The Awake

The Clumsy Ninja

After about an hour of walking in silence, I started to hum a song I had previously learned in choir. I missed school. Would it ever be the same again? I didn't know. Zach interrupted my thoughts.

"Is that the place?" He asked pointing at a gas station, further down the road, across the street.

"Yep that's it" I confirmed and we proceeded to make our way to the building. When we got to the door, we prepared ourselves. We didn't want to stay long and risk getting caught.Then, we rushed in. I pulled Cailey's list out of my pocket and collected the items in my bag. Not knowing what else to get when Cailey's list was completed, I started grabbing random stuff for us to eat. I grabbed a few loaves of bread, several boxes of crackers, a couple cans of food, and a bunch of bags of chips. Then, I came to my favorite spot in the whole gas station. The soda aisle. I grabbed at least four bottles of each soda. When my bag was overly full, I turned around to get Zach to leave. Zach, who had been very quiet about it, had filled his bag just as full as mine and was trying to get into the cash register.

"Zach. No." I said putting my backpack on my back.

"Okay..." He said grabbing his backpack. He walked out from behind the counter and approached the door. Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What the..?" he said squinting out the window. I followed his glacé to find a figure. There was someone out there. They were trying to be stealthy but obviously were not. They attempted to do a ninja roll and failed epicly. That made me laugh. They were wearing a mask.

"Should we go out there?" Zach asked, without letting the stranger out of his sight.

"I don't know. You got your pistol?" I asked Zach. He pulled it out of his bag and loaded it.

"Yep." He answered quickly.

"Let's go." I kicking opening the door.

"Get on the ground!!" Zach yelled pointing the gun at the stranger. The person did as they were told. They got on the ground and curled into a ball.

"Spread em' pops!!" Zach yelled trying to be cool. I ran over and patted the person down. They had nothing at all on them.

"Make a wrong move and I'll shoot you." I said angrily. The person didn't made eye contact and nodded. I pulled off the mask to find that the person was really my good friend Aaron.

"Drayton?" Aaron whispered, looking up.

"I'll pop you bro!!!" Zach yelled, still waving his gun everywhere.

"Zach, shut up!!! It's Aaron!!!" I yelled back. Zach lowered the gun and I helped Aaron up.

"Thank god. I thought I was going to die. I'm so glad to see you guys. I was so scared. Those men.. They came back to the school.. I had to sleep in a dumpster. A dumpster, Drayton!!! A dumpster!!!" Aaron yelled in my ear.

"Woah, cool it, Aaron. Is that the dumpster you slept in? Why didn't you sleep in the gas station?" I asked. Then Aaron was quiet. I could see Zach behind him face palming.

"I didn't think of that..."Aaron answered looking at the gas station. He was average height and wore glasses that made him look like superman before he changed into superman. He had puffy, light black hair and bluish brown eyes. After we told Aaron of the others and the safe house, he jumped back in the dumpster and tossed his bag out. We emptied his school supplies then sent him into the gas station to fill up his bookbag with stuff. When he came out he was humming the James Bond theme song. Zach face palmed, again. I led the way when we left the gas station. We were starting to head home, when we heard an engine.

"Run." Was all I could manage to say. We ran the rest of the way home.

Later...

When we finally got back, I noticed that Ben's balcony had been renovated. it now was almost completely covered in wood except for an opening where you could look out. Ben was there to greet us at the front door. When he saw Aaron, he was surprised.

"Aaron!!! Didn't think I'd see you!! Cailey!!! Elizabeth!!! Aaron's here!!! And Jesus, what's that smell?" Ben yelled into the house. I pushed past him and set my backpack down. My shoulders hurt terribly. After I took some of Zach's painkillers, I gave Aaron the grand tour of my home and assigned him a cot next to my bed in my room. I went to the kitchen, where everyone was chatting like old times. We briefed Aaron on the bioweapon and told him he was free to stay. He gladly accepted and thanked us all. Zach had already given all the supplies to Cailey and was messing with my old computer that he found in his guest room closet. I was tired from the walk so I went to my room and laid in my bed. I was asleep in a matter of seconds.