Chapter 12
The day had passed quickly.
There hadn't been any more sign of the creatures, so they had been able to go up and get the rest of the food, plus the mattresses, without any difficulty.
They had all had the chance to talk more to each other as well. They talked about things they had done before the world had changed. They discussed a bit about their families, and how they wished there was a way they could contact them.
Buster had provided a lot of entertainment too. Especially for Julie and Emily. They couldn't stop petting him, kissing him, calling him over. John had even found a ball that they could throw to the dog. There wasn't much room, but they bounced it against the wall and Buster scurried after it.
Alice still had had some trouble accepting everything, but she had done better than any of them could expect. She had asked several questions. They told her what they knew. She hadn't been able to hide her surprise at their stories, nor could she stop the tears that fell from her eyes every now and again. As time passed, however, she seemed to grow stronger.
Overall, things had gone very well.
*
Now, after all they had been through over the past little while, they laid down and tried to get some sleep.
Chapter 13
As Scooter laid there, he thought about all of the things that had happened in the past little while
.
The airport. The airplane. Meeting Emily. Julie
.
Then there was all that had happened today.
He couldn't deny that the people he had met weren't who he had been expecting. When he had first suggested going out to find survivors, he had mean
t
stron
g
people. People with guns. People that could protect them from the creatures. Not an old man and his wife. Not a somewhat overweight woman in a bright yellow shirt and her dog.
The thing was that, even though they weren't who he had expected, he was glad that he had found them. Especially John. The old man was unlike anyone he had ever met before. And the love he had for his wife wasn't anything he had ever seen. John had been amazing to Alice. He had gone upstairs to get a mattress that was far too heavy for him. He had risked getting caught by the creatures to make sure that she had had food. Scooter had even found a bucket of water and towels that John had explained he had used to keep his wife clean.
Then there was the way that he spoke to her. He talked to her in a soft voice, never getting angry when she became emotional. He held her hand, wrapped his arms around her, constantly gave her kisses.
Scooter couldn't remember the last time his father had ever done anything remotely close to this type of affection with his mother.
He also couldn't recall ever feeling that way towards anyone himself. It had him wondering if he was even capable of that type of love
.
Or was he going to end up like his dad?
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best not to think of that.
When he opened them, he turned his head to look at Julie lying beside him. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing steady. With the help of the moonlight, he could see her breasts rise and fall.
She really was beautiful.
The thing was that he didn't know if she was anything more than that
.
Could she b
e
the on
e
? Until today, he wasn't even sure that such as thing was possible. He had also never given it much thought that something like that even mattered.
He closed his eyes again and tried to push those thoughts out of his mind. It didn't do any good to think about these types of things. Not tonight.
Except no matter how hard her tried he couldn't get the idea of love out of his mind.
Day 8
Chapter 1
When Scooter woke up the next morning, he noticed John sitting at the work table. Everyone else was still asleep. He got up and joined the old man.
"Good morning," John said when he got to him. "Have a good sleep?"
Scooter felt himself blush as he thought back to the questions about love that he had had. He sat down onto one of the chairs and pretended that he was fine. He grabbed a cracker and took a bite. "Not bad,” he replied. “How about you?"
"It was fine," John replied. "Though I have to admit that I wish we weren't sleeping in the basement. It can get cold down here at night and my bones aren't the best with that."
Scooter didn't know what to say.
"Oh, don't worry," John continued. "You have quite a few years before you get to this age. You can deal with all of that stuff then."
He smiled. Scooter did too. But both knew that they couldn't be sure if Scooter would actually get to that age. There were too many obstacles in his way now.
They decided to leave the subject alone.
"You know," John said, "I wanted to tell you what a great job I think you've done."
"Great job? What do you mean?"
"With Emily and Julie. How you took care of them. Protected them."
"I…well…"
"You could have easily left them."
The idea had never occurred to Scooter. He shook his head. "I wouldn't have done that."
"I know," John said. "That's why I think you've done a great job."
They sat in silence for a moment as Scooter thought about the old man's comment. He was rarely told that he had done well in anything. From his parents to his teachers to his boss, they didn't often give him any sort of praise. He wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Thank you," he said. "I…well…"
John grabbed his hand and squeezed it. The touch startled Scooter because physical affection was another thing he never received. "You did a great job," John repeated. Then he took his hand back and grabbed a cookie. "Is this all the food that we have left?"
Scooter nodded. They had made quick work of their supplies. Though with six mouths to feed, plus a dog, it wasn't surprising.
“That’s not a lot,” John said.
“No, it’s not.”
Chapter 2
The others started to wake as John and Scooter started to talk about what to do next.
"We should think about leaving," Scooter said.
"Leaving?" Julie had come up behind him and grabbed a bit of what was left of the food. "What do you mean?"
Marianne and Alice had made their way over to them as well. They didn't catch what Scooter had said.
"What are you talking about?" Marianne asked.
"Leaving," Scooter repeated.
Alice glared at him for a moment before turning to her husband. "You can't be serious. Why are you talking about that?"
"Scooter's right," John said. "We can't stay here. We're running out of food."
"Can't we find food from the other houses?"
"We could. But that'll only last us so long."
"
So long
?
That'll last us a long time!"
"We need to find other survivors as well."
"Other survivors? From what you said, we don't even know if there are other survivors! It could just be those creatures up there."
John shook his head. "I don't think so, honey. These people are proof of that." He pointed to everyone in the room. "It means that there are others like us out there. We just need to find them."
"Why?" His wife wasn't going to give up so easily.
"For protection."
"Protection? We're safe down here!"
"So far...but if enoug
h
thing
s
come to the door, they might break through. We wouldn't be able to do much against them down here."
