The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Thirteen - Lilith [EDITED]

I woke up slowly and drowsily, drifting in and out of consciousness, just like I once used to on the weekends. You know, before.

Benji was curled on the couch at my feet, fast asleep. He looked younger and peaceful.

He looked happy.

I quietly tiptoed off into the depths of the Costco to find us both something to eat. I was starving, but wasn't sure what time it was. The emergency Costco lights put the store in eternal dusk.

Benji awoke to me sitting cross-legged on the couch next to him, watching a Disney classic and munching on a bagel coated with jam. I was feeling one of my intense bad moods and was attempting to distract myself with a comforting, cutesy kid movie.

"Morning, sunshine," I muttered, keeping my eyes fixed on the screen and trying not to show my sadness. It'll go away. It always does.

"It's actually evening - " Benji began.

"No, don't do it!" I yelled at the television suddenly, and Benji flinched, whirling to see Nemo swimming toward The Butt. I smiled, my discomfort draining out of me.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked after watching the movie for a few seconds.

"Dunno. I was also asleep for a lot of it."

"Jared and KC have been gone for a while, huh?"

I frowned. I hadn't thought about that. "Do you think we should go looking for them?" What if they're hurt? Or in trouble? My dark mood began to return, accompanied by worry and fear.

Benji stretched as he stood. His hair was a mess. I grinned, digging around in my suitcase for a hairbrush and finding a hair tie in the process. I advanced toward him

"Hold still."

"I trust you a lot more than I trust that crazy girl," he muttered, letting me fix his hair. After smoothing it down, I pulled it back into a ponytail and admired my handiwork.

"Thanks," he said, reaching behind his head to feel.

Suddenly, I heard a car squealing down the street outside. Benji and I rushed to the doors and moved aside the barricade ever so slightly so we could see outside

"Hide!" screamed KC out of the driver's window as she and Jared squealed on by, a huge mob of bloodthirsty zombies on their trail, running faster than I had ever seen the creatures move.

I froze with fear. Benji didn't even hesitate. He grabbed my arm and wrenched me away from the door, kicking the barricade shut. As we ran, he grabbed a gun.

He pulled me below the bottom rack of a shelf. We lay on our backs, staying as silent as possible, as the few zombies that weren't pursuing KC and Jared banged at the Costco doors. Benji hugged me close, pointing the gun across his chest toward the door. I tried desperately to control my breathing and heart rate, but I could feel a panic attack coming on.

Finally, the banging stopped. Benji slowly crawled out from under the shelf after a few seconds of tense silence and, training the gun at the doorways, approached them hesitantly.

"They're gone," he called after a moment.

I began trembling uncontrollably. A tear slipped down my cheek and I squeezed my eyes shut, determined not to cry.

I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry.

"Hey, are you crying?"

Dammit.

"No. I'm fine," I snapped. "Fine, fine, fine. Absolutely peachy."

Shut up.

"Never been better. Our friends just got chased away by a horde of zombies who then turned on us before continuing on their bloodthirsty way!"

Shut up!

"My friends and family are dead and I'm only fourteen, and my dog won't leave the back of our Costco and I miss my old life! I'm just fine!" I was shouting at this point, near screaming at Benji. He just blinked, letting me rant.

Finally, I sat on the couch with a bump, burying my face in my hands. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I just - "

"You don't need to apologize. I know how painful it is to lose your family."

I waited. If he wanted to talk, he would talk. If he didn't, he wouldn't.

Daisy trotted up and wriggled under his hand, nosing him comfortingly. It seemed to be the deciding point for him. He sighed and started to speak.

"My...my parents. We were living...in a homeless shelter. With my little sister. When the zombies came, people kinda went crazy. Some of them already were crazy, so it didn't take a lot. I have...had...have two - two moms. Nobody liked us because of it. We were called all sorts of horrible, horrible names."

Benji's voice was shaking. "One day, they...grabbed my moms and dragged them outside. I was just holding onto my little sister so they didn't take her too, trying to get them to stop...They thought if they fed the zombies, they'd be held over long enough for them to escape.

"They sacrificed my parents to the zombies."

As Benji buried his face in his hands and tried to calm down, I quietly asked, hesitant of overstepping my bounds, "What happened to your sister?"

Benji took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't know. I went out to get food one day, when we were living alone, came back, and she was just...gone."

I sat down next to him and hugged him. "It's okay," I whispered, lips close to his ear. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

He rested his head on my shoulder. "How the hell do you know?" His voice was barely a whisper, and wasn't mean - rather, hopeless.

"Because I'm very wise," I said mysteriously.

To my relief, he laughed and sighed.

"And amazing," I added.

He nodded slightly as if that was obvious and my heart skipped a beat.

"And just always right. There's that, too."

Benji sighed, relaxing next to me. And just then, I almost believed myself, too.

Almost.