Chapter 3: A new family.

Cole

The cars stopped on a small bridge, he saw Warren go out of the car, so he stepped out as well. 'This is the place?' he asked. 'Yup, used to be a fancy hotel for the rich folk, now it makes a great hideout' Warren said. It was like a small island with three buildings on it, it was surrounded and there were two bridges, both were closed off by rubble so zombies couldn't get through it. A lookout on the gate saw who was standing on the bridge, so she screamed 'WARREN'S BACK, OPEN THE GATE!'. Shortly after the gate openend, and they were able to drive their cars inside.
A group of people had gathered after hearing Warren's return. As they got out of the cars, everyone greeted Warren, as Cole awkwardly stood by the side. After a while a man came walking up to the group, everyone stood aside, this made Cole think he was the leader. 'Good to see you're back Warren.' He shook his hand and hit him on the shoulder, then he saw Cole. He was silent for a moment, then he became angry. 'YOU BROUGHT ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED?' the leader screamed, everyone was now looking at Cole. 'WE'RE ALREADY SHORT ON SUPPLIES AND WE DONT NEED THIS KID TAKING MORE OF IT!' he didn't seem to realize they had a car full of supplies. 'Hey relax, he isn't a kid, and I owe him my life.' Warren stood up to the man, Cole was glad for that. The leader didn't know what to do, he looked at Cole, then at Warren, then at Cole again. On top of that the Bobby started barking,'oh course, he also has a f*****g dog' the man said,  before walking away. ´a*****e´ Warren said, and he ran after the leader. Cole opened the trunk of the car and took the bags. He walked to a girl isnpecting her own gun a few feet away, ´Where do these go?' he asked. 'Over there' she pointed at a big building. 'Ignore how Charlie acted, he can be an a*s somtimes, he'll cool down. I'm Anne' she extended a hand. Cole shook it and introduced himself, then he walked to the building to put the guns away.

Warren.

'What the hell was that?' Warren yelled, he was running after Charlie. 'We don't need another mout to feed, especially not when he has a dog. He's still a kid, we won't have any use for him' Warren had caught up to him. 'We should give him a try' he said. 'Getting a thing for little boys now Warren?' the leader said. 'Hey f**k you, we brought you 6 bags full of guns, food and supplies' Charlie turned around, and pushed Warren on the ground. 'I don't give a f**k how many supplies you brought, I'm the leader and I say that that kid is gone tommorow, and if he isn't he's zombie food.' the leader walked away with big steps. 'a*****e' Warren mumbled again, he got back to his feet and walked to his own room.
Warren saw a woman standing next to his door, she had short black hair, was in her mid thirties and had a friendly face. He knew that the womans name was Abby. 'What's wrong?' she asked. 'Charlie is being a dick again.' he replied. ´When isn´t he, but atleast he knows what he´s doing.´ she said, Warren opened the door and made a gesture that told her to go in. They sat on the couch. ´So how´s the baby?' Warren asked, Abby was a month pregnant when she joined the group, which was 8 months ago. 'Doing good I think, he should come out anytime.' she said, while she rubbed over her belly. 'I'm sure he'll do fine, even though he doesn't have a father' she said. Abby's man had died a few weeks after he joined the group. 'I should really see how Cole is doing, Charlie probably won't give him a room.' he got up, nodded at Abby and walked out of the room.
He found Cole standing by the cars, he didn't seem to be doing much. 'Hey man, you found a place to spent the night already?' he already knew Cole didn't, if Charlie said something wasn't going to happen, it wasn't going to happen. 'I don't, but I haven't really asked anyone yet.' Cole admitted. 'I've got the luxery of a couch, you can stay with me, don't expect it to be very comfortable.' Warren turned around and Cole followed.

