Them and Us

eight

Three days later, everyone's phone died including Faye's which has been in kept in Bob's back pocket the whole time since the earthquake. Since they didn't have any accessible chargers, they aimed to go to Hector's Multipurpose Superstore today as they already wasted time not going for the last forty-eight hours.

"Wait, how can we even steal anything from any store now that we're under twenty-four hour surveillance?" Faye questioned.

"It's not like anyone's really going to follow those rules. If we're under quarantine, they wouldn't risk coming inside and taking us away." Christian interjected. "How else are we supposed to survive?" He gave her a dirty look.

"Now now, if you guys don't stop what you're about to start, I'm going to kick you both out of the car." Bob told them off.

They all knew he wouldn't actually do that. After the past few days, one thing had been made clear; they were all sticking together until everything was over. Until they were safe.

"At least I can get away from her if I was out the car." Christian mumbled.

"What was that?" Bob nudged.

"Nothing!"

The reason why they didn't go to Hector's after being so eager to go, is because they had been on the search for Jesse. It first started with Jesse missing from Otis' which was unexpected because they didn't think he'd stray from his own father's shop. They then dedicated the whole day trying to look for him as Christoph insisted. They didn't find him but they found evidence of other survivors lurking around. They saw a campfire on the side of town and a few bodies here and there.

The next day, they camped in Bob's homeless shelter again since they were tired from the search. Bob's shelter became their safe point. It was a place they only knew and it was big enough for all of them to live in for now.

The four (and Silas of course) exited the car and paused to look at the store. It was as big as a warehouse, so wide they had to step back a bit to see the whole thing. They could already tell people were inside as they heard a couple of voices, and then something crash.

They tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Bob and Christoph did their usual ramming-in-the-door technique but they still couldn't get in. They realised that the door must have been locked since they didn't see any damage in the building itself. Bob told the kids to 'wait here' as he went to retrieve something from the car. He came back with a crowbar.

"Woah! Bob, is that the same crowbar you hit Jesse with?" Christoph queried.

"Yeah, I picked it up when we went back to find him. I thought it would be handy. Plus, I needed a weapon for protection."

Bob put as much pressure as he could on the side of the door and just like that, it popped open.

Rushing in, they were shocked to see that no one was actually inside. They searched the place, each attentive to their surroundings. All of them had a list of things to get, which included the chargers for their phones. They had made a list split between the four of them yesterday that they thought would be necessary for their survival.

As Aberfaye carefully walked through tall isles, she quickly gathered the items she needed and stuffed them in her duffel bag. Not looking where she was going, Faye bumped into someone.

A little girl who looked about thirteen years old, was sat on the floor and bit her lip as she stared up at Faye like a deer caught in the headlights.

-

"Are we there yet?"

Jesse glanced at her little sister in annoyance. "We're here."

"Really?" She turned to look at him.

"Nope." He said bluntly and put his focus back on the road.

"Why didn't we use your motorcycle?"

"We need an engine that's less...loud. You don't know how many people could be going out savagely killing people."

"But didn't the message tell people to keep following the laws?"

"That's not how the world works Josefina. Being stuck in a town you can't leave for who knows how long could make people finish their bucket list earlier than expected."

He saw her sister hunch her shoulders in exhaustion through his peripheral vision. He sighed, "Come here." He held his right arm out to hug her.

"Eugh, get off me." Jesse chuckled at her disgust.

"You love me," he teased. "I promise as soon as we get the supplies we can practice shooting."

She smiled as she leant her head back onto the window. "Spud me."

Once they arrived at Hector's Multipurpose Superstore they locked the back and front door to prevent people from getting in with a key they obtained behind a counter near the entrance.

This was their territory now for the day.

After putting the stuff they needed in a pile they started to wander around.

"Tag! You're it!" Jesse yelled as he ran past his sister.

"It's so on." Josefina challenged as she took off her leather jacket and began to run off after her brother.

Not long after, they ended up knocking down a whole wall of shelves down at the back of the store.

"Oh shit." They synchronised.

The siblings broke out in laughter.

Jesse soon turned serious and turned to look at his fourteen year old sister. He couldn't believe that he had to take care of her. He swore to himself and to his father, Otis, that if anything happened to him Jesse would look after his sister.

"We should stay here for the night." Jesse said. "It's safest here."

"Okay, but can we keep playing, it's been age since you've had time to play with me." Josefina whined.

"Fine." Jesse rolled his eyes. The mirth had returned, he covered his eyes and started counting. "10, 9, 8..."

Josefina started to run in the opposite direction. She turned back to see Jesse's eyes still covered and when she looked forward again, at that exact moment, she ran into something.

She almost started to scream for Jesse to come and help her but then she noticed it was a normal girl that looked a few years older that her.

"Why's your hair pink?" Josefina asked rudely. "My brother mentioned something about a pink haired girl showing up at our dad's repair place."