The Price of Humanity

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"You've got more?" Zane asks, but honestly, I'm still shocked at the fact that there are guns on our coffee table.

Gale nods and picks up the duffel bag, situated on the floor and somewhat hidden behind the couch. He places it down on the table, moving the pistols to the side and unzips it.

Both me and Zane lean in cautiously, as if the bag is about to explode. Gale reaches his hand in and picks up another gun, much larger than the pistols.

"MP5s." He declares, displayed the gun to both of us before placing it down with the pistols. The gun is long and tall, with a large stock and long – slightly curved – magazine.

He reaches his hand into the bag again and pulls out a long-barrelled gun. The stock is smaller than the MP5s and the gun is overall much slimmer.

"Shotguns." He states, putting this gun down next to the others. I stare at the three types of guns down on the table, in my house, in front of me.

"Ammunition?" Zane asks, also staring between the three very different types of guns. Gale smirks again and opens the gap in the bag wider, we peer in again and see a small box alongside multiple MP5 and Pistol magazines. "Wow."

Wow indeed. Although I'm not sure that us carrying around guns is going to be a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, it will give us a much-needed upgrade from the makeshift knife on a stick.

But I've just gotten used to killing human beings with my katana, now I'm meant to use a gun. I know they aren't people anymore – they've lost their souls – but killing a person is enough of a hard thing to do. I don't think I could shoot one.

"Are we really going to use these?" I ask my brothers. Zane's still staring at the guns like he can't believe he's real while Gale has a strange smile on his face.

"Why not?" I start to become worried about Gale, his smile at the guns looks like he's just got a new video game and can't wait to play it.

"This isn't a game." I chastise. Zane turns to me in surprise and I stare back at him. "He's acting like these are toys!" I turn back to Gale. "These are guns, they kill people. I know you've never been one to uphold the law, and the law doesn't exactly exist anymore, but where are your morals."

"Hey, kiddo, calm down." Gale states. "I'm not suggesting we go guns blazing to track down every corpse and person. I'm just saying we should keep them on us as a precaution." This calms me down a little bit but I'm still slightly unnerved.

"Then why were you smiling." He frowns and shrugs.

"It's a good find, police grade weapons, any good weapons. They're hard to find nowadays." Zane turns to me and nods.

"You know we're good people, champ. We're not going to shoot unnecessarily, we can't really with limited ammo. But Gale's right police guns are a great find in this new world." I stop, realising something.

"Police weapons?" Gale nods. "But the guys in the station weren't policemen." They certainly didn't act like policemen, although who knows what corrupt characteristics this world brings out in 'good people'. If they exist anymore.

"They probably killed policemen at some point, maybe at the start when people started rioting. Look, these guns aren't going to be used maliciously, in fact most of them are going to be kept in the den." Zane suggests shrugging.

The den used to be a kind of playroom for us when we were younger. After that it was turned into a second lounge; TV, sofas, ping pong table. Post-disaster, it's been turned into our storage room.

There's only one window, boarded up, and to get to it you have to go through the rest of the house.

"You guys really need to keep me in the loop more." I whine, realising they've discussed this entire situation before talking to me.

"Sorry Ninja." Gale says, ruffling my hair slightly. I smile, he hasn't used that nickname since before the end of the world and, frankly, I like it. Makes me sound badass.

I smile up at my brothers who are looking down at me with confused expressions.

"Why are you smiling?" Zane asks, his lip twitching too.

"I'm just happy to have you two." Gale laughs and shakes his head at me.

"Kiddo, I think you're bipolar." He replies, patting me on the back and going into the kitchen.

Gale is the nominated cook. Since me and Zane can just barely boil water Gale took up the position. I hear him take a few cans out of the cupboard and set to work making dinner.

"Everything alright up there?" Zane says tapping my forehead with his finger. I slap his hand away and sit down on the sofa.

I curl my legs up on the couch so I'm sitting sideways and leaning against the back of the couch. I lean over and pick up my bag, taking out my notebook I turn to the back page, which is almost full of tally marks.

I take the pen that's tried to the back with string and add six more lines onto the page.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." He says as I flick to the front and put a cross on today's date.

"Why?" I ask, looking up at him. He's taken up the seat on the other end of the couch, long legs sprawling along the couch and practically pushing mine off.

He frowns.

"It makes me think your hoping for everything to go back the way it was. I don't want you to have false hope." He says regarding me closely.

I sigh. I close the book and put it back in my backpack for safe keeping. I sit up, crossing my legs, and give my brother a serious expression.

"I know this is our new life now, yes I wish more than anything that we could go back to before the apocalypse but, I know in reality it won't happen." I look over, though the kitchen and through the French doors to our small garden where the two graves lay. "I know they won't come back."