Note: I will not be updating next week because of homework so I tried writing a long chapter. I hope you enjoy.

Madison groaned in delight, "I feel so clean." She rubbed both her arms looking at her now clean light skin.

Adira let out a slight chuckle as her niece acted as if it's the first time she's been clean. The two girls were walking back to their room after having taken half an hour shower- an hour for Adira to get the black substance off of her. They had no clue if the guys were done with their shower so they decided to not wait for them, if they were in the shower.

Madison continued to rant about how clean she felt and she was so pumped up Adira could have sworn the water rinsed away Madison's tiredness and negative energy. When the room came into sight, they saw Richie walking out of the room next to theirs with Jane holding his hand.

"Hey, Richie." Madison greeted as soon as she saw him.

"Hey." Richie greeted back with a smile, "Veronica gave us an extra room just in case we were cramped in the other room." He informed them.

"Oh okay cool." Adira nodded.

"Yeah so I and Dan decided we'll take it and you four could take the other room, if that's okay?"

"That's fine." Adira commented, "If you want too."

"Where are you going?" Madison asked him as a clean Dan walked out of the room.

"Get some food." Dan answered, "Veronica came up while you two were still in the shower and informed us that supper is ready if we wanted to head down to the cafeteria and get some food."

"We're taking Jane and Tyler too." Richie made sure to inform her, "I already asked Chad and he said its fine just to keep an eye on the two."

"Oh um-"

"I want food." Madison piped in interrupting Adira, "I am starving. Can I go?"

"Sure." Dan answered.

"I'll watch her." Richie assured Adira, "I swear."

"Okay then." She smiled, "Sure. Go get some food." She told Madison, "But gives me this." She took Madison's dirty clothes from her hands.

Madison dropped the clothes in Adira's arms before standing near Richie and Jane, "Let's go."

"If Tyler is going then where is he?" Adira noticed her nephew's absence.

"Oh he's already down there saving us a spot." Richie answered pointing behind him.

"Oh okay and Chad is he still showering?" Adira question before Richie turned to walk in the other direction.

"Nope he's in the room." Richie pointed to the door, "He said he wanted to wait for you."

"Oh okay. Thanks." Adira smiled and opened the door slightly, "We'll be down in a few. I just need to put these away." She said motioning to the clothes in her hand.

"Alright." Richie said turning around and walking away.

"I am so starving." Madison chirped rubbing her stomach as she walked away with Richie and Dan, "I worked up an appetite getting so clean."

Adira lightly chuckled at her a smile creeping up to her face as she pushed the door open and walked into the room. Standing by the bed with a backpack on the bed was a shirtless Chad with his back facing the door. The sound of the door closing shut behind Adira made Chad turn his head towards the door to see Adira smiling at him.

He wasn't buff he was strong but his skinny physic told everyone another story. He stretched his shoulders back allowing his back muscles to stretch as well. He stretched his shoulders to the point where his shoulders almost met in the middle of his upper back.

"What?" He questioned the look she was giving him as, "Put the clothes in the hamper right there." He told her pointing to what looked like a medical hamper, "Veronica said every week someone comes gets the hamper and replaces it with new one and clean clothes on the top." He informed her everything Veronica had told him while she was in the shower.

He looked behind him to look at her and the same face was splattered on her face. She was looking him up and down checking him out with a smirk playing on her lips, "What?" He questioned her.

She didn't respond right away instead she put the dirty clothes she was holding ad dumped it into the silver hamper that had a blue bag inside. She turned back to face him completely at the exact same time he looked at her. She walked up him pinching his clean tight black shirt, which he just put on, that covered his thin body nicely.

"I forgot how sexy you were under that entire gunk." She smiled up at him.

He let out a groan as his head went back revealing his long neck to her, "I'm not sexy." He sighed in disapproval.

Adira laughs at his reaction, "What are you doing?" She motioned to the stuff spread out on the bed that once used to be in the backpack.

"I wanted to see what we have." Chad answered going back to stuffing everything back into the bag, "How was your shower?" He inquired.

"Good glad to get all that disgusting stuff off of me." She rubbed her arms as if she still had some on her even though her skin was fully clean, "But I don't dig this shirt or the shorts."

"Well I got clean sweat pants and the grey long sleeve that you like if you want it." He informed her, "I packed it when I got out of school and all that."

"Please." She asked him, which he simply took out grey sweatpants and a grey thermal and gave it to her, "Thank you." She said taking off the new clothes she was given and replaced it with the clothes Chad handed her, "Much better." She sighed as she started rolling the waist band making it more fitting for her tiny hips.

He chuckles putting the bag on the floor next to the bed, "So." he huffed out a breath and looked around the room with his arms folded, "What you think of this place so far?" He looked at her curious on what she thought.

