Dead or Alive

Chapter 12

"If that's what you want to do, we'll do it," I said.

"Thank you. Something told me that I could trust you, and now I'm glad I did," he replied.

"May I ask you something, Alan?" 

"Of course! What is it?"

"Why did you want to bring people out of the cell in the first place?" I asked.

"I wanted to show your friends that I'm not a bad person and that I'm willing to trust them if they work with me instead of against me," Alan answered.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," I said.

"I hope it does. Is there anything else you would like to ask?"

"Yeah actually. What should we do to defend this place from the Lurker herd?" I asked.

"Get as many people as we can to fortify the wall, and have people be on the roof where the greenhouse is to shoot them," he replied.

"Alright. We'll do what we can,"

"I know you will."

I turned and left Alan's office. As I walked down the hallway back to the main floor, I took in the unnerving silence. It's eerily quiet. As I walked, my footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. When I got to the main floor, the silence got even heavier. Nothing was moving. No words were being uttered. The atmosphere was tense, to the point where it got somewhat difficult to breathe. The closer I got to the door, the more the sounds of everyone fortifying the wall began to be heard. I walked outside and saw everyone working on the wall. I sighed and walked between Aaron and Scarlett. I began helping them with the wall. The three of us bantered back and forth until one of the workers came up to us.

"Would you three stop talking and get back to work?! In case it hasn't settled in yet, there is a herd of Lurkers coming this way, and we need this wall in the best condition possible. That won't happen if you guys keep talking!" The man said belligerently.

I turned around to face the man, "We have been working. We can talk and work at the same time. You, on the other hand, stopped working to come over here to yell at us to begin working. I don't see how you can snarky with us when we are doing better than you are at the moment,"

 The man huffed and went back to his spot on the wall. I looked over and saw that the boards that he had been attaching were beginning to fall off already. I snickered and continued working. The day went by, uneventfully. When the sky grew dark, we stopped working and went back inside. I could tell that everyone was tense about what was to come. After we all got inside, Alan was standing there waiting for us. 

"Alright, everyone gather around!" He ordered

Everyone got in front of him, including me. He motioned me to come over, and I did. I stood on Alan's right side, and he began talking.

"I know that everyone is anxious about what is to come, but we need to remain focused and try to ride this out. If the herd arrives tonight, we will do our best to keep this place standing. Everyone will be involved in defending our home. Whether it's by shooting the Lurkers, keeping the wall fortified, or if things go badly, escorting people out of here safely. There is a tunnel that goes under this entire building, and the entrance to the tunnel is in my office. If things go wrong then we will all go under there and try to escape that way. For now, though, try to defend this place as best we can," He instructed.

"Yessir." Everyone chorused.

"So now everyone go and get some sleep. You'll need it," He ordered.

Everyone began walking back to their rooms, and my friends began walking to the cell. Alan called out to Lyndsey.

"Lyndsey! Come here, please!" He called.

Lyndsey turned around and began walking back to us.

"Amala has given me some interesting information and convinced me to allow you to leave the cell. You won't have the same power as the other workers here, but you will be a slight step above the others in your group. Do you accept?" Alan stated.

Lyndsey looked shocked but eventually said, "Yes. I accept."

"Wonderful! Amala will show you to your room. It is the room after yours, Amala," Alan said.

I nodded and beckoned Lyndsey to follow me. As we were walking, Lyndsey and I began talking.

"Why did you get him to let me out of the cell? I thought you hated me?" Lyndsey asked.

"I don't hate you. I just don't like how you treated me. However, you have skills that are vital to the community, and we want to make sure that you can work as efficiently as possible," I explained.

"Wow. Thanks, Amala! It means a lot!" She exclaimed.

"Don't mention it," I said dully.

We stopped when we got to her room. I opened the door and walked inside, Lyndsey tailing behind me. 

"So, you have a bed, dresser, and your own bathroom. You can put your supplies anywhere, but try to keep the room clean," I explained. 

"Thanks, Amala."

"No problem," I said.

I began to walk out of the room when Lyndsey grabbed my arm.

"Listen, I know that we haven't seen eye-to-eye, but I would like to try and not be at each others' throats all the time," she said.

"I agree. That would make this whole situation a lot easier to deal with," I explained.

"So, truce?"

"Truce."

I left the room and went to mine. I closed my door and fell onto my bed. I stared at the ceiling for a while before getting up to take a shower. I felt the hot water of the shower cascading down my back and I instantly felt relaxed. I stood there for a couple of minutes before starting to wash my hair. Once I rinsed all of the shampoo out there was a loud knock on my bathroom door.

"W-Who is it?" I called out.

"It's Alan. The herd is about to get here! We need you on the rooftop with your guns now!" He called.

"Alright! I'll be right out!" I answered.

I quickly turned off the water and began to get dressed. I quickly put my hair up in a ponytail. I threw on my leather jacket over top of my shirt, grabbed my guns and my machete, and ran out of my room. When I got to the rooftop, everyone was already there, looking out at the horizon. I looked and saw a large dust cloud coming closer and closer, illuminated by the full moon.

"Look at all of the dust they're kicking up!" Scarlett exclaimed, frightened.

"Yeah. We'll be okay. We'll make it through this," I said, trying to comfort Scarlett.

"We'd better," said Alan.