Chapter 5 continued.

.....They got up and made their way through the tables of curious faces. “It was nice meeting you Mary-Jo”
“Oh you too doll. See you guys soon” Mary-Jo waved as they left the café.

When they got outside, Jerrid was leaning against the building. He immediately spotted Chris and Katrina, pushed off the wall with his foot and dropped his cigarette.
“Hey Kid.” He shouted.
Chris froze when he heard the deep voice. Here we go. Him and Katrina spun around in unison.
“Katrina, I haven’t seen you in what, three years and you just walk past me?”
Chris was relieved that he wasn’t the ‘kid’ Jerrid was referring to.
“I’m sorry Jerrid, I didn’t even recognize you. Your hair’s so long now. And a beard; I never thought you’d be one to grow a beard!” Katrina felt the urge to hit him on the arm. She did and felt stupid immediately after.
Jerrid rubbed his chin a couple times before replying. “Ha, yeah. A lot of things are different around here now.” He glared at Chris who was standing behind Katrina. Chris waved and nodded just after Jerrid looked back at Katrina.
“Yeah I guess.” “Um, hey can I get a cigarette off you for the walk?”
“I guess I’m not the only one that’s changed.” Jerrid took a pack of Camels out of his pocket. “Don’t tell your grandmother.”
“I would never.”
“How is the old woman?” Jerrid asked as he handing Katrina the lighter.
“She’s good.” Katrina exhaled. “You know how tough Mama is!”
“Yeah, I would never mess with her. She’s taken care of me in the worst of times.” Jerrid chuckled.
Katrina nodded “I’ve gotta run by Clint’s then take Chris here to see the town. It was good seeing you and I’m sure we’ll see you again.”
“Ok kid. Be careful. Don’t wander too far out of town. I can’t have any dead or missing Katrinas around here. It was good seeing you! We’ve missed you around here.”
Chris’ jaw almost hit the ground; this huge man was not the same person he met yesterday. Jerrid gave Chris a warning glare, which said ‘I may like her, but I don’t like you—yet’.

Katrina turned and started to walk away, she shouted back: “You’ll save me before that happens.” She meant it; Jerrid and Gregory always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

Chris jogged in front of Katrina and turned facing her, walking backwards. “So does Jerrid have a twin named Jerrid? Because that IS NOT the Jerrid I met last night!”
“No, but he has very long days and I’m sure you can imagine that zombie hunting is not the easiest job—especially when there’s not any zombies. You probably just met him near the end of his shift. He’ll grow on you I’m sure.”
Chris fell back and walked along-side Katrina. I don’t think he’s the one that needs to do the growing. “So we’re going to Clint’s?”
“I was going to stop by my uncle’s and see if I can catch him or Mama. I don’t think you should come with me this time.”
“Bu—“
“Next time I promise.” Katrina started to walk away. She needed to show Chris he wasn’t welcome—this time—and make sure the coast was clear.
“What am I suppose to do? I thought you were going to be my tour guide.”
Katrina shrugged. “Sorry, I won’t be too long. I promise. I’ll meet you back at Mama’s in like an hour.”
That was weird. Chris was majorly confused. He walked towards Mama’s trying to figure out what he should do. When he reached his car in front of the apartment building he reached in his pocket and took out the car keys. He looked to his right at the forest and decided he would go see the forest then take a quick drive around town.

In about six blocks he arrived at the edge of the forest and realized he hit a wall; the road ended at the trees and there were only foot trails leading in. Chris looked from the left: Building and trees, to the right: another building and more trees. He sighed and threw the car into reverse. He drove into a gravel alley behind a building to turn around and go back towards town but noticed the alley curve towards the forest. Chris thought this was odd and wanted to check it out, if anything just to see what it was leading to. The gravel road turned into a dirt road and he was suddenly surrounded by trees.
The road seemed endless and the trees never stopped. It was a monotonous view but he continued driving slowly for five minutes and to his surprise he found what looked like another road branching out from the main path, except this path was only two tire tracks, barely visible under a cover of leaves and was leading into an even more dense brush. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in awhile He thought. Slowly he turned the wheels down the tire-tracks and cautiously continued. The path was barely drivable and Chris had a hard time following it. Once he reached the end of the tracks it opened up into an area no bigger than a school gym. Chris could see patches of gravel underneath and assumed it must have been a drive-way once because behind it was an old dilapidated cabin, still intact, but the paint was long gone, the wood was peeling and the windows were all cracked and covered with plastic trash bags from the inside. Lines of wire created a fence, which surrounded the property farther than the eye could see. Many autumns had passed here and left their leaves covering the ground and cabin.

Chris stopped and turned off the car. He thought about just turning around, but curiosity got the better of him. He got out of the car, leaving the keys in the ignition and the door slightly open—just incase. He walked across the driveway through the damp leaves and looked around realizing he was really alone; all he could hear was the leaves blowing in the breeze making a light shuffling sound. When he got closer he noticed the typical signs that were found on lonely properties: ‘No trespassing’, ‘Stay away’, ‘Beware of dogs’, ‘Fence gives electric shock’. Electric shock? He looked back at the wire running around the property. He remembered he had brought his camera with him and quickly ran back to the car to grab it.

He took pictures of the signs, the cabin, the fence and random shots of the property, which only turned out as endless amounts of trees.
He wanted to get closer to the house to see if he could take a look inside, but the fence--which was accused of being electric--was at least ten feet from the walls of the cabin. He got as close to the fence as he could without touching it. He thought it was past its days of holding an electric charge, but still didn’t want to take any chances.

The cabin was in worse shape than it looked; certainly it was playing host to numerous kinds of bugs and maybe even some animals judging by some of the holes in the foundation. He took pictures of that to so he could ask Katrina about it when he got back.