She shrugged her shoulders lifting herself on to the bed but still facing Chad, "I am more concerned about the people than the place itself."

"Why?"

"It's not the place that makes something safe but the people." She tells him her golden rings meeting his dark brown eyes, "If the people aren't safe to be around then the place will not be safe no matter how many walls are standing."

He nodded as he took in her words, "Point taken."

She smiled at him before jumping off the bed, "Come on. Let's go get something to eat. The others are waiting for us." She stood in front of him with her head tilted waiting for his answer.

He didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled, placed a hand gently on her neck and leaning forward placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Her hands automatically are placed on his waist as he deepened the kiss. She smiled through the kiss before pushing him away gently. He hummed as his eyebrows furrowed down at her.

"I'm hungry." She complained, "Let's go eat."

"Eat my lips." He told her trying to kiss her again.

"No I want food." She joked, "Food doesn't complain about me biting into it unlike you." She began to mock words he used to tell her every time she bite into his bottom lip as she slide right by him trying to get to the door.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulling her back to her previous position, "I want your lips." He jokingly whined, "Come here." He leaned down and started kissing her again, "We haven't done this in a while."

"That's because the world is burning in hell." She slightly joked as he kept kissing her, "And you smell."

She wished it was a joke though. She wished everything would go back to normal. Everything that was happening was just a dream and soon they would wake up, hopefully. She knew it wasn't a joke but what good would it do if she began to live in fear and afraid for hers and the people she loves lives. Joking around was a way of getting comfortable and easing the awkwardness that always came along when meeting new people.

After a few minutes of even more kissing due to Chad's resistance to go down and eat, along with convincing and a little bit more jokes being tossed around Chad finally agreed to go down and meet up with the others down stairs in the cafeteria having supper.

Chad noticed as they were coming down the stairs that Adira was still limping just slightly. He figured it was getting better and realized he needed to clean it once they were done eating. As soon as they were back on the first floor, Chad rushed to the door and opened it wide for Adira to walk through, which earned him a slight laugh from her as she shook her head.

They made it back to the lobby, where they first started, and a few people were sitting on burgundy floral pattern couches in different sizes that surrounded a white clean counter. They were talking among themselves laughing and eating. Next to them placed in a corner was a white grand piano that was playing by itself, some people were even just standing there behind the red ropes watching the piano being played.

Adira smiled at the sight and the smell of warmth and cozy. It was odd that so many of these people seemed so careless and so unfazed by the things that were just outside of those walls.

Maybe they're dealing with it in their own way Adira thought maybe they don't know what's even out there waiting for them.

Neither Chad nor Adira could afford to start letting their guards down. They had things to worry about and people to protect so thinking so carelessly and like nothing is going wrong would be a mistake. But the truth was Chad didn't want to make a mistake in trusting people who can harm him, Adira or Tyler and Madison. Luckily for him, Adira didn't trust anyone especially complete strangers, at first it was annoying because she always said something to Chad about his friends that she felt off but now over the years she was most often proved she was usually correct.

They walked down another hall, out of the three that were visible from first look, trying to figure out where the food was but soon just started following many people who were walking in the opposite direction with a plate of food in their hands. Some of the people gave Adira and Chad a friendly smile, which earned one in return but some eyed them cautiously or just ignored them. They kept following the river of people flowing in the opposite direction until they heard faint dishes clacking together and soft murmurs. Adira always had to look over her shoulders and shake her head to assure herself the voices and sounds were not in her head and there were actually voices coming from other people.

The halls all followed the same pattern: white at the top and burgundy carpet at the bottom half. The floors were spotless white tiles floors with just a few burgundy squares that look as if they were just put in at random just for the hell of it. There were doors on the each side along the walls all, somewhat, evenly spread out. All doors had a black basket beside them holding a few papers or none.

Eventually, they walked through corridors doors that were silver and opened both inward and outward. From there, the floor sunk in like a tiny hill before the tile floor transferred into carpet. The cafeteria was a lot bigger than they thought it would be.

Squared tables were spread out with four tables, one on each side. Some were put together to make longer tables while others stayed single tables. A long servery that ran along the back wall of the cafeteria a few men and women stood behind the servery was serving people equal amount of portion to each person in line. The servery was burgundy with clear stone counter top and the counter had rectangular dips in them just so it could hold silver treys with food.

The whole cafeteria stood with the rest of the hospital colors of burgundy and white except the floors had a few squares of blue tiles added in.

"Adira!" They heard a faint voice calling them once they got past a thin wall that didn't seem to serve a purpose, "Chad, over here!"

