Snippet #2365374

Was that a gas station up ahead?

Yes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of driving along the abandoned roads of Malibu, Kim had found an old-looking gas station a couple of feet in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief, as she had cruised slowly on the motorcycle for the past hour in order to conserve gas. She would watch painfully as the needle would plunge down quicker and quicker until it could just reach the letter 'E'. Now she could wipe the sweat off her brow, and rest easy knowing that she could refuel her bike. That was, if there was still any gas left.

Fortunately, there was. She had never refueled a motorcycle before, but it was similar to filling up a car with gas, and so she had no trouble at the pump. Finally, a time when she didn't have to worry about gas prices. As she stuck the the nozzle back on to the fuel pump, she flicked her blue eyes from side to side, scanning another "dead" part of Malibu. Weeds started to peak their heads out of the pavement cracks, and only after a month, the convenient store in front of her looked rusty and old. Either this place had been abandoned long before the outbreak, or Kim was living in some sort of dystopian future movie. Possibly even both. Never mind that, the important thing right now was to figure out where she was going, and even more importantly, how to not get herself killed. Although it was tempting, she decided not to approach the convenient store. Not only did it look like it would fall to the ground if she entered it, but there was no telling what lurked inside. Maybe she would look later for supplies and alcohol, but for right now, she would leave the motorcycle near the pump, and approach a crumbled highway bridge that lay in rubble on the street.

She sat on the broken cement and concrete aimlessly. What time was it? Probably mid-afternoon. Kim's iphone was still charged, but she never turned it on unless in dire situations. She wanted to conserve as much battery life as possible, if ever came a day that cellphone reception existed again. There were so many people she needed to call; her aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins....who knew if they were dead or not? She left that thought in her mind for a moment, and then quickly threw it away. No sad or dramatic moments now, there were more important things that needed to be done. She picked up a broken bottle up off of the ground, and placed it up on a high part of the broken bridge. She leaped off of the pile of concrete, and took stance on the road. She grabbed her crossbow, equipped an arrow into the arrow track, and looked through the scope. She took a deep breath through her nose, and focused on the green bottle. She heard the glass shatter as she pulled the trigger on her new weapon. She ran to inspect the glass. The top bottle of the glass had already been shattered, but from her aiming, she had managed to make a dent on the side. She was a little disappointed, as she had been hoping for the center, but the side was close enough. She sighed, knowing that it would take some time to get better at aiming. Of course, it was similar to a gun, but it was heavier than the ones she had used. Kim scrambled through the rubble, searching for the arrow that had been shot. It lay face-down in the cement. She retrieved it and clipped it back into its compartment on the projectile weapon.

A couple minutes later, Kim found herself sitting on the remains of the bridge once again. Sitting on it might have felt strange, but that was the point. It was out of the ordinary. Wild colors of spray paint were left splattered on some of the cement scraps. This reminded her of something. She unzipped the leather bag held tightly unto her back, and searched its contents. She pulled out a hard black case, and twisted the lock from side to side, sliding in the combination. Once that was done, she opened the padded case, and exposed the vial of blatant green liquid to sunlight.

She gingerly pulled the vial out of the padding, and with two hands, held it up to the sun. It glimmered and gleamed, sparkled and shined. This vial of liquid was so beautiful, and yet its functions were unknown. Kim had guarded it every day, unsure whether it was useful or incomplete. She had no idea if she would be able to find someone who could figure out its mysteries. For all she knew, it could be the ticket to saving the world, to saving lives. For all she knew, it could just be a vial of green liquid. If that was the case, why was she even keeping it? To be honest, Kim didn't care all that much to save the world. She had been willing to accept this new life that she lived in. However, she kept the vial because it was one of the only things she had left of her father, the old man who had taken care of her. It was his last work, and so in some way, it was a part of him. To Kim, guarding it was like guarding his life, and this time, she wouldn't let it break into pieces.

Suddenly, the green bottle from before rolled out from the shadows into the street. She silently gasped, knowing that she had thrown the broken bottle into the rubble after using it for target practice. In order for it to move out like that, something had to have moved it.

Someone was there.

She dropped back into the street, and drew her crossbow, strapping in another arrow. She aimed it at the source of the movement. Her finger was glued to the trigger, and in silence, she waited for another sign of life. There was another sound of movement, and Kim approached closer to the rubble. Whatever it was, it was coming from underneath the remains of the bridge. Her shoulders tensed as she looked around, hoping to find whatever the sound came from. Suddenly, a loud noise shrieked from behind her, and Kim swiftly turned around to find a small greyhound barking at her. Only a false alarm. She dropped her crossbow, and gave a half smile to the mutt, but the dog just stared at her. It stood its ground as though it were a statue. Kim stared back, and there were a few moments of uncomfortable silence. After a minute, the dog lost interest, and ran off somewhere along the road.

Later, Kim still sat on the bridge, drinking from a silver flask. There was still a little bit of hard liquor left, and unfortunately she knew that she would have to go into the abandoned store if she wanted to have a chance of filling her container back up again. Yes, as smart as she was, Kim had developed an alcohol addiction at the young age of eighteen. She knew it was stupid, and she knew it was wrong, but she did it anyway. After all, although she didn't do it much, there were times when she felt like she needed to be just a little drunk. At least getting drunk could get her through a hard day. Being sober for too long was like being underwater, and then needing to come back up for air. She put her hood up, and chugged down the last swig of alcohol. It burned the inside of her throat, but she had gotten used to the sensation. With the empty flask in her hand, Kim stared out into space. Hopefully people wouldn't show up if she were to become intoxicated.