Living Amongst The Dead

Chapter 5

I led Calem up the stairs and headed for my supplies room. When I first found this building I went out to search for food and supplies everyday. Then one morning I found a factory some where west from my building and it was stocked with all this canned and preserved food. I brought it all back here, even though it took a few days.

The water system wasn't really affected when the apocalypse happened so I didn't need to worry about that.

My supplies room was perfect for storing food and water. All the lights were smashed so there's no artificial light and there were curtains on the windows so only a little sunlight got through. Just enough to see.

I figured the kid was hungry so I pulled out some canned spaghetti from a box. "You hungry?" I asked Calem as he sat down on the floor. He nodded so I cracked the can open and grabbed him a fork from a nearby desk drawer.

I sat and watched him eat. He shoveled it all down in about two minutes. The poor kid must have been starving. Who knows how long it was since he'd eaten something half decent. I jumped up and grabbed him a bottle of water which he took tiny sips from.

"Thank you." He said once his body was replenished. "No problem." I replied as I took the empty can away. "You looked like you needed some help."

"How did you find me anyway?" He asked as he stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. "Come." I said, "I'll show you something."

Then I took Calem up the fire escape stairs and showed him the roof. "This is how I saw you." I said as I pointed to his house, "You jumped out that window and ran into that alley so I came to help you."

"Why?" Calem questioned. "Because," I replied, "Its not safe for a kid to be running around during the day let alone the night." He shrugged and covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a yawn.

"I'm tired, do you think I could go to sleep?" Calem's eyes were droopy and he was struggling to keep them open so I pulled out my sleeping bag and laid it out for him. He mumbled a thanks then climbed inside and was asleep in a minute.

I laid down next to him and stared up at the sky till my eyelids were heavy and eventually let myself fall to sleep.

I woke up and saw Calem sitting on the edge of the roof. The sky was getting lighter so we had about seven hours of rest. I looked at my watch. It read 5:58. The sun was about to rise so I pointed at the sky. "Isn't it pretty?" I asked him as I gazed the sky. He nodded without looking up.

"Susan?" He said. "Yeah?" I replied. I looked down to see tears welling in his hazel eyes as he looked up at me. "Do you think my mum and dad are dead?"

I didn't say anything but I'm sure he knew the answer when he saw the tear trail down my cheek.