The group sat around the room in silence, each occasionally staring at the other. Ethan kept his head down, trying to disappear from the group. His mind was thinking about a plan on how he was going to get to his apartment. The streets were trashed; he couldn't even recognize his way home. But even then, he could feel it, the group's cold stares on him.
He was an anomaly, unlike the rest of the guys; he was too scrawny by all standards he shouldn't have lived to make it this far, but here he was. He was sitting in a corner near a window, he looked outside into the streets, his mouth frown. The corrupted were on the streets, wandering around looking for prey. Their groans were audible even from this high up.
We need to get out of here, he thought. Suddenly, Ms.Sophia got up and began pacing across the room, clearly in thought. Ethan finally got a good look at her, and the blazer she always seemed to wear was nowhere to be seen. She was only left with a white shirt that was now heavily crumpled. It was stained with dirt and blood, her bra showing beneath the seams of the shirt. Ethan was unsure whether it was hers or not. Her pants ripped in sections, her usual heels, now replaced with a more comfortable pair of sneakers. Her hair, which was usually in a bun, was now a mess, left to fall across her back.
As she paced along the room, her hips swayed, attracting all the attention of the men in the room, but the gun strapped to her back made them think twice about making a move. From what Ethan had seen, she was quite experienced with it as well.
She suddenly stopped facing the group.
"All right, I know our next plan of action." She proclaimed to the group in a hushed whisper.
The group turned to her, waiting for her to explain.
"Alan, Kael, and Fred, y'all will follow me, and we'll scout out a route ahead that we can safely use. The rest of you will stay here; it will be easier for us to move as a small group, as we will be able to move faster. The rest of you will stay here and wait for us to come back. Ethan, you will stay, considering your injury, you'll stay here with the rest. We'll look for a pharmacy that might have some painkillers to help." She said, pointing to Ethan.
The group nodded, affirming her plan. The guys she mentioned stood up and began removing the barricades from the door, clearing a path for them to move. Ms. Sophia unclipped her gun from her back and walked ahead to the group. But before she left, she turned around to face Jake.
"I left you here to take care of the rest. I don't care what you did to Ethan in the past. Watch over him, in this hell, we should work together." She said to Jake with a stern face.
Jake, stunned at the instruction, turned to Ethan with a grimace. He turned back to Ms. Sophia, nodding.
After a couple of seconds of intense eye contact between the two, she nodded, then turned to the group she would be leading on the scouting expedition. She nodded at them before walking ahead, signalling them. She closed the door on the rest of the group.
Ethan sighed. He knew what was going to happen. Jake didn't listen to anyone. And he was correct. Jake now stared at him with a sneer on his face. He stood up, walking over to Ethan, towering over him.
"Now that bitch is gone, tell me how the fuck did you manage to survive." He said, squatting down, grabbing Ethan's hair and yanking him, forcing them to be at eye level.