The Path We Take

The reminiscence

After some deliberation, we decide to head into a more populated area. It turns out Lily's family had a place filled with various supplies just in case. Her uncle was one of those doomsday preppers, so he always hid things away here and there for the end of days. Oh, the irony. A thought suddenly comes into my mind.

"I've heard about the people that live in those parts though. They're desperatly searching for anything that can keep them alive. Some even turn to suicide; they turn mad from their situation. We can't guarantee that the supplies will still be there." I explain that to Lily, and she just smirks in response.

"My uncle may have some weird ideas, but he's certainly not an idiot. He'd know this would happen, and prepare accordingly. I know the way from here, I think. I've came from there before. Hurry, before it gets too dark." She grabs my wrist and pulls him along. The sun is still high, signalling the afternoon. We remain silent as she leads the way to her so-called supply base.

We soon arrive into the nearest town, or what remains of one. Buildings have been destroyed beyond repair, and it's obvious people live in them. I can feel gazes on us as they watch our every movement. It kind of scares me, but I stay calm and follow Lily's lead. Her hand is still tightly grasping my wrist, as if she's doing it to protect me. Or herself, it's not that clear to me. I can see a house that's covered with some sort of metal fence, maybe this is the house. She suddenly lets go of my wrist and walks toward the house. A curtain is uncovered briefly, and then goes back to normal. The sound of locks being undone is audible, and the door opens revealing a man with a shotgun pointed right at Them. His eyes are red and puffy, and his hair is blonde, greying and a little dirty. His hands shake a little, but his expression remains angry, no, infuriated, intimidating.

"Go away, there's nothing here for you scum. I'm not afraid to use this if I have to." Lily takes slow steps towardse the man, and has a smug yet sad expression on her face.

"Geez, Uncle Donnie, that's no way to treat your favourite niece, who's managed to stay alive throughout this whole ordeal." His hands begin to shake. He drops the gun and walks to her.

"My little Petal... You're alive?" She nods happily and he pulls her into a tight hug. "Lily, Lily, it's been so long... They took her away, I was worried you would've had the same fate..." She lets him hold her as Lily looks like she's in deep thought.

"Yes... I remember like it was yesterday... The look in her eyes, they way they took her away from us, the way they said it was for the better..."
She says that very quietly, then shakes her head as if erasing the thought and pulls away and smiles at him.

"I knew you would've made it through this long." Donnie chuckled. "You were always a stubborn little one, never giving in." His eyes turn to me, and he took a step back in surprise.

"Lily, who's this? You never told me about having a boyfriend! I thought you were into girls." She shakes her head.

"I am, and he's not my boyfriend. I accidentally shot him in the leg, so I'm making it up to him by helping him live. It's the least I could do." Donnie smiles and holds out his hand.

"The name's Daniel Tova Rojas, but everyone calls me Donnie." I shake his hand and smile. His grip is firm, but not too strong.

"I'm Caleb Nolan, it's nice to meet you sir." He lets us into his house and locks the door. It's messy, but there seems to be some form of order amongst the chaos. Like everything important has its place, if that makes sense. Lily walks ahead of me and looks around.

"Damn, nothing's changed. Have you done anything with my room?" Donnie shakes his head. "Nope, not at all. I had this feeling you'd come back. I'm glad you did. Who knows, maybe we can even get her back too." He says that in a hopeful voice. Her smile fades somewhat.

"Well, we can't say for sure it'll happen, but as long as she's still alive..." She quickly walks off to what might be her room. She calls me and I walk inside. I'm right. Her bedroom's neat and tidy, with shelves lining one of the walls and was painted a dark purple colour, with white rose decals. She's sitting on her bed, and motions me over.

"I used to live here when I didn't have school. My parents worked a lot, and couldn't take care of me very well, so this was basically my home. I was happy here, we all were." She's got a photo frame in her hands. It's got a picture of her, her uncle and another little girl. They all looked younger. Especially Lily. She had shoulder length honey-blonde hair, Donnie had an all blonde head of hair and a much less tired face, and the other girl had short black hair. She had the same blue eyes as Lily, although her's were darker.

"I was fourteen when that photo was taken. My family had all met up, and made a day of it. It was great, and a year before everything turned for the worse..."

She's mentioning the downfall of society. Wars and crime were commonplace, and strange creatures lurked the shadows. It was scary for everyone involved. I managed to survive by having some decent knowledge on survival, and watching lots of apocalyptic-based movies. My only focus is surviving day to day; almost nothing's left of what we once had. And once again, peaceful silence envelops the two of us.