Our Days Are Numbered

Chapter 11

Devin’s POV

Sunset was nearing and there was still no sign of the other Jeep, we couldn’t wait any longer at this location. It was a dead-end, every store, insight had already been raided… we had to venture even closer to the city if we were to find anything.

“We need to start moving,” I said under my breath as I passed by one of the men. I didn’t really bother to look up to see who it was. Nor did I bother to listen to what he said after I walked away.

“I hear the jeep” Frank called out from somewhere behind me. I heard the rumble of the jeep's engine, they were coming in fast. The Jeep stopped with a screech of its tires. I walked over to it and ranched the driver’s door open, my smile faded when I didn’t see Zoni but the pretty boy Granville. I slammed the door shut again moving to the back seat where I heard a door open, pulling it open when I saw Zoni’s hand. Grabbing her and pulling her to me.

“You are late,” I said in a whisper. Which made her push against my chest and look at me with her brow raised

“Eaters were blocking one of the roads we had to find a way around otherwise we would have had to deal with that as well, and why did you wait so long? Why haven’t you carried on?” she questioned, anger was starting to bubble in her voice “your orders were to move on if you found nothing” she crossed her arms over her chest her red hair was loose and only hanging by her shoulders, in what could be best described in tatters. Completely switching off to what she saying I reached out a hand and ran my fingers along the length of her hair, frowning slightly as I did

“What happened to your hair”

“Eater, it grabbed hold of her hair as she was trying to get out a building” it wasn’t her that answered it was Matt

“you let her go in alone?” I felt anger boiling up to the surface as I took a fist of her hair

“ow, Devin let go” she pulled away from me “I’m fine, Granville was quick enough to think on his feet and help”

“oh was he now” I turned my sights on Matt and Brett, you are meant to not leave anyone behind” I shouted

“you have no command over me,” Brett said walking away “our commands from the second in command was to get out, we all know she is quick on her feet she could easily outrun the eaters”

“yet one caught hold of her?”

“she had to improvise, the shop had been overrun”

“why go in then? You were in the middle of the dead zone why stay?!”

“I didn’t check my surrounding” I got pushed from behind, granted it was more like a nudge, I turned to see a furious looking Zoni “we needed the parts do not question my team!” she carried on before I could talk. “you did not follow my orders to carry on, do not speak out to the people that did. Now let’s f*****g move out before night falls and we lose too much ground.” She got into the driver’s seat of the Jeep and started up the engine again. Slamming the door closed. Her ‘team’ all piled into the Jeep and they drove off. The sound of the second jeep started up pulling my attention. I got into the back seat watched the front Jeep like a hawk as we made our way towards the city.

Zoni’s POV

The f*****g nerve of Devin, it had been an hour or two of driving and I was still fuming. I had to switch over with Granville with the driving about 15 minutes earlier, the sun had set and with me being night blind, the darkness made it extremely hard for me to drive without almost driving into something.

“you know that you can’t stay angry at him forever right?” Granville said softly to me. Matt and Brett had fallen asleep in the back and he was avoiding being too loud in case he woke one of them up.

“you want to take a bet on that one?” I asked not looking at him

“I actually do, I would have reacted the same way, I nearly didn’t follow the order you gave” I looked at him now, he was facing forward his face was in a slight frown

“the difference is, you did, and that ultimately changed the outcome of the situation” there was a flashing coming from behind, I looked back to the see the second Jeep roar passed us and in front of us, turning on a turn signal and then turning off the road onto a small slipway. “follow” I whispered to Granville. He gave a small smile but did as I asked.

The Jeep came to stop at a run-down-looking building, Devin and his team were already checking the building, Granville and Matt joined, leaving Brett and me to go through supplies to find something that everyone could eat. Not much had been found yet, besides a few cans of food, some packets of pasta, and packets of chips. I knew it wasn’t going to be enough to fill the six grown-ass men that were with me, but seeing as we had nothing to actually cook with, it would have to do. I ran my hands through my hair as I heard Devin’s voice reach us

“all clear” everyone began digging in the Jeeps for sleeping bags, making their way to the building, it was only when we were inside that I realized that it was a church. One or two candles had been lit, the low flames causing the stained glass windows to glitter slightly. I  dropped the stuff that was in my hands, religious or not those windows always intrigued me, they were beautiful but at the same time I found them unnecessary,

“not religious?” Matt said taking note of my frown as I looked at the windows

“not since I was 9,” I said smiling “and even if there was a god, he has abandoned us,” I said moving down the aisle of the church towards Granville.

“last night-

“I know; I know can’t happen again,” he said slightly rolling his eyes

“last night,” I said again taking hold of his face in my hand “was amazing” I winked at him and let go of his chin walking to an open spot and plopping myself down on the floor, Granville looked back at me, his smile was huge. It quickly faded and he looked back at what he was doing. Devin dropped down next to me, with a packet of chips in his hands.

“What was that about?” he asked with a mouth full of chips

“Nothing,” I said looking down at my fingers. Devin didn’t push the matter but he kept his gaze on Granville’s back while he munched away on the packet of chips. I felt a bubble of laughter coming up with each chip that Devin crunched. Within seconds I was laughing uncontrollably. I had almost died today. And it wasn’t Devin that had come to my rescue it had been a man that I believed to be dead up until two weeks ago. And to top it all off we were stuck in church for the night eating chips. If 15-year-old me could see me now, she would be disgusted with who we had become.

The candles had long burnt out, almost everyone was asleep, I sat there in the dark listening to the sounds around me, mostly heavy breathing, and now and then there were a few snores to be heard. The scratching of a mouse had woken me up, I had tried to find it but had zero luck. I could hear the sounds of Eaters coming from outside the church. But there was another sound. a sound I couldn't place. A sound I was sure I had heard before. The sound was getting louder. I felt a shiver go down my spine when I realized what it was