The Worst Book You've Ever Read

Why Are You Still Reading?

"I'm ready whenever you are," Said Hannah in an annoyed manner, causing Sonnet to snap back to reality. She had been so deep in remembrance of the day before that she forgot where her and Hannah were at. "staying in this dump won't do us any good."
"We just needed a place to stay for the time being," Sonnet replyed while turning to face her blonde haired friend who was laying down in one of the beds. "Better here than out there, right?"
"It's almost as if we were out there." Hannah said, looking around the room and pointing at the walls. "This place is somehow worse than the destruction outside."
Sonnet hated to admit it, but it was true. The tiny hotel room she rented for the two of them was a complete mess. There were stains on the carpet, wallpaper hanging off the walls, and not to forget the horrible odor that filled the place.
"At least we're somewhat safe in here." Sonnet said through heavy coughs. The smell of the room was becoming too strong to withstand for her, but she slowly regained her normal breathing patterns as she covered her nose up with her shirt.
"Oh please, don't get me started. We're more likely to die from this hotel's horrible stink than we are from walking around in the streets."
Sonnet wanted to laugh at her friend's way of thinking, but it died in her chest and all that happened was a grin that didn't last long.
Hannah sat up and pulled out what seemed to be a blue backpack from under the bed. She lifted the bag up and threw it over her arms and onto her shoulders. She walked over to the door and reached for the doorknob, but stopped. "Let's just go find the others and get out of here," Hannah said, turning towards Sonnet before twisting the doorknob. "I can't stand another second in this place! You comin' Sonnet?"
Sonnet nodded her head. She grabbed her backpack and threw it on her arms and emerged into the narrow hallway, trailing behind Hannah.
After two long flights of steps, they finally reached the exit. Sonnet looked at Hannah and Hannah nodded, almost as if to say that they were ready for whatever was out there.
As soon as Hannah opened the door, Sonnet got yet another glimpse of the broken down city.
Sonnet looked around and saw everything in the middle of the day; from the torn apart car parts, rubble, and dabris filling up the streets to the buildings with missing top halves. Houses-smashed into nothing but piles of bricks and wood. She couldn't see the streets at all anymore, it was all covered up from the destruction.
"Hey uh, which way is the right way?" Hannah asked, observing their surroundings. "Not sure where to go from here."
"Gracie told us that she'd be a couple miles east from here." Sonnet said, hoping she was right. Gracie did in fact tell the two where she was going before darting off in the middle of all of the chaos that went on. Sonnet still couldn't imagine where she could've possibly needed to go.
"East of here?" Hannah questioned. Sonnet could te by the look on her friend's face that she was in a bit of disbelief. "You sure that's where we're supposed to go? I don't wanna head off into the middle of nowhere."
"It's the right way," Sonnet replied, hopefully giving her friend some reassurance. "Gracie told me where she was heading off to before she left us."
"Sure, but still," Hannah replied. "A couple of miles? I'm better off running a marathon."
"Don't be like that," Sonnet said, placing her right arm on her friend's back, giving it light pats. "just think of it this way: At least it isn't the end of the world, right?"
Hannah shook her head as she turned toward Sonnet. The expression Hannah had on her face made Sonnet think that maybe it was the end of the world.

