The End is Near

Chapter Three

     My eyes widen and I gasp. Three monsters are shuffling I through the open door toward Keith and Karson, and they haven't noticed.
     I spring into action, pulling out my katana. I walk toward the monsters until they are all walking towards me instead of towards Keith and Karson.
     I don't let them get too close before I attack. With my katana I swing, slicing off two of the heads. Quickly I turn and plunge my sword into the third monsters eye. It drops to the ground, silent.
     After I'm sure they are all dead, I walk to the door and close and lock it. I take a deep breath, catching my breath, then turn around to see the astonished faces of my friends. Keith and Karson are staring at me in awe, while Julia is smiling proudly.
     "Wow." Keith and Karson say in unison. I laugh as I walk to the counter to grab a rag to clean the blood off my blade. I return the sword to its sheath on my back and turn back around to face my friends.
     "You've still got it." Julia compliments. I nod.
     "Yeah, that's a relief." She nods in agreement as I walk to stand next to her.
     We sit in silence for a few minutes before a loud ringing sounds cuts through the air, causing us all to jump. I realize that the noise is coming from my phone and quickly take it out of my pocket, turning the ringer off and checking the caller I.D. I breath a sigh of relief when I see who it is.
     "Aunt Clare?" I ask. I hear a relieved sigh from the other line.
     "Thank goodness you are ok." She sounds worried.
     "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm with some friends." I look at the three people watching me. "Are you ok? Where are you?"
     "I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada." My eyes widen.
     "You're in Vegas? Are you crazy! Don't you know how dangerous that place is? It's bad enough in Utah, Vegas has got to be so much worse!" Everybody's eyes widen at my exclamation. Aunt Clare sighs.
     "I know. I'm leaving soon, heading to Montana. There's a safe zone, and they're willing to let anyone in as long as they aren't infected. You should come meet me here. I need to know you are going somewhere safe." I look at my friends, not knowing if they'd want to go.
     "I don't know, maybe. It depends on what my group decides." I don't want here getting her hopes up. "We'll talk about it and I'll tell you what we decide."
     "Ok, be safe, no matter what. I love you, I always will, remember that." I smile.
     "I love you too, Aunt Clare. You don't have to worry about me. Worry about yourself. Be safe. Get out of that place safely. You're the only family I have left, I can't lose you. I love you, talk to you later. Bye." I hang up the phone and put it back in my pocket, turning to look at my friends, staring at me expectantly.
     "We have a lot to talk about." They all nod.
                         ~~~
     We are all sitting around the table, discussing what to do. I just got done telling them everything Clare told me about the safe zone.
     "I think we should go. It's a safe zone, we wouldn't have to keep running, always watching our backs. We'd be safe." It's Julia that says this, and I agree with her.
     "Jules is right. We'd be safe. We wouldn't have to keep running." I say, siding with Julia. Keith and Karson share a look and I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
     "We don't think it's a good idea. The trip would take too long and bad things could happen during that time. One of us could get infected. I think we should look for somewhere closer." Karson speaks while Keith nods.
     "I think that's a good idea. It would be safer than going all the way to Montana." Keith adds in. I look at Julia and we share an understanding look. Neither of us are going to back down from this. We are going, with or without them. I voice our thoughts.
     "Well, then you two can stay here. But we are going, with or without you. We are going to Montana and meeting up with my aunt. You won't be able to change our minds about this, either." I finish, looking at the two boys. Their faces fall, sadness consuming them, and I know that they won't be coming with us.
"Please, reconsider. I don't like the idea of you two alone in a world like this. Bit I can't make that long of a trip to a safe zone that might not even be there." Keith pleads. I shake my head, sadly.
"No, I told you that you won't be able to change our minds. There might not even be a safe zone here, maybe that's why my aunt is going all the way to Montana. Did you think about that?" They look sad, realizing that they aren't going to change our minds and they aren't changing theirs.
I sigh, looking at Julia, who is already looking over at me.
"Looks like we're on our own. You ready for this?" She smiles.
"As long as I have my best friend with me, I'll be ready for anything." I smile and we look over to the boys.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye, then. I think we should stay the night here, then go our separate ways in the morning." Everyone agrees and we grab our packs and all go to my room. Locking the door behind me, I turn and meet the sad stare of Keith. He looks so sad and I start to feel guilty. I shake the feeling away as soon as it comes. There is no reason to be guilty, he did this to himself. We all sit in a circle and Keith and Karson share another look. Nodding to each other, they grab the backpacks and hand them to us. Keith hands me the one with the food and Karson hands Julia the one filled with a couple cases of water.
"You should take these, you'll need them more than we will. We'll be in the cities, we could easily get into a store and get food and water. Before we leave, we'll stop by our room and fill backpacks with the food and water we have. We'll be fine, it's you two I'm worried about. Will you two be ok?" I raise my eyebrow.
"Do you not remember that I killed three of those things to save you guys?" Julia laughs.
"She's got a point there. With both of us, we'll be fine. Just because we're girls doesn't mean that we're defenseless." I nod my head in agreement.
"I didn't mean it like that, you two are anything but defenseless. I was just wondering if you'll know your way there and that you'll be safe." Karson nods, agreeing with Keith, worry evident on his face as well as Keith's.
"We'll be fine. We can take care of ourselves. You don't need to worry about us." Julia says, and I nod in agreement.
"Ok, if you say so." They still don't look convinced, but don't say anything more about it, which I'm grateful for.
I call my aunt back and tell her that Julia and I are going to meet her. She sounds relieved when I tell her. We say our goodbyes and hang up.
"We better get to sleep if we want to be ready for tomorrow. Me and Jules will take one side of the bed and you and Karson can take the other side." They nod and we all climb into bed. Once we are situated comfortably, we fall into silence, all thinking about what tomorrow will bring. I'm disappointed that Keith and Karson aren't coming with us, but I respect their decision and won't try to change it. I don't like when people try to do it to me, so I don't do it to anyone else.
I think about what me and Julia are going to do. We're going to have to be extremely careful and always cautious. To be honest, I hope that we find someone else to come with us, so that we'll have extra protection, someone else to trust.
With that thought, I fall into a restful sleep, thankfully with no dreams to haunt my sleep.