Jake blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the sun. He had just woken up, and his neck was stiff from sleeping in his car. He looked over at Kylie and closed his eyes. "Babe," he said and put his hand on her thigh. "Baby wake up."
"Hmm.. Did we fall asleep in the car again?" Kylie asked as a tired smile crossed her face. Her eyes looked grey as she stared at him. "We need to learn to make it back to your place once in a while, cause all this car sex is getting old," She giggled a bit and reached out her hand to his blank face.
Jake squinted his eyes at her. Either she was going into denial, or she really wasn't awake. He pushed her hand off his face and held it with his own. "Kylie, we slept in the car on purpose, remember?" He said to her, sounding upset.
"Oh my god.." She whisper and tears ran to her eyes. "I.. Yeah," She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. Her blonde hair was falling perfectly over her shoulders, despite not having brushed it, or done anything to it in the last day or two. She opened the car door and got out. They were just outside of town. They had been looking for survivors, but had been unsuccessful. Jake had suggested they go to the food bank, or a department store to get supplies.
"Ky," Jake said, stepping out of the car. He walked behind her and put his arms around her waist, and rested his head next to hers. "Let's go," he whispered. They stood there for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only minutes. Slowly, they settled themselves back in Jake's car and began driving into town. There were bodies and blood covering the streets, and Jake had to drive slowly to avoid the mess. He stopped in front of the food bank and shut off the car. Without saying anything to Kylie, he began walking to the door. It was locked, so he just broke it down with a few powerful shoves. Kylie followed after him with a duffle bag and a back pack. "Let's just take what we need and get out of here," he said as he looked around the almost empty shelves. He wished he could assume other survivors had been there, but he knew this place was low on donations and high on needy people. Now he wished he would have taken the time to help them out. All that money he had.. It means nothing now.
"Take what we need?" Kylie asked, crossing her arms. "Jake, if you haven't noticed, we need it all. We need as much as we can get if we are going to survive."
"We can't be greedy!" Jake said, turning to look at her. His voice was raised slightly, although his face looked calm.
"Yes we can! We are the only ones, Jake. We need to stock up the car or else we'll die," Kylie said back to him, gesturing around the room. She looked angry.
Jake's nostrils flared and his breathing deepened. "We are
not the only ones Kylie!" His eyebrows scrunched together as he looked at her in disgust. "What if some little kid survived and we took all the food huh?" He yelled, taking a step toward her. She back up, looking like a scared puppy. "How would you feel if we were the reason someone starved? Because we were being selfish! Answer me Kylie!" He was in her face now, staring down at her while tears dripped off her face. "Would you even feel guilty? Or are you too busy putting yourself first like you always do," He said it as a statement, because he knew it was true. "Don't
tell me we are the only ones. Ky.. We just can't be the only ones." His voice softened to a whisper when a lump formed in his throat.
"Okay, Jake, it's going to be okay," Kylie said and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned into her hug and fought off the tears. When he pulled back, his face looked determined, like nothing was ever going to stand in his way again.
"No. It's not," Jake said to her and began picking things off the shelves. His jaw was clenched, and a vein was bulging in his forehead. Kylie stood behind him, silently waiting for him to finish collecting what he thought they would need most. He collected the things they needed and put them neatly into the back pack. "But I'm going to make it okay." With that, he walked out of the store and put the bag in the back seat of the car. He pulled out a pen and piece of paper, scribbling a note on.
If you find this, grab what you can from the food bank, and come to the center of town. We'll be waiting there."Ahhh!" Minnie half screamed, half sighed. "This is fucking impossible." She crossed her arms and stared down at the engine of her truck. It was smoking and she had no idea how to fix it. She knew nothing about fixing cars, and she considered that her only weakness. "I knew I should have let Leo teach me a thing or two," Her heart felt like it leaped into her throat when she said Leo's name. "I'll find you soon, Leo," she said and turned around, facing the city. No movement. No noise. Just nothingness, threatening to engulf her. She let out a breath that she really hadn't been holding, just to hear the noise. She shut the hood of her truck and climbed up in the cab. She grabbed the two bags that had the most essentials in it; clothing, medicine she got from the pharmacy, energy bars full of carbs, and a deck of cards. The bars would hold her off until she found out a way to fix her truck, then she would come back to the other stuff in the bed of her truck. Over the past two days, the young girl was able to scrounge up a lot of important things. In one bag she had a lot of medical supplies like gauze, antiseptics, more medicine, ice packs and a few other random things that she didn't know what they were. In another she had lots of blankets, socks and gloves. Three were full of food, two of which had nonperishables. She had three cases of water and last but not least, a tent and two air mattresses.