She turned her back to her husband and wandered over to the broken window. She looked at the blood running down the wall. Tears had started to well up in her eyes.
John didn't understand why his wife was getting so upset. "Alice, what is it?" he called to her. "What's wrong?"
She ignored him.
"Don't you understand?" he continued.
She turned to him. "I understand," she replied. "Better than you!"
The anger in her voice further surprised him. He was used to her getting upset over things. But this was close to the worst he had ever heard.
"Alice, please."
"No, John. I can't accept this. We can't go out there!"
"We have to."
"No, we don't. W
e
can'
t
!"
"Why not?"
Alice didn't answer straight away. When she did, it was hard for her to keep her emotions under control. Tears had started to fall down her cheeks. Her upper lip had begun to tremble. "Because we're old."
John got up from his chair and walked over to her. "Old?"
"You can't walk all that well and your body hurts you too much. I've seen it. I've lived with you for years."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It ha
s
everythin
g
to do with it!" his wife replied. "We won't be able to run away from thos
e
thing
s
. We'll die!"
"But we have all of these young people to help."
"And what if they leave us?"
"Leave us?"
"Whoa," Scooter said. "That isn't fair!"
Alice raised her hand. "I didn't mean that you'd do it on purpose. I don't think that you're bad people. I don't think that you'l
l
wan
t
to leave us. But I think when it comes down to it, you might not have a choice. Then we'll be left to fend for ourselves. And I don't think that my husband and I will be up for that."
John finally understood. His wife was frightened for his well being, worried about his survival. The basement at least assured that they would go on, if only for a while. He wrapped his arms around her.
"It's okay," he said. "Let's not worry about it right now. Let's just think about it."
"Okay," his wife replied. "But I really don't like the sound of it."
They stood there for a while longer, then walked back to join the group.
Chapter 3
Although Scooter was a bit offended by what Alice had said, he really couldn't blame her. He knew that John had a hard time walking around. There was no denying that it would be difficult for him out there. But Scooter wanted her to know that he would never let anything bad happen to the old man.
He told Alice this after everything had settled down.
"I know," the old woman replied. "I really never meant to say that you'd leave him on purpose. It has only been a short time, but I can see that you're a good person. And I know that you care about my husband."
Care about him
?
Scooter had never really thought about it that way before. "I guess...well…he's a good man."
"The best." Alice turned away and looked back at the broken window. "But I don't want to talk about it right now. I need to think things over. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize."
Scooter got up and joined Julie and Emily. They were playing with the dog.
Chapter 4
John talked to Scooter a little while later as well.
"My wife didn't mean anything by what she said," he told him.
"I know," Scooter replied.
"It's just that she's worried."
"I know," Scooter said again. "There's no way that I'd ever leave you behind. I hope you know that."
"
I
d
o
know that. Of course! But when you get older, it's a bit harder to do some things. So you become a little more cautious."
"I know," Scooter said. Though he didn't really. He couldn't. He was still young. He wasn't afraid of much. And we wasn't ever all tha
t
cautiou
s
. He simply had to take the old man's word for it.
"I'll talk to her a bit more later. You're right that we should leave, so I'll make sure that my wife listens to reason. She can be pretty stubborn at times, but she usually has a pretty good head on her shoulders."
"You really love her don't you?" Scooter asked.
"With all my heart."
Chapter 5
It wasn't until midday that Alice said she was ready to talk about leaving. She sat down beside her husband at the work table and grabbed his hand.
"Do you really think we should leave?" she asked.
"I do," John replied.
"Even in your condition?"
"My condition?" John tried to act as though he was offended, but he knew that his wife was right. He was old. It wouldn't be easy for him out there. He nodded. "Even in my condition."
Alice stared into her husband's eyes. "Then we'll leave."
"Really?"
"Yes, we can go."
"Are you sure you're okay with that?"
"No," his wife admitted. "I'm not okay with it. But I think you're right. It doesn't make sense for us to stay here. We've almost run out of food. We need to look for others. We might even find people who can tell us what's going on."
"Maybe," John said. He wasn't as hopeful as his wife abou
t
tha
t
. After spending a week in the basement, waiting for some type of help, he had come to the conclusion that an answer might never be found. He wasn't sure how important it was to know, either. It wasn't like that would fix anything. "I love you, Alice."
"I love you too." Alice leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Now
you need to make sure that you bring your good walking shoes. And you'll have to pack a warm sweater. I know that it's hot out there in the day, but it cools at night. And I'm not taking any chances with you. I'll not have you catching a cold on this little mission of yours. I won't have it."
John smiled, then called everyone over. Only Emily and Buster stayed behind, playing with the ball.
"What's wrong?" Scooter asked when he got closer to them.
"Nothing," Alice said. "It's just that we've come to a decision."
They all looked at her expectantly.
"We've decided to leave."
Scooter turned to John. The old man nodded.
"I knew it made sense when you mentioned it," Alice continued. "But it wasn't easy for me to admit. It's going to be difficult out there for John and I."
"I won't let anything happen to you," Scooter said. He stood a little straighter as he spoke.
“I’m sure you won’t.”
"So when do you want to leave?"
It was John who answered. "My wife wants to make sure that we're prepared, so we'll need the rest of the day to get ready. We can leave in the morning."
"In the morning?" Julie asked, worry in her voice. "That soon?"
"We'll have to go looking for food then anyway, so we might as well just leave."
Julie didn't say any more about it.
It was Marianne who spoke next. "Any idea where we should go?"
John scratched the bottom of his chin. "You came into town recently, right? I think we should keep going in the direction that you were headed. You already know that there's nothing for us behind you."
"No, there's not," Marianne agreed. The others agreed as well.
"But we have to make sure that you're prepared," Alice reminded him.
"I know, I know," John said. "Don't worry."