Apocalypse Rising: The First Month

Chapter 6: Never Looking Back

After a day of trekking through the woods, we make it to the top of the hill. No sign of my parents anywhere, nowhere at all, and my heart sinks.

I miss my parents dearly, and it’s only been a couple of days.

I have Ted, but that’s no mum and dad.

“We need to set up camp,” I say to Ted, tears threatening to let loose.

Ted nods his head, putting down his pack.

I look around the trees and scavenge for some rocks. I find a few dozen and take them back to camp and put them in a circle. Then I hunt for some dry twigs for kindling and dry grass as the fire starter. Taking the packet of matches out of my pack, my heart sinks even more when I realize that there are only two matches left. I’ll have to make them count.

My hand shakes as I take one out. I strike it across the beeswax side, igniting the tip. I bring the match to the dry grass and it catches fire immediately, quickly spreading around the twigs. I nod in appreciation.

To fuel the fire I search for some more logs of dead wood and stack them on the burning flames.

I smile slightly at my success. Then I think to myself that we need to make a hut to sleep in. A familiar voice is talking in my head, giving me instructions—repeating what I might have missed.

“Go in a tree, and mark that tree with the rope…”

That one sentence racks my brain, repeating over and over again.

I run over to Ted. He’s already making a hut out of three sapling branches.

“Ted! Wedontneedahutdadtoldustostayinatree!” I say.

A puzzled look shows on his face. “Huh?” he says. Way too hard for him to process.

I explain to him what I have been thinking over, and soon enough, we’re climbing up a tree with our provisions.

We settle down on a wide branch. Both of us can just barely fit on it; we have to huddle quite close to fit. Not that I’m complaining, but… what if there’s an earthquake? Boom, there we are on the ground, dead. It’s not the safest place around…

As the night grows darker, Ted and I munch lightly on some small snacks. We haven’t eaten all day, and we don’t have many supplies. If my parents don’t show up, we need to leave. I know this. Ted knows this.

My eyelids are getting droopy and I snuggle closer to Ted. His body radiates warmth in the cool breeze. I look at the night sky, and up there are dazzling stars, shining bright. Thousands of tiny, silver balls are looking down at the forest. Trees tower over me, and I feel small. I feel so small in a tiny world. A world where six tenths of the population have been over taken by the virus, a virus where you turn into a disgusting, bloody, zombie.

This is our life now, and I have no idea if we will get out alive.

I drift off to sleep with these kinds of thoughts in my mind, thoughts of cities being over-run by revolting zombies. Thoughts of smoke rising from buildings and towers, thoughts of everything that I dread…

~~~

My eyes flutter open. The morning sky light fills my eyes. I almost thought it was a normal morning.

I shake Ted lightly to wake him up.

“Ted, wake up. We've got to keep moving…” I say, my voice trailing off.

Ted pats my back with a warm smile on his face. I put a half-heartedly smile on my lips, and I try my best to remain happy. I let out a long shaky breath and start climbing down from the tree.

When I’m a meter from the ground I jump. Ted throws my pack down, and I catch it. After that, Ted starts climbing down with his pack on his back.

I throw more wood on the half-dead fire to wake it up, and then gently blow on the embers until the flames are brought back to life.

I sit on the fallen leaves and rub my hands together near the warm flames. The ground is moist from dew. Breathing deeply, my lungs fill with the morning air.

Ted sits down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I snuggle into his torso, his body radiating more warmth. I close my eyes for a moment, and think over the pros and cons of this situation.

If none of this happened, I wouldn’t have met Ted. If none of this happened, I would be with my parents right now, having a home-made cooked breakfast. If none of this had happened, I wouldn’t have proven to myself that I can survive the toughest of times. If none of this happened, I would be hanging out with my best friends from school. Friends that I fear I won’t see again.

Tears slowly form behind my eyelids, threatening to fall.

“You hungry?” I say to Ted. My voice cracks from the length of silence.

“Uh huh, starving. We need to raid some houses today. You know, find some meds and food?” he says to me.

I nod, not saying anything.  We were going to have to do this sooner or later. I knew it.

Unzipping my bag, I pull out two cans of baked beans that we had taken from my house at the start of all of this. I put the cans on the rocks of the fire. It will be hot there, and the baked beans will warm up. 

After a few minutes, I get the tongs from out of my bag and pick out the baked bean cans. I get a knife out of my bag, too, and stab a hole in the cans. Steam rushes out of the hole and fills the air around the can.

When the can cools down to a comfortable temperature, I run my knife around the rim of the can to slice it open. I hand one to Ted with a spoon and he digs into his food. I grab a spoon myself and stuff baked beans in my mouth, chewing exactly 25 times before swallowing. It was an old trick I learnt when I was a little kid. Chew every mouthful 25 times and it lets your brain know that you are eating. It processes the food better, letting you eat less.

After five minutes or so, the whole can is empty. We hide our cans under some leaves, and we head off in the direction of the city, just waiting to find out what will be in store in those houses.

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SHOUTOUT!!!

To @Arayla , for being my editor!!! :) Thankssss