The Enemy

➴Introduction➴

Chapter song// Alex Band - Only One

"When will we see the end? Of the days, we bleed for what we need"

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"Come play chess with me," Meghan handed me the small note with the words written on, then attempted to pull me away from the small wooden table in the tiny apartment where I was cleaning my gun and counting ammo. Meghan stopped talking a while ago, Lilly thinks it's because she's scared.

"I can't right now, Meggie, I need to do this," I gestured to the single bullets and minuscule parts that were splayed across the table.

"Please?" She silently pleaded, tugging at my sleeve.

"Fine," I carefully placed the half assembled gun on the table, hoping that it didn't all fall apart.
As always I let my niece win, if I didn't she's be pouting all day.

"You always give in," Tara joined me at the table when the games had finished, she began to clean her own gun.

"I'm a big softy, doesn't kill to have a heart you know, Tara," I returned my focus to making the small pieces fit together.

My head snapped up however, when Lily quickly pulled Meghan from the window, "Meghan, we don't ever go to the window, remember?" My older sister scolded her daughter.

Meghan ripped off a small piece of paper and handed it to lily, "but there was a man there," lily read out, "Meghan, just stay away from the window."

Once I had successfully built my gun again, I fist-bumped Tara from across the table, a wave of triumph fell around me

"Jules, go take dad his food would you?" Lily asked handing me a plate of rationed food, spaghetti hoops–same as yesterday. Dad had lung cancer and could do nothing more than sleep and eat, if we were attacked here then... I couldn't think like that. But no matter what, the thought always comes back to me.

"Hey dad," I set the tray of spaghetti hoops and bottled water down on his lap. I glanced at his oxygen tanks, they were almost out, he was running on dregs at this point. Not to be harsh but, non of us expected him to live as long as this, he's fought extremely hard to survive, but any day now he could just give up. Although, when dad dies I'll try to push for Washington again. At the start of the apocalypse, the authorities were telling people to go to the main cities, back then I wouldn't stop bugging Lilly about it, but dad was too sick to move him, and she said we'd die before we get there.

My head snapped up as Tara jumped from her seat and cocked her gun, moving towards the door. It squeaked open before revealing a man holding a torch. The man had a unkept, thick scraggly beard that made him look similar to a pirate, likewise he had an eyepatch covering one eye.
I left dad on his chair by the window and clicked the safety off moving forward and pointing the gun at the man's face, he didn't flinch. He didn't even acknowledge the fact I held him at gun point.
The man simply removed his gun belt and dropped it to the floor beside Tara's feet and placed the gun with it, all without speaking a word. She snatched it up and placed it on the table beside me, before quickly placing both hands back on the gun she held.

                              ***
We sat around the cramped table, and interrogated the stranger under candlelight. I no longer held my gun in his face but it was always within reaching distance.

"God, you look like shit," nobody spoke so I took it upon myself to start the conversation. Tara hid her smirk from beside me, while Lilly scolded me. Tara was more like me than Lilly was. Sometimes, our parents used to joke about us being like twins. Not only that, but I was much closer to Tara than Lilly, in this life Lilly acted more like a mother than a sister.