Clarkesville (Chandler Riggs)

Chapter 18

"It's not your fault, Riley."

As we all patiently waited for the rest of our people to return, all of us kids gathered around each other.

I sat beside Sammy, and to my left was Chandler, whose hands were tangled into an untiable knot within mine. Brianna huddled next to Sammy, while Luke was cross legged and a little further away.

Luke seemed like a strange boy. You could tell he was sweet and friendly, but there was something about him that made me wonder. What had he whispered to Daniella when we first met? Or what did Sean do to make his own brother hate him?

They all tried to encourage me that I did nothing wrong. I didn't deserve to be called those names. Homer was just trying to make me feel bad. But I couldn't help but think how it would affect my relationship with Vincent, Joy, maybe everyone.

"I should have said something. But I don't know... My mind just shut down." I stared at my shoelace while speaking out to our little group. It was ironic - how all five of us were the same age.

"Well, I don't think you did anything wrong. If anything, that man deserved it, being bit like that."

Sammy reached over and put her hand on my shoulder. Her hand was small and frail, incapable of hurting a fly. I gave her a warm smile in return.

"So..." Began Luke, scooting his body closer to our circle, "how long is this gonna take?" He put his silver gun into his lap and looked up, mostly at Chandler and I.

"Who knows. He's probably not even dead yet."

Chandler's words sent a twinge onto my nerves, causing me to turn my head away. I felt his hand adjust in mine, but it still held a gentle and refreshing squeeze.

"Well, we might as well make the most of it, right, Riley?" Brianna asked as I looked up at her staring at me. Her face was slightly tinted with pink, clearly trying to act normal for Luke.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess so."

Luke sighed and leaned backward against a tree. "Alright..." He bent one leg up and began to speak.

"I think Sammy and I here deserve an explanation from you three." Uh oh. "Siblings? Cousins? Juvenile delinquents?"

Brianna giggled a little, while Chandler returned a small chuckle. "No, I was flying in from California. Found Riley in the airport, and Brianna was alone in the middle of the street."

His response worried me. He made our situation seem a hell of a lot pathetic than what it already was.

"Oh right. You're famous and all." Surprisingly, Luke didn't sound sarcastic at all, unlike me.

"Airport... Where you from Riley?" He glanced back to me with kind eyes.

I fumbled with the couple of loose strings on my backpack. "Uh, Connecticut. But we were actually moving to California."

"We?" I knew this was coming.

"My mom and I." Please don't ask what happened to her, please.

"Oh." Thank you.

Once again, Chandler uncrossed our fingers, and rested them both on my knee. When I looked up at him, he gave me a reassuring smile. I wanted to rest my head in his shoulder, but if I reinforced the action, I'm afraid he will think oddly of me.

We weren't like that just yet. My hero.

"And you, Brianna?" Luke murmured. Her eyes lit up when he spoke her name, but it would soon fade as she told her backstory. I haven't even heard her whole background yet.

"I lived with my aunt and my sister Britney. Until it got overrun and I found myself in the city. Then Chandler and Riley found me." Brianna sounded so insecure, so faint and distant. That was all she had to say?

What about her ability to drive a car? How did she get out of her house? Does she know for sure that her family was dead? Maybe she was just shy for being around Luke. Or maybe her story was just that bad, and heartbreaking to tell.

"Sorry to ask, but how did they..." Luke paused and shifted around, and was now face to face with Brianna. He didn't need to finish his sentence in order for Brianna to understand. I hoped for her that she wouldn't over express her shy feelings for him.

"My sister and I were in the living room, watching the broadcasts." She began, staring at the ground.

"My aunt was in another room, doing who knows what. Once the news explained the details of the outbreak, Britney went upstairs to get our aunt while I started packing food and some knives."

Brianna's face was becoming blotchy, and the rim of her eyes were overflowing with tears. A single one dripped out, as she continued talking.

"Britney ran down the stairs..." She wiped her cheek, "with blood all over her hands and legs. She brought me upstairs, and my aunt was dead on the floor. She killed herself, rather than to take care of us."

Listening to Brianna was like watching a horror movie. I imagined what her house looked like, her sister with bloody hands, and their aunt's body laid across the red-stained carpet. I shook my head, barely even realizing it.

I looked around me at Chandler, Luke, and Sammy.

Chandler had his lips curled in, with a sorrowful expression put toward her. Sammy was silently sobbing, one hand covering her parted mouth with the other one flimsily resting in her hand. Luke watched Brianna closely with wide eyes and tensed facial muscles.

We were all on the edge of our seats, leaning in to hear the end of Brianna's terrifying experience.

"I told her that we needed to go. Find a car and go to our grandmother's house. But she just wouldn't listen! I gave her a backpack and everything, but she wouldn't even take her favorite doll from me.

"I had no choice, so I just slapped her. She screamed after me, and followed me down the stairs, and I opened the front door. There were so many of them."

By now, Brianna was glaring at me. The red in her cornea caused her deep brown eyes to radiate, and immediately become brighter. Looking at her with such a depressed glow in her cheeks made my stomach drop. Why wasn't I crying?

"One of them caught her arm and scratched her. I tried to pull her back, but it was too late. They just attacked and growled and..."

Brianna threw her head between her knees, bawling into her own arms.

Sammy leaned in to comfort her, while Luke pressed a hand to her shoulder. Chandler and I, her closest friends at the moment, were too shocked to physically react like that.

Out of nowhere my body flinched, and Chandler's arms immediately caressed the side of my head. I told myself not to lean into him; to resist the desperate feeling of his embrace. But there he was, pushing my head onto his shoulder, and me letting it happen.

Minutes later, Joy, Craig, and Earl returned to the rest of us.

We all stood up, and without a single word, we were off again.

Just this time, we were two people short.

Wait, two people?

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