Page 11 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER FOUR
Natalia
"Everyone else is packed up and ready to go," Amberly said as she walked over to Natalia.
"Good. We'll get going in just a minute. I have a couple more bits to finish putting away first," Natalia told her.
Not everything they've been using in the bunker was coming with them. Wherever they stayed, the items that were already there they left for other groups to use.
Some of the other groups weren't as lucky as them, they didn't have a lot of their own belonging, like blankets and cooking equipment. So, it was vitally important that those items were available for them to use. That's if they made it to one of the bunkers in the first place.
"Okay, I'll let the others know," Amberly said.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Natalia quickly finished putting away all the items they had used and packed the last of her personal belongings into her satchel, then she joined the others in the main room.
"Ready to leave?" she asked as she walked in.
"More than ready," Donovan said.
"I still think we should wait for the others. They might make it back okay," Bella said.
"You know the rules, Bella. If you want to wait, then you can, but we are leaving now," Natalia told her.
"You'll be waiting on your own, unless someone else is going to volunteer to wait with you?" Amberly asked, as she looked around at the group.
Not one person stepped forward or piped up and said that they were willing to stay behind.
"See? Everyone else is leaving, so if you want to stay behind, you'll be doing it alone," Natalia said. "If not, then pick up your shit, because we're leaving now."
Bella looked around at everyone in the room, silently begging them to stay with her. When nobody did, she picked up her satchel and said: "Fine." before storming out the door and up the stairs to the exit.
Natalia, Amberly, and Donovan watched as the rest of the group followed Bella out of the bunker. They hung back to make sure that nobody was left behind and the bunker was left in the same condition they’d found it in. It also gave them a chance to talk about the others without being overheard.
"She'll be okay," Amberly said. "Just give her some time."
"I know," Natalia said.
"It's only because they were together before they joined us," Donovan said.
"I heard they did things differently in their previous group," Amberly said.
"That may be the case, but this is the rule here. Everyone knows that if you're not back from a run before we move on to the next place, then you're left behind. It's the only way we can assure everyone else's safety," Natalia said.
"You don't have to tell us, we already know the rules," Amberly reminded her.
"Yeah, I know you do. It's just frustrating when people join us, but then don't want to abide by the rules we set out. It's not as if any of them have to stay with us," Natalia said, shaking her head. "They are more than welcome to leave at any point."
"Don't worry yourself over it too much. Those people don't know a good thing when they see it," Donovan said. "And tough shit if they don't like the rules. Like you said, they knew the rules when they joined us, if they don't like them, then they are more than welcome to just fuck off."
"Donovan!" Amberly said sternly.
"What?" he said innocently.
"That's not a very nice thing to say," Amberly told him.
