It's been thirty-six hours since we left home. It was only supposed to take us seventeen hours to get to my brothers but highways are flooded with cars, back roads are flooded with cars so we had no choice but to take the backroads of backroads. Last I checked, we are in Georgia, probably about an hour or two outside of Atlanta. Zach hasn't really been talking much but I know that it is him processing everything from losing our parents to all of the destruction that we have seen on the drive. The quiet mornings that I once loved so much, causes me so much anxiety now.
"I've been thinking." Zach looks over at me. "What if we just find somewhere to hangout for a couple of days and let the chaos of people rushing out of the city die down?"
"That's a good idea." I smile at him. "Next neighborhood we pass, I will pull over, okay?" He nods and leans against the door. We drive in silence for about another hour until finally I stumble upon a campground. I slowly pull into the campground and I see that it's pretty empty. It isn't a campground that has cabins, it looks like you either can sleep in a tent or an RV if you own one.
"Do you think it's safe?" Zach looks around.
"Let's do a lap in the truck and then maybe we can set up in one of the RVs?" I slowly start driving around the campground. It looks like this place hasn't had people staying in it for a while. It looks to only have about twenty campsites.
"There." Zach points to a spot with no tents or RVs around it and I nod. I pull the truck into the spot and put it into park. I take a deep breath and shake my hands out a bit, they kind of hurt from having to hold the steering wheel for so long.
"Let's go check out the small store we passed on the way in." I grab my bow from the bed of the truck and put my arrow pack across my back. Zach follows me with his metal baseball bat.
"Hey Sami?" He walks next to me.
"Yeah?" I look down at him.
"Do you think we will make it to Jace, alive?" He looks up at me, poor kid. I can tell he doesn't have any hope left in his eyes.
"I do." I smile. "I promised mom I would get you there and once we are there, Jace will take care of us." I open the door to the shop after loading my bow and slowly walk inside.
"Stay close to me." I whisper to Zach as we make our way into the store. I turn down an aisle and eventually lower my bow when I feel the store is clear. I hear a gun click and stop in my tracks.
"Slowly turn around." I hear a man's voice. I slowly turn around to see a built man in a black t shirt, dark blue jeans, black boots, with brown hair brushed to the side and dark blue eyes with an old revolver pointed at me.
"We aren't here to cause trouble." I push Zach behind me. "Just looking for some food and rest." I look at him.
"What are your names?" He looks at us as he lowers his gun. "How old are you guys?"
"I'm Sami and this is my little brother Zach, I am nineteen almost twenty and he is fifteen."
"You guys are just kids." He sighs as he puts his gun into his halter. "I'm sorry, there were some crazy people here a few days ago." I nod letting him know that I understand why he did that.
"Are you guys on your own?" He looks at us and I nod.
"Yeah. We are heading down to Florida." I lay my bow across my back. "You?"
"Yeah." He nods. "Do you mind if I join you guys?" He grabs a granola bar off of the shelf and starts eating it.
"Yeah." Zach smiles, I think that he is happy to finally have some human interaction other than me.
"What is your name? How old are you?" I look at him.
"Oh sorry." He chuckles. "My name is Dean and I am nineteen years old. I went to college around here; I don't have any family so I'm just trying to survive."
"And you called us kids?" We all laugh as I start loading food into our bag. "Do you have a car?"
"Yeah, it's right out front." He smiles and carries the bag outside for me. We walk outside and I see an older all black mustang.
"This is bounty." He smirks proudly.
"Bounty?" Zach questions.
"Yeah it doesn't mean anything, it just sounded really cool." He chuckles.
"Well we are parked over there." I point over to our truck and start walking. "Feel free to bring your car over." Zach gets into his car and rides over with dean. I put the bag into the back of the truck and grab a tent from the bag.
I start setting up and Zach and dean gather some wood to start a fire for the night. After a couple of hours we are finally getting settled.
"So where are you guys from?" Dean questions.
"Maryland." Zach pulls his knees up to his chest as we sit next to the fire.
"You?" I look over at him.
"New York." He smiles. "The south is so much different."
"I can imagine." I chuckle a bit. "I'm gonna get some sleep, okay?" I look at them and they both nod. "Wake me up if you need anything."
I crawl into the tent and take a deep breath as I lay bag into my sleeping bag. I feel like I've been on edge for the last few days, I need to sleep but whenever I close my eyes all I see is my mom's face as I shot her. I just wish this was over, why does this have to be my life?
So many thoughts run through my brain as I fall into a deep sleep.
I feel a hand slap over my mouth and I quickly grab the shoulder of the person and I see dean on top of me.
"Sh!" He whispers. "There's a group of walkers coming through camp. We need to go." He helps me sit up, did he just call them walkers?
"where's Zach?" I whisper as I grab my bow and arrow.
"He's in the truck, follow me?" He looks at me and I nod. We quietly run to our respective cars and I start the truck as I get in.
"Are you okay?" I look over at Zach and he nods. As we follow dean out of the campground I see a crowd of about twenty or thirty walkers heading straight to where we just were. How have so many people gotten sick already?
I appreciate that Dean loaded Zach up instead of having Zach kill them, he hasn't killed anyone yet and I want to put it off for Zach as long as possible.
"How long was I asleep?" I rub my eyes when I realize the sun is coming up.
"I think six or seven hours?" He laughs. "You were even snoring!"
"No I wasn't!" I laugh and smack his shoulder.
"Yes you were!" He laughs. "But I know that you needed it, so I'm glad that you got it." He smiles.
"Yeah me too. I feel like I could sleep for at least another twelve." I smile. "I can't believe I was snoring." I laugh again.
We drive for about an hour when dean pulls into a convince gas station. I pull up into the pump behind him and get out of the truck.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Zach looks at me as I load the pump into the truck.
"So go outside." Dean chuckles as he fills his car up with gas.
"I have to go poop." Zach explains causing all three of us to chuckle.
"Watch the cars and I'll go inside with him?" I look at Dean as I grab my bow and arrow. He smiles and nods and I head inside with Zach, this place is huge.
After warning Zach to be quiet we make our way towards the back when Zach stops and grabs a bag of chips.
"Oh sweet baby Doritos, I thought I'd never see you again." Zach opens the chips and I chuckle.
"Typical teenager." I laugh to myself. I hear footsteps running towards us and I throw Zach to the ground as I load my bow. I turn to shoot but before I can release my arrow I feel a sharp pain in my side. I look down and see an arrow sticking out of me and I start getting really light headed.
"Zach, do whatever they say!" I yell as I collapse to the ground, passing out from the pain.
YOU ARE READING
Small World
Teen FictionWhen the world ends overnight, Sami is determined to keep her promise to her mom, to get her little brother to safety. She is determined to do this, even if it means her life. She has walls up to protect her little brother but in reality, it's to pr...
