Nothing Left

Chapter 2

Someone had turned on the TV and since the "end was near" every single channel had just changed to a news station. Not even one channel on the whole TV was showing an episode of 'Friends' which was when you knew something was wrong. Even all the children's channels had just turned to a black screen. Nobody could escape just for one second from this nightmare even kids who were still too innocent for the world. The news did say that the nearest safe house to California was a university in Utah which was quite a distance away so would be quite the travel.
"We need to get there. We get up at sunrise, have food then go." Ripley commanded. "Get up at sunrise" wasn't a common phrase for her to say being a 20 year old art student, "get to bed at sunrise" was more fitting.
"How will we know which way we're going?" Asked Harry.
"Map reading is another part of useless knowledge in my head I probably wouldn't have used" she replied. It got boring in university sometimes with nobody to speak to so you might as well make the most of the spare time you might have by learning a most useless skill or sleeping.
"We would be better packing our bags now then" said Liam. As he stood up from the sofa patting his hand on Nialls shoulder who was sitting next to him, beckoning him to follow.
"How about we all look for different things or pack different things?" Suggested Louis. "Like Z and Harry pack food and drink, another two pack weapons, someone packs first aid, something like that? Wouldn't it be easier to find something if we were in a hurry instead of rummaging around the bottom of someone's rucksack for a plaster. (Bandaid) for someone's boo boo." He said the last part sarcastically obviously but Louis found his role in the group was to keep the spirits up. He loved his friends, his brothers even. He was always the first to crack a sarcastic comment in a bad situation just to make a little good out of it. It was the least he could do to make at least one person feel a little better. Louis' character and personality were very strong and he could damn well put up a good fight for what he believed in. He wasn't one for taking bullshit and would stick up for the people he cared about with whatever consequences came with it. He was sometimes naive and made stupid decisions and got the boys into trouble but he knew what the limit was and whenever someone was going to get hurt or in serious trouble to stop whatever antics he had gotten them to join. He'd often taken the blame for some of the boys mistakes just because he didn't want to see them get into trouble and he was so used to it anyway (getting shouted at) that he thought one more strained voice bellowing at him wouldn't do any harm.
You would think being the oldest that Louis would be in charge of the boys, but having the mentality of a 14 year old boy he passed that role onto Liam.
Liam had always been called the "daddy" of the group mostly because he was the one who took it the most serious. Louis had managed to corrupt him a little but not enough to downgrade his role of most sensible, which probably would be taken by Harry, even being the youngest of the group, he was smart. Liam had a heart of gold and was very strong, having gone through tough times in his life he'd made up for it with the strength and love he'd gained from his five best mates.
The other lads picked on him a lot, especially Louis. In a brotherly way of course, if it was any other way Liam would've probably punched them in the face and trust me a punch from Liam was gonna hurt a hell of a lot. They always knew when to stop picking on him though they could tell when he'd had enough. Liam had a short temper and Louis was always the one quick to push the limits, one time it nearly did end in a fist fight. But most the time they just have a hissy fit and are back play fighting with each other again in the next hour or so. That was just how Liam liked it though. He liked that he could have four guys to play fight and call names and make fun of but at the end of the day he'd always know if he needed them they'd be there.

