Released by Megan Duncan Page B

down to the end of the hal into a large conference room that had been turned into a dining hal/armory.
    “Have a seat, you kids sure look tired.” John puled a chair for himself and sat down with a thud. The sounds of Roger and Jerry placing their weapons back onto a shelf made it a lot easier to relax, so we each took a seat. I looked over to Max and Carter, noting that both of them looked ready to pounce at any second. The edge in the air gave me the urge to pul my shotgun off my back and hold it at the ready.
    “Dang, you folks sure are skittish,” he commented as he eyed us. “My name is John. You’ve met Roger and Jerry. Welcome to City Hal. Aren’t you going to tel me your names?”
    “I’m Carter and he’s Max.” Taya and I didn’t say anything. John looked at us for a moment and then went on.
    “Alright then, I don’t know what those two meat heads did to freak you kids out, but don’t worry about them. They are al bark and no bite.” The two cursed under their breath as they left the room and John just waved them off. “I take it you kids saw that flag?”
    “Yeah. So, what’s the deal here?” Carter asked.
    “Wel, Carter...” John said the name as if checking that he remembered it correctly, “we have ourselves a little safe house, or more like safe building I guess. We’ve been here going on a few months now. We’ve got food, water and weapons, obviously. You kids are welcome to stay of course, but we al pitch in around here so don’t think this is a free ride.”
    “Is it just the three of you?” Taya blurted out.
    John chuckled. “No, I think there are about twelve of us now. My wife actualy does al the cooking. We’ve also got a couple kids around your age I think. It’s tough, but we get buy. Those damn monsters don’t dare come around here anymore. Just a few nights ago we gave them a good ass kicking.”
    “They’re demons,” Carter said matter-of-factly, like he needed to correct the guy.
    “Hel, I know that. Everybody knows that, but monster just sounds less, wel less damning to me. You sound like that damn Norah lady, al her preaching and what not.” It was obvious he was getting worked up about it, but he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. I caught the expression on Carter’s face and could tel he very much wanted to talk to this Norah lady.
    “Alright wel, I guess I wil show you around. Uh, you kids can put those weapons away, ain’t nobody here gonna hurt you.” None of us made an attempt to remove our weapons, so John just shrugged and started to walk. There was no way any of us were going to leave our weapons, not yet at least. John was right we were skittish.
    We folowed John around as he showed us the living areas. People had taken over former offices and turned them into decent sleeping areas. We met John’s wife in the kitchen. She was preparing a large pot of soup with a few other people who were washing clothes in large metal buckets. The aroma was intoxicating and I had almost forgotten what a real home-cooked meal smeled like. The last time I remember eating something that smeled that good was when my Dad was stil alive. The thought of him quickly removed the hint of a smile that had crept on my face.
    “Nice to meet you al,” John’s wife Judy said while stirring the contents of a large stock pot. She quickly wiped her hands on a towel and held out a hand in greeting. She was a tal frail looking lady. She had a friendly demeanor, but there was a sadness about her, which would probably be a common characteristic of anyone we would meet from now on. I thought for a moment that we probably appeared the same way.
    Our tour then led us to a smal courtyard area where young teen aged kids played hacky sack under the watchful eye of a girl that looked to be about my age. She was pinning clothes up on a line to dry. John introduced her as Norah and she kindly tilted her head at us. She had long red hair that was wrapped up into a frizzy braid.