Homeless - Book One

Chapter Four: Every Step Counts

The heavy rain was stabbing my head and shoulders and we waddled through the woods as a group. We hadn't got to any roads yet as the plan was to stay in the forest until we had to travel on the road. The depression sunk into me a long time ago when the rain began pouring. The freezing shower had soaked every single one of us.
"Lizzie, how much longer until we get to a checkpoint?" Alden shouted. The rain was so loud, we had so speak loud.
"Not much further now. I think around half a mile!" She replied. She was leading the way because she drew a map of directions. There weren't a lot of turns, so it was easy to get to the shelter. Moments later, the wind grew heavier and then thunder and lighting crashed down onto the ground.
"Johnathan, I don't think this is safe!" I shouted. He listened to what I said and turned to Lizzie.
"Lizzie, do you think we should stop for a while until the storm passes?" He asked. She turned her head and shook it.
"No, we're so close to the checkpoint. There's only four of them." She replied, shouting over the storm. Suddenly, a lightening strike hit a tree next to us. The tree began to fall.
"Run!" Johnathan screamed as he tackled me to the floor.

The rain had stopped. We had been walking through the streets. The floor was wet and the group was, too.
"Lizzie, how far until the next checkpoint?" Johnathan asked.
"Johnathan, it's quite far. You need to stop asking every five minutes, okay?" Lizzie responded with attitude. I guess she really wanted to get to that shelter. Awkward silence filled the group. We kept walking as usual. It felt like we were walking for a very long time. Me legs were agonising and my mouth was dry. We were supposed to be saving our supplies
"Johnathan, my feet hurt." I cried. He looked at me, probably feeling sorry for me.
"I know, but I know you can do it. From what you've been through, I know you're strong. Not a lot of people your age have the gift of being strong like that." Johnathan ranted, trying to get me to keep doing. It did motivate me in some way. It also made me feel invincible like I could do anything.
"Thanks." I replied. Again, I was socially awkward. We just kept walking down the street. We took some turns along the way. The houses we were traveling past just kept getting more rough as we went. I hadn't seen an area that had poverty as bad as that in my life. The people began to look the same state of the homes. We were walking until a group of four people with tracksuits walked up to us. They had man bags and masks. They were extremely intimidating. The two groups just stood in front of each other in silence. I turned towards Johnathan for any sort of communication. All he did was look at the boys and sigh like we was guilty in a way.
"Boys, I'm sure you're tough and all that jazz, but we need to get passed." He said. It was like a line he had rehearsed from a script.
"You're not gonna be going anywhere, big man." The boys said. I looked at the, weirdly. Why were they talking like that?"
"Look, I deal with stupid people like you every other week. I always win. Do you really wanna try robbing us or whatever the fuck you're planning on doing?" Johnathan said. That was why he didn't look scared. Lizzie was just staring into their soul, trying to intimidate them. Bradley and Alden on the other hand looked terrified. I understood what Johnathan meant when he said he didn't want me to end up like them.
"Look, big man. If you don't give us your shit, then I'm gonna have to do something I might regret, innit?" The teenager said. I gathered that he meant hurting us or something. The bad thing was there was no one around, so there was no one to defend us.
"Listen kid, we have places to be and it's probably your bedtime. So, why don't you go home so we can get where we need to be, yeah." Lizzy said as she stepped forward, intimidating the boys. They stepped back, cowering a little.
"Is that cool, yeah. Let's go." She said as she looked back at us and began walking forward past the boys. The mouthy boy then turned around and pulled something out if his pocket. I couldn't tell what it was. He ran up to Lizzie and was about to hit her with the thing that came out of his pocket. She was quick to react. She turned around and grabbed his wrist. She then twisted his arm and tripped him over, dropping the weapon. When it was on the floor, I saw that it was a knife.
"Don't ever try that again!" Lizzie shouted in the boy's face. His friend also had a knife in his hand, so Johnathan went and disarmed him. The boy punched Johnathan in the face, took his bag, and began to run.
"Yo, run!" He shouted as he raced down the street.
"I'll get him. You make sure that one doesn't get away." Johnathan said. Lizzie nodded her head while holding the boy on the floor. Johnathan chased after the boy. I had no idea what to do. I had to make a quick decision. Should I have stayed there or gone with Johnathan. I decided to go with Johnathan, so I chased after the boy with him.
"No, come back!" Lizzie screamed.