Liam and Niall had decided to go upstairs in the house to try find anything that may come in useful on their long journey.
"So what do you think about the girl then?" Liam asked as him like a 12 year old school boy and Niall walked into a master bedroom which looked like it had already been ransacked before they'd arrived (that or someone must've had a good night pre-apocalypse).
"What? Ripley? I mean we just met her like an hour ago what am I supposed to think about her?"
"I dunno well she is quite hot though ain't she?" Liam nudged Niall and snorted a little exhaling from his nose. Niall scrunched his eyebrows and just continued to look through the wardrobe which nearly just took up the whole of the wall opposing the king sized bed.
"You do think that don't you?"
Liam teased Niall again as he nudged him a little harder this time.
"Alright yeah ok but hey you have a girlfriend." Niall replied, slightly aggravated. Even being one of the loudest of the group and chattiest he was often private when it came to those kind of things and never really told anyone whenever he liked someone. Even calling someone pretty would force a red flush on his cheeks. Although Niall didn't speak openly about his feelings it wasn't hard to tell when he liked someone and the boys knew all the signs.
"Well I wouldn't really call her a girlfriend anymore" mumbled Liam.
"Oh, right sorry bro what happened? Did something happen?" Niall asked awkwardly. He was afraid that he might've hurt Liam's feelings a little by making just a slight remark and it was his worst fear to hurt people he loved.
"No no it's ok I mean it wasn't my fault... Well at least I don't think it was." Liam questioned himself. He's been through a couple bad breakups and had often blamed himself for the end of the relationship. Almost all the time it wasn't him but just because he had a voice in the back of his head asking if he maybe did do something wrong he put the blame on himself.
"I mean, well... She um texted me the day after the last show saying that she didn't think it was working and she didn't like the distance. I don't know if I believe her though because I did see pictures the other day of her with another guy and there was another picture of a couple kissing and the girl was wearing the purse and heels that I'd bought her just a couple weeks back... I mean I don't know if it was her but I'm pretty sure the purse was limited edition if I remember right so not a lot of people had it." Liam ducked his head. Niall felt sorry for Liam, like most friends would but he felt even worse that his girlfriend may have cheated on him because nothing could hurt Liam more than being replaced. Especially when the person who replaced him he trusted so much. Niall didn't know what else to do so grabbed Liam and took him in for a hug. It was the best he could do for the moment and no wonder Liam hadn't mentioned it to them earlier, he probably didn't want people to pity him when there were people having to kill their undead loved ones to pity.
"It's ok I guess. One less person to worry about while we're in this mess." Liam said as he let go of Niall and picked up a lighter he found in one of the bedside cabinets and shoved it in his pocket. Niall then proceeded to look through the wardrobe which seemed to be never ending.
"If you don't hear from me soon Liam I'll be in fucking narnia, this wardrobe is huge!" Niall joked. He heard Liam stifle a small laugh which made him smile. Knowing he could make his friends happy at the worst of times was the best feeling for him.
"Look hey I found an iphone charger that could come in useful." Said Liam.
"Well if rocks and trees just have plug sockets glued to them then yeah" Niall agreed sarcastically. "Only kidding, I'm sure Harry still has his phone. I left mine at the hotel and there's no way I'm going back there even if my phones there." Niall added quickly in the fear he hurt Liam's feelings again.
"I've still got my phone" he said as he took the phone out if his pocket and started charging it at the nearest outlet with the prize he had just found.
"Woah" Niall let out as he backed away from the only un-rummaged part of the wardrobe.
"Wha....ohhhh" exclaimed Liam as he turned around to face where his friend had been looking. In the wardrobe Niall had found a rather impressive looking chest. It was locked but sure with the help of the "useless skill" that Ripley had used earlier that could be changed.
Liam went downstairs to go find her while Niall stayed knocking a beat onto the wooden chest. Liam and Ripley came back less than a minute later joined with the rest of the boys who must've been curious about the wooden box. Louis was standing in the doorway rubbing his wet hair with a towel just out of the shower. They thought that they might as well eat and clean up before they left in the morning, they didn't know if they'd get to do it again for a long time. Ripley walked in and sat herself down next to the chest. She took the broken bobby pin back out of her pocket and mirrored the actions she had done earlier for the door and soon enough the chest sprung open. There were a few gasps and Louis face grew a mischievous smile. Inside the box were around 7 guns, all different kinds, a couple handguns and at the top of the pile there was a shotgun. Boxes of ammo accompanied the guns in the treasure chest they had found.
"We hit the jackpot" smiled Louis.
Danger excited him. He was in the minority of people who played zombie murdering video games and religiously watched The Walking Dead.
"God bless American" mumbled Harry.
"Has anyone ever shot a real gun before?" Niall asked. Since as everyone in the presence had came from the UK/Ireland guns were not a necessity and the closest you could come to a real one was going to Toys R Us to get a Nerf Gun, a Nerf gun was probably the most experience any of them had had.
Everyone shook their heads and decided that they'd just have to rely on the many crime TV shows they'd watched to instruct them how to work a gun. Ripley gave everyone a handgun and took the shotgun out herself. She carefully handed it to Liam and gave him all the appropriate bullets that were in the chest. "I'm trusting you to look after that. We'll only use it if absolutely necessary." She said very seriously. Liam was quite shocked to be honest but flattered at the same time that she trusted him to hold a very powerful killing machine in his arms. He pulled the holster over his shoulder and adjusted it to his liking. He felt powerful like this, more powerful than he'd ever felt before. He forgot about his so called girlfriend who had cheated on him, he didn't need anyone to rely on and for a moment he believed in himself. He believed that he'd make it out this whatever it took.
Everyone had packed their bags now and it looked like they were prepared for their mission. It was going to be a hell of a time they knew that but they had to promise themselves to not let go for anything.
"Better get some rest, we've got an early start tomorrow" said Ripley. She was right.

They still got up just after sunrise though. Turns out early mornings weren't a pet peeve for just Ripley.