Acid

Chapter Three: New Comers

DARRIN KICKED THE doors open, making the glass shatter onto the floor as we ran in yelling and smacking the ground, or anything close we could hit with our baseball bats. We tried to keep the level of our voices loud, but not loud enough to attract more feral's from around the town. It'd be an ear off from Rae, if we brought a heard with our noise. I didn't think all the noise was worth it in the end, given that the store looked empty except for a couple stacks of food and other supplies scattered on the shelves and floor. There were many different products that were spilled all over the place, along with broken glass from jars that had fallen on the ground, and that clear gelly stuff which looked disgusting. It was spilled all over the men section of the store, so I decided not to go near it. What a waste of supplies.

"Aye pieces of shit! Anyone want a snack?" Darrin shouted, as it echoed off every inch of the store.

"Come get me!" I yelled smashing the register with my bat.

The echoes of our voices carried threw out the store, as Darrin and I started to walk forward a bit. We instantly went quiet and listened to what we thought was a feral. Till we realized that the store had become silent except for the soft patter of our footsteps. The silence made me feel uneasy, it's like the feral's are waiting for us to lower our guard, then they attack. They are getting smarter as the years go by,I guess it's there  way of adapting to our world, or they're not as dumb as we all think. Darrin looked at me as he nodded the clear signal, scanning the aisles once more for a double check.

"I don't like this" Darrin says well tapping his bat anxiously.

"Me too" I pause "It's just weird how we come to a city full of thousands, and yet we don't even see a single feral or any acids"

"I thought they would be held up in the buildings. You know, with the acid rain coming"

"Same..."

A shiver ran down my spine, as the hairs on my arms rose, and my feet trembled, ready to dart out the front doors if needed. Every inch of my body told me to get out of this building. Like when you get bad vibes going up to haunted houses or abandoned buildings. It wouldn't even take me long to dart out the door from where I'm standing, maybe a couple seconds if I'm fast. If I just-

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Dane and Liam come barging in guns at the ready, there big boots smacking the cracked titles of the store. They reminded me of army men, breaking into their enemy's base. Once they saw us standing there they halted and put their guns down.

"There aren't any feral's?" Dane asked.

I shook my head still startled, from the noise they made coming in. They caught me off guard.

"I checked the aisles, there's nothing here" Darrin said to his brother.

"No food! Or medicine!"

"No there's food and medicine, enough for a week! But there's no feral's nor acids"

"Well damn, let's celebrate! Where is the peanut butter?" Dane asked throwing his arm around Darrin's neck, dragging them both away.

"You boys be careful! I want this to be quick!" Liam shouted, yet still it sounded like he wanted them to enjoy themselves from the soft look in his eyes.

Still uneasy I turn my attention to Liam, and I could tell, that he didn't trust being inhere as much as I did, so I made sure that my bat was ready for any unwanted surprises. Still I couldn't help myself from watching his face as he thought about god knows what, but it didn't make me feel any safer as he clearly looked ready for the worst, so I walked away from the door, If I chicken out now I'll be forever ashamed. Turning my heals, I walked down tight aisles, throwing random foods that hadn't expired into old grocery bags, I just wish there was more food. But it does suck how most of our food is either jarred, canned or bagged. What I'd kill to eat some nice cooked crispy chicken right now, or a big mac from MC Donald's. No! now I'm craving it!

It didn't take very long for my ass to hit junk food central, where of course I see Darrin already there. Lightly laughing I walked right up beside him and started scanning the shelves for any good chips, or munches. If there are Doritos or jalapeno cheeses they're mine!

"Can you see if there are any Sun chips by you?"

"Oh, sure" I pause "Check if there are jalapeno cheeses"

"Ha ha" He throws a bag of them at me "Your lucky I didn't take' em for myself"

I smiled as we went on about our favorite chips, then chocolate bars, soon to hard candies,and finally GUMMY'S! It felt as if we had been talking for ages yet I never got bored talking to him, my mind was fixated on his lips, the way they looked as they moved each time he spoke gave me butterfly's.It was like we were in our own world, a dream world where we didn't have to worry about feral's or acid rain storms for once, but like any other dream, you always get kicked back into reality, no matter how hard you fight it. This is reality, the apocalypse, and reality sucks.

We both whip our heads away from the junk food to the plastic container that was rolling on the ground.

"Alaska? Was that you?" Darrin asks.

"I'm standing right beside you!"

"Sorry, I thought maybe you threw something behind you. You did,right?"

"No" I say holding the 'o' for a couple of seconds.

"Liam! Dane! Where are you guys?"

I heard foot steps behind me and soon there faces came into view as they turned the corner and walked over to us, not from the location that the container had fallen from, but from behind the shelf we were looking at.

"Right here... something wrong?" Liam asks noticing our pale faces.

I pointed to the container that had stopped moving, until another one rolled around the corner again. Dane and Liam pulled out their guns, signaling for us to be quiet as they slowly took a step closer to the other side of the aisle. Liam was in front putting his silencer on, and turning his safety switch off. The suspense was killing me, my heart ached as it felt like everything was going so slow. It couldn't be a feral, it would have already come around the corner by now and attacked us.Unless it's trapped or caught on something, but it would have made groaning noises.

"If your human say something, Or I will shoot" Liam warned.

"If I come out you'll shoot anyways" A deep voice replied.

I walked in front of Liam putting my hand over the top of his gun, pushing it down so it no longer pointed to where the mysterious stranger had been hiding.

"His gun is down,we promise not to hurt you" I pause "We have a group outside. A little girl. We're not monsters" I added.

Liam looked at me giving me a mad expression as he shook his head.

He whispered "What are you doing?"

"Trust me" I replied.

There was a lot of muffling noises, and it continued until the shadow of a man walked out the dark aisle, he had previously been hiding in. I couldn't make out his face, but that was only because power is no longer a thing in this world. His body was rather built, but not as built as Liam or Darrin, and he was at least 6 foot something. I wonder if he's-

"Alaska?" He breathed heavily.

"How?... How do you know my name?"

He took slow steps closer, the light of the sun illuminated his face, revealing his features.

A gasp escaped my mouth.

I thought everyone from my past would be dead. I mean by the looks of my hometown when we left, everyone should have either turned or be dead. How could he have made it this far?