Life After Death

Chapter 7

The next morning, we were all up early. Beams of sun insistent on stripping sleep from us as early as it rose. No longer did Jace glare down upon us, but I could still sense the distrust that poured from him.

A truck would be enough room for a pair of people to sleep easily, but when it came to four people bunched up in the back of it, it definitely became a squeeze. Especially when people shuffle in their sleep. Me and Jade slept opposite corners, Jace and Nathaniel taking up the others. Nathaniel split our blankets half and half and we slept with our legs facing the other trying to wrestle for as much fabric as we could get and by the time we woke up, Jade was fallen half on her brothers legs- not that he seemed to care, she probably provided extra warmth- and mine and Nathaniel's legs had clearly wrestled each other because they were all tangled up.

"You have cold feet," he smiled smugly as I woke up.

"My feet are in socks."

"Then they you have really cold feet."

Rolling my eyes, I climbed over the truck and headed for the half walls of the building, eager to see whether or not the Lurkers had walked away themselves or if they were still... lurking. And they had gone. Along with the remaining fog and rain clouds, they were no longer anywhere to be seen. Now, sunlight rained down over us instead, and the only colour in the sky was blue.

Me and Jade changed into our tank tops and jackets we had scavenged yesterday. Mine red and hers ironically green- though not quite jade, more like camouflage green.

"It would have been nice if we could have found an old Gucci or something, these are a bit bland aren't they," Jade laughed as she hooked her black jacket over her shoulder.

"Or anything actually made for winter. A Christmas jumper would have sufficed."

"Yeah, maybe a tank top isn't the best."

"Well, it only leaves 95% of my arms uncovered. Could be worse."

Getting out of the truck, I was slightly taken aback to see every gun and weapon we owned laid out on the back. Not quite the good-morning I had expected.

"We have seven guns. 4 pistols, 2 rifles and a shotgun," Jace deadpanned, "And two knives which were mine and Jade's."

"I have a pocketknife... if that is any help," Nathaniel put into the collection.

"Right, okay, and so now surely we have to find somewhere to practice."

"Practice?"

"Well, yeah," Jade started, "I mean, we can all work our way around a pistol, but rifles and shotguns?"

"True, but what about ammo?" Nathaniel now asked, "If we start firing at trees then we are going to burn through it all quick, and I am not looking for another stampede."

According to Jade, it was easy enough to find a firearm shop, especially once we had looted more gas to get us around, but it wasn't as easy to find one that hadn't already been ransacked. Any that had been left out in the open, for anyone to see, was finished off months ago.

"So, we practice, and go back there for more," Jace deadpanned.

"What?" His sister almost gasped in disbelief, "You wanna go back!?"

"Well, I don't see a better idea. Besides, surely some real-life practice will give us good experience."

"Yeah, of how to host a funeral!"

"Maybe he's right," I interrupted, "I mean, we won't be going in blind this time. If we can work together, it would be a good way to make sure we know what we're doing. We can go in and out the same way we did yesterday."