★★★★

Sonnet knew that the two of them had been walking for a couple of minutes, but the long, tiring walk ahead was chipping away at her faith-and her sanity.
Each step that Sonnet took on the rock covered road only made her want to just stop and sit there, forget about everything. This was too much for the sixteen year-old. Come to think of it, this could've been too much for anyone.
This didn't mean that Hannah wasn't tired too. Occasionally, Sonnet would look over to her side and see that her friend was either slumped over on the ground or taking her backpack off to eat some of the food that she had stolen from the hotel. "Don't do it! It's out food!" Sonnet had to order her friend. "We're trying to save it!"
"Are we ever going to find... Y'know... Anything?" Hannah asked angrily. "We've been walking for so long! Isn't this the right way?"
Sonnet was asking herself the same thing as well, but refused to believe that they were going the wrong way. She refused to lose all faith.
Just then, Sonnet could barely make out some structure in the distance. It was halfway broken down, but not like all of the buildings surrounding them.
"There!" Sonnet shouted, pointing towards the halfway broken building. "She's got to be there!"
"Hurray!"Hannah said. "More broken down houses!"
Sonnet ignored her friend's sarcasm and began to pick the pace, breaking into a sprint. "Hey wait up!" Hannah called after Sonnet, but she didn't feel like slowing down for her.
Sonnet was careful in where her feet were landing on. She couldn't afford to fall in the pile of rocks and broken wood.
The broken down building before them now seemee to look more like a gas station. It was missing the gas part of it, but the entrance to it was still visible. Sonnet walked closer to it to see that the door had fallen off of it's hinges and lay there on the ground. She peaked inside and could see dim lights hanging from the walls, barely illuminating the isles above her. Items stacked in between the shelves from food to various accessories. How come this placed wasn't destroyed?
Sonnet took a step in the door and soon realized that the roof to the station was missing. She could see the sun up in the sky from looking up from the inside of it.
"Look on the bright side," Hannah said behind Sonnet, walking into the gas station. "At least this place wasn't totally blown to pieces."
Sonnet continued into an isle to the right of her. She walked through it, scanning the items it had to offer. On one side there were various liquids such as different flavors of soda, regular water bottles, and many other juices. On the other side were snacks such as large bags of Oreos, Cheezits, Chips Ahoy, Pringles, and combos; all of which were in many different flavors.
Sonnet walked to the back of isle until she could see the counter. On top of it lay a dirty cash register covered in dust and rocks. She looked behind the counter and saw nothing but the floors that she was already walking on.
"Hey!" Sonnet heard Hannah call from the other side of the store. "I think I found something!"
Sonnet pulled away from the counter and rushed over to where she heard her friend call from. Sonnet found herself standing next to Hannah, next to the two of them stood a pair of doors which lead to what seemed to be the storage room of the store.
Sonnet pushed through one of the doors and emerged into a dark room full of crates and boxes. The room was so quiet it made Sonnet uncomfortable. Something about this didn't feel right.
Before Sonnet was able was to take another step into the room, she was tackled to the ground from her side, instantly landing on the hard floor with her back. Sonnet's assailant quickly got up and dragged her by the foot. Sonnet reacted in time and gave the attacker a swift kick in the chest, pushing them back. This gave Sonnet enough time to get up from the ground and reach for the person's neck and violently threw them against the nearest wall. In the rush of battle she heard a scream from Hannah followed by the sound of someone dropping to the ground. Sonnet quickly reached for Hannah's backpack and threw it over to where she was. The heavy bag then landed on someone on the other side of the room. Sonnet could see Hannah scramble from the ground and grab her attacker, but whatever happened then she missed, because Sonnet's attack was back from the wall and quickly grabbed her and threw her against the wall, pain rushing through her entire backside. The attacker then got over to Sonnet and quickly threw their fist at her cheek, the force knocking her over on her side. She reached her arms out on the floor and began to lift herself up, but the attacker pushed to the ground, making her lose balance. She turned on her side and got a glimpse at her attackrr, but before they could do their next move, they were pushed to the ground. This gave Sonnet some time to get up and search the wall for a light switch. She ran her hand across the wall until she hit something sticking out from the side. She flicked the light switch on and the room brightened up immediately, allowing her to get a good look at their two attackers.
In from of her was a man who's face was covered up with a hoodie, his jet black hair peaking out from under it. His black jeans had been covered in dust from being dragged along the floor the entire time they were there. Then she saw a girl with brown wavy reaching down her back and along her shoulders rush over to his side. "Lemmar!" The girl shouted, kneeling to the man and searching his body with her hands. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me!" The man ordered the woman, pushing her aside and getting up from the floor. "They're the real problem here!"
