The World Outside

There was a loud knock on the door. Nick woke up startled from the unexpected noise. He sat up and looked outside the soot stained window. The sun was still up. The only company he was expecting was coming later on tonight. Nick turned over to the nightstand by his bed and opened the drawer. He reached inside and grabbed his knife. He walked out of his bedroom and into the small living room. The knocking continued, getting louder and sounding more impatient. He walked towards the door, flipping his pocket knife open and gripping it firmly in his right hand. He looked through the peephole in the door.

Nick relaxed and unlocked the door when he saw who it was. Jen quickly walked inside the small one bedroom apartment. "It took you long enough," she said with a mean tone in her voice. "I wasn't expecting you for a few more hours. Why are you here so early?" Nick asked her. Jen walked into the kitchen which was only a few strides away from the front door. She looked in all the cabinets until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out an almost empty bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. She poured each glass to the brim, completely emptying the bottle. "Want one?" Jen asked him. "No I don't want one," Nick replied. "Good. More for me." She quickly downed both of the glasses. "Looks like you are gonna need another bottle," she said laughing.

Nick looked over Jen. She was badly bruised, had rips in her clothes, and had a few small cuts on her face. Even through all that he could still see her beauty. With her short brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Nick has known Jen ever since the outbreak began. Over the past couple of years Nick has gotten really close with her. Now they are some of the few survivors in Chicago.

"What happened to you?" Nick asked. Jen grabbed a water bottle out of the top cupboard where she got the whiskey and chugged half of the bottle. She walked into the living room where Nick was and sat down on the old, dirty, blue couch. She sighed and said, "What does it look like? I got my ass kicked."
"What happened?" He asked. "The deal went wrong. A couple of Bills men jumped me. I was lucky enough to get away."
"What about our guns?" Nick asked her. The anger built up in his voice. "They took them back to Bill," she said. Nick began to pace around the small apartment. Moving from into the kitchen back into the living room over and over again. "How could you let this happen Jen?" Nick was getting angrier by the second and Jen could see that. Those guns were all they had to barter with. "What was I supposed to do? I was outnumbered. If you would have come with me instead of waiting here maybe things wouldn't have gone as bad as they did." He knew that she was right. It was dumb to let her go outside the wall alone. He knows the dangers out there better than anyone. But he would not let her see his soft side. He has a reputation of being a tough guy to uphold.

"We needed those guns for trade," Nick said while trying to calm himself down. Jen stood up from the couch and walked towards Nick. "Then let's go get them back. I know where Bill's hideout is. It's a little ways outside the wall. We can sneak out of the passage we used last week." Nick thought about her idea for awhile. "We haven't used that path in a week. It could be swarming with infected or it could have guards all over the place."
"I had Tim check it out before I came here. He said that it was clear," Jen said. Nick still wasn't really convinced. "We can trust him Nick. He's helped us in the past and I don't expect him to let us down now." Tim always helped them get out of the wall discreetly to trade goods and supplies with the people that lived on the outside. He and Jen were smugglers of the new world that they lived in now. "Alright. Let's get our gear and head out," Nick said.