Surviving The Apocalypse *serious editing*

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I awoke with a crick in my neck from sleeping with my face pressed against the kitchen cabinets. Early morning sun was streaming in through the window, blinding me. I was still kneeling from the night before, Ryan in my lap. He was so pale it was unnatural. His purple lips were stretched in a grimace of pain. His bloody chest looked as if a vicious animal had torn him apart. He was still but his body was contorted as if he were writhing in agony.

I looked at the man who had killed Ryan for food. I knew the food situation was getting worse but I had no idea that it had gotten so bad that people were breaking in and murdering people for an extra meal. Was I any better? I had killed this man, sure it wasn't in cold blood like he did to Ryan but I had taken the life of this man. I should have gone and gotten help.

Disgusted with myself, I got up. My legs were stiff from kneeling on them all night and didn't want to hold my weight. The metallic smell of blood was beginning to give me a headache so I quickly retreated from the kitchen.

I still need to get out of town. Bill has had all night to organize his minions and if he really wanted to take over the town he would probably send them out to hunt down anyone who wouldn't bend the knee to Bill. But before I could high-tail it out of two I needed to change, I would not go around with blood stained jeans. I rushed up stairs to Ryan's mom's room. Ryan's mom or dad haven't been home since I got here last night so I assumed that they must have been killed in the attack yesterday too. The thought saddened me but I couldn't focus on that now. If I thought about all the people who've died over the last month I would drive myself crazy.

 I raided Ryan's parent's closet and found his mom's pants drawers. We were about the same size and I was sure that I could find a pair of her old jeans that I could wear. I found a pain of old jeans Ryan's mom would wear when she gardened, they had terminate grass stains and patches over the knees. They were a bit long but the waist fit perfectly.

I stripped quickly and pulled on the fresh pair of pants. They were soft from use and made of thicker denim than what I was used to. They had huge pockets that went to my mid-thigh when I put my hands in them. 

I was ready to leave but a little voice in the back of my head was nagging me, telling me I was missing something. I took inventory and laid out all my supplies. I added Ryan's food to my stash of food, and had enough food to last a few weeks maybe more if I rationed. I had five water bottles. Not a lot, but waters heavy so hopefully I'll find more, maybe a stream or something. I had a small can of petals for my gun, not a lot of ammunition but I wasn't planning on shooting anything andy time soon.  As all my materials laid out before me I realized I missed two things that I had over looked when packing my bag the first time. I quickly ran into the next room to get of of the things and then down stairs for the second thing. A match book, and one roll of toilet paper. I wasn't planning on making a fire every night, it's practically a neon sign signaling to anyone around "HERE I AM. COME HURT ME." However matches could come in handy at times. The toilet paper was pretty self explanatory.

I quickly packed up. Anything small like the match book, compass, map, and ammo I put in my pockets for easy access if I needed it.  I sheathed my knife at my hip and put the rest of my materials in my backpack, making sure food was at the bottom.

It was now early June and the days were much warmer. I was wearing a tee shirt and wrapped my jacket around my shoulders. The jacket added an extra layer of cushion against the heavy straps of my back back. I needed to stay off the main roads, if Bill's minions spotted me before I even got out of town things would get ugly. So instead of taking the roads I went through people's backyards. Most people had decided to move into houses closer to the center of town and share a house with another family, so it was safe to say that as I got farther from the center of town it would be less likely that anyone would see me running thought their yard.