Times A Ticking

14

"No." My Mom steps up and grabs my Dads shoulder yanking him back towards her gently. "You're not going out there. I won't allow it." She says sternly.

"You can't stop it Jenny." He says as he caresses her cheek. "If we are going to survive we need food, and water. Maybe we can even find some medical supplies to stock up on." He says giving Lee a side glance.

"William we have medical supplies here." She says grabbing his face and making him look at her. "Don't go out there it's not safe."

"I know we have medical supplies, that most likely will run out in due time." He says removing his hand from her face and backing away.

"And when the time comes then we will handle it then, but this is a suicide mission. We don't even know how to handle those monsters." She crosses her arms over her chest clearly standing her ground.

"Lee and I know how to handle rotters." He says assuringly as Lee nods his head in agreement.

"So now we are naming them?" She asks as she looks at me. "Gabby help me." She whispers and Dad sighs before giving me a look.

"Mom we can't stop him. I'm not agreeing with either of you, you both have really good reasons. I just want what's best for us." I say as I walk over and stand beside of her. "But you know we can't stop him." I whisper.

"When do you plan on leaving?" She asks as Dad adverts his eyes up to a clock hanging on the nearby wall, he tilts his head before looking back at us.

"In a hour at least, gives us time to get everything we need together. Lee will come with me I'll need a few more volunteers." Luis starts to stand up but Dad shakes his head, "Not you, we need at least one person here to protect the women and children."

"I'll go." Adam say stepping in between Mom and Dad. Mom grabs his arm and quickly yanks him back next to her.

"Absolutely not." She says as she lets out a laugh before giving Dad a look as well. "Adam is not going. He's a child." She says.

"I'm 20." He says to her as he gently removes himself from her grasp and walks over to stand next to Dad. "I'm going."

"I'll go too." I quickly move beside of Adam before Mom had a chance to grab me. Dad looks down at me and takes a deep breath as he shakes his head slowly, "I'm going Dad. This will be a good opportunity for me to learn how to fight and survive."

"William." Mom whispers as she looks at him hopeless. "Don't let my babies go." She says as she takes a step closer to us.

"It's their choice Jenn, I can't stop them." Dad pulls Adam and I by our arms making us stand in front of him and face him. "Go get your stuff together, get a knife. No guns."

"But we need guns to protect us." Adam interferes, as he gives me a side glance waiting for me to speak up as well.

"You guys need proper training first. I don't need you shooting up the street and putting us in even more danger." Dad says as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Knives or you are not going."

"Whatever." Adam mumbles as he walks over to the weapon back in the corner of the lobby and begins rummaging through it clearly angry.

"Andre, son. Do you want to come as well?" Lee asks as Andre makes his way over to us, his under eyes dark from lack of sleep. He rubs his eyes and shakes his head.

"No. I'll stay here with Ma. What happened yesterday was enough for me." He says as he looks at the ground, Lee places a hand on his shoulder and rubs it.

"Son it'll be good for you to get outside, learn some skills to survive." Andre shrugs Lee's hand off and back away his eyes slightly widen and you could visibly see the fear.

"I said no. Ma needs me, I'll stay here and help just in case something goes wrong." Andre turns and looks at me, "Are you sure you want to go Gabs? After what happened last night."

"Last night was just the beginning, I want to adapt to this world if it's going to stay like this. I don't want to be the prey." I say as I look back at Mom who was already walking over towards Zoey and Ruby who were playing on the ground.

"Was last night not enough practice for you? You really want to go out there, after everything we just saw. You almost died." Andre says as he grabs my wrists and holds them.

"But I didn't. I'm going, it'll be good for me. You should go as well." I suggest but of course he denies the offer as he lets go of my wrists letting my hands fall back down to my sides.

"Just be careful Gabs." He says before walking off to go be with Dianne. I look over at Adam who was still rummaging through the weapon back and make my way over to him.

"Dad is right you know." I say as he stops his movements and lifts his head to face me, if looks could kill I would be dead.

"I don't really need your input Gabby. Guns protect us." Adam says as he picks up a handgun and hands it to me. "Just hold onto it, you never know when shit might hit the fans."

"Shit already did." I say as I tug the gun into my waist band and place my shirt over it. "If Dad catches us we're gonna be in trouble Adam."

"What is he gonna do? Ground us, feed us to the rotters?" He chuckles as he slips an extra hand gun into his waist band and covers his as well before handing me a knife.

"Karma is a thing." I shrug my shoulders as I grip the knife in right hand and stare at the clean metal and the wooden handle of it.

"Karma isn't real." He says as he grabs a knife for him then two extra for Lee and Dad. He walks over to them with me trailing close behind as he offers them the weapons.

"Thank you son." Dad says as he grabs his along with Lee. "Go get a bag ready to take with you to put the supplies in, and bring some water and food along with you just for safe measures."

"But no guns right?" Adam says with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Not something that can keep us safe." I give him a look, why was he trying to push his luck, we already have guns.

"Adam." Dad says his tone strict, "One more word out of you and you are going to keep your ass here. That's enough." Dad says pointing a judging finger in Adam's face.

Adam starts to open his mouth before I jam my elbow into his side making him gasp for air. I give an innocent smile to Dad.

"We would never disobey you."