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It dragged on for so long that she thought maybe the woman had already left.
"Which building is it in?" she finally asked, and Maddie could detect a hint of curiosity in her tone.
"If I tell you and you try to go on your own, you'll never be able to find it. You'll need to take me with you," Maddie answered in a way that she hoped sounded confident and demanding.
"Which building?" the woman repeated, this time with more annoyance than curiosity.
Maddie swallowed. "The Hilton Hotel."
A small scoff. "Why would you have gone in there?"
Maddie pursed her lips. "Tyler thought it would be a good idea. He thought we could find water in there.” She left out the part where she had argued with him about it being utterly stupid.
"It's too dangerous," the woman answered. "Zombies everywhere."
Maddie shook her head. "It isn't far inside," she said carefully, trying not to give too many details in case she wanted to leave and try to find it on her own. "We could get in and out fast before we would run into any of them."
That wasn't exactly a lie, but it was bending the truth a little. The bag wasn't super far inside the hotel lobby, but it definitely took a little maneuvering.
"Is that where he got bit?" she asked.
Probably.
"I don't know," Maddie lied.
“What medicine is in there?”
“I–I don’t know.” That was the truth. She had no idea what was in that pack. The medicine could have consisted of Band-Aids and Advil for all she knew.
No answer.
The silence continued, but this time Maddie was confident the woman was still there, and that meant she was, at the very least, considering it.
"Fine."
Maddie froze. "Really?"
"Let's go."
"I—" Maddie's head spun. She hadn't expected such a sudden answer. "Oh–Okay.”
"Now."
Chapter three
Saff walked back to the young woman.
"Um–okay," she stuttered. "Let me just—just give me a second."
Saff held in a frustrated breath.
If this girl was slow, she would need to leave her, and she could probably forget about finding the bag. Unless she could somehow convince her to tell her where it was in the building. But even then, she’d been in there a couple of times and knew how chaotic it was and how difficult it would be to find something.
Still, this was probably her next best shot. She hadn't found any inhalers or asthma medication in the pharmacy, so her only other option was to try more locations in the city. But then she'd risk Mike and the others finding her.
And that would be just as dangerous.
She walked past the girl, stopping a few feet behind her. "We need to go now. Those zombies won’t stay gone forever."