Half past alive

Chapter 4

4

Jackie's POV

We pulled into camp with nothing but a few rabbits and a skinny deer. There were bodies all over camp, some of our people's, others are corpses. I look over to the edge of the forest where Sloan and Sam sit. I walk over to see what they were staring at in the grass. Diana.

She laid there, unmoving, the wound on her neck tremendously leaking blood. I looked at sloan, who didn't know I was behind her. She was covered in blood, tears running down her face. The corpse who bit my baby sister lay in a heap with an ax stuck in its head. She could've killed it sooner, I know she could've.

My vision turned red around the edges, and I slowly raised the shotgun, pointing the barrel straight at her her head. I pumped the gun and she quickly turned around, not showing fear as she stood up and stared me in the eyes.

Sam quickly shot up, putting her behind him. She held my stare, showing no emotion.

"Sam move." He stares, silent like sloane.

"I meant it Sam, or I'll kill both of you." He wasn't phased by my threat. I small smile crept onto sloan's face. Everything turned red.

Sloan's POV

I smile at her, hoping she will calm down. Instead she raged and shot the gun. Sam pulled me out of the way as the bullets hit the tree behind us.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Sam screams at her. She doesn't even flinch. Instead she stared at me.

"GET OUT! LEAVE! I DONT WANT YOU HERE!!!" She screams pointing at me as if I bit Diana myself. I raise my hands in front of me, trying to calm her down when Ben grabs the gun and Leroy pulls her arms behind her back as Ty ties the rope on her hands. She screams for them to stop, that they will all die because they harmed her. Ty's laugh is cold as ice as he looks her in the eyes.

"Aww did the princess fall off her thrown? Because she is a royal pain in the..."

"What's going on here?" James walks over to us, staring at Jackie like she's a wild animal. She fell to the ground and she's rolling around the grass, screaming and cussing, when Diana slowly starts crawling toward her. Ben quickly shot her, blood spraying all over Jackie. She shuts up and lays there, eyes wide. James bends down and picks her up and carries her bridal style to the r.v. The moms and their children step out of there and walk over to us. The moms move around Sam and hug me, ignoring the blood.

"Thank you so much! You saved us and our kids. Of it weren't for you these things would get into the r.v and we would have been their next meal." They gush, not letting me go. Finally they departed and I walked to the tent. I hear Sam follow behind but he doesn't say a word. He grabs my shoulder but I quickly spin around and pin him against a tree.

"You could've died because of me."

"I wanted to protect you." He croaks, surprised by my encounter. I looked at him and slowly let go.

"This is why I don't want this. I won't let you die because of me." I stormed off into the tent. I sit on my bed, listening to see if he comes in. He sighs and walks away after a while. I change my clothes and gather my bloody ones into a plastic bag. My face, hands and hair are still covered in blood so I'm careful not to rub up against something. I step out of the tent to find the moms holding a pail of hot water and some soap and a face cloth.

"We thought you would want to wash up. Are those your old clothes?" One of the moms points at the bag in my hands. I slowly nod and they take It out of my hands.

"We will wash them for you dear." I felt like a deer in front of headlights, frozen in place, not sure what to do next. They leave, leaving the water and soap. I take it into the tent and quickly wash up.

After a while I get out of the tent and walk to the camp fire where everyone was eating. There was only twelve of us left, mostly men. As soon as people saw me they started clapping and cheering, patting me on the back and giving me hugs. Alice handed me one of her last cigarettes but I turned it down. I got a plate piled high with food and a red solo cup filled to the brim with whiskey.

I ate half the food and shared the rest with the children. someone rested an arm on my shoulder, I turned, expecting to see Sam but I'm face to face with Ty.

"Hey hot stuff. What's up?" He grins at me. I sneak a glance at Sam, who was five seats away. He did not look happy at all. Ty looks at Sam, and pulls me closer, whispering in my ear.

"Take a walk with me?" It sounded more like telling me so I nodded and stood up.

We walked away from the fire and near the edge of trees.

"It's great, what you did for the children. I don't know if I would be able to the same." I shrug, his arm still around my shoulder.

He quickly spins and forces his lips on mine. I squeak and try to pull back, but he presses me against a tree.

I try to push him off me but his 19 year old frame on my 17 year old frame wasn't helping. I close my eyes, hoping it will be over soon. I feel him being ripped off me, tearing my shirt in the process.

Sam throws him to the ground, looking like he was going to kill him. Sam pulls him up by his shirt, only to roundhouse punch his face. Ty recovers and punches him in the eye. Sam collapses and Ty is on him in seconds, punching his face.

I pull Ty off of Sam, dragging him away. I quickly run back to Sam, who is sitting up, looking at me.

"I-I didn't kiss him."

"I know I saw him force you against the the tree." I looks at me, eye turning purple around the edges.

"Come on. Let's go back to the tent. I'll clean you up."

He nods and I pull him to his feet, he grimaces in pain. We walk slowly back to our tent, me holding Sam up. As soon as we walked into the tent we both collapsed on his sleeping bag.

The sun slowly started setting while I cleaned Sam's wounds that Ty's fists made.

"I think I broke his nose." Sam finally talks, breaking the silence. I'm wiping the blood around his damaged eye, being very gentle. I raise my eyebrows at him. He gives me a small smile and I can't help it, I give him one back.

"I heard it go crunch under my fist." I couldn't help but laugh. Ty deserved ten times that. He got lucky.

Ty walked off with a broken nose and a split lip, while Sam walked off with a black eye and a bruised cheek.

The last of the sun faded, only light coming from the moon and the lights spaced around the camp.

I went to crawl over to my sleeping bag when Sam looped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

"Stay."

"Okay."