The After Us

Chapter 1

"Alright." I say to myself as I grab my blue backpack that was lying on the floor, throwing it over my shoulders after I'm finally done tying my shoes. My anxiety filled brain doesn't let me off the hook easy though, as I can't help but check my backpack once again; mentally checking every item in there.

"What is it, like your fifth time checking that small bag?" Kevin mocks as he brings our luggages, handing me my brown one.

"Funny Kev." I roll my eyes "We don't know what we'll need there."

"Baby, it's okay. We'll stop at a grocery store on our way."

"You're talking like it's just a normal sunday for you."

"Considering this is the new normal, it is a normal..." he turns around to check the calendar "...friday." he grabs the keys from his pocket and unlocks the door, stepping out as he drags his luggage from behind him. I pull him back immediately, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy!" I shout "You could've died of the radiation!"

"D" he looks at me "The radiation you're talking about has seeped through that door ever since the bombs went off, it was going to kill us, it already would've." I think about his words for a second before nodding "Now come on." I take a deep breath before walking out the door, the sun hitting my face directly. The neighborhood looked untouched, you wouldn't have even guessed that something was awfully wrong if it weren't for the many bodies lying on the ground.

"I don't understand" my voice comes out as a whisper as we pass the lifeless corpses with radiation burns all over them "Why not us, but them?"

"Don't question it." Kevin replies "Just enjoy it." we walk in silence towards our bikes, getting on them. I ride mine behind Kevin, letting him lead the way as it was his neighborhood. I keep looking around as I ride, the state of the environment and the buildings getting worse and worse as we ride further and further away from what has been our safe haven for the month. We ride for about thirty minutes before Kev stops his bike, me doing the same thing. My eyes roam the messy environment around me, seeing the car with busted windows and the bus which had turned over due to what I assumed to be the impact of the bomb.

"My god." I whisper in disgust when I see the rotting body inside the car, the hands still on the steering wheel.

"Come on." Kevin gestures for me from the busted glass doors, getting in carefully. I follow, trying to not cut myself. The glass pieces crack under our feet due the weight of our bodies as we walk inside, seeing around ten bodies lying on the floor with radiation burns, some of the products having fallen off the shelves although there were still some who had kept their place. The smell inside was insane, me intentionally plugging my nose to avoid it "You grab the water, I'll grab the food." I nod my head at his words, heading towards the direction of all bottled water. I grab as much as I can from the no longer working fridge and stuff them in the extra suitcase we had brought, zipping it close once there was no longer any space left. I could hear Kevin messing around in the canned food isle, the clanging of the metal cans to the wooden shelves making a quiet satisfying sound. I try not to look at the bodies I come across as I walk toward Kevin's isle, all the corpses and the products on the ground making it hard for me to carry the suitcase. Even though I refrained from asking them, Kevin and I both knew that my mind was filled with so many questions that I didn't think I could ever get the answers to; and Kev... well, he chose to not even try "Are you excited to go back to the school?" Kevin's voice snaps me out of my thoughts, seeing his blue eyes staring at me.

"Not under these conditions." I answer, seeing him look at me sadly. We had decided that staying at what used to be our school would be a better idea than staying at Kevin and his familys old house, as our school not only had a huge amount of space including the four school buildings, many different houses within the campus and even had a huge plato, but it also even had its own forest and had very high and thick gates surrounding it, gates which we could get into due to our old student cards.