The last one alive

Days Gone Bye

         I shut my eyes tight as my brother pulls open the tent and the morning sun comes beaming in. "Get up Tay." I grumble some nonsense and sit up. I press my eyes with the palms of my hands and then reach over for my phone out of instinct. My hand touches the blankets covering up the grass and I finally open my eyes. I hear people walking around outside the tent and everything comes back to me in a big hit just as it has every morning for a month. I get out of my makeshift cot and grab a T-shirt out of the basket of clothes Mom left. It smells like soap and lake water but what the hell? I pull on a pair of shorts and step out of the tent.

     I see Dale up on the camper holding the one rifle we have while Amy is trying to fiddle with the radio between stations. She does this every morning trying to get a message from Andrea, personally I think it's pointless but who am I to say that? "What's going on?" I ask. "There was someone on the channel." She responds. Ok.... not so pointless. "Where are they headed?" "Atlanta but they couldn't hear us so..." I chuckled a tad bit. Everyone in Atlanta is dead or at least somewhat dead. I walk away and try to forget about it. I see Sophia and Carl hanging out and go sit by them. 

     "Hey." "Hi" Soph says quietly.  I see Carol behind her and send her a small smile. She sends one back before Ed grabs her arm and sits her down near their camp. It's separate and isolated but we can still hear them. Ed reminds me of a dad of one of my friends at school. She was like Soph always came back with bruises and blamed it on clumsiness. I can't stand people like Ed. My thoughts are interrupted by my mom and Shane coming back from the other tents. I don't think people here are blind but they are just preoccupied. I'm not. Apocalypses are more boring than I thought. Maybe people just do what they need to do. 

     Dale comes down from his perch and offers me one of the stale cereal bars. I took it then gave it to Carl. Come to think of it, this might be why my clothes don't fit me anymore. Like I said.... Everyone has to cope. The only way every one of us was being fed enough was if one of us wasn't. Trust me... I did the math. I got up and walked over to Amy and continued to chat with her about everything. Her little coping mechanism was reminiscing, she was of those who thought this was temporary. I knew better and yet I still sat down from time to time. 

       Honestly, I sometimes liked it. I liked getting to dream away about what was rather than what is. It made it all a lot easier. I feel Mom tap me on the shoulder. "Can we talk?" I would like to be clear on the fact that even during the literal destruction of the human race this phrase is still the worst thing to hear from a parent. I follow her over to where Shane is standing and he gives me a small smile. He has been really good for the past two months. Even before all this, when Dad was in his coma, he just knew what to do. 

     I've known Shane my entire life. He's cool and honestly more like an uncle than anything else. He is also my godfather. Not much to say about that because no matter who he was I could always count on him. "We were thinking about the guy on the call earlier." She means the one who is most likely dead. "And we think that is would be a good idea if you and Amy went to put those signs up in a couple days." "Could I take a gun?" My mom started to speak but then Shane said yes and patted me on the back. 

       I could feel the headphones pressing against my ears as shots fired in the background. My dad puts his hand on my shoulder "Now remember, keep calm and focus on the target." Shane stood behind me as I aimed. The gun felt heavy in my hands and the shooting made it hard to hear anything other than my own breath. The one other thing I could make out was the voices behind me. "Did Lori agree to this?" I almost laughed. "No, she expressly forbids it." My dad responded. Shane chuckled. "Even if she knew she's been so tired with Carl that she wouldn't care." He was right. Mom had barely talked to me since my baby brother started school. I zoned back into the target. Checked the chamber and safety just like I was taught and fired.

     I walked in-between trees out in the wood. The breeze blew against my face, a welcome feeling in the hot summer months. I could hear a small rattling among the leaves and turned my head toward the sound. Even though that redneck boy was already out hunting I did what I could to find food for the camp. Whatever I got went to the kids and so in my free time I always went out to score some game. The rattling became louder and the spots between trunks were getting thinner and thinner. All of a sudden, my body came to a freeze and I looked over at the small bunny coming out of the bush. I gripped the small knife on my belt and slowly made my way toward the small animal. I slid the weapon out of its holster and pounced, quickly grabbing the creature and shoving my blade into its head.