Survivor

                  

Hey :) the idea of this short story popped into my head during English class when my classmates and i were discussing the prompt,  'Sometimes others know where we belong better than we do ourselves'. Since i'm a big lover of apocalyptic and adventure stories/movies/shows, i couldn't pass the opportunity to write one. I have always wanted to be a writer but i'm not really good at expressing my thoughts. I really tried to write this story the way i envisioned it the best way i could so i hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think of it. 

                  

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Bash's feet ferociously pounded on the gravel as he ran away from the rippling barks chasing close behind him.

When he previously saw the animal a few metres away, he hoped that they might become friends in this brutal situation. But the closer he got towards it, he realized that this was no ordinary mutt. He could clearly see its lower jaw hanging open while a pool of saliva was drooling from its mouth. The dog began to snarl and bark savagely. Bash slowly moved his hands towards the gun that was tucked away safely in the holster around his hips. Before he was able to pull the gun out, the rabid dog started towards him. This caused him to flinch and run as fast as he could away from it. 

Now his heart was beating uncontrollably, avoiding the urge to look back, as he feared the dog might catch up to him. Still running, he scanned around the area to see if there was a place he could run into easily. He was running on the road in a small street that had rows of perfect looking houses, as if people were still living in them. The only thing that gave it away was the uncut grass on their front lawn. He turned to another street that was longer than the one before and continued scanning his surroundings as he ran for his life. When he found the front door of one of the houses open, without hesitation, he quickly ran towards it and slammed the door. Bash lay there for a few minutes trying to catch his breath. The dog stood outside barking and snarling at the door, occasionally slamming his body against it. Ignoring the dog, he got up and removed his gun from the holster to clear the house of any infected. Since the dog will take a while to give up, he decided he may as well just sleep here for the night; no one's stupid enough to approach an infected mutt, he thought. When he made sure the rooms were clear, he pushed the couch against the front door and made a comfortable place to sleep out of blankets and pillows under one of the beds upstairs. Almost an hour passed before darkness took over.

                  

***

Thud!

Bash's eyes flew open. A pair of boots covered in dirt and blood stains stood two metres away from the bed. Its owners walked to the side draw and rummaged through it. It was clear that he didn't find anything useful, so he moved on to the dressing table and skimmed through its draws as well. When there was nowhere left to look, the man that he could clearly see now, moved to the next room. Bash's breathing hitched as he rolled out from under the bed and swiftly moved to the side of the door. When the man finished from the room, he walked into the hallway again. Bash stepped out into the hallway as well and that's when their eyes met. Both their eyes widened in recognition, "Shane?" Bash laughed, relief evident in his voice. Shane's grave expression turned to pure joy. "Oh my god, I can't believe it! Is it really you Bash?" They both hugged each other firmly. "I thought everyone was gone. I looked for Caroline, Adam, everybody for days but I couldn't find them. And then when I finally got around to the church, the place was burnt down to ashes...and I saw bodies.

I didn't want to believe it... I didn't want to leave. But then those things started herding up and I had no choice. I took what I could and I left. I thought you were all gone." 

Bash placed his arm on Shane's shoulder to calm him down, "It's alright! We're both here now. There's nothing you could've done." This caused Shane to smile at him in appreciation, as if he needed someone else to reassure him that there truly was nothing he could have done to save them. With the help of Bash, Shane looked through the remaining rooms before leaving the house. Out on the front porch, Bash realised there was no sign of the dog anywhere. He wondered if the dog had wandered off, as if reading his mind, Shane spoke, "The little bastard came at me, I had no choice but to put it down", Bash felt bad that Shane was the one who had to kill it, but he did himself a favour, animal lover or not. "The thing would've killed you if you hadn't"

They continued walking through the streets until they caught sight of a van with its trunk open wide. Inside it were stacks of unopened baked bean cans, water bottles, ammunition and other useful supplies that they could survive on for weeks. Without a second thought, Bash began to jog towards it when he felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him back. He looked over to Shane who had a serious look on his face as he stared at the van. "There's someone sitting at the steering wheel" Bash looked over at the man whose reflection was showing in the mirror. He realised how stupid that was; if it wasn't for Shane he would have just walked out in the open and got himself killed. "We need to get those supplies" Upon hearing what he just said, Shane furrowed his eyebrows and said, "You mean steal those supplies"

"If we don't do this now, we might starve to death. Who knows if we'll ever get this opportunity again; What if we don't find anything to eat? We'll just sneak up to the van, avoid being seen and grab whatever we can. It's that quick and simple" Shane continued staring at Bash with a surprised expression. "I can't believe the words that are coming out of your mouth; you're really serious about this aren't you. The Bash Walker I know would never even think of doing this." Bash glared at Shane now, his face clearly showed how irritated he felt about this statement. "Well the Bash you knew would have never survived this god forsaken world. If you don't agree with me then just stay here. I'm going and if you want to stop me, you'll just have to shoot me." Bash moved towards the van in a crouched position. Heart pounding, Shane anxiously watched him snatch the supplies and shove them in the bag. When the bag was filled up to the point where nothing else could fit, he made his way towards Shane. Unhappy that he let Bash get away with this, they both left the scene before anyone noticed the supplies were missing and came looking for them.

***

He woke up from a painful feeling in his arm. The first thing he caught sight of when he opened his eyes were a pair of Nike runners standing near his face. The owner of them lifted up one of his feet and kicked his arm again, causing him to flinch. "Get up!" the man yelled aggressively. He did as he was told, squinting his eyes from the sunlight. When his eyes adjusted, he saw who the voice belonged to. It was the man from the van that they stole from. "Where the hell is your friend?" he stared at the man worriedly, still processing what was happening. "Answer me! Where the bloody hell is your friend?" He looked around and counted three men, they must be the men in the man's group. There was no sight of his friend anywhere, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He firmly stated at the man who he now noticed was carrying a handgun. "Look I don't want any trouble, okay?" He said raising his hands in defence. The men began to laugh, "Well it's a little too bloody late for that now. I saw you and your friend with the bag the night before." He gulped upon hearing this; they were being followed this whole time. "Look I'll give your supplies back, we didn't mean to take them, just let me find my friend and we'll go our separate ways once you get it back" This statement clearly did not satisfy the man because the next thing he did made his heart beat rapidly. The man was pointing the gun at him, his finger on the trigger, "Or I'll just kill you right now." At this point, his heart was pounding against his chest. How could his friend leave him behind, how could he betray him? Did he know that these people were coming for them? Before he could say anything else, the man took a step forward and pulled the trigger.

A loud gunshot sounded in the distance. But Shane continued to walk away from the camp sight towards safety. Leaving his friend was the hardest decision of his life but he had to do it in order to survive. He wasn't Shane Parker anymore. From now on, he was a survivor.