Apocolies

As a young girl who is surviving the end of the world I have learned some things. Such as food is hard to find in large stores and that axes take longer to kill zombies. Yes you heard me right. Zombies, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S. Brain and flesh eating maniacs who wouldn't care if you were as sinless as a nun, you were still going to be their next meal. This put people in a panic and caused the world to fall to shit. Big cities took it the hardest because they were so densely populated. Which sucks donkey balls because I live in Chicago. Most of my family didn't survive, just me and my twin brothers, Conner and Jasper. We have been staying in an abandoned Costco which is easy to protect from the rafters which is where we sleep. Yet one morning that changed.

"Hey Paige wake up NOW!" Jasper says and tosses a gun at me. I quickly grab it and look around seeing a small group of people on the floor scavenging for food. I shoot a warning shot and they look around scared as I grab onto the rope and swing down. They gasp and I look back seeing zombies running in and I shoot them down and slam the door closed.

"Rule one: never leave the doors open. Rule two: don't take our food without permission. And Rule three: I'm in charge." I say and look at them seeing four guys, an elderly man and three of his sons I think, and three girls. They all nod and set down their things as I go get some food for everyone. While looking around and collecting food I gently fidget with my small silver locket that I received from my mother. When I get back I see a little campsite-like area that they set up. I smile softly as I see that one of the other girls is about 5 or 6 and I bring her the food first.

"Hey little duck," I say softly and she looks up at me. I carefully hand her a bowl or soup and smile as she quickly starts eating, "you can eat as much as you want ok?" I say and she nods as I pass out the rest of the food. The sons all watch me carefully and I bring them food.

"If we had power I'd tell you to take a picture so that it would last longer but I'll probably last longer than the picture," I say and one of them laughs slightly. I quickly walk to the other side of the store with my gun and check the exits and entrances for any breaches. I find a small bear on one of the shelves and bring it over to the little girl. As I find her asleep I smile and set the bear beside her before I start climbing up the rope again to take watch for the night.

In the middle of the night I hear a banging sound and look down to see the little girl trying to get my attention so I quickly climb down and crouch in-front of her. She runs to me and hugs me.

"I scared..." she says and hugs onto me tightly. I pull her close to me and climb up into the rafters.

"We are safe up here ok?" I say and she nods as she curls into my side, "what is your name?" I ask and she looks up at me sleepily.

"Lilly..." she says and falls asleep. I hold her close and smile as I quietly sing to her. One of the sons watches me and listens. I look down and see him watching and I nod towards his bed.

"Sleep, you need it..." I say and he shakes his head, "you need sleep too," he says and climbs up beside me.

"I'll watch first then we'll switch later," he says and I nod as my eyes start to droop. I sleep all night and he does not wake me once. I wake up the next morning and see the sun shining through one of the cracks in a boarded up window. I slowly sit up and look around seeing the son sitting beside me holding Lily, "you said that we were going to switch watch," I say and he laughs.

"You looked so peaceful asleep," he says and carries Lily down to a real bed. I smile shyly and climb down quickly. I head to a back area that I converted into a bedroom type area and change my clothes. Once I am changed I practice my knife throwing. I hear a noise behind me and I turn and throw my knife barley missing the boy from earlier. He smiles, "nice throwing. I'm Kyle by the way," he says and I nod.

"Paige," I say and I go back to practicing my knife throwing. Kyle watches and after a while of practicing I put the knives into my boots and head out to the group. I see the older man with a knife to Connor's throat and I pull out my handgun and point it at him, "move away slowly and you'll live," I say and he doesn't back away so I shoot him in the leg and he drops to the ground.

"I will not let the last to people I love die in-front of my eyes," I say and pull out my knife and drag him to caged area that we made. I throw him inside and lock the door. Kyle looks at me like I am evil and I turn away as I walk to my area. Out of nowhere a door bursts down and zombies spill in.

"PACK UP ANYTHING YOU CAN CARRY!!!" I yell and start packing as much food, water, and medical supplies as I can into our large hiking packs. I pack Lilly a small bag with food, water, a blanket and her bear and I put on a hunting vest and cargo pants and fill my pockets to the top with ammunition. Finally I grab a machete and head to the door and fight my way out with the group. We run out of the building and find a large mod of zombies. I grab Lilly and climb up the fence and run while holding her as I climb a tree so she is safe.

"All clear!" Jasper yells as they kill the last zombie and I carry Lilly down. She hugs onto me and I hold her on my hip. I gasp in pain as one of the zombies bites my hand. Everyone freezes and I throw Lilly away from me and grab my machete and cut it off. I quickly wrap my hand with my shirt and everyone watches me.

"We need to get going," I say with my expression blank. They slowly start following me as I sew up my stump with a fishing line and a needle. I clean it once the bleeding stops and sigh looking down at it. Kyle walks over and touches my shoulder.

"You ok?" He asks and I shake my head, "no... not really....." I say quietly and he nods as he hugs me. I sigh and hug back with one arm. He plays with my hair and I smile softly. We get back to walking and I quickly find shelter in the trees.

"We can camp up here for now," I say and start to climb with one hand. Once we are all settled Jasper takes first watch and I fall asleep quickly. I slowly wake up and sit up seeing Kyle is cleaning my wound as carefully as he can. He looks at me to see if he hurt me and I smile softly making him quickly wrap my nub tightly so it can't get infected and smiles.

“I found something as we were running out of the warehouse…” he says gently as he pulls out a small silver locket. I quickly reach for it as I am flooded with the images of my mother who had given me the locket just after my father died to the virus that started this damn apocalypse. It was a small simple silver charm with soft green leaves painted onto it and the letter M ens crawled onto the back. I pull the locket against my chest and smile brightly as Kyle has just given me back the only thing I have left of my father. Kyle gently puts the locket back around my neck and I smile as it falls in a familiar way as when I first put it on. It seemed so long ago… and yet it had only been three years since the infection started and only a year since my father passed. Shortly followed by my mother then my oldest sister. Everything slowly crumbled around me but now I feel more stable than ever. We may not have a permanent home just yet but I have a permanent family again.