Surviving

Chapter 10

We had been hiding in the cabin for three months, with nobody allowed to leave except for dad when he went for supply runs. It was maddening, sitting in the cabin all day for days on end. After about a month, the power and internet had cut off, putting us back in the Stone Age. All we had was propane to cook with.

I opened the pantry with plans of making dinner to find three meager cans of pineapple. Yuck. I walked over to dad's room.

"Dad!" I knocked loudly on his door. "We're out of food!" I heard footsteps, and the door swung open.

"I thought we still had something." He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Three cans of pineapple. Which, unlike y'all, I hate." I frowned, crossing my arms.

"Let's go. You're gonna help me get supplies this time." He smiled.

"What? I thought I wasn't supposed to leave. And what about Billy?"

"It'll be fine," he said, ruffling my hair, which was the same shade of blonde as his. "Anyways, it's time you learned what it's like out there."

I ran upstairs as dad was putting stuff together, finding Billy playing with his race cars.

"Hey," I said, causing him to look up. "Dad and I are gonna go out for a bit. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. I can play race cars all over the house!" he cheered.

"I guess so. But, you can't open the door for anyone or go outside, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." He appeared almost giddy, and I couldn't help smiling.

I descended the stairs to find dad waiting, with his cap on, as usual these days. He handed me a black backpack and turned around without saying a word. I king it over my shoulder and followed him out the door.

"Dad, you gonna tell me the plan?" I asked.

"We're going into town, getting food, a gun, and some ammo, and then high tailing it back here." He started down the sloping road.

"You mean we're breaking into at least two shops?" I jogged to catch up with him.

"Yeah, and keep your voice down. We don't want to attract anything's attention."

"We are going to break into people's property? Don't you think somebody's gonna be angry when they turn the corner and see us in their shop?"

"Fine, we'll knock first. But, I guarantee you they'll be dead. Or a zombie, though those are almost the same thing."

"Dad!"

"Fine, fine!"

                                  •••

We reached town by mid afternoon. There were several zombies, but dad took them all out. I hadn't had to pull out my dagger once, but noted that he stabbed them all in the head.

We arrived at the gun shop first, and I went up to the door and knocked. After a second time with no knock, dad smashed the window next to the door, opening it from the inside.

He grabbed several boxes of ammunition, stuffing them into his bag. Then, he smashed open a display case and took out a shiny black handgun, putting it with the ammo.

"Let's go," he said, and with that we left the store.

Within five minutes of walking we arrived at the grocery store. It appeared as if we weren't the first to break in.

We went straight to the canned foods, filling up my backpack. I put it on quickly, and the sudden weight almost made me fall.

After loading some canned goods into his own pack, dad said, "I have enough room to fit in some bottled water." We made our way to that isle. I helped him to fill his back pack the rest of the way, and we left the store without another word.

It was dark outside, with only a bit of light from the setting sun. The sky was a light shade of purple, and looked magnificent besides the deadly circumstances of the rest of nature.

                                  •••

We were about halfway up the mountain when we heard the familiar growl of zombies. I looked at dad, eyes wide with fear the sound was much louder than usual, and it was getting close. Dad pushes me towards the woods, and we tried to conceal ourselves within the trees.

There were about ten zombies, all coming towards us. Quickly.

"GO!" dad shouted, pushing me towards the trees. I ran and found one thick enough for me to climb. I dropped my backpack at the base of the tree and climbed, stopping high enough that I was out of reach but could still easily get down.

Upon looking down, I saw dad had not followed. He was right where he had been before, trying to fight off the zombies. He took one down, but this left him off guard to another, which was on top of him, knocking him over. The rest descended on top of him, not giving him a chance.

"NO!" I shrieked. "DAD!"