Cole

Warren's room was small, it had two couches, a kitchen and a bed in the same room, the only other room was a bathroom. 'It's small' Cole said, right after he said that he realised that his own house wasn't a lot bigger. 'Small but cozy' Warren said. 'So how long have you and your group been here?' Cole asked. 'About a year and a half, when we came here it was overrun by zombies, we cleared it out ourselfs. Lost a few good men and women when we did that, but it was worth it.' Warren sat on his bed. 'You should get some sleep, it's going to be a big day tommorow.' Cole knew it would be, Charlie wasn't going to let him stay, which ment the only thing left to do was go back to his old home and wait until a lucky zombie got him. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning they were both awakend by a man screaming. 'EVERYBODY GET UP!' it was the voice of Charlie, Cole got up and waited for Warren a bit, then they both went downstairs.
When they got outside Charlie yelled at them to come over to the cars, the entire group was there. 'You can't be sending him away again.' Warren said when they got here. 'I am' Charlie said. 'but' Warren began. 'No buts' the leader said. Warren got angry, hit the car hood and walked away to the hotel where their rooms were, he walked in and slammed the door behind him. 'You've got to go' Charlie said, as if the thing with Warren didn't happen. 'But I am a reasonable man, I'll give you some supplies.' the man handed him a backpack, it was half filled. 'I also have a machete for you' he held the machete that belonged to Cole in the first place. Cole took the machete 'I'll shove it in your-' he was cut off by a womans scream. 'It sounded like it came from behind the wall.' a woman said, because of the thing with Cole everyone had been standing near Charlie and Cole, even the lookout. Cole was the first to run to the wall, he climbed up and saw a girl laying on the ground, with zombies getting closer. 'THAT'S SANDY' someone yelled, she was part of the group apparently. Cole didn't think twice, he jumped over the wall, still with his machete in his hand he ran to the zombie, and cut his head off. 'come one, get up get up' he helped her up, while more zombies were coming. 'Run ahead' he said, he turned around and cut another zombies head off, and anothers. 'Too much' he said to himself. He grabbed his gun, and shot three zombies, then he ran to the gate which was now half open. As soon as Cole had passed the gate it slammed shut, everyone was safe again. He leaned against the wall as he caught his breath. The girl called Anne was hugging Sandy, Sandy had brown hair that came to her shoulders, she had bright green eyes. She freed herself from Anne's hug and walked over to Cole. 'Thank you' she said, then she kissed him on the cheeck. 'What happenend?' Warren came running out of the building, with his crossbow ready. 'It's alright, your friend here saved Sandy'' Anne said. 'thank god' Warren said, he put his crossbow away. 'Now you've got to let him stay right, he saved two of our group already' Warren said to Charlie, before he could say anything Anne came between it. 'I agree, he saved my best friend.' and she smiled at Cole. 'I agree too' Sandy said. 'As do I' a man stepped to the group, he had black hair and blue eyes, he didn't have a lot of muscle. He kissed Sandy, and Cole figured they were boy- and girlfriend. Charlie looked around the group, sighted and then said 'Fine, he can stay, but don't expect me to be happy about it.' and he turned around and walked away, the rest of the group cheered.
Later that night there was a campfire, Cole was getting to know everyone a bit better. The man with black hair was indeed Sandy's boyfriend, his name was Steve. There was a black man called Tyreece, he was big but very friendly. A bit away from the campfire was a boy sitting all by himself, Cole got up and walked over to him, he sat next to him. 'You don't feel like joining us?' he asked. 'Not reallly, I don't want to be here or be a killer, I just want to paint and draw and read and get away from everyone and everything but they won't let me.'  he almost started crying. He had glasses and brown hair that was messy. 'Come on, it's all going to be okay' Cole said, but the boy was already crying. Cole decided it would be better just to leave him alone. 'You talked to Max?' Anne asked. Cole nodded. 'He doesn't like guns or killing, he'll have to get used to it.' Warren said. 'True that' Cole said, and he drank the last bit of beer in his glass. Charlie walked over with a bucket of water and threw it on the campfire. 'Alright everybody, party is over, go to your room and get some sleep, tommorow's going to be a big day.' The word 'aww' could be heard from all sides, everyone got up and walked to their rooms. Cole had also gotten his own room, he had put the pictures from his old house, it was cozy. He got in his bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

Steve

'Alright, today we're going out to hunt, can't have too many zombies around here or our defences will be useless.' Charlie had split the group into two seperate groups, group one was him, Steve, and Anne,. The other group was Warren, Cole, Tyreece, Sandy, Abby and Max. 'We'll be splitting up and then return here in a few hours.' with that said the two groups each walked to a different bridge.
'You a good shot?' Anne asked. 'Not really, I've never shot a gun before, what about you?' he replied. 'I'm a pretty awesome shot, but because you're not you should hold on to this.' she grabbed the tomahawk that was hanging from her belt and gave it to Steve. 'Atleast now you can protect yourself more properly.' and she laughed. She was wearing a cowboy hat and a jacket without sleeves. 'You two mind keeping it down back there?' Charlie asked, angry as usual. Anne and Steve gave eachother one last smile, then they walked the rest of the way in silence.
'There, Anne you take the left one, Steve you take the right one.' they had reached an open spot with some zombies in it. Steve and Anne both ran at the zombies, and with a few chops they fell to the ground. Charlie took on three zombies at once, he was swinging his weapon -a hammer-  like a madman. He may be a dick, but he knows how to take on zombies, Steve thought to himself. 'That's finished, come on let's go.' Charlie said, he was covered in blood. They were about to walk on, when they heard a scream. 'What the hell was that?' Anne said. 'I'm going to check it out' Steve said, and without waiting for permission he ran to the hill, when he got on top he saw a boy trapped in a net, just hanging there. 'Please help me before they get me!' the boy said. 'YOU CAN'T RESCUE HIM, IF YOU DO YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN TO FIND THE WAY BACK' Charlie screamed. Steve looked at Charlie and Anne, sighted and then ran to the boy in the net. 'Damn it Steve.' he hear Charlie say.
'Prepare!' Steve said, he swung the tomahawk into the net and it fell to the ground with a loud sound. 'Please, my brother is back there' the boy screamed, he pointed to a place a few meter back, covered between trees. 'Come on' he ran to the place the boy pointed to, the boy followed. When they got there they saw a boy laying on the ground, with a crowd of zombies eating his flesh. 'oh my god' the boy who was alive said. 'We have to go now, or we will get lost.' Steve said, he wanted to walk away but the boy kept looking at his brother. 'You can mourn later, lets go' he pulled the boys arm. He finally started moving, they ran back to the hill and off it, in the distance they could see Charlie and Anne. 'CHARLIE!' Steve screamed as loud as he could, he hoped that the leader would listen and atleast wait. They did not wait, Steve and the mystery boy ran faster, and then finally the leader and his companion stopped, they were rushed by zombies. Steve got him tomahawk ready to strike.
They finally reached the place where Charlie and Anne were fighting, a zombie was walking up to Anne from behind, he used his tomahawk to chop into the zombie's head, and with that he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Because of the running he did not feel the strenght to get up, he just lay on the ground and kept breathing. 'Glad you're back' Anne said. 'Why'd you bring the kid back?' Charlie asked, he pulled his gun and pointed it at the boy's face. 'Charlie, don't' Steve got up. 'Why not?' the angry leader asked. 'He just lost a brother' it was hard to talk. 'I've lost friends and family too.' Charlie said. 'i-i I have a farm.' the boy said, he had a western accent 'We have supplies, I'll give them to you. ' he said. The leader lowered his gun. 'Fine then.' and without saying anything else he turned around and walked back to the camp.