After walking for a bit, she heard some noise. When she looked around, there was nothing. "Must have been the wind," she said to herself. The only problem was that there was no wind. Everything was still. Maybe the earth had stopped rotating, and time itself had stopped. Maybe this really was the end. "God, if you can hear me.. If you're there.." She swallowed hard and looked straight ahead as she walked the sidewalk. "If you care at all, show me a sign.." She said. She wanted so desperately to believe this wasn't the end, but the aching in her chest told her otherwise. She tried to look around, but the blood and bodies was too much for her to handle, not to mention the smell. She looked at the stores she was passing, and almost didn't notice the broken door. She looked down at the glass and then her eyes found a note, stuck to the window.
If you find this, grab what you can from the food bank, and come to the center of town. We'll be waiting there.Her heart leapt as she ripped the note from the glass. She didn't grab anything from the bank, but rather, began running towards the center of town. She did her best to hold her backpacks close, so they weren't bumping around on her back. At this point, she didn't care about stepping in the blood or on the bodies, she just needed to find these people, wherever they were. When she arrived near the fountain at the center of town, she didn't see anyone. There were a few cars parked, including a very nice looking one on the other side. There were bodies everywhere here, because it was normally a busy place. The fountain was spewing blood rather than water. Minnie became sick to her stomach and she fell to her knees. There was no one here. The note was left behind from before. Or they left without her. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried. The tears wouldn't come.
"Hey!" A voice came.
"What!? Now you show up God? Really?" She screamed staring up at the sky.
"Hey! You! You're alive!" The same voice came, followed by footsteps. Minnie's head whipped around and she saw two people running towards her. She blinked a few times and just stared at them. "Holy shit! She's real Jake. I'm Kylie." Kylie said and reached out a delicate pale hand towards Minnie. "This is my boyfriend Jake," she said and smiled. Kylie looked shocked and relieved all at the same time. Minnie shook their hands and shared the same look of surprise as Kylie. Inwardly, she was thinking that if these two had the odds of both surviving, maybe she and her brother did as well.
"Minnie," she replied. "I found your note. I didn't grab any food because I already have enough, but it's back at my truck. I have a bunch of stuff there.. Do either of you speak car?" She asked. She needed their help to fix her truck so she could find Leo. That was the most important thing.
"Sure, I worked part time as a mechanic in high school," Jake said and shrugged.
"I didn't know that," Kylie said and gave him a weird look. "Does it take the world to end for me to find things out about you?" She asked, and crossed her arms. Jake just shook his head and started following Minnie.
"It's not too far, so we should be there soon. It just started smoking up," Minnie said, picking up her pace to a light jog. Jake followed suit with Kylie in tow.
"Slow down, my head is really starting to hurt," Kylie said, and began to walk. Minnie and Jake slowed as well, and the three walked the rest of the way there.
Minnie pointed to a navy blue Chevy truck just ahead. "That it right there. I have some pain killers if you want some," she said and looked to Kylie. The blonde girl's face was contorted in pain as she nodded to Minnie.
"Yeah, thanks," She said. The two girls sat on the curb while Jake inspected the engine.
After walking the streets for two days, Leo was tired. He and a buddy had driven here together, so he didn't have a car. His friend was missing and so were his keys. He was stranded in a wasteland. He had enough to eat though, that was for sure, although with every bite he took, guilt travelled into his stomach instead of relief from hunger pangs. He was eating when the entire world was dead.
Not the entire world. He reminded himself as he kept walking. He saw a body in the distance, in a very strange position. It was sitting, rather than lying down like the rest. She just averted his eyes and kept walking. When he glanced back, it had moved, and was now standing up. His heart leapt and he began running towards it, her.
"Hey! Hey you!" He called out between breaths. When he finally caught up to her, he wrapped his large arms around her and hugged her tight. "My God, I thought I was the only one left," He said and released her. "Sorry.." he said and stuck out his had. "I'm Leo," He said. For the first time he could remember, he wasn't worried about someone hearing his accent. knowing that someone was alive and breathing was enough for him to be happy. For now at least. He needed to find Minnie, and take care of her. He knew full well that she could hold her own, but he still didn't like the thought of her being out there on her own.
If she's even alive. He closed his eyes. "Are there any others?" he asked, and kept his eyes shut. He didn't want to see the look on her face when she told him no, as he expected.