apocalypse, the answer

13.

GOOD GRIEF

he had bloody knuckles the day we arrived in the city. he got them from breaking some glass to get something from some already looted convenience store on the way. i sometimes believed that he liked to hurt himself on purpose, not because of boredom, but because he felt he deserved it.

i wanted to look nice on that day.

"i packed a special outfit for my grandparents house," i said. he was drumming on his steering while without a thought in his head until i spoke.

i was still in the backseat.

"what's that?" he asked. we were parked in the lot of 7/11. there were people in the city, i was afraid for that.

"i'm gonna change, open the trunk," i said getting out the back.

he went to protest, but popped the trunk anyways. i grabbed my long sleeved yellow sundress from the bag in the trunk. because it was near the gas cans it did slightly smell like gasoline and cigarettes. i didn't mind too much.

i know my grandparents are dead, but i still wanted to dress like how i used to. when they were alive and the world was too.

i looked around and stripped down outside in the cold. the trunk was popped so he couldn't see me, not that he was looking, that supposed "gentleman" he was.

i heard his window roll down, "I hope you aren't changing in broad daylight," he called, tossing finished a cigarette out the window.

"totally n-not," I struggled out kicking my pants to the ground. i had on lots of layers. though it was cold i settled for my dress, a sweater crewneck on top and my coat. no pants would probably end up making me regret things, but i went without anyways. it was a dress after all.

"hey! hey help me!" i heard someone shouting in the distance. before i could react I turned around to see a group of people charging towards me and the car.

the music stopped in the car. he jumped out of the front seat and grabbed me immediately. "come on," he said urgently.

i looked behind me after he practically threw me into the backseat. "they were bleeding!" i shouted looking back at the limping group, and the man charging towards the car with ripped clothes. they seemed so...cold. they looked...frozen.

"i'm bleeding too ya know," he muttered cynically, pulling off with a big skkrt in his tires. "now direct me to grandpas," he ordered nonchalantly.

i shivered in the backseat, watching the people get farther and farther away in the rear view mirror. i couldn't help but feel...bad.

what if i could've helped them?

i directed him through the suburbs. we saw people walking on the side streets now, they would shout for us everywhere we went. I figured we were the only people with a moving car in a while. the big cities tend to die out first. we weren't from around here.

we were finally on maryweather st. my smile grew big and climbed in the front seat pressing my face to the window damn near. a smile painted my face almost instantly.

the streets were all desolate and filled with trash and other strange things. the trees were dying and overgrown. everything looked like it was stuck in October forever.