zombieland ↬ l.hemmings

[10]

[chapter ten]

"How long were y'all out there alone for?"

"Don't know. Weeks, maybe months."

"How did y'all survive without weapons?"

"We improvised."

"Define improvised?"

"Using anything worthy of our defence."

"And food?"

"We only stopped for that when we needed it."

"Are there others? Were you both always alone?"

"We had a group. Including ourselves, there was six and a baby."

"What happened to them?"

"Never got the chance to find out. We found our temporary stay burnt to a crisp, with no signs of inhabitants. Ashton 'ere decided we weren't going to sit around waiting for them to magically appear so we fueled the truck up and loaded it with supplies before we set off for Queensland in hopes of finding somewhere safe to... I guess... Settle down. Sadly, we were jumped along the way and left with nothing. We pretty much gave up after that and hiked the rest of the way."

I turned to face Ashton who hadn't uttered a word the entire time. He was sat beside me on the ratty lounge, a sad smile playing along his plump lips. I sighed before turning back to Antonella who stood on the other side of the room with her arms crossed over her chest. I was so thankful she had saved us when she did and took us back to this place; the left overs of an insane asylum from what I gathered. She was like some sort of hero.

"How'd you find this place?"

"Just sort of... stumbled across it, I guess."

"Do you plan on staying? I'm willing to let y'all."

"Well... Yeah. If that's okay."

"It's more than okay. I don't want to be alone anymore."

"How are you on supplies and weapons?"

"Got enough food to feed Africa and enough weapons to fuel an army."

"I saw that you've cleared this section out... Are there any others?"

"Many. But I'm one person, I don't think I could do it myself."

"Ash and I will help. I think if we put enough effort in, we could create a safe haven for us and more. We could find anyone living and take them in; build a Sanctuary for those who have survived. But we have to be careful. Most people that are still alive don't give a shit about others and are too greedy to carem so we'll have to inspect them or something."

"It'll take time but I'm up for it."

"Ashton?"

"Yeah. We could use as much people as we can get."

-

An hour had passed and we cleared the entire top floor of block A, the bottom being the only area that Antonella had cleared. We were about to move onto the next block; block B, when I noticed Ashton was no longer standing by my side like he had been. He was now standing at the other end of the hall, staring out the smashed-glass window with his arms crossed over his chest.

"One second," I told Antonella and she nodded. I jogged over to the curly haired boy and stopped about a meter behind him. "Ashton? Are you alright?" I questioned but he didn't reply, instead, he turned to face me and I gasped. He was crying. His eyes were red, tears rolling down his cheeks at a fast pace. He opened his mouth to speak but instead, whimpered. "Come 'ere," I cooed, bringing him in for a hug.