Don't Let Me Go

Pretend if It Keeps You Alive

Minx stands in the bedroom's doorway, staring into the room with wide eyes. She trembles and tears her gaze away from the couple on the bed, and the small child between them. They all have bullet holes through their foreheads, and the parents both have an arm around the child between them. Minx shakes her head, fighting the urge to cry. Dave comes up to her and upon looking past her, he swears, pushing hair from his face. Dan crosses his arms, looking away, "Lucky bastards."

"Don't say that," Minx glares at him, "What part of that is lucky? It's fucking depressing!"

"At least the walking dead people didn't eat them," Dan snaps back, "Compared to that, what they did is fucking paradise!"

"Guys," Dave sighs, "Let's not fight."

Minx shoves past them, "Scour the place for anything we might need; Food, water, weapons. Just stay away from the windows downstairs. As soon as this place is picked clean, and we have an opening, we're going to find the others."

Dan stomps down the stairs and Dave steps up to Minx, "Why isn't she with you?"

"Because I was stupid," Minx walks away from him, going into the next room, slamming the door behind her. Dave sighs and goes into the room the dead family is in and he starts going through drawers.

...

"We have to go back," Phil shakes.

"We will," Cry promises, raiding the cabinets in the kitchen of the house they took cover in. He grins, "Damn, we were lucky to find this place."

"What if who lives here comes back and we've taken all their stuff?" Phil frowns, looking at the window for a moment before tearing his gaze away as the infected beat against it. 

"They won't," Cry replies, throwing canned food into his backpack that's sitting on the counter in front of him.

"But what if they do?" Phil asks.

"We'll be gone before whoever lives here, if they're alive, gets back," Ohm says, coming into the kitchen, "No one is going to try and get into this place with all the infected surrounding it."

"How are we supposed to get out then?" Phil groans, "I don't like being trapped like this!"

"Calm down, we'll be fine." Cry smiles back at him, "We've all watched zombie movies or played zombie themed games, right? Just pretend it's like that. The good guys always live to the end."

Phil crosses his arms, "I don't watch scary movies."

Ohm rolls his eyes, smiling as he pats Phil on the back, "Just stick with us and you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Cry grins, zipping up his backpack. He puts it on, turning to his friends, "I'm like Joel, I know my way around a zombie apocalypse. Stick with me and you'll be fine."

Ohm chuckles, "Oh, you're Joel, huh?"

"Damn right," Cry laughs.

Ohm smirks, "Well then who am I?"

Cry clicks his tongue, "You can be Ellie."

"Ellie?" Ohm laughs, "But I can swim."

"You're annoying, but I still love you," Cry punches Ohm playfully in the shoulder, "You're definitely Ellie."

"Who can I be?" Phil asks.

Cry smiles, "You can be.. Callous."

"Callous?" Phil asks and Ohm smirks.

Cry grins, "Yeah, he's the most important character."

Phil smiles softly, "Okay."

Cry and Ohm laugh and then Cry looks around, "Seriously, though, I don't want to be stuck in here once it gets dark. We need to figure out where the others went. Minx is with them, so I'm sure they'll be fine, but I'll feel better once we're all together again."

Ohm nods, then sighs, "I'm really worried about her, Cry.."

"Me, too." Cry replies, walking into the living room, "I don't like not knowing what's happening with our friends."

"That's not why I'm worried.." Ohm says softly, following him.

Cry looks at Ohm with an expression of confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You see how she's changing, right?" Ohm asks.

Cry sighs, "Ohm, her wife died not even a week ago.."

"I know," Ohm hisses, "It's more than that. She's almost a completely different person."

"She's just.. Focused," Cry looks thoughtful, "She puts all of her energy into killing infected and scavenging, because if she gives herself a moment to breathe.."

"She'll think of Krism," Ohm groans, "I just wish she would talk to us, bottling up her feelings will only hurt her in the end."

"You have to give her time, she's still adjusting," Cry checks the window, "Hey, there's a gap between the infected here."

"So..?" Phil asks, walking up behind them.

Cry prepares to open the window, "How fast can you run?"

Phil goes pale and Ohm adjusts his backpack straps, "We better hurry before they notice us."

...

"Is that everything?" Minx asks, walking up to Dan and Dave, who both have backpacks now.

Dave nods, "I took everything I thought we'd need. Didn't find any more weapons, but I did find some handgun ammo in the closet of that dead family's room."

He hands Minx the gun, "I took this from the dad.."

Minx takes the gun, checking the ammo clip. She blinks, "It's full."

"I, uh, reloaded it already," Dave hands over a five boxes of bullets as well.

Minx nods, putting the boxes in her backpack, "No other weapons?"

"Nope," Dan sighs, "Not even a single knife."

Minx groans, hanging Dave her kitchen knife, "That's the only weapon I have."

"How have you survived with just a single knife as a weapon?" Dan asks.

"I stayed in my house for a week," Minx replies dryly, "What weapons do you have?"

Dan shrugs, pulling a taser gun from his pocket, "Stick it in their eye and it fries the brain real quick."

"That's stupid and dangerous," Minx states, "Having to get that close to them is a death sentence."

"What?" Dan scoffs, "And using a knife isn't the exact same thing?"

"Knives are quick," she snaps, "Waiting for that thing to kill their brain isn't."

He rolls his eyes, "It's worked well so far. Phil has one, too. It's how we've stayed alive this long."

"Where are your families?" Dave asks him.

Dan's eyes darken, "Where do you think?"

Dave frowns, "Did you.. Put them our of their misery?"

"Yup," Dan crosses his arms, "Are we getting out of here or what?"

"Yes," Minx walks past them. She looks out the nearest window, "It's getting dark, we need to go before we can't see. They might not be able to see us in the dark, but we can't see them, either. Stay close, and stay sharp. Let's get this over with."