To The Grave

Chapter 32. Winona. Day 147.

"Maybe because the world ended somewhere between Slater's birthday and now." Randall blew out smoke with the words he spoke.

"Birthdays aren't important anymore, Winona." My brother placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Then what is?" I grabbed my stuff, struggling to hold it all. It was unorganized in my arms and starting to slip. I stood in front of the door unable to peel my arm away fir a second to open to door.

Marty's voice laughed out, "You have too much stuff in your arms, huh."

The door opened, Ferris standing in the frame. I pushed past him into the hallway. "What'd you do?" He said to my brother as I walked away quickly.

I could feel tears starting to slip. My body collided with another, spilling my papers everywhere.

Kennon bent down, picking them all up. "What's wrong?" He whispered. "Here, leave these right here and follow me."

He climbed out of an open window, climbing onto the roof of the large lobby. I followed him, feeling his hands wrap around my waist to help me.

"Was this supposed to help?" I wiped my hand against my cheek, looking at the large brick wall.

"Turn around." Kennon's raspy voice whispered. I spun around on the gravel, looking at the ocean. "Pretty good, huh." He sat down, looking at the sunlight dancing across the water.

I sat down beside him, watching the waves lap against the sand. "So why are you crying?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Marty's an asshole." I pulled my knees close to my chest, trying to hold the urge to keep crying inside.

"Yeah, I can see it." He laughed. He pulled on the sleeve of his hoodie, slowly wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry." My head fell against his body. His fingers tangled through my hair, brushing it.

A loud slam pulled our attention to the building. "Probably someone dropping something." He moved to rub his hand across my back.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

He looked up, "I almost broke your arm and shot you in the face."

"But you didn't. You helped me find my brother." I whispered. "Thank you."

"Thank you for not killing you or driving down the right street at the right time?"

I shrugged. "Both I guess."

He nodded, smiling slightly. A loud crash came from the street below. I moved my hand to my mouth, jumping in my seat.

Kennon stood up, looking at the road. He jumped back, looking to me. "We should go inside." I stood up quickly, brushing the gravel off my legs. He grabbed my hand rushing to the spot we climbed down on.

Kennon's hands reached up to push the window open. It remained shut. He moved his legs, standing closer to the ledge, trying to force the window open. "Fuck." His body started to fall for the ledge. I wrapped my arms around him, yanking him back. He turned around quickly, looking at me as his chest shook as he gasped for air.

"It's locked." He forced the words out. "There's five corpses down there."

Glass shattered from the floor below us. A voice screamed. Her desperate cries for help were quickly cut short. Kennon's hand wrapped around my mouth holding back my screams.

Silence filled the warm air. I pulled Kennon's hand away, turning to look at him. "What do we do?"

He shrugged, grabbing the gun from his hoodie pocket. He moved back to the ledge near the window. His arm swung back, slamming the butt of the gun against the window. "I can't break it from here." He turned around looking at the rotters. "They're climbing through the window."

I sat down against the wall, my stomach turning inside me. Silence overwhelmed us for what seemed like hours. The sun had moved so it was hitting us harshly.

I moved so I facing the wall, my head against the hot brick. "What made you stop talking?" I asked despite the dryness in my mouth.

Kennon looked over to me, remaining silent. He looked back at the pile of rocks he'd made. His fingers grabbed another pile of rocks, placing the slightly larger ones into the pile and tossing the rest somewhere else in the mix.

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as the brick tore my skin.