The Human Adjustment

Chapter Fourteen

Jake reeled back and flattened himself against the outside of the door. I pulled my gun out in front of me and tried to catch my breath. Finn ran to stand next Jake and Ellie had hidden herself behind me. My breathing became heavy as I stared at the pair of scared boys. I could feel my hands shaking as I held my gun out. Finn was shaking his head at me, willing me to not enter the store, but we couldn’t just stand there when there were people inside, they needed to know we were not those ravenous monsters. I stepped forward slowly towards the open door, the silence was haunting, it was like they were waiting for one of us to make a move so they could shoot us down. It was times like this that we needed someone like Max, I missed him already.

‘Mia, get the hell away!’ Jake whispered in an angry tone, his eyes were searching mine for recognition but I just slowly opened my mouth.

‘I… It’s ok…we’re not sick’ I stuttered, my voice was loud enough for whoever was in there to hear, but it was broken, scattered, scared.

The air was heavy as I waited for a response; my breathing was getting more erratic. I had no idea what they were going to do. We had no idea who was on the other side of that wall; they could be looters, people who we didn’t want any trouble with. After what felt like five minutes there came a response.

‘Come in’ a strangers voice bellowed from inside. It was a mans voice and he sounded American. I looked to the boys to read their faces. Finns eyebrows were furrowed, he looked unsure. Jake nodded his head and shrugged. I guess it was my call then. I motioned to the others to hold their weapons up and then proceeded to walk slowly towards the door. When I reached it gently pushed it open until I could make out a man and woman standing right there in front of me, guns ready. I quickly held my hands up to show I wasn’t going to hurt them and I could hear the others walking up behind me. The man was quite tall standing at around six foot 5, he had dark brown hair that was cut short; he looked like the professional sort. His –I assumed- wife stood at around five foot nine, she had long blonde hair that trailed down her back and over her shoulder; she had a pre-school teacher look about her. The couple stared us down both with anxious expressions. It was like they were suspicious of whether we actually sick or not. I couldn’t blame them. The others walked around me so that we were in a row facing the unknown couple. The Mexican standoff was getting uncomfortable as we all just stared at each other. I didn’t enjoy the fact that we’d probably have to act like this with everyone we met. Who knew what other people hid.

‘We don’t want any trouble’ Finn said, he voice was shaky, he was obviously scared. The couple looked us up and down one final time before lowering their guns and smiling. At this moment a small girl came out from behind a stack of beer. She looked around six and had similar hair to the woman who I’m guessing was her mother. Her innocent eyes looked big as she assessed the situation. I felt myself smile when I saw her; she was such a refreshing sight. I hadn’t seen so much innocence in a while. She wedged herself in between her mother and father and began to suck her thumb. We all lowered our weapons too and I blew a sigh of relief and I’m sure the others did too.

‘Where’s your brother sweetie?’ the mother asked her daughter. The little girl pointed towards the beer stack.

‘Sorry about that, we’ve been on edge’ the dad said, he smiled a genuine smile, these people seemed trustworthy. ‘I’m Oscar and this is my family, Kate’ he pointed to his wife ‘This little one is Isabelle and our other one is shy but he’s called Billy’

We all nodded in acknowledgment. ‘Um, I’m Mia, this is Jake, Finn and Ellie’ I said pointing down the line of us. Oscar smiled.

‘You kids going it alone?’ he asked.

‘Uh, yeah’ Jake joined in.

‘I admire you’ Kate chuffed as she ruffled Isabelle’s blonde waves.