Once everyone had eaten, Luke came back to the edge of the small ring of firelight that pierced through the minimal morning sun and the shadows of the trees equally, announcing that he would be scouting the area.
Eve would be going with him, of course, and Kane decided to come too, to help transport any materials they might need, and he continued on despite Zoe's protest.
He was leaving her again. This time it wasn't with a class of other students, but just one.
Michael.
She really couldn't see why Luke had retrieved him. He simply didn't seem to add anything to the group, though there were few people who would.
Lauren was one of those.
With her tools and ingenuity, they would have access to many more resources than they currently did, which would probably include things like meat, fresh food, and perhaps some other utilities that hadn't had a chance to be soiled or spoiled by the zombies or the other survivors, if there were any, because of being locked in freezers, warehouses, or homes.
Zoe hadn't seen her among the creatures, but she hadn't been looking too closely. She wasn't sure whether she would have recognized someone that she knew if they confronted her like that. She didn't care to try and keep up with the social machinations of the other students, and honestly, she didn't care about who they were, either. Aside from Kane and Luke. And Evelyn.
Normally she was very observant, but when she had been hacking her way through like some cracked arm butcher, she hadn't had enough time to look up. She had seen faces, but she couldn't recall what any of them looked like.
Not like she wanted to. They were disgusting. Almost every single one of them had some sort of grievous wound that oozed blood, and their eyes were never focused. And their breath...
Zoe shuddered. It really wasn't worth trying to recall.
Zoe looked over at Michael again. He was watching her, but not speaking.
She looked away, down and to the left, attempting to make the movement look natural despite her anxiety.
After what seemed like a few minutes of near stillness, she chanced a look back.
He was still watching her.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Zoe asked him with a huff.
"No, actually," Michael responded. He blinked slowly, which just made him seem less human.
Almost as bad as Luke. Maybe even worse, somehow.
Really, this was ridiculous. What sort of cracked skull would lead him to just stare at her like that? It was beyond even "creepy" territory now.
"Why are you just staring at me?" she demanded as firmly as she could, though to her dismay, that was a bit less rock-solid than she would have liked.
"Like I said, what else am I supposed to do?" he repeated. "You're the only interesting sight around here. The only thing currently in front of me that I don't understand."
He was being honest.
She thought. She really couldn't tell.
"You see, there's a few things about your organization that I'm wrestling with, if you wouldn't mind helping me out," Michael said.
Zoe bit her lip and considered. There really was no way to prevent interaction with him, and he would likely get the information sooner or later. Besides, she could always just stop answering if he asked too close a question to the truth.
"Go on," she said, barely remembering to word it in a way that didn't promise anything. Luke would have called her out if it was him here instead of Michael and she hadn't, and Michael seemed similar enough to Luke that he would probably do the same.
"So you're some sort of leader, right?" The way he said it didn't sound like a question. And worse, he was right.
"If you're a leader, then why are you out here?" Michael asked, unabashed.
"What do you mean out here?" Zoe asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I don't imagine that all of the power behind Eve and Kane is out in some population center like this," he explained. Smugly. Each sentence reminded her more and more of Luke. "So why aren't you there, doing your duties?"
He was just guessing all of this. He had to be, there was no other option.
But...
But what if he wasn't?