wrapping a bandage around her wrist. They walked out of the bathroom together. Alan sat on the couch. Rita sat next to him, they sat in silence. 

Rita spoke first. "Alan can I ask you something?"

"Yes, what?" Alan replied.

"Did you have a girlfriend before this all started?"

Alan smiled. "No, but I could do with one now."

"That's what I think." Rita said smiling. Alan looked into her eyes for a moment. She then leant forward and kissed him. He lay her down on the couch. 

"I could live with this." He whispered into her ear.

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 Joseph walked into the kitchen where Miranda the cook was reading.

"Hey," he said sitting down opposite her. "I don't think we've talked before."

"No, I don't think we have." she said smiling. "You're Joseph right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" 

"Everyone talks about you," Miranda replied smiling "People say that they'd prefer you to Samuel as leader of the group." She said quietly.

"Really, personally, I don't really fancy being leader." Joseph said amused by the information he had just received.

"Same here." 

"Anyways, I just came down to get an apple, is there any left?" He asked.

"Yeah lots, I'll get you one now." Miranda said jumping up. 

"Sorry about this, but would you have a bottle of water spare, my friend wants one?" 

"Yeah, sure." She walked to the storage room. A few seconds later she came back with the apple and water.

"Thanks Miranda, isn't it?" Joseph asked. Miranda nodded handing Joseph the apple and water.

"Goodnight." She said to him as he left.

"'Night."

Joseph walked up the stairs and stopped at Stan's room. He knocked and entered.

"Here's your water," Joseph said throwing the water to Stan who was reading.

"Thanks Joe," he said. "Don't get lost on your way out." 

Joseph grinned and left. As he walked by the window in the hall, he saw a flash out of the corner of his eyes. He looked out the window. There was nothing but he had the feeling he was being watched.