50 Miles

Chapter 1

"Come on Thomas," I say pleading with him. "Don't make me go." He doesn't say anything. Jeez. Why won't he hear me out? I want him to understand. For his sake and mine. "We've made it this far. We don't need anyone but ourselves." He takes out the cloth for his finger and wraps it while he rubs snow against his knee. I lean back against the stone wall behind me. "We just have to get up to Hollow Hill and then we'll . . . we'll make do. The plan hasn't changed." He continues to wrap his finger. He shivers from the snow on his knee.

"Hand me those bandages in the med kit."

"Oh, so you can only answer me when it's not about the safe haven, which by the way, was your idea in the first place."

"That was before I saw how bad things have gotten with the government." Thrusting the med kit at him, I pull out my bow and refill the arrows. Deer. I spot a majestic one kicking at the frozen water. I line up the bow. But I can't get a clear shot. It's too fast for me. So I don't try to aim for the head.

"Hey, are you gonna help me with this?" I aim and fire only at the leg of the deer. It jumps up in pain. "I know little guy. I'm sorry, but we're running low on food." It starts running even faster in circles so I get Thomas. "Hey, can you give me a hand with this? I found our dinner. Hopefully, it'll last for a few weeks. Maybe even for a month if we ration."

"Okay, just give me a second." He finishes wrapping himself up and I give him my bow and arrows. He's a better shot than me, but I'm better at stealth. Mostly because I'm fourteen and lighter so I walk quieter. 

He lines up the bow with the deer who's still spazzing out and bleeding and shoots it straight in the head. "There. Now we need to get out of this area. They're still after us." He ducks behind an abandoned bus. I follow him and we make our way to an abandoned cabin. "Do you think that people were happy before this all started?" I pick up some gun ammo behind the front door and split it with him. "I know I was at least." I look up. He knows what happened to Sarah wasn't his fault. It wasn't. But I think he still blames himself. For something, she chose to do. "I'll check the living room, you take the bedrooms," he said with a look of pain.

"You know it wasn't your fault. Sarah-"

"Sarah died because I made a bad call. I'm the one that messed up. That's my burden to bear, not yours. So please, can you just check the bedrooms?" He doesn't look at me when he says this, just starts reloading his shotgun. "Anybody would have made the choice you made. You can't-"

"Alex."

He finally looks at me.I wish he hadn't. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just thought you should . . . never mind. I'll go check the bedrooms. Check the kitchen to see if there's any leftover food." He looks back to his ammo and sighs. "Sure thing." I take my pistol out and survey the area. For all I know, there could be military spies. 

You can never be too cautious. Especially in a world like this.

I go to the closest bedroom which has the most pink I've ever seen in my life. I rummage through the drawers but only manage to find a pair of red child's safety scissors and some matches. I take the matches and the scissors because I'll never know if I need to stab someone in the eye if my weapons are gone. I'm surprised that someone didn't take the blankets off of the smelly cabin bed. Most people are sleeping out in the rain with no roof over their heads. I stuff the items in my backpack and head to the kitchen where I find Thomas. "Did you find any food?"

"If we did, we would be luckier than Jesus himself. This means that the place has been ransacked and that it's probably those military officers. We need to get out of here quickly."

"Are you sure they're still following us? I mean I'm sure someone had to have stolen from those people before. Right?" I look over at him, finding some almost empty medicine. He takes it anyway.He lifts an eyebrow. 

"And do you think they survived?"Point taken.

"Yes, to answer your question, I do think they'll follow us. Ever since our new and problematic lives, the military has enforced 12 years ago about the food, people have been looting anything in sight. Deodorant, hair cream, even sticks of gum. So if someone was to take something that they have, even something as simple as a packet of Kool-Aid, they will come after the thief."

"Aren't we all thieves?"

"Yeah."I pause, slightly unsure."Thomas?"

"Yeah?" He finally stops what he's doing when he hears my serious tone and looks at me. 

"What if I get taken by the military and experimented on?"

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"But what if-"

"You can't say things like that," he says pulling me into his arms. "Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm not letting them take you. If we ever somehow into a situation and I can't protect you, I want you to run away and I don't want you to come back. I'll let them take me instead."

"That'll never work," I sigh, packing the items in my backpack. I try not to ball up my fists. "You're turning 20 soon.""I know but if that time comes before my birthday-"

"STOP!" I yell, throwing my bag across the bedroom with the broken closet door.

I can't talk about this. I won't.

"The plan hasn't changed and we are going to that safe haven. Both of us. I don't need that dumb self-defense class because I won't be getting into any confrontations. I'll rely on my stealth like you taught me."

"Sometimes you don't choose who you avoid and who you don't. And besides, the place we're going-"

"The place we're going to is called Hollow Hill."

"The place we're going," he starts in a tone that I'd rather not repeat. "Also teaches you things like how to make a fire-"

"You can teach me that."

"But also things that I can't teach you like how to make a disguise." He folds his arms. He knows he's right. 

Maybe even I know it.

I fold my arms. "How long is the class," I mumble.

"Just for the weekend. I'll come and get you-"

"You're leaving me overnight with random people? They could be spies working for the military. Don't you get it, this is a trap!"

"I could say the same that supposed safe haven!" He yells and throws his hands up in frustration. "What happens when we get there Alex, and we traveled 50 miles for nothing."

"48 miles," I mumble."Alex," he says in a warning tone. "Just please trust me and drop it."

"Why? We were going to Hollow Hill until you heard on our radio that the survivors were making a camp for the younger generation's sake." He crosses his arms. "It's just for the weekend. Please. I checked it out with my trading buddies, they say it's legit."

"Promise?"

"Promise." I let out some air. I'm not happy with this at all. "Fine, I'll go." He lifts me in the air and spins me like how our mom used to. I try to stay mad but I can't. I laugh with glee. I missed this.

"Love you," I say when he puts me down. I hug him again.

"You too. Mom would be proud of you."

And that's when I hear shouting.

And gunshots.