Chapter 11: A Natural Connection
Airianna Alinsky
Estimated, May 2025
About 36 months after outbreak
Oregon
Season 1
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When I woke up I didn't know where Rue had gone. Juna was still sleeping next to me, it was early, I didn't want to disturb her. The air was cold but my head hurt less, I thought maybe this was a bad thing. Like the cold meant I was dying but I didn't want to scare Rue, she's got enough on her hands.
If I was to die I know how much it would hurt those around me but when I first awoke from being shot all I wanted was to die. The pain was unbearably, I don't know why I stayed. Rue would have done something stupid if I had died, but maybe not because she's got Juna to worry about to. I know she would never be the same though, even though I'm still here she'll never be the same.
I wrapped a throw blanket around me from one of the store shelves, it definitely helped make me feel less like shit but it didn't give me a motive. I wanted to help Rue, I wanted to help us get out of here so we could go back home. Maybe the war was over. Maybe we could be happy again.
I walked through the empty halls of the mall's main floor. Most of the stores were abandoned and no one had made any effort to fix them. Even though it looked terrible, it reminded me of before the dead. I miss Mom.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Ophilia? I'm looking for Rue."
"You shouldn't be awake yet, the others are still asleep."
"Then why are you awake?"
"My papa snores."
I chuckle, "My Dad used to, it always kept me up."
"Where are you from?" She asked as she took a seat on one of the old fountains. There were weeds growing from inside of it, cracks in the cement and a thick layer of dust at the spout. She signaled me to sit next to her as a smile slowly spread across her face.
"I lived in Nebraska for a while after the dead came but before then we lived in Wisconsin."
"You came here all the way from Nebraska?"
"Not recently, no. My new family and I went to California, we have a community there."
"If your family's there then why are you here? Jayce says family's the most important thing in the world now."
"We left because bad people hurt me and Rue got scared."
"Why did the bad people hurt you?"
"He meant to hurt someone else. He felt bad. Rue didn't accept his apology."
"Your family probably misses you."
"I miss them too, I really wanna go home."
"I want to go to your community, my family needs something better than this. Are the people nice there."
"The nicest. They took me in, they didn't have to but they did. They're in trouble now though. The King did something that hurt the Bad Man."
"Then maybe you shouldn't go back. You shouldn't run into danger."
"We have to. They would do it for us."
"You should know something."
"What?"
"Jayce is a Bad Man too."
"What has he done?"
"I don't know, but I can hear the sounds of the monsters under my bed."