We Begin Again

Solitude

Ada wanted to scream. Scream for the truck to stop or turn around- anything - anything other than kart her siblings away from her. The cold feeling of dread started in her stomach and crawled its way up to her lungs , rattling on her ribcage and squeezing at her heart. Ada's throat went dry and her head felt dizzy as she failed to fight off the darkness that polluted her brain as she watched them disappear over the horizon. It had all happened too fast. One moment she was stood holding Freddie's hand, and the next he was in the truck being driven away from her to god-knows-where. She should have asked where they were going. Why didn't she ask? God- how could she be so stupid? What if something were to happen to them on the road? She should have asked.

Zoe's hand found Ada's, bringing her down from her spiral as their fingers interlocked.

"You'll be back with them before you know it." Zoe bumped their shoulders together reassuringly, as if reading the older girls mind. Ada forced her face to keep steady, not to betray the anxiety that had set in, and nodded with a tight smile. She squeeze Ada's hand gently, returning the smile as she spoke. "Come on, let's go see if the dads need us to do anything."

Ada turned, letting her friend guide her away, eyes scanning the group of people left around her as she walked. The 3 girls fathers, Peter, Vinnie, and Daniel, had congregated around the supply box the army had left for them, muttering something inaudible between themselves as Layla sat on a wall nearby, waiting for her friends. Off to the right of them stood the Davies family. Rebecca and Frank had lived next door to the Reid's for as long as Ada could remember, and their only son Billy was the same age as and best friends with her brother Charlie- the families knew eachother quite well, often letting their boys play between the two houses as they grew up together. The only people Ada wasn't overly familiar with lingered quietly on the front garden of their house, out of the way of the others. A woman and her two children. Ada only knew the name of the older boy- Tobias- as he was in the year above her at her school. His family had moved here no more than 3 months ago- Tobias, his mum, and his baby sister, who he currently had balanced on his hip. The boy was tall and lanky, bundled up in so many layers against the cold that it filled out his build, making him look much broader than Ada knew him to be, and his messy mop of scruffy black hair was stuffed into a beanie hat. As she passed, Ada met his sunken eyes and offered him a short awkward smile, but the boys expression remained vacant, blinking at her confused.

"Strange." Ada thought as she walked on, shaking off the small feeling of embarrassment that crept up her neck. "Maybe he doesn't recognise me outside of school."

"...Yeah, we should probably dish these out and get a few people watching that gate." Peter spoke to the other men, all peering into the large supply box. As Ada and Zoe approached, they could see inside to the array of guns and knives amongst what appeared to be wilderness survival equipment.

"Well, I know how to shoot." Daniel said, reaching down to pick up the gun. Ada's dad and his friends from work would frequently go to a local shooting centre together. While Ada would never admit it, the few times he had taken Ada with him, she would be in awe of how effortlessly he was able to hit the target. He was good. "I'll take someone with me and keep my eye on things."

"What's the plan if people turn up?" Vinnie asked, folding his oldest daughter into his side as she approached him. "We knew this was a safe zone, so who else knew? Should we expect anyone else to show up while we're waiting?"

Daniel shrugged, seemingly unbothered, getting a feel for the gun in his hand. "Let them in I suppose. We've got enough houses."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Peter waved Layla over now the other girls were there. "We were told to move ourselves into two houses for the time being, so is it alright if we all come in with you, Dan?"