Dead or Alive

Chapter 6

"What the hell are you talking about?" One person asked.

I merely smirked and everyone else, excluding the kids, leaped from their tents with their guns drawn. The two people jumped slightly, but kept their guns out and pointed at me.

"I would lower your gun away from the lady if I were you," Aaron told the two people.

One person pointed their gun at Aaron, while the other one kept their gun pointed at me. I jumped down from the rock and pointed my gun at the first person as I approached them.

"I'll ask you two, one last time. Who are you?" I said.

I noticed their stances. They had very little, if not any, experience with guns. Their arms were locked and the placement of their feet allowed them to easily lose balance. I swept my left leg out and tripped the person in front of me, causing them to fall to the ground. I kicked their gun out of their hand and pointed my gun at their forehead.

"Tell me who you are," I ordered.

"I'll never tell you anything," The person snarked back.

I pressed the gun further into the person's forehead. I looked at the other person and saw that they were shaking with fear for their friend.

"You. Answer my questions or I will shoot your friend in the head. Now, who are you people, and where are you coming from?" I asked.

"W-we were sent from our group to scavenge. Our territory got robbed a few days ago and so we have to go and restock everything," The person said.

"Jared, you idiot! You weren't supposed to say anything!" The person who I was holding at gunpoint said.

"Shut up. Now, how many people are in your group?" I asked again.

"U-u-um, it's kinda hard to tell. There's a lot of us though. We took over a rather large warehouse and made it our base," Jared stammered.

"Does anyone else have any questions?" I asked the group.

Everyone else shook their heads. 

"Alright then. Aaron, grab Jared's gun please," I asked nicely.

Jared handed Aaron his gun slowly, and I glanced down at the person I was still holding at gunpoint.

"I'm going to let the two of you go. Jared will be unharmed. You, however, have been a major pain in my ass. So here's what we are going to do: your gun is going to stay here, and we will blindfold you and let Jared lead you back to your camp," I explained.

I grabbed the person by the arm and Brendon handed me an old piece of cloth that was left over from an old shirt. I blindfolded the person and shoved him towards Jared.

"Alright, now the both of you go back to your camp," Aaron ordered.

Jared grabbed the other person's arm and began walking back in the direction that they came. Once they were out of earshot, Lyndsey spoke.

"That was a close one. We need to pack up and leave. If they come back with more people, then we are done for."

"If it wasn't for Amala, who knows what would've happened to us!" Scarlett said, smiling at me.

"Whatever. Everyone grab anything that you can't leave behind and let's get going before they send more people back here," Lyndsey ordered.

Scarlett and I walked back to our tent and grabbed our stuff. I grabbed my bag and my water bottle. Scarlett dug through the small box and pulled out her bag and began stuffing supplies inside of it. When we exited the tent, we saw that everyone was waiting for us. We began walking in the direction of the creek. When we got there it was almost morning. 

"Alright. We can either cross the creek or walk one mile upstream until we get to the bridge," Aaron said.

"I think we should cross it. It may be dangerous, but it will be faster," Lyndsey said.

"That's true, but think about the kids, Lyndsey. Do you honestly think that they will be able to cross the creek saftely? This current is so strong that one tiny mess up will send you downstream in seconds," I retorted.

"Why do you have to question everything that I say? I've been here the longest, so I say that we should cross this creek!" Lyndsey snapped.

"Let's vote on it," Aaron said, trying to diffuse the situation. "If you want to try crossing the creek, raise your hand."

Only Lyndsey raised her hand.

"Well then. I guess we are walking until we get to the bridge," Aaron said.

Lyndsey huffed and began marching off upstream, way ahead of everyone else. We all followed after her for about thirty minutes when we could see the bridge crossing over the rushing waters of the creek. Once we had gotten onto the bridge, we heard footsteps behind us. We turned around and saw a small group carrying assault rifles. We turned back around to run, when we saw another small group, also carrying assault rifles, blocking our way off the bridge.

"We're trapped!" Scarlett yelled.

"Now, here's what going to happen: since you robbed two of our members and humiliated the other, we are going to take the lot of you back to our group and have you meet with our leader. You can either come calmly and quietly, or you can make our job harder and have us knock you all out and carry you back. If we have to do that, then we will make your life hell when you wake up. So what will it be?" The strongest looking one of the groups asked.

We all looked at each other, and came up with an answer.