At End's Gate

REUNIONS

Conner woke up everyone the following morning. They cleaned themselves up. It seemed as if the book store owner lived in his store but had deserted it. There was a joining intersection that led to a small kitchen and living room. There was a small sofa in the living room. The store owner slept on the sofa. There was no bedroom but there was a toilet and a small bathroom with shower. They showered and wore fresh clothes. Paige prepared food and they had a quick breakfast before they proceeded with their journey.

They walked for miles eyeing the roads suspiciously. This time they weren't going to allow themselves to be caught of guard. Paige was feeling happy. Conner and her were in a good place. There wasn't any tension anymore. He looked serious whilst they were moving which made her feel happier because he was now on guard and not reckless. They moved for a while. It was going to take them a few hours to reach the eastern part. They navigated their way each one covering the other. They peered through the isolated buildings to make sure there wouldn't be any sniper attacks from paranoid residents who had decided to use any diverse tactics to take out people. The people were operating on fear so any form of dangerous attack wouldn't be surprising. They used the main road since their current location seemed to be deserted. The high raised skyscrapers were all apparently abounded. James was using his phone to test for radiation levels to pinpoint a possible explosion site. He also used his phone to test for heat signatures in the houses and buildings as they moved. The idea was good but it wouldn't give them a guaranteed conclusion whether truly there weren't any possible threats thus they moved peering through buildings like hawks.

"Get down!!" Lisa screamed

Paige gazed with the corner of her chocolate eyes. Her hair swayed to the motion. She noticed the woman who had caught Lisa's gaze. She was in a building they had walked past. Far up at a floor window up the thick glass walled building. She threw what seemed to be a metallic ball down from the window to the ground a few meters from the six. After doing so the lady stepped onto the ledge of the window. Paige looked at her in horror. The ball made it's way to the ground. Whilst it was airborne Paige noticed Conner's face fall timid.

"Grenade run!!!" he shouted swiftly pointing onwards in the direction they should run. They ran with their heads facing the woman. Paige noticed the blonde haired lady jump as the effect of the grenade came to light. The flames moved for a considerable distance. Fortunately the kids were out of range. They noticed the lady plummet to her death. Alexis kept on screaming. Lisa was breathing rapidly. Blake was just panting as did James. Conner was staring silently. Paige noticed the lady as she finally reached her destination. She reached the ground. She wanted death's light and she found it. She took her life. Paige thought to herself that this lady had probably incurred unbearable loss so she chose to take away the pain the fastest way she could by letting go. Letting go of her existence. With a heart filled with vengeance this lady wanted to leave the world with a bang by forcing others to the gates of death with her. It was quite overwhelming but Paige calmed herself down and ran to Lisa.

"Lisa breathe in and out slowly." She did." Remember we're alive." She looked at Alexis who was now calm." Good Lexi. Keep stabilizing your breathing. She then faced her brothers who looked okay." I'm so sorry you were forced to be strong so young." She gave a weak smile." I'm happy you're calm." She then looked at Conner and just gave a weak smile. Conner simply smiled back.

"Okay new plan. We're no longer using the main road. It's too open and it seems as if the closer we get to the east the more the number of people is increasing. We'll move through the yards instead. It's dangerous but that's much safer. At least through the yards we focus on one threat at a time unlike the many threats we might face walking through this road." Conner looked at them. They nodded.

********

The yards truly were safer. After navigating through many houses the atmosphere was now calmer. They were now whispering to each other as they moved quietly through the yards jumping through the fences to next locations.

"Honestly I thought these blockbuster lives were designed for movies," Lexi whispered.

"Well Bell I guess you have to embrace your inner Angelina Jolie," Blake teased.

They laughed silently." You know what I watched all those movies thinking it's just fiction. Tomb raider, Salt and those Vin Diesel movies were mere Saturday night movie fiction to me," Lisa said.

"Same. To me those kind of scenarios didn't seem logical," James joined." They were unrealistic."

"The illusion of fiction is better J unlike the reality we're now living in," Paige sighed.

"Yeah reality is bad but I guess we have to be the heroes of our own story," Conner smiled.

"What's that smell?" Blake asked.

"It's the smell of dead bodies probably have been dead for a while," James answered.

"I get that but most dead bodies we passed were in the roads. I mean we moved through many yards but it seemed as if they were completely unoccupied."

"I get him. He's saying most people got out of their homes and ran and probably got killed out of their yards according to the monitor we used at home," Alexis joined.

"It means some people killed each other amongst themselves," Conner said.

"Like killing their own family members?"

"Yeah or maybe those who came seeking refuge were killed on sight," Conner added." It's probably that so keep alarm."

They continued to move with the smell becoming stronger. They reached the back of the yard of the houses that seemed to have the strongest scent of the dead. Paige then screamed in shock to the pile of many dead bodies. She noticed a face far of that seemed to be very familiar. It was her teacher, Mr Chandler. She sobbed a little. She then proceeded again after seeing another face. She broke down.

"Who is that?" Lisa asked.

"It's Mr Stewart, Erin's dad."

Lisa and Alexis hugged her." I'm sorry," Conner whispered.

"Erin is probably dead," she whispered crying. Her brothers looked at her with empathetic faces clearly feeling pain for their sister. Conner looked at her sadly too. Paige released herself from the hug and wiped her tears. She scanned around for Erin's dead body. She heard a movement and started running with her gun in her fingers. She followed the sound to the other side of the house. The others followed her. She noticed a man who was running away about to jump the fence.

"Turn around," she shouted," or I'll shoot."

The man followed the instruction. He turned around swiftly as if he had recognized the voice of the lady shouting at him.

"Erin."