Aftermath

1

     "There's a storm coming." I muttered to myself, but Amelia heard me.

     "How'd you know?" she asked curiously looking up at the sky confused.

      "Because its cloudy and getting cold." I explained to her. She nodded looking up at the clouds again. Winter was coming sooner than I had anticipated and it was getting harder to find places to stay that would keep us warm. The last three houses we came across already had someone living in them and it's safe to say they were less then friendly towards us.  Subconsciously, I clutched my side where the last survivor that we came across had slashed me.

      A few nights ago when we came across one of the many abandon houses that survived the government bombings I did not do well at clearing the house fully. Amelia was already sleeping in my arms so I decided to spend the night in the house and move on in the morning. I checked the house for any signs of survivors or changed, but didn't find any on the ground floor. I was so tired that I didn't bother checking the top floor since I hadn't heard any movement. I cuddled up with Amelia on the old, dusty, couch in the living room and quickly fell asleep.

      I was brutally awoken when I was shoved off the couch. My first instinct was to look for Amelia, but when I didn't find her I looked up at my attacker.  He stood behind the couch with a devilish smirk on his face. In front of him he had Amelia sat on the back of the couch with a knife against her neck and  a gun pointed at me in his other hand. Amelia was shaking as terrified tears ran down her cheeks and it caused my heart to plummet into my stomach.

     "Look what we have here. Two pretty birdies come to pay me a visit."

     "Please, Sir, we were just passing through. Just let her go and we will be on our way."

     "But why don't you stay? I don't bite... unless you want me to," he said smirking suggestively.  I laughed uncomfortably. Before I could fully register what I was doing I ran forward and leapt at the man knocking both him and Amelia backwards, but luckily Amelia fell away from me and the man so she could get up and run.

     "You little, bitch." The man growled underneath me. I punched him before clumsily scrambling to my feet to retrieve the gun that had slid across the room. Unfortunately, in my attempt to escape him he brought his knife up and cut me. Adrenaline was on my side though so I hadn't acknowledged it until after I shot the man in the head.

     "Elsa," Amelia called pulling me from my dark thoughts.

     "Yes, Em?" I asked looking down at her as we walked.

      "Are we done walking yet? My feet hurt." She whined. I leaned down and scooped her up in my arms. Even though my wound burned every time I picked her up and carried her I had to push through or we would never get anywhere. Her little legs could only withstand so much before they grew tired.

      "Almost Sweetheart." I lied. I had no idea where or when we were going to be able to stop for the night. The only thing I knew was that we needed to head south before the snow came or we wouldn't make it through winter.