Chapter 51 Roanie's Secret

All of us went to the apartment building where Timothy and Jayson had found the girl and her mother.
Jayson wanted Li to watch for the car while we were away but I told him it is ok and we just covered it with more cloth so that no one would notice that it is filled with goods and useful stuff. We cannot afford to lose this car and the things we have collected because it will be a disaster if we go back to zero again. Although I am sure that Li could hack any of the cars around here, I still can"t guarantee when its battery will last since the power everywhere is down and all powerplants around here had been shut off and only the ones in the bunkers are working for now.
It feels like we were on the top of the building and are finding our way not to get eaten by the Creepers. Thankfully, this place is clean of those creatures and we only have to deal with the raiders or any living hostile men which makes it a little more dangerous and a little scary. At least if we are going to deal with Creepers, there is the chance that we could somehow outsmart them and we won"t think twice about blowing their heads off their shoulders. But with humans? I haven"t tried pulling a trigger on one of them.
The building they led us to is a little old. Its walls have cracks already, and the outside clearly has a sign that it was built a long time ago because of the weather-beaten concrete walls. The windows are made of wood and some of the glass windows have already shattered; it seemed like some had used to dwell here and just covered the windows with cartons or plywood. Jayson leads the way with his knife in his hand, ready to strike if anything attacks us in surprise while I and Li have the wooden bat in our hands, ready to shatter someone"s skull.
The inside is much worse than the outside. It is messy everywhere. The chairs and the table in the lobby are destroyed, all are upside-down, there are fragments of broken glass everywhere; the bottles and the windows shards clink under our boots as we slowly go up the stairs, looking at the old photos and certificates hung on the wall which I wonder if some of these people are still alive or already one of the corpses piled beside the streets.
"Be careful. The stairs won"t hold out the weight. We go up one at a time, is that ok?" Jayson hissed at us, struggling to lower his voice as he signaled for me to go first and check the area if it was safe. I stepped up at a quick pace and signaled him ok when I saw that there was no threat or any alarming sound up here on the second floor.
"What floor is the apartment you are staying in?" I ask the girl who is still hiding behind Timothy, her hands in a tight grip on his arm. Timothy looked at me helplessly as Mona stood behind them looking a little upset with her brows in a deep furrow, trying not to show it too obviously.
But I know she has a crush on Timothy and seeing the girl clinging to him would really make him upset. I wonder if she hates when Timothy also gets too clingy to me too but I have never seen her fret whenever that happens so I think I never have to worry about it. I guess she knows that I am into Jayson so she doesn"t look at it as a threat. I just feel sorry because I know Li likes Mona but it seems like she only sees him as a brother or a childhood friend.
I wonder if Li notices how Mona looks at Timothy. I wonder if he hates Timothy about it but I guess he"s just getting used to it that it doesn"t bother him anymore. Besides, he and Timothy are going well. I just hope that will last as long as it could while there isn"t a misunderstanding happening yet.
"It"s on the fourth floor," Roanie answered in a scared, shy voice and stepped behind Timothy again, hiding her face from me.
Am I that really scary?
I"m a little bit offended by how she acts on me though. I"m smaller than her! But then maybe it"s not about the size. She must have felt that I am too dominant in this group that"s why she"s just wary of me.
Or perhaps, just making an excuse to cling to Timothy more.
Fighting myself not to roll my eyes at the thought, I continued checking every floor until we reached the fourth floor where she is staying. Upon stepping out the stair, she swiftly walked toward their place and entered the third door from the corridor.
Jayson looked at me and nodded, confirming the place to me and all of us walked towards it, seeing the door with a silver plate number six two six. The door has so many scratches on it which made it look weird.
When we entered the apartment, it looked like a storm had happened here because all the staff was in a great mess and it seemed like they hadn't cleaned the place for so many months. Another suspicious thought came to my mind because the girl is clean and her clothes are neat and gave no sign that she"s living in a place like this.
Roanie appeared from the door and inside, we heard someone talking to her. A female voice. She"s asking something to her daughter which I cannot understand clearly because her speech is slurred like she's having difficulty talking.
"Is that your mom?" Li asks, lowering the bat on his hand, worried for Mona. "Have you seen her condition before you brought the girl to us, Timothy?"
"Yes. Her mother looked sick and she looks really weak. We offered her some food we found in this building but she doesn"t want to eat though. She also doesn"t want to drink water."
My brows furrowed.
I don"t like what Timothy explained to us so I went inside the room.