Final Hours

Chapter Nine

"Yes." I responded. He looked at me with a smile and sat forward closer to me. "We've been needing to make some supply runs, the house wasn't as full as we thought it was and with how many people we have...we're running low." He responded with a worried tone. "Oh..." I responded. "And you seem to have experience on those...and weapon experience." He said in a confident tone. "My brothers really the person you should talk to for this...he hunts with-...he hunted with his friends every year it's his specialty." I stuttered. "I know your brothers good with guns, he told me all these things." He responded. "I want to see what you're capable of, I won't let you get hurt and we'll get some supplies out of it." He started, "a couple cans of food, maybe some water." He finished. I stayed silent to my thoughts for a moment. "How...how long will we be gone." I questioned looking down at my hands. "Not long, it won't be dark yet...there's a town not more than ten minutes away your brother won't even be awake by the time we get back." He reassured me. I nodded and he led me back out to the foyer and through the front door. The smell of pure Georgian country air was soothing. It was a warm day, nothing I was new to. He walked me around to a section behind the house. There was a truck and a Jeep, almost identical to our old Jeep with a few modifications. "Pick a car, any car." He joked, I jumped into the seat of the Jeep and he laughed walking over to the driver's seat. "Of course you choose the Jeep." He smiled pulling car keys out of his pocket. He started the car and pulled out into the long stretch of green grass that led up to the plantation. "So, you from around here?" He asked as we finally exited the property and drove onto a road. "No...I'm from a couple hours back." I started. "Roswell, about a 30 minute drive from Atlanta where everything went to hell." I laughed. "What...happened to Atlanta?" He questioned looking over at me. "Oh...did they not broadcast it?" I asked, confused. "Apparently not." He responded looking back at the road. "They bombed the city...I watched it happen." I said looking over at him. He stopped the car in surprise and looked over at me. "They...what?" His eyes were wide and he was visibly shaken. "I don't know why...maybe it was overrun by walkers." I responded. "Why didn't they publicize it?" He questioned looking back at the empty road we were stopped on. "They wanted to cover it up." I whispered under my breath. "What?" He questioned. "They wanted to cover it up...they thought they could contain it, but it was long gone...the world was long gone." I responded looking at the road in front of me. He went quiet and pushed the pedal, he drove in silence the only sound was the rushing wind coming through the open windows. "I had family in Atlanta." He spoke, breaking the silence after fifteen or twenty minutes. He looked shaken up when I turned to face him. "My sister...she's-." His voice broke between words and he finally gave up. I placed a hand on his arm that was resting on the arm rest. He looked over at me and back at the road. "So...everything's gone?" He asked. He'd lost his tough, country boy persona. He was less rugged, less at arms, he looked more sad, in pain. I don't blame him, news like that could hurt anybody. "I don't know, Chris didn't let me finish watching." I responded pulling my hand back and placing it on my lap. We went back to silence as we drove on. It was only seconds but it felt like forever as we pulled into the town he was talking about. We stopped in front of a little convenience store. I climbed out quietly closing the door lightly behind me. I unclipped the opening of the sheath and pulled out the hunting knife. Eric seemed to toughen up a little more than he was earlier. He held a handgun pointed towards the door and pushed it open quietly. The room was dark but I could see mildly well through the light of the windows. We walked in and he followed me around pulling out a flashlight he had on his belt. I grabbed a basket I found on the ground and headed for the canned foods. "So is this all on me now?" I whispered, putting cans of food into the basket. "Pretty much." He whispered, shining the light in the cans in front of me. I grabbed cans of corn, beans, peas, Anything in front of me. I reached my hand back to the back of the shelf, I went through to the other side and I could see one last can of beans. That would be helpful, beans are protein and a little goes a long way. I pushed myself towards it, it would be easier than walking around and coming back while trying to be quiet. I'd nearly grabbed it when I knocked it off the shelf with the tip of my finger. "Damn it." I mumbled. "I'll go grab it." I whispered, pulling my arm back in as a hand grabbed it from the other side. A dry hand, a strong hand, a dead hand. I ripped and tugged at my arm as I fought it off. Eric grabbed my arm and ripped me backwards. We fell against the wall as the walker took the shelves down with him top pilling in front of us. It dropped down on Eric's ankle and he let out an agonizing yell. The disturbing noise of growling came from the back of the store as a group of them walked towards us. The one that grabbed me was stumbling over the shelving to us. I grabbed my knife that I had dropped and thrust it into his skull, it dropped like a brick. I looked up at the other walkers coming towards us. I whipped around and attempted to lift the heavy iron shelving. I could barely get it up a centimeter and the more I tried the more I was paining Eric. "I'm sorry." I said trying to make up for the pain I was causing. One of the walkers tripped over the shelving and fell in front of me, I hadn't noticed how close they got. I grabbed my knife and took care of it, but a knife wouldn't fix this. I whipped around and without thinking grabbed Eric's gun and began firing. When I came back to consciousness all of the walkers were sprawled on the ground. I'd done it, I used a handgun. I grabbed the bottom and pushed with every last ounce of power in my body and lifted the shelf off of his ankle. Eric pulled his foot back and scrambled up to his good foot leaning against the wall, I bent down and grabbed the food. "Let's go!" I yelled wrapping his arm around my shoulder and hurrying out the door. I hopped into the driver's seat as he jumped into the passenger seat. "You tell me where to go." I yelled pulling out of the parking lot and spinning the tires as we left the town. I dropped the food basket in Eric's laps as he instructed me down the backroads. I was still recovering from shooting the handgun, everything just felt fuzzy. How I managed to do what I did, I don't know. But it was really gonna come in handy if I could keep it up.