Monsters

Chapter Two

I had been awake before I truly processed that I was. The world had slowly found its way back to me in parts. First I heard the creaking of the aged wood floorboard beneath me. I also heard the shuffling of someone moving around near me. This put me on edge.

I tried to gain the strength to become more aware of the area around me. Starting to shift my arms and legs it became increasingly obvious how weak I really was. As the unidentified person shifted to walk toward me I halted all my movements and steadied my breathing to look as if I had still been asleep.

The person's actions stopped a few feet next to me and I heard the sliding of chair legs glide across the floor. Assuming they had sat down to watch over me I continued my acting feeling dread build in my stomach.

"I know you're awake. You're not fooling me." I hear a quiet yet steely voice speak. That led my throat to close up and my act to falter as well as my breathing to shift. My heart rate increased its pace leading my adrenaline to spike.

I cracked an eye open and stared at the stained, cracked ceiling above me. "I figured as much. I never was good at theater class in school." I whispered, my voice cracking from its lack of use. This reminded me of how dehydrated I must have been.

There was a creaking of the floorboard beneath me as I heard the legs of the chair slide once more. Footsteps, heavy and loud, drew closer as the view of a gloved hand holding an object above me obstructed my sight of the ceiling. My eyes examined the object in their hand only to then widen from realization.

"Here," they said softly, "drink it." And with that, the hand disappeared and the bottle of water was placed heavily beside my head.

Turning my head I examined the retreating figure before looking at the bottle with hesitation outweighing my thirst. "Don't be stupid." I heard the voice state from another room. "If I wanted you dead I would have let you there to die."

That brought back the moments before I passed out. This person had been the one who saved me. From a hoard of monsters nonetheless. Though I am curious to know how they managed to do that, I decided not to press my luck with questioning and just enjoy the fact that I was still breathing. That meant I still had a chance at finding my family.

With that thought, I gently lifted the bottle to my mouth and rid it of the water it held. The relief I'd felt after was something I had not felt for a long time. Struggling with surviving this world also meant struggling with things that used to come easy; food, water, and over necessities I took for granted became all too hard to come by. And though being alone protected me from a lot of variables, it also brought up challenges of its own.

I caught up to my breathing after chugging the water I had so desperately needed so quickly. The need for more surfaces on my tongue but I swallowed it down. Needing more help was the last thing I wanted. I had to set off on my own again before I started to owe my savior something in return.

A lesson I had learned towards the beginning of all this was that nothing was for free. If someone helped you it's only because they wanted something in return. I'd learned that the hard way and wouldn't be making that same mistake again.

Before I could get up the person returned to the room and it was then that I finally looked at them. It was a girl which didn't make much difference to my level of trust, but it did bring me a sort of comfort. At least I wasn't passed out and vulnerable around a guy. I shivered at the thought as a feeling of discomfort passed through.

Examining her further I saw hard dark brown eyes looking back at me. These were the eyes of someone who'd seen this world for all the bad things it had to offer. I knew because I saw that same look in my eyes when I gazed at my reflection. Something I had not done in a long while too scared of what I'd find looking back at me. And this was a world you had to grow with or die at the hands of. There was no in-between.