Apocalyptic Me

1.15 Reunion

I walk across the room to look outside. I slept really well last night considering that we got "robbed". I woke up alone. Ilse told me last night she'd go out early, but I'm worried about her. I sit down on the couch and try to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do in here all day long. I walk around in the room for a bit, walking is the key to recovery, right? I try reading some comics, but they get boring after you've read all of them twice already. I look outside into the garden. I try to imagine what it must've looked like 6 years ago. The swing probably wasn't broken, the cabin didn't have a broken roof. The grass must've been shorter and the trees... they have something nice about them. They have way more leaves and they just look healthier. Maybe it's the soil here. I try to remember what my garden looked like. It was green, my mom loved gardening. I wonder what it must look like right now. Probably worse, since we have a lot more plants. I turn around and walk to the kitchen. I look through the cabin eventhough we looked through them 3 times already. As I close a cabin I hear the front door open. I smile, "Finally, this boredom is killing me!" I wait for Ilse to reply, but it stays silent, "Ilse?" I grab a knife laying on the kitchen table and slowely walk to the front door. I try to be as quiet as I can be. I can feel my heart pounding. But then when I'm at the front door I see nobody, but the door is open. I turn around and I look straight into the barrel of a gun. I look who's holding the gun, I don't recognise him, "W-what do you want from us, we have food." His look is severe, "I don't want any of your supplies. I've come to warn you and your friend." I look at his face, his face is unclear because of his hoodie, but I can see a scar, it starts somewhere in the dark and goes down his eye and all the way to his cheek, "I've been watching the two of you and I know you're both looking for a place to stay and that you're good people. I know a place but I won't go with you, I'll give you a map with the location." He put's his gun back in his holster and grabs something out of his backpack, a map, "Here, this'll lead you there, they don't welcome everyone anymore, tell them Julian send you." I take the map and look at it, it's not that far, maybe half a day walk, maybe more because of my leg. "You have to hurry, because before I spotted you, there were some people I was spying on to look if they were good people, they seemed fine at first. But then someone stole canned food for his wife and baby. They burned him alive right after they killed his wife and baby." I look back at the map and as I look back up to thank him, he's already gone. I close the door and walk to the kitchen table. I put down the map and realize the camp is some sort of mansion, at least it was befoure the dead started walking. I hear the front door open again and I hold the knife tightly. Ilse walks in and throws her bag on the ground, "I've looked through ten houses, ten! And I found nothing!" She looks at me and sees the map, "Where did you find that?" I look at the map, "I... I found it, we must've missed it, was laying around in the attic." She looks at the map as she points at the red circle, "What do you think is there? A treasure?" I point at the letters in the top left corner as I turn the map around so she can read it, "Ellemeet Mansion." I points at another red circle, "We're here. It should be a day's walk from here." She smiles, "What do you think it is? I hope it's a community with nice people who can take us in. I know it won't last, but I'm tired of running. Maybe I'll feel safe again. Besides, if it's already gone, there should be at least a few supplies left." I nod, "I hope they'll take us in." We put the map in my bag and we start walking. I try to look out for those people Julian told me about. I look at the trees and realize that it's already getting dark, so we must be walking for at least five hours. I turn to Ilse, "It's getting dark, we should look for a place to stay." She nods and we continue walking. A little while back I found a tree branch and I use it as a crutch. After a little while we find an old cabin. Ilse knocks on the door, we don't hear anything. She opens the door and walks in. After a little while I see her coming back, but before she can say anything an arrow lands in a tree next to me. I look at it, they missed. But then I realize it has something attached to it. I look closely but then I hear a bang and I fall to the ground. I hear Ilse scream, well, I think it's Ilse. I see everything blurry and I hear this extremely high and loud beep. I try to focus as I see someone running towards me. But as I see they're holding a gun, I crawl back wards as fast as I can. But I'm too slow and I feel the gun hit me against the side of my head. Everything get's black. I see flashes of a car and a few people I don't recognise, I hear names such as, Bob, Carol, Han, Janice and many more. I feel terrible and my head hurts, I open my eyes and look around me for Ilse, but all can see is the inside of an RV. I try to open the door, but it's locked. I sit down on a chair and think, I need to escape. I get up and try to smash the window, when suddenly the door opens and a girl walks in, early twenties, "Hi there, jow are you?" I ignore her question and sit back down. "My name is Janice, why don't we start with you twlling me your name?"