Ellie Dixon

When a Story Ends

Me and Rick were in the storage room. It was very small though, however I did find some food on the shelves. "Eat." I ordered Rick, handing him a jar of peanut butter.

"Thank you." He nodded at me, scooping it out with his hand and feeding it to himself. I grabbed a flash light from a shelf and flickered it on. After scanning the place with the small light, I spotted a vent in the corner of the room. 

"Reckon you could fit through that?" I asked Rick, focusing the light on the vent.

"If it means saving our family." Rick nodded.

I smiled at him, before I climbed the shelf and sat on the top one. I grabbed a tool box and opened it, sifting through it until I found the right screwdriver. I smiled triumphantly, putting the torch in my mouth so I could keep the light on the screws. I put my left hand on the vent while my right worked the screwdriver to get all the bolts out. It only took a few minutes to complete. When I looked back down to Rick, he'd eaten the jar of peanut butter, two apples and drank two bottles of water. "You refuelled?" 

He wiped his mouth using the back of his hand. "Let's kill these sons of bitches."

I climbed into the vent, waiting for Rick to climb up the shelves before he too got into the vent. I had to hold my dress up with my mouth because trust me when I say: it is physically impossible to climb with a below the knees dress. Rick was okay. Dressed in a white vest and light grey jogging bottoms. We got to another vent cover, I peered down and it just seemed to be a hallway. An empty one. "It's a big jump."

"I'll go first and catch you." Rick said.

"Don't take this the wrong way, mama Rick. But, you ain't exactly what you used to be." I told him, starting to kick in the vent. It wasn't really working with my heal though.

"Let me try." Rick said. I crawled over the vent and sat on the other side. Rick brought his legs in front of him, and brought his right one down harshly onto the vent. It instantly gave in and fell to the ground. It made a bang sound which echoed around the hallway.  "You were saying?"

I clicked my tongue. "Okay, so... Yea. Okay."

Rick laughed, before jumping down through the vent. He looked left, behind him and then right. "Come on, I'll catch you."

I scoffed. "Please, don't drop me."

Rick just grinned which gave me no sense of security. At all. However, we had more pressing matters. I shut my eyes before I pushed myself off the edge feet first. I held back a scream as I fell a few feet before I felt arms wrap around my middle. I opened my eyes to be faced with Rick. He kissed my forehead, before putting me on the ground. "I would never drop ya." Rick grinned. 

I was about to respond, when I heard soldiers running down the hallway behind him. I pushed the man outta the way and raised my machine gun, I shot all seven soldiers. Their reaction time was very slow, only the last one managed to shoot a few bullets. However, they all missed.

181.

"Alright, let's go get our people back." I responded, starting to walk down a hallway.

"Who's dead, Ellie?" Rick asked.

"Sorry?" I pushed.

He let out a breath. "It's been six years. I still remember what it's like out there. Who's dead?"

I felt a pain in my chest. "Let's just get outta here before we have that talk. Like I said, you missed a lot." I said, shooting a soldier that was running our way.

182.

"I see that." He glanced at me.

"I had a growth spirt." I nodded.