A World Like This [1]

[19]

Added to the story 12/30/16

I trudged through the forest, my uncle and brothers following along. It's been about two months since my mother died, two months since my step father made a break for it, and two months since I learned that my last name was really Dixon, not Blake.

I looked down at the gold necklace around my neck. I doubted I'd ever find my father, the expedition was near to impossible, and most likely a wait of time. My father was most likely dead and even if he wasn't it's not like I can just look him up on google.

"Maybe we should try to find a place that's more... permanent." My uncle spoke. I turned around to look at him, his face showed nothing but seriousness. I shrugged my shoulder at his words.

"It won't last so what's the point?" I asked. You find a safe place but it never lasts, whether its people or biters, it will always crumble. It doesn't matter the size of the walls you have, something, someone will always try to kill you and take what you have. Nowhere is safe anymore.

"The point is, we can't keep wandering around the forest, Ava. We're all tired. We need somewhere to call home." Aiden spoke. I froze. I heard the footsteps behind me stop. I turned to face my family, they were all probably expecting one of my famous outbursts, where I got my temper I had no idea. No one in my family is as hotheaded as I am.

"I get that Aiden." I told him. "But what's the point in getting our hopes up just to have it all destroyed?" I asked him, I wasn't mad, I was more calm then I've ever been about anything in my entire life.

"I saw a sign for a sanctuary about a mile back, I bet we could make it though." Asher spoke. I rolled my eyes at the idea and shook my head.

"Guys we're fine now. We're all here aren't we?" I asked. We were doing fine going house to house, we live, we scavenge, that's it. It's safe and that's our lives now. I turned around and began walking again towards our unknown location.

"Mom isn't" Aiden spoke. I stopped walking and quickly turned to face him. The nerve he had to bring up her death.

"Excuse me?"

"Face it Ava, we've been living this way since the beginning, mom and dad are both gone. It can't be that good of a method if they both aren't standing here." Asher spoke. I glared at my youngest brother. I felt as if I switch was just flipped inside me.

"Your father isn't here because he took off, because he didn't give a shit what happened to any of us!" I exclaimed. Our mother died saving us, but that man took off. He better just hope I never run into him alive because killing him seems like a great option in my opinion. No one dared to challenge me after this. I began walking again, there was an obvious tension amongst the group.

"Maybe we should drive to California, break into some celebrity's mansion." Uncle Danny spoke in attempts to lighten the mood. My uncle was always a bit childish, always trying to make everyone laugh. He was a great person and was extremely funny, but the apocalypse wasn't the time for jokes, this was the first one I've heard from him since before my mom died.

"Now that I'd be up for." I joked. The three guys laughed at the thought.

We walked for another hour or so until it began to get dark. The sun was still out at the slightest, you could just barely see. The real reason we stopped though was because Asher kept complaining that his feet hurt and if I heard him whine about it one more time I felt I was gonna punch him in the face. But that wouldn't help because then he wouldn't shut up about his face hurting, it's a win then lose type of situation.

They all sat around the ground, Asher took off his shoes the moment he did making me roll my blue eyes at him. I watched as Aiden did the same, then uncle Danny. Am I the only one trying to survive here? I questioned myself.

"I'm going to go find some fire wood." I told the boy. They all muttered an okay, completely ignoring what I was saying. I adjusted my crossbow on my back before entering the dark and ominous woods. I looked back at the three guys sitting around the road, not a care in the world, not worrying about death coming their way.

I grabbed a few branches off the trees, I wasn't trying to go too far. I didn't want to run into any biters but of course one stepped out from behind a tall dark oak tree. Its growls filled the air and I was honestly done with fighting these stupid creatures. I dropped all the sticks I held in my arms and pulled my crossbow off my back. I loaded an arrow and shot the creature in the eye.

I walked over to it and retrieved my arrow. I wanted this whole apocalypse thing to be over with, I was the only one who actually took all of this seriously. Everything is just a big game to my family. I wiped the bloody arrow against the brownish colored clothes the biter was wearing, it was dirty but would remove the blood.

I swung my bow across my back and picked up all the branches and sticks I dropped on the ground before making my way back to where I left my family.

"You don't want to do this. Let the kids go." I heard my uncle say. I looked out behind the leaves of a tree, unspotted by the people around. Two men stood beside my brothers, each holding a gun to their heads. A man, most likely their leader held a gun to my uncles' head. My uncle tried to reason with the men but I held no mercy for the people who help guns to my families' heads.

I grabbed my crossbow and shot the man holding Asher in the head, he fell to the ground in an instant. The other two left looked around trying to determine what happened to their blonde friend. I shot the man holding Aiden next, he fell to the ground in a matter of seconds. Stupidly the leader began to drop his gun, unsure of what was happening. I shot him in the throat, I held no mercy for someone who preys on the weak, maybe not my uncle but holding a gun to two kids' heads is not okay. I heard a gunshot go off, my uncle fell to the ground momentarily.

I ran out from my hiding spot and rushed to my uncles' side. I looked around frantically, unsure of how I could fix this.

"Uncle Danny." I sobbed, I saw blood pouring from his side. Red staining his once grey t-shirt. I felt sick looking at the blood that pooled around his body.

"You did good kid." He spoke, looking up into my eyes. I felt the tears coming from my blue eyes. I looked over to see Aiden and Asher on the other side of our uncle, tears streaming down their faces as well. I could hardly look at them, the sadness that cover their features was enough to break any person that had a beating heart.

"We can patch you up, we can—"

"No." My uncle spoke, a smile on his face. He looked past me up into the darkening sky. "This is my time." He told us, he sounded so sure of it, like he was never more sure of something in his entire life. I shook my head at him.

"No, it can't be."

"Shhhh." He shushed me. "Take care of your brothers." He told me.

"No, no why does everyone say that? I can't, I can't do it without you. How am I supposed to—" He shushed me again and smiled.

"I love you all, take care of each other." He told us, his eyes landed on each of us at least once before he shut his eyes. His chest stopped moving indicating that he stopped breathing.

"No!" Aiden yelled as he brought his fist down to the hard pavement below us. I watched as Asher stood from the ground, tears still in his eyes. He looked down at the man who had shot our uncle, he was choking on his own blood. I watched intently as Asher pulled out his own gun, aimed it at the man's head, and shot him, officially ending his life. He sat back down besides my uncle and stared at his unmoving body.

This time it was my turn to take action, our uncle would come back soon. I knew my brothers would be unable to do it, it had to be me. I grabbed my crossbow from where I threw it on the ground. I loaded the arrow slowly, not wanting to do what I had to.

I pointed my crossbow at my uncles' head, a single tear streamed down my face.

"I'm sorry." I whispered before pulling the trigger and ending it all.

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