"We mean no harm!" Hannah shouted from the other side of the room, walking towards the three of them. "You guys are the ones who jumped us!"
"I didn't know girls could throw so hard," Said Lemmar, reaching for his backside. Sonnet felt confused and didn't know If she should've taken that as a compliment. "My back is killing me right now."
"What did you put in that bag? Bricks?" Said the girl next to Lemmar, reaching for her side. Looks like everyone got hurt one way or another.
"What are you two doing here?" Hannah asked the both of them, grabbing her backpack and hoisting it over her shoulders once again.
"We found this place after a couple of hours of searching," The boy replied after dusting off his clothes. "decided to turn this place into a temporary home of sorts."
"We got tired of walking around all of the time," The girl next to Lemmar continued. "needed some place to relax. We heard footsteps coming from outside and hid in here. Sorry we... Hurt you."
"Who are you two anyway?" Sonnet asked, ignoring the woman's apology. As much as she wanted to accept it, she felt that there were serious things to focus on.
"I'm Lemmar," Said the boy, taking a step closer the Sonnet and Hannah. "And this is my friend, Mildred. Ever since this place got destroyed we've been on the run."
"Is the food here still good?" Hannah asked out of context. "I mean, I know it's all covered in dust and stuff, but hasn't been opened right?"
"It probably still is," Answered Mildred. "I've been eating the Oreos here since last night! They're so good!"
"I know right?" Said Hannah happily. "Chocolate and vanilla make the perfect mix for a snack."
"The two just mix together so great!" Said Mildred.
Sonnet looked at Lemmar and saw him pinch his nose. As much as she wanted to protest their love for cookies, she just let them go on.
Lemmar took a couple more steps towards Sonnet before opening his mouth once again. "Where did you and her come from before gettin' here?"
"Some old hotel," She answered, remembering the horrible smell it held once again. "We couldn't stay for another second, so we went on a search for one of our friends."
"I think I may know who you're talking about." The boy said, giving Sonnet another good look at hope once again. "Two people came in here asking for some girls named Sonnet and Hannah. Said that they were looking for them. I'm assuming you two are those people?"
"Yes!" Sonnet replied happily, a smile forming on her face. "We've been looking for one of them since they left use yesterday. Do you know where went?"
"Not really," Said Lemmar, looking away from Sonnet. "But there's only one other place besides this one that they could've went to."
"Where?" Asked Sonnet. Hannah and her had walked around in the buried city for miles and the couldn't find any other standing buildings that could've occupied any life. Where did Gracie go?
"On the other side of this place possibly." Answered the boy. "Past the hills. Only a couple miles from here. Me and Millie were about to head out ourselves in a couple minutes."
Sonnet look over to Hannah and Mildred and saw the two of them were immersed in conversation. "Hey!" Sonnet called out, grabbing the girls' attention. "We're about to head out!"
Hannah and Mildred quickly shuffled over to Sonnet and Hannah, the looks on their faces could say that they didn't know where.
"So more walking?" Hannah guessed. Sonnet nodded her head.
"A couple miles from here. We're heading to the other side of the city. You guys ready?"
"But this means more walking," Sighed Hannah. She pressed her back against the wall. "I'm tired of walking. Can't we just chill out for a bit?"
"We need to catch up to Gracie," Sonnet reminded her friend. "We can't just sit around."
Hannah sighed one more time before getting off the wall and letting out a "Fine". Mildred grabbed a bag from inside of the storage room and ran into the store. She walked around each isle, grabbing things from different foods to different juices, and shoved them inside of the bag. Sonnet could hear her say "Free food!" from the other side of the store. Lemmar then stepped away from Sonnet and stepped into the store, looking up at the roof.
"We might have to wait a little bit," Said Lemmar, backing up into the room. "Night's coming down on us."
"Anywhere to sleep?" Hannah asked, looking around the room. "This place is just filled with boxes."
"Haven't looked around too much, but I don't think this place has any blankets in it."
"Found some!" Called Mildred from the other side of the store. She came out from an isle holding a bunch of blankets over her shoulders.
"Never mind then," Lemmar sighed. "Looks like we're staying here for the night."
"Blankets from a gas station are more comfortable than whatever that hotel had," Hannah exclaimed, grabbing s blanket from Mildred. Mildred then went around and handed everyone what seemed to be fluffy wool blankets in colors of green, blue, red, and pink. She handed Sonnet the green one, Lemmar the blue one, Hannah the red one, and kept the pink one for herself.
"Hope you guys are ready to set off when we wake up," Said Lemmar, laying his cover out on the floor. "As soon as we get up, we're leaving."
Mildred placed her blanket next to Lemmar's and slowly fell down it, stretching out and closing her eyes. Lemmar did the same.
"Finally, some down time." Yawned Hannah, stretching out on her blanket.
Sonnet threw her blanket on the ground and placed herself flat over it, rolling onto her side. Immediately she felt comfort-something she hasn't felt in a while. She slowly closed her eyes as she drifted off into sleep, dreams consuming her.

★★★★