The two turned their heads to the side as well as everyone else to see a screaming Madison waving her arms in the air rather wildly. People in the cafeteria looked at the crazy looking teen before turning their heads to the couple, who looked around to everyone looking back at them. It started to get hot in the cafeteria but the couple couldn't tell if it really was getting hot or if it was them from being the center of attention.

"Go get food!" Madison ordered them pointing to the servery, "It's so good!" She complimented dragging out the 'o' in the word 'so', which received a few chuckles from on-lookers.

"Sit down, Madison." They heard Tyler tell her as he pulled on her long pink poke-a- dot sweatshirt.

Adira motioned for her to sit down and they would go get some as she mouthed the word 'okay' multiple times. She took hold of Chad's arm and dragged him to the back of the line to wait till they receive a trey of food. The couple took notice in the way the guards that were standing all along the walls and near the windows were paying close attention to them in particular, which put Adira on the edge. It wasn't a long wait since mostly everyone seemed to be either eating or done eating.

"You two are new here, right?" The man behind the counter asked as he handed the two their treys of food, which consist of string beans, mashed potatoes and a small bowl of chicken soup.

"Yup." They answered the bluish-greenish and a hint of brown eyed man.

"Have you met anyone here yet?" He continued the conversation.

"Besides Veronica?" Chad wondered out loud.

"Yeah she's like the mother of this place." He told them, "She keeps this place in check while Ciras is in charge of all the runners and protectors; I guess you could call them."

"Runners?" Chad said confusion spilling from his mouth.

"Protectors?" Adira question her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Yeah runners are people who go get supplies." He started explaining, "'Protectors' are the ones with the guns who usually watch the outside for any wakers." He put quotation marks around 'protectors' as if he really didn't agree with the name.

"Wakers?" Adira repeated her face scrunching in confusion and disgust.

The man shrugged, "That's what the runners call those things, because they wake up from the dead when they should be dead." He put his hands up in surrender, "I don't know I didn't come up with it. I just call them monsters."

"That's just weird." Adira commented.

He agreed, "Anyways I'm William." He held out his hand over the counter.

"I'm Chad." Chad answered taking William's hand and shaking it, "This is Adira."

Adira gave him a little wave, "Hi."

"Hey." He gave her a small smile shaking her hand very gently and only holding her fingers with his hand, "Well I hope you guys enjoy the food. If it sucks I apologize I don't know how to cook and its all we got." He joked.

"Thanks." They both said at the same time.

"Well see ya around." He waved them bye as they walked off.

The couple maneuvered around the other people and the tables trying not to spill theirs or anyone else's food. Madison turns her head to see Chad and Adira heading in their direction so she moves one seat down allowing Adira to sit. As soon as they sat down, Madison started going on and on about how good the food was while picking at Adira's salted green beans. Adira at her food while sending daggers into Madison's head for eating her green beans but chooses not to say anything knowing Madison is just going to keep eating them unconsciously.

After a few minutes of listening to Madison rant about what she thought about the place and Chad simply mumbling a few words to her just because none knew what she was talking about due to her fast rambling, a very excited brunette women came up to them with a wide smile on her face. She grabbed a seat from the empty table next to theirs, placed it at the edge of the table and sat down on it before she began to speak.

"Hello." She chirped, "I'm Ella."

The whole group looked at her as if she was a druggie and they wore an uncomfortable look on their face. They weird stares didn't seem to bother Ella as she continued to talk.

"So how are you all doing?" Ella inquired, "You liking it here so far?"

"Um-" Adira looked at everyone before turning her eyes back on Ella, "We're good. This seems like a nice place."

"It is." She beamed, "It's also safe, just in case you were wondering."

Ella explained to everyone about how long they've been there, which was only a week. Before that they were held up at an elementary school in the Cajon area that the local police had set up for protection but since it was only an elementary school and got too crowded way too quickly the school went down pretty fast and everyone had gone in their own direction trying to get as far away from the disaster as possible.

As Ella spoke them, her icy blue eyes came into contact with all their different colored eyes. According to Ella, Ciras was able to gather people from the school, which was going in almost the same direction, and became survivors who depended on one another. They stood out in the open going from one place to the other like nomads. It was until Ciras and a few of the other men went on a run where they found the hospital and a few people who took cover in the hospital when the disaster first started.

She eventually started talking about the people but the only one paying any attention was Madison and Tyler. Adira and Chad was too busy focusing on chewing their food and satisfying their stomachs hunger than paying any attention to the woman, who was rambling on and not staying on just one topic. Ella immediately took Adira and Chad's treys once they were finishing without giving them a chance to get up. The same time Veronica came up to the group with a big smile and a calm voice.

"How is everything?" She asked in the most cheerful yet calmest voice it made the group feel more welcomed, "How you liking it so far?"

