The Faet of the World

Chapter Eleven

Upon leaving the store, everyone seemed to tense up. Dex never let his eyes stay in one spot for more than a few second. Chris' nonchalant demeanor disappeared. His back abnormally straight and his long hair pulled out of his eyes. June was still gripping my arm and talking my ear off in a quiet tone. Despite her chattering, I could tell she was taking in our surroundings at all times.

Currently, we were making our way down a nearly deserted street. Most buildings were in a state of ruin. The ones that weren't were still beat up badly. If it weren't for the cars scattered around, I wouldn't have guessed that anyone had lived here for a long time.

With a peek back at Z, I took in his appearance. He never was more than a few feet behind me. His attention switching between the group we were with and me. I couldn't stop the blood from rushing to my face as he spotted me looking at him. Immediately, I returned my attention to June.

She was currently in the process of telling me about the town we were in. From what I caught, she and Chris had grown up here and that the town was called Deming.

From just the street we had walked down, I assumed the town was pretty decent sized. "So, what happened to everyone. In a town this size, I figured you would have issues with the zombies." I pondered.

"It used to be relatively bad around here but after a while, most of them moved on due to lack of food. We get stragglers coming through every once in a while but they aren't usually a threat." She explained. "If they are an issue, they're pretty easy to take care of." She ended with a smile.

"Do you ever have to deal with infected fae?" I asked.

"Rarely. It seems that they don't like coming into town. They'll stay on the outskirts most of the time. When they do come through, we don't bother them unless they bother us first. We never know what kind of abilities they may possess, so we try to stay out of their way if we can." She stated.

Well, that kind of makes sense. I'm sure Z would agree that we would have avoided that fire fae if we had had the choice. The images of my home burning flashed in front of my eyes causing me to tear up. I had hoped June wouldn't notice but luck wasn't on my side.

"Hey, I didn't mean to freak you out. I promise, if you're with us, you're safe." She cooed reassuringly. I wiped my eyes and nodded.

Z must have noticed my mood change because he was soon at my side. "Willa? Are you ok?" He asked with a slight nudge against my free arm.

"Yeah. I guess. I'm just overwhelmed, you know?" I said with a forced smile. The look Z gave told me he didn't believe me but he let it go with a nod.

It was June's turn to nudge me. "What's the deal with moss boy over there?" She asked with a twinkle of mischief in her eye. "Is he your boyfriiiieeend?" The way she drew out the word "boyfriend" made me chuckle.

"Uh no. We just happened to run into each other. Some stuff went down and here we are. We decided sticking together was safer than staying alone." I replied, leaving out the part about the fire fae.

"So y'all are just out here wandering around? That doesn't seem very safe. Are y'all heading somewhere?" She asked. I wasn't expecting her to ask where we were going and quite honestly, I had almost forgot about Z's mission.

"We were on our way to Florida before we met you." I told her. "I don't know if that's still the plan, though."

"It is." Interrupted Z from behind us. "As soon as we get things sorted out with Sterling, we'll be on our way again."

I gave a small smile to Z. It made me sad to think that I'd be leaving June behind at some point. I didn't know her well but talking to another female was something I didn't know I was missing.

June simply nodded but didn't say another word. I wondered if she was feeling the same way. Who am I kidding? She's got a whole group of people to keep her company. She won't even miss me.

We all continued our walk down the town's street. So far, we hadn't seen any infected people but that didn't make me any more relaxed. I kept expecting an infected to jump out and attack us.

I was lost in thought once again when I suddenly ran into something hard. Looking up, I was met with a view of Dex's back.

"What's up,dude?" I heard Chris ask from the back of the pack.

The only response we recieved from Dex was a hand being held up. He was intently focused on something ahead. June and I peered around him to see what he had stopped for but I couldn't spot anything.

Dex motioned his hand towards an alley that was ahead. "I thought I heard something. Stay here." He whispered to the rest of us.

June and I looked at each other with the same look of fear. Her grip on my arm continuously getting tighter. I could feel Z and Chris shifting closer to us as we all watched Dex disappear around the corner.

The tension in the air was building with every moment Dex was out of our sight. "Do you think he heard an infected?" June asks, barely audible.

"I hope that's all he heard." Chris responded. Looking back at him, I noticed his hand tightening on his weapon.

Dex abruptly ran out of the alley, face red and eyes filled with terror. "We have to go. NOW." He yelled and began running to the other side of the street. Adrenaline kicked in as we all began following him.

No one had it in them to ask Dex what he had seen. All we knew was he was scared and in turn, that made us scared as well.

I didn't want to know what was behind us but curiosity started getting the best of me. Moments before we ducked into another alley, I braved a look backwards.

I was with Chris on this one. I wished it had only been an infected person. I knew what the infected people wanted from us. They wanted our flesh.

The uniformed men that were talking in the alley Dex had gone to inspect wanted us alive. They wanted fae to bring to The New King.