For You // R.G.

Chapter 1

"I gotta babysit tonight." I say to my close friend Sena. We were walking to our cars, ready to leave our college campus. It was in the middle of October, the crisp Michigan air hit us like a ton of bricks.

"Could I go? I have nothing else to do." She asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not splitting the money with you but yeah, I guess-"

She punched me lightly, I laughed.

"So, what are the kids like?" She asked after a moment of brief silence. I looked at her,

"Uh, ya know, an eight year old girl and a ten year old boy."

"What are their names?"

"Jamie and Oliver."

She paused,

"Well, are they good because I can't stand little shits..."

...

We arrived at Jamie and Oliver's house. I waved my dad goodbye as he drove off. I knocked on the door, Sena right behind me. The door opened, revealing Jamie and Oliver's parents.

"Hello, max!" Jenny, the mother exclaimed. She hugged me, I hugged back. Her husband, Jared, was standing next to her, smiling. He shook Sena's hand before shaking mine. I observed their clothing, they must be going somewhere nice.

"Okay, so the numbers are on the fridge and there's money to order pizza." She said. I nodded, she smiled and looked at Jared. Jared gave an excited smile.

"Sorry, it's just our first night out in weeks."

I shook my head smiling,

"No, it's fine, I understand." I say smiling. They told us a few other things then left. I closed the door. Right then, Jamie and Oliver came running down the stairs.

"Max!" Jamie exclaimed. I loved Jamie, she was the sweetest little girl. Her light blonde hair bounced as she ran to me. She was dressed in a pink outfit and sparkly shoes that lit up. She hugged me and gave me a picture.

"I made this for you!"

It was a picture of a tiger, I smiled, thanking her, then put it on the counter.

"This is Sena, my friend." I say to Jamie. Oliver then walked up to us. His mind on his Gameboy.

"Hey, Oliver." I say. He looked up at me, then at Sena.

"Can you order pizza?" He asked impatiently.

..

We decided to walk to the closest Pizza Hut in town. I wanted to get Oliver out of the house and Jamie wanted to go to the park, but it was too late. When we got out of Pizza Hut it was around eight.

"Hey, we should get a movie for tonight." Sena suggested as we exited the Pizza Hut. Jamie loved the idea and so did Oliver.

"Uh, where do you think we should get it? I mean, what movie?" I asked

"Target has a lot of movies, it's right there." Sena pointed to the Target down the road. We started to walk there.

..

"I want to get The Purge." I say while we were in the movie section. Jamie and Oliver arrived with movies in their hands.

"I'm getting this SpongeBob SquarePants movie." Oliver said. Jamie had a My Little Pony movie. All of a sudden, there was a huge screeching sound towards the front of the store. Then there were screams of panic. People started to rush in with carts, filling them with food and other supplies. I froze in confusion and fear.

"What the hell.." I mumbled. Then I saw a man with a shotgun. He was walking towards us. He started to load it, I screamed and grabbed Jamie while Sena grabbed Oliver. We ran to the men's department and hid behind clothes. Sena's breathing was unstable, I tried to calm her down as best as I could.

"You know-you suck in these situations." She said between breaths. I looked at her with an annoyed look.

"What's happening?" Jamie's voice shook with fear. She had tears in her eyes. Oliver was silent. I was focusing on the guy with the shotgun. I jumped when he started shooting. More screams came from the side of the store.

"What are we going to do?" Sena asked me. I then get a call from someone, I quickly answer it to prevent us from being exposed.

"Hello?" I whispered

"Max?! Max-are you there?!" It was Jamie and Oliver's mom.

"Yeah-what's happening-"

"Go home-please," she started to ball, "please just go home and lock all the doors-call the police and just stay inside-"

She then hang up abruptly. My breathing shallowed and my heart was racing. I was determined to get us home safe.

"This is the plan," I say looking at them. My voice and my hands shook but I tried my hardest to be strong for Jamie and Oliver. "We are going to run- just run. We are going to go to Sena's house-"

"Why?" Oliver asked

"Her house is closer than all of ours." I grasped Jamie's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
"We have to fast... And we have to be strong. You have to keep up." I say to Oliver and Jamie. They nodded quickly, the were terrified out of their minds.

I looked at Sena. Then some more gunshots were fired.

"I stay with Jamie, you stay with Oliver." I whispered in her ear. She nodded. I grabbed Jamie's hand, Sena grabbed Oliver. I moved the hanging clothes from the rack to see our surroundings. There wasn't anyone, I nodded to signal it was clear. We started to sprint to the doors on the other side of the store. I then heard weird mumbling and growling. I stopped running, Sena did too. I looked to my left. I see a man standing with a hunched back in the middle of the walk way. His back was turned to us. Something in my gut told me he wasn't right. He slowly turned around, revealing his face. I felt my stomach turn when I saw his discolored eyes. That wasn't even the worst thing, his teeth were showing and what I assumed was blood was all over his mouth and teeth. He caught sight of us staring at him, he then tilted his head to the side while looking me dead in the eye. I took Jamie and placed her behind me.

"R-run." I barely managed to say to them. We all broke into the fastest sprint. I then saw more diseased people or whatever they were. I took Jamie and threw her on to my back. Sena kept running with Oliver.

We were out of the store. It was dark out but still visible. We were almost to Sena's house when I heard her yell. I turned around to see her falling on the ground. Oliver stopped and then fell too. I thought they fell but then I saw something shoot Jamie down. I gasped and screamed, I then felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and fell, before seeing blurs.

...
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