Everyone answered almost simultaneously a simple yet positive word as they both smiled up at the piercing green eyes woman. She mumbled the word 'good' twice giving them all a nod in return. She turns to look at Ella putting away their treys on a wired shelf stacked with treys that was found near William.

"I've see Ella found you." She let out a little light chuckle, "I am sorry if she's excited we haven't seen anyone in days so she's happy that there are still more people out there."

"Understood." Richie voiced, "Its fine. She seems like a nice person."

"I think she's cool." Madison commented as she sat on her legs and leaned on the table.

"She thinks the same for you." She told her as Ella came back.

"Hello, Veronica." Ella greeted as she stood next to Veronica.

"Hello, dear." Veronica smiled at her as she sat back down in her spot.

She looked down at Adira when she saw Adira shift in her seat crossing her wrapped leg over her uninjured leg. She took notice in the dirty bandage and immediately went to Adira's side.

"Sweetie, we have a nurse you could get that check out." She informed the unconcerned teen, "If you'd like I can show you were it is."

"Actually, I can take care of that." Chad mentioned to her waving her off the topic.

"I, actually, want to take a look at it." Adira admitted turning her head to Chad and looking him in the eyes, "We should just check it out." She shrugged.

"Oh well." He looked at Veronica than at Adira a little shock she would actually want to go to the nurse, "Okay, if you want to." He agreed.

Veronica smiled and helped Adira up, "Good come. Follow me." She told them already walking away from them.

They followed the woman back to the lobby and down the same hallway they once walked down.

"What's down that hallway?" Chad asked as he noticed a man, who looked to be a guard, walk down the hallway that was to the left of them.

Veronica didn't even turn around to look at what hall he was talking about, "They keep the guns and stuff like that down there. I think they have their meeting in that area too. Some of the guards have rooms down there and there might be other stuff down there like vehicle keys, gas, etc." She explained.

"What do you mean there's nothing you could do?" A girl voice shouted catching everyone's attention.

It was Carry yelling at a timid looking young Japanese man not much older than her. He looked so shy and frightened as she kept yelling. He seemed to shrink at her excessive loud voice.

"There has to be something you could do." She continued making the shy man coward away, "You don't stop until he's better. You have to do something."

"Poor girl." Veronica muttered as she shook her head, "Her brother was badly injured on a run and he hasn't woken up or gotten better."

As they walked past a few rooms and certain areas, Veronica gave a brief description and explanation of what everything was so they knew where to go if they need anything. It didn't take long to get to the nurses' station as it was only a room where hospitals put more than one patient in a room together at the end of the hall.

"Well here we are." Veronica told them as she opened the door and stepped in with Chad and Adira following behind.

It was a normal hospital room: there were two beds separated by a blue curtain, a wooden counter shelf with a few see through glass window where a bunch of medicines were displayed. Next to the beds were heart monitors, IV and pumps. On one of the bed was lying unconscious was a boy around the same age as Carry or maybe older.

The sound of the heart monitor beeping was slowly slowing down with every breath the dirty blonde haired boy took. The boy looked a lot like Carry with the same light skin tone and the skinny tall body. The boy had drops of sweat running down his forehead as his chest slowly moved up and down. He was in a hospital gown and at the bottom it looked to be moved to up his leg revealing clean gauze wrapped around his shin.

Veronica looked around and took a deep breath, "Well you could wait in here for-"

The sound of heavy footsteps echoes through the hallway and it seemed to get louder until the same Japanese man and Carry walked in interrupting Veronica.

"Ahh, Yoshika." Veronica greeted as he walked through the door, "This is Adira and Chad."

The timid looking young man, Yoshika, turned his worried face into a friendly smile, "Hello, I'm Yoshika Soto." He bowed slightly, "What can I help you with?"

"Can you check Adira's leg, please?" Veronica requested motioning to Adira's thigh.

His sparkling brown eyes follow down to the injury. His eyes furrow in confusion soon turns into caution.

"I'm not bite." Adira remarked acknowledging the change in his eyes.

He sucked in a breath and pulled his bottom lip into his mouth before nodding, "Okay." He whispers before moving to the counter and started putting on gloves, "First let's take off that bandage." He said turning around holding up scissors, "Come sit down and let me take a look."

Adira slowly made her way to examine table taking note in his shaking hand and his nervous behavior. When she sat down, he began to remove the dirty gauze and examined her wound. Soon the sound of the heart rate monitor took over the quiet room. The beeping sound started slowing down and started getting lower and lower, a beep erupted before falling for a seconds then beeping again soon seconds turned into minutes before the beep went up again. It continued for a few more minutes before the line went flat.

Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you think so far in the comment or if you just want to chat just say hey and what is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving or fall and winter? Hope you all enjoy your thanksgiving next week :)