Apocalypse Dreams

Out of Time

"You alright there?" Jack asked while drinking a cup of tea.

"I'm okay," I replied while holding onto my right side and exiting the hallway to come to the living room side of the house. On the left of me was the kitchen, which was empty. Everyone was apparently asleep at this time of day, which was strange. "Just a little sore. What time is it?"

"Had a good night's sleep?" Jack asked from a sofa across from me. "Clock in my room said two o'clock... but that was a while back."

"Yeah," I said while yawning. As I yawned, I froze halfway with my hand in the air when I felt a sharp pain on my right rib. "Ah," I moaned under my breath.

"One hell of a sore you got there," Jack said while staring at me.

"Sure is," I replied silently. "Do you have any pain relievers with you?"

"Listen," Jack said while getting up from his seat and approaching the kitchen. "I trust you and you are like a brother to me." He took out a couple of pain reliever pills from a bag, which sat on a counter by the sink.

"Yes, of course," I responded.

"Do you think Cady's a danger to the group?" Jack asked while handing me two pills.

"Well... I don't really know," I said as I swallowed the pills without any water. "Seems nice."

"Yeah, well... you never really know a person," Jack stoically said while playing with his cup and making his way to the sofa across from me. He now sat on a sofa in the living room with his right leg over the left and stared at me intensely.

"Guess you don't," I replied.

"I hope you try and work with me to make sure Red is safe," Jack began. "He is naive. He doesn't know what he's doing... and Cady is just too dumb to know it."

"Know what?" Cady asked seriously while making her way to the kitchen and grabbing some juice.

"Red's an idiot," Jack responded with a slight laugh. "He doesn't know what's best for him or the group."

"Well, you should stop controlling him," Cady fired back. "We're planning on leaving this place soon."

"Are you now?" Jack interrogated.

"Paul's coming with us," she added.

I looked back at Jack's surprised, but stern look and said, "I don't really know."

"Why don't we all leave together?" Jack asked with a curious look on his face.

"Red wants to be away from the group," she said. "Away from you."

"Where are you going to go?" Jack asked while laughing. "There's nothing but these creatures and grass everywhere."

"We'll find a place," Cady replied while pouring some orange juice into a glass.

Suddenly, a loud banging noise at the front gate caught us by surprise. Jack quickly got his pistol out and began making his way to the front, while Cady did the same. She took out a small pocket knife from her sock and began to follow closely behind Jack.

"Help!!" a womanly voice cried out from across the fence. "Is anyone there?! There is a child that's hurt!"

Jack slowly uncovered part of a silk curtain from the front window to stare at a woman who held a child. The child looked like he was maybe about fifteen years old. The child also had blood coming out of his stomach and he whimpered in the woman's arms as she got blood all over her purple colored shirt and her dirty blonde colored hair.