Searching For Home

Neighborhood Trek

Out of all the possible situations to be in, I should have realized that luck would not always be on our side, causing me to mentally curse at myself for not realizing that this would have happened eventually.

"What do we do?" I asked Gavin, turning to him just as Bella began running towards us again. It was obvious that our previous conversation was over and that we needed to make a decision fast.

"They sound near and they sound like there's a lot of them too." Gavin mused, his eyes watching as Bella made her way towards us, her hands clutching onto the straps of her backpack as she ran.

"But that's the street where we live." I pointed out.

Gavin thought for a while, biting on his lip as he thought. "I don't know if it's safe, Mars." He finally said after a while, bending down and motioning for Bella to climb onto his back once she was next to us.

"So we're just supposed to leave both of our families behind just like that?" I asked incredulously, looking down on him. The sounds of coughing seemed to be getting heavier and closer the more we stood there.

"I don't think any of us really want to do that, but it seems to be the safest option we have right now." Gavin argued, standing up straight once Bella was situated on his back. "Right now, my only priorities are to keep you and Bella safe."

"I could fend for myself, y'know..." I muttered underneath my breath.

"Don't you think I already know that? I saw you whack one of those...things earlier like it was nothing." Gavin sighed. "Look, it'll make me feel a lot better knowing you're with me than if you tried going back home." He admitted, looking off to the side.

Part of me wanted to ignore what Gavin had said, but deep down, I knew he was ultimately right. Just as he knew I could fend for myself, I knew he could fend for both himself and Bella and not break a sweat, but having him by my side would be a lot more comforting, especially since I still don't understand the depth of what's really going on.

"Okay." I said softly after a while, grabbing ahold of one of Gavin's arms. "But you're leading the way."

Gavin nodded firmly, hoisting Bella further up onto his back as he made a sharp turn, walking straight up to the driveway of the nearest house.

"Uh Gav, where are we going?" I asked, looking behind me after I thought I heard a cough close by.

"We need to travel in less populated areas so that we can guarantee less interactions with those things. I figured cutting through the houses would save us a lot of time." Gavin replied, trudging along.

"Okay, but we need to come up with a name for them eventually. Calling them 'those things' is going to get tiring after a while." I spoke, looking around as we walked through some stranger's backyard and into the one behind it.

"Why can't we just call them zombies? They act just like them." Bella mumbled from her spot on Gavin's back. I could feel Gavin's arm tense where I held onto him as we walked.

"They might be really similar, but giving power to a name isn't a good idea." Gavin replied, probably recalling some sort of mythology knowledge.

"What about stragglers?" Bella spoke again, turning her head sideways to look at me. "Y'know, because they straggled from the real world."

I gave her a small smile. "You know what, I like the sound of that." I said, trying to put a positive spin on things.

Nothing about the situation was positive, but I couldn't help but want to try to keep things positive for Bella's sake. While Gavin and I had agreed to be honest with Bella about what was really going on, it didn't mean we had to let her experience nothing but the grimness of it all.

Walking into the front yard of one house and crossing the street, I noticed a house with its garage door open. Squinting my eyes, I looked inside, spotting an aluminum baseball bat perched against the far wall, shining dimly in the setting sun.

Squeezing Gavin's arm lightly to grab his attention, I looked up at him. "There's a baseball bat over there." I stated, my eyes imploring.

"Mars, now's not the time to obsess over baseball." He groaned, flinching as he heard a phlegmy cough nearby.

I shook my head vigorously. "I'm not obsessing over baseball this time." I insisted, squeezing his arm again to stop him in his tracks, leaving us standing in the middle of the street. "You said earlier that we should have some form of self defense to protect ourselves, right? Who said a baseball bat couldn't be used as self defense?"

Gavin's eyes flitting around, seemingly scouting the area to make sure it was safe. "You have a point, but we have to be careful, okay?" He sighed, moving his arm as if to encourage me to lead the way.

Letting go of Gavin's arm once we were safely inside the garage, I reached for the baseball bat, my hands hovering just above it seconds before I could grasp it. 'This is wrong.' I thought. 'Stealing is wrong.'

Looking back, I noticed how Bella had her arms wrapped around Gavin's neck, her head resting carefully on his shoulders as she watched me.

Making a final decision, I turned back to the baseball bat and grabbed it, my fingers enveloping around the cool metal, squeezing the handle as if to get a feel for the weight of it. Swinging it around a bit, I looked back to Gavin, giving him a nod of approval.

Not saying a word in response, I grabbed onto Gavin's arm again, letting him lead us out of the garage once again. A million thoughts were going through my mind at once, but I decided to ignore then, pushing it to the back of my mind and instead focusing on walking.

Nearby, the sounds of coughing became louder and more apparent, the echoes of the hacking ringing throughout the neighborhood we we trying to escape. Daring to take a peek as we walked through another backyard, I looked behind me, immediately noticing the streets behind us were being filled with sickly people. 'Stragglers.' I reminded myself, whipping my head back around to focus on the path ahead of us.

"We need to move faster." I said, squeezing Gavin's arm to show that I was being serious.

Looking down at me, Gavin gave me a nod, adjust Bella on his back once again. "Up for a run?"

"You don't have to tell me twice." I replied, letting go of his arm as the two of us began to take off, my grip on the baseball bat becoming tighter as we ran.

To strangers, we probably looked as if we were on our way to play a game of manhunt in our school uniforms. I wish it were that simple.

"Wanna take turns carrying her?" I asked after a while, slightly out of breathe as I spoke. The number of house were beginning the dwindle down and I could make out the outline of the forested area of town that was less populated.

"Sure." Gavin stopped next to me, letting Bella climb off of his back and onto mine. Handing him my baseball bat, I adjusted Bella until she was comfortable.

"You ready?" I said, craning my neck as much as I could to get a glimpse of Bella.

"Mhm." She hummed, her small arms wrapping around my neck gingerly.

"Alright, then let's go." I said, the three of us taking off towards the forested area.