“I’m Morgan, but you already knew that thanks to my brother here. We are newbies like you. Been here a whole forty-eight hours. But we can show you around.” She frequently glanced at her brother as she spoke. He nodded at her reassuringly.
“Yeah, cool. I’d love to see whatever you can show me.” Allison picked the comforter up off the floor and tossed it back onto the bed. She felt her pistol against her hip and her pocket knife in her back pocket. “I just need to get a few things from my truck.”
The twins nodded and followed Allison outside to the old blue truck. She opened the door and pulled out her backpack from Dave and Sandra. It had all the necessities in it.
“You can just leave that here if you want. There’s really no need to lug all of that around town. It’s really safe here. Like, really safe. We haven’t even seen any Collectors come through here,” Matt said as he slipped his thumbs into his pockets and drummed his fingers on the outside of them. “We haven’t even heard of Collectors coming inside the gates. Or Infected. Forget about it. They haven’t seen any Infected in months.”
“I feel safer with it. I feel prepared with it.” Allison swung the backpack on, locked the truck, and tucked the keys back in her pocket.
“Suit yourself. Let’s go see what this town is up to today,” he said, smiling as he started off down the sidewalk.
Morgan raced to catch up with her brother and Allison followed behind. They showed Allison the town’s gardens full of fresh vegetables she had seen earlier and the town’s small herd of goats used mainly for milk. There was a large chicken coop with at least one hundred chickens in it.
“We eat a lot of chicken and eggs here. Really, it’s the only animal they eat because everything is just so scarce. Sometimes the hunters bring back some rabbits. They say they’ve brought deer back before, but they haven’t since we’ve been here. I’d spit shine a Collector’s boots for a steak!” he winked at Allison as he said this. Morgan rolled her eyes.
“It’d take a lot more than a steak to get me to even talk to a Collector. They are scum.” Morgan folded her arms across her chest and sighed heavily.
“So, Collectors aren’t very popular here either, are they?” Allison asked.
“Are they popular anywhere? They take what isn’t theirs. When they show up people go missing or get hurt. I don’t know how it is in other regions but here they all answer to Dr. Neff and that cannot be a good thing. If you looked up ‘ass’ in the dictionary, his picture would be there.” Matt scowled as he spoke.
“Yes, he is the worst! He totally gives me the creeps but he’s the most powerful person in this Zone. I wouldn’t want to piss him off,” Morgan said. “Have you met him?”
Allison twirled her hair tensely in her hand.
“Yeah. I met him. He is the worst,” Allison answered.
“We met him at a medical camp almost a year ago. He had this look in his eye. I can’t explain it. He looks at people like they are things, not people. It just makes me uncomfortable,” Matt said.
Allison and Morgan both nodded in agreement. Matt pointed across the street at a small house on a corner lot.
“That’s the school and kind of a daycare. There are about twenty kids here. They all go there and spend their days with a couple of older women while the parents contribute around town. Do you know what job you may want to do here?” he asked.
“I’m not staying. I mean, I’ll do whatever they want me to while I’m here. But I don’t plan on being here very long.” Allison watched as a woman holding a young child’s hand walked him up the steps and into the school. A small sense of normalcy had been carved out here. It was refreshing but terrifying at the same time. I am far from normal.
“Where are you going?” Morgan asked as they continued to walk, leaving the schoolhouse behind them.
“I just have some things I need to take care of. Things I need to do first.” Allison sped up her pace until she was even with Morgan. “What about you guys?”
“We won’t stay here forever. Don’t get me wrong, this place is great. But eventually we want to be home,” Morgan replied. “We grew up a few hours north of here. It’s not cleared of Infected yet, but when it is, we will be back there. Where is home for you?”
“Well, I guess Oklahoma. That’s where my mom and brother are, or were, I’m really not sure. I was out here going to college when everything started. My dad lives up in New York. I don’t know where my family is now or if they are even alive.” Allison shifted the backpack from shoulder to shoulder as she readjusted it to avoid Morgan’s gaze.
“Our family’s dead. We know that,” Morgan said sadly. “But I still want to go home. I hope your family is alive. But to get to Oklahoma you have to cross Zones and you need special permission for that. It’s not easy to get.” Morgan placed her palm briefly on Allison’s shoulder and gave her a weak smile before she bounded forward, interlocking her arm with her brother’s.
Matt slowed his pace so his sister could keep up with him easier. Allison was grateful for this as it also made it easier for her to keep up. She had to take three steps to equal one of his. Matt pointed out a blacksmith, a market where everyone bartered for different goods and services, a police station, the doctor’s house, and
