We're Not Alone

Chapter 6

"So are we all clear on the plan?" Dad asks us.

"Yep," we chant in alliance.

"Jamila, recap."

"We always stick together. If we have to split up, each team is Me, Trevor and Dad and the other team is Paisley, Connor and Nirvana. We need to ration our food carefully. Once we have only 2 days worth of food each we go out and we start our journey to Maine."

"Well done. And how many weapons each, Paisley?"

"Everyone has one knife, one health kit, a pistol and bullets and our food. Trevor and Connor have a bow, and mum and Joey have a bow and a Hunting Rifle. We always keep our backpacks with us no matter what."

"Alright, we've got this so now we just have to play it out and wait until we need to go out."

We are going to be staying in the bottom floor, mostly in the Theatre room. Before we started to plan what we were going to do, we went into the secret room behind one of the bookshelves in the library and collected our weapons and food.

"I'm going to get changed, I wont be able to live in a dress and heels," I state.

"Well, Trevor you should go with her, just in case."

"Yep, I'll go with her."

"I'll come too," Paisley says following us out the door.

We crawl upstairs without checking the coast is clear. I fish the key for the connecting door to unlock it. Trevor checks that we are clear and he guides us to Paisley's room. Paisley and I both change into Muscle shirts, jeans and monochrome, hi-top Converse.

I peer outside the window to see people fleeing from their houses with torches and a lot of them with shotguns. I hear cries for help, and yelps from infected, a gunshot, and then nothing. An eerie silence, until the next victim is attacked. "This is a load of crap. We are going to need to leave sooner or later, so why are we staying for such a long time?" I ask.

"The main reason is we are waiting for a majority of infected to leave."

"We need to go from here to Portland, Maine. Do you know how far that actually is?"

"No."

"3086.2 kilometers. 632 hours on foot. This isn't going to be fun, Paisley. If we start at 7 in the morning to 10 at night it will take at least 42 days." I start calmly, "We are going to come across soldiers trying to kill us because they will think we are infected, we will come across infected. What's the bet half of us are going to be shot, or bitten. Paisley... we are not all going to make the whole way!" By the end I am almost yelling.

"We will, Jamila, this family is the toughest family I know. And don't say, 'we're not a family' because we are. We have been through way too much for us to not be a family..." Paisley is interrupted with a knock at the door.

I open the door to see Trevor standing there, "Let us just get our puffer jackets."

We fish them out of the wardrobe and make our way back downstairs locking the garage door behind us.

"What took you so long?" Dad interrogates as soon as we step through the door.

"3086.2 kilometers. 632 hours on foot. At least 42 days. We will have to dodge soldiers who are trying to kill us because they will think we are infected. And we will come across infected. Half of us are going to be shot, or bitten. We all aren't going to make it to Maine."

"Jamila, come here," Dad says with his arms wide open. We stood there in a hug for at least a minute until I pulled away. "You can't think like that."

"Admit it, we have all been thinking it, and I just said it."

Nirvana speaks up and says, "It's true Joey..."