I finally caught up to Johnathan after running across four estates.
"Jack, what on Earth are you doing here?" Johnathan exclaimed. He stopped and grabbed my shoulders. I watched as the boy sprinted away.
"I wanted to help, but he got away." I muttered. I felt guilty that I let someone who tried to hurt us leave.
"Okay, Jack. We need to be clear with some things." Johnathan said in a calm tone. He sat my down on a small wall outside someone's house.
"Okay." I said as I sat down with Johnathan.
"When me, Lizzie, Bradley, and Alden need to chase someone or need to put someone in their place, you can't help with that." The man taught me.
"What, why? I can do it. I just chased that boy down the road with you." I stuttered. I really wanted to help with things like that. I needed to prove to Johnathan that I could do the hard things and I didn't need to be treat like a baby.
"No, Jack. He boy got away because I saw you. We can't let that happen again. You can help when you're a little bit older." He explained to me, trying to be as kind as possible. I took a moment to think about what Johnathan said. I was only a child. How was I supposed to fight grown adults and expect to win? I accepted that I had to wait a while.
"Yeah... but I wanna practice so I can do it earlier than I should." I told Johnathan. He let out a faint laugh and a big smile.
"Yeah, you can do that. But, first you have to beat me before you do that." He said in a joking way. I punched him in the shoulder and giggled. The mood suddenly got serious. We had our laugh. It was time to get back on the road and keep searching for our future home.
"Okay, we should get back. Lizzie's not gonna be happy that you just snuck off like that." Johnathan said as he stood up. We collectively walked in the direction of the group.
"Well, what do I say to her?" I asked. He laughed to himself and sighed.
"What? What's so funny?" I asked. He kept the silence for a few seconds before speaking again.
"There's no getting out of it, Jack. She's stubborn and she has to win every argument. She can't be wrong. So, there's no point coming up with excuses. Just be ready for the screaming." Johnathan explained while giggling.
"Oh, God."  I muttered to myself as we carried on walking. What was Lizzie gonna say?

Johnathan and I finally got back to our people. The boy who Lizzie had was not there anymore.
"What did you do with him?" Johnathan asked. Lizzie sighed and looked to her right.
"Let him go. He ran that way." She said. She paused and then realised I was there. She strutted towards me with attitude.
"Why did you run off like that? Anything could have happened to you! You don't know what's out there. Not like I do!" Lizzie screamed at me. She seemed like she was about to pass out from a panic attack.
"Lizzie, don't. I told him already." Johnathan said calmly, standing in front of the angry woman.
"Do you want this boy to survive in this world, Johnathan?" She asked. A moment of silence occurred while she waited patiently for an answer.
"Well, yeah?" Johnathan responded.
"So stop treating him like a fucking baby! You know what happens to weak people out here. They die! How do you honestly think he's gonna cope when me, you, Alden, and Bradley are all gone? What's he gonna do then? Is he just gonna look for another family, or go back home?" Lizzie ranted.
"Lizzie, you have five seconds to get out of my face before something really bad happens." Johnathan ,uttered to Lizzie. She pulled a disgusted face at him and turned around.
"Whatever, Johnathan. The shelter isn't far now. We reached the last checkpoint." She said as she walked forwards. Bradley and Alden followed while Johnathan and I stood in shock.
"Is she really mad at me?" I asked. I was worried I'd lost a friend.
"No, lad. She's mad at me, but it's okay. Friends do that when they're around each other for a long time. Why don't we get to that shelter?" Johnathan suggested. I let out a smile and nodded my head. Johnathan then pushed my shoulder a little and we carried on walking.

I couldn't take it anymore. We had been walking for ten years. Suddenly, Lizzie stopped at what looked like a hospital.
"Guys, stop." She ordered.
"Another checkpoint?" Johnathan asked. Lizzie turned around.
"Even better. The shelter."  She said. Johnathan looked confused.
"Are you sure? It looks like an abandoned hospital." He claimed.
"Maybe it used to be a hospital. Look, we're here now. I'm not turning back after all that planning and walking." Lizzie said.
"Come on, then." Johnathan said. Our group then walked to the front door. Lizzie pressed a buzzer and the door immediately opened. In front of us stood a man and a woman. The pair of them looked very smart, wearing suits. They stood and smiled at each other. They turned to face us and the woman began to speak.
"Welcome to the homeless shelter."

To be continued...
Published Monday, 22nd August, 2022

P.S. Sorry for not publishing in a long time. I had a lot of writers block planning the story out.