Still Not Bitten.

[2] Goodbye To A Not-So-Home.

Frantically, Damien pulled Ashton and Georgia towards him, me following behind, as we stood in the hallway. Collectively, all our hearts and thoughts were racing, as we began to hear multiple heavy footsteps emerging from downstairs. He looked up, towards the attic, but Ashton was already heading for the window at the end of the hall. And, as usual, Georgia stood in the middle, her legs shaking and her eyes darting between each of the boys. In my own panic, I grabbed her and pushed in Ashton's direction, granting a look from Damien.

Quickly, I followed after him, he opened the attic, determined to save at least some supplies. I knew exactly what he was doing - I guess he was predictable sometimes - which is why I followed him. Luckily, he was able to pry open the attic roof, climbing up quickly, and just before I followed after, I saw Ashton helping Georgia out the window. We had a rendezvous if this ever happened and we'd meet up there. Well, hopefully anyway. We got to the attic and closed the hatch, and stayed quiet, as we heard the footsteps start to come closer. Damien gently tapped my shoulder, odd for this tense moment, and signaled for me to hand my backpack over to him. Quietly, I complied, and watched the hatch, trying to listen for anyone approaching, and stay calm. I couldn't tell what he was packing, but I trusted his judgment. We didn't have much anyway, so a couple of cans of food and water would probably be the best things to go for. But, of course, he aimed a little closer to the sun. He went towards our little 'weapon corner' and grabbed two bats, one of which had a few bent nails in it, which Ashton had tried to make 'better' because he saw it on TV. Nevertheless, we'd need them to help us if we got into a fight. Of course, a third bat fell onto the hardwood floor. The sound of wood connecting to wood echoed in our ears. And for a moment, the footsteps under us became deathly silent.

As quickly as they had stopped, we heard them increase again. Faster this time, more frantic. They began trying to bang open the attic door, and at this point, I couldn't tell how many of them there were. Over ten, for sure, but maybe that was my imagination? They were probably one of those bigger gangs - the ones we usually wouldn't talk to, all of us except Ashton. I had kind of pieced it together though, why they came here, especially to a group so small, which would have little to no supplies. I guess everything is valuable now. My headshot towards Damien, who looked at me with slight panic in his eyes, looking as if he was about to break, but he quickly shook it off. He did the best he could and stood straight, throwing the nailed bat at me, which I barely caught. We ran towards the window we had covered up and started to tear down the wood, our hands started to bruise and bleed slightly. Nothing that would hinder us though. Although, since it had been nailed on, it was hard to pull. By the time we had the first board off, they had burst open the hatch and started crawling in, trapping us in the attic, the only place we had called home.

"Give us what you have and we won't hurt you, make this easy for us!" One of them said, through their very dirty looking balaclava. 

These looters and gangs wore very weird clothes. Usually dark jackets, with balaclavas and masks. Some had no masks, and some wore completely different outfits. I guess they just had to go with what they could find, not much different from us really. A gang like that, you would assume they would have some form of 'dress code'. Aside from that, three emerged out of the hatch and looked at us, content with our position of vulnerability. One had a knife in hand, which looked rusty... and used. The others had nothing, or at least, nothing visible. I knew they always had backup, so we were defiantly outmanned. Damien pushed me behind him slightly, trying to protect me, which I gave a small smile at, but it was quickly washed away when looking back at the looters. We held the bats in hand and looked at them. We didn't have any choice but to fight our way out or hope Ashton and Georgia would come to help us.
In the heat of the moment, Damien threw his bat at the man who spoke, the bat crashing into him with a loud thud, causing him to fall back, straight through the hatch and onto the second floor. If not for the tense situation, I'd probably let out a chuckle. We heard the crash as he connected with the floor, followed by groans of pain and some other men going to assist him. One of his men that was stood next to him attempted to catch him but missed, and instead ran directly towards us. Damien moved out of his way, and I pulled my bat up and used all my strength to hit him in the head, a horrible sound being produced by my action. The nails inside the bat hit his head and I couldn't bear to look as he hit the wall and began sliding down it, blood marking the wall in a terrifying streak. Damien quickly kicked in the last board of the window and used said board to smash through it. In the distance, I could see Georgia and Ashton running. I hoped we could catch up with them, and that they would be safe. I wasn't sure how Damien planned to get us both out of a three-story window, but, like always, I trusted him. Almost instantly, Damien climbed out the window, as I watched, making sure to remember every move, after all, how hard can I be?