Surviving the S.T.R.I.P. (ON HOLD)

Chapter Seven

Brynn

I woke up to the sounds of Drew thudding sleepily around our tiny home. I groaned and wondered how Micah could still sleep through it. That kid snores like a monster. I tried to stuff my face in my thin pillow to block out the pale sunlight that shone in through a window directly onto my face. The pillow didn’t help.

I huffed and decided I may as well get up. But I couldn’t move. My limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each! My body had no energy left to help me move. I groaned and tried to turn my head so the sun would get out of my eyes. I tried to fall asleep again, but the curse of morning insomnia struck. No more sleep till tonight, no matter how tired I felt.

A quieted voice stole my attention. “How the… what happened?” Drew looked around, confused. A chilly morning breeze blew in through the smashed open window. I watched as Drew dug around in the cabinets, probably looking for food. My stomach grumbled at the thought of food.

Drew kept muttering to himself, too quiet for me to make out what he said. After a few minutes, he groaned, frustrated, and sat down in one of the small wooden chairs that sat around a small, circular table. He buried his face in his hands, and then continued on to finger through his hair in an attempt to make it look nice. He groaned again and banged a fist against the table.

“Drew, can’t you shut up for a minute? I’m trying to sleep! If you’re so hungry, go find food somewhere.” I was too tired and annoyed with him at that point to care about being nice. I don’t understand how morning people do it.

“Why don’t you do something helpful and not just lie around all day?”

“I can’t move, idiot.”

“You’re moving your mouth just fine,” he retorted. The room fell silent. Even Micah’s snoring stopped. Neither of us saw it coming.

“WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP ALL READY? Can’t anyone get any sleep around here? Get out of here and go get food and water before I come down there and kill you both!” I let out an angry sigh and tried once again to lift myself out of bed. Swinging my feet over the edge, I hoisted myself up. I screamed in pain as the blood of one of my barely closed wounds reopened and sent hot blood gushing down my arm.

“Brynn, shut up! You’re going to give us away!” Drew half whispered to me. I clenched my teeth together and resumed pulling myself out of bed and towards the door. I whimpered as more cuts reopened, but soon I stood and made my way over to the table. Drew and I nodded to each other and proceeded to make our way down the tree.

Once on the ground, we kept our talking to a minimum. Before we left, I made sure to grab my dagger and replace it back into my boot. Drew also took his spear and used it as a walking stick as we journeyed through the dense forest. I kept a look out for any wildlife, and much to my pleasure, good hunting spots were scattered in various places not too far from our house. But we could hunt later. Our biggest priority was water, at least for now.

Each of us had also taken the empty bottles to fill with water. For what seemed to be hours, we wandered around looking for a source, but we found not even any traces of a river or stream near. As the morning progressed, Drew and I talked a little bit more here and there, but not about anything important.

“Did you have any siblings growing up, or was it just you?” I asked.

“Nothing. Only child. Sometimes it sucked, like how my dad was a football coach and all, but generally, it wasn’t too bad. What about you?”

“A sister. I saw her yesterday. I miss her.”

“You were close then?” I nodded in reply. Silence fell between us once again. I found that I liked it better when he kept his mouth shut, even if we were talking about good things. It made the world more peaceful.