Through The Fire

Chapter Four - Part 2

Until eight months ago, until seven o'clock at night, the streets were filled with people walking around, others went to the small offices that remained open or to the supermarkets that were still operating to work, others continued their routine by visiting the malls and going to restaurants to eat. We weren't giving up. It wasn't the same number as when we were all living in peace, but it was still a substantial one.

We never quite gave up until those things started killing in the daytime too, cutting the population still left in Georgia's capital in half.

But I couldn't lock myself in the house and let my father and I starve, I had to fight the fear for both of us. I once met a guy who was selling food at ridiculously high prices. He had many buyers, it was a matter of life and death. I bought from him a few times, too, until he was killed. Left to rot on the sidewalk. The most horrible thing I will never forget is that humans were more cruel to him than Zombies. They stole everything from his now lifeless body: his money, his food, even his clothes. I saw his body, helpless. I will never get that image out of my head.

A few nights ago, when I was looking for food, what I found was total nothingness, I searched everywhere and lingered past curfew. Evening had fallen and I had no more hope. Darkness was Zombie territory and no one ever dared to invade it, challenging them.

Although the ingredients I used to cook lunch are old, they are still good, what is missing and I don't have, is just a sprinkling of cheese, a little treat we couldn't always afford, handed down to me by my father since I was little and my mother was still alive.

Ace enters the house without knocking. He had taken the key with him, knowing that if he knocked I would get scared.

Silently, Ace sits down at the table in front of me. I take a look at his face. His appearance has improved. His face is relaxed and doesn't look as frumpy as before and his eyes are back to normal.

He lays a bag of food in front of me. All kinds of food, mostly canned which makes me crack a big smile.

"You really brought it?!" I look at him with wide eyes.

"I promised you." He smiles at me. We don't bring up the fact that he has eaten too. I want to know what animal he found, but I dare not ask.

Ace has this ability to figure out what I'm thinking, like it's his superpower and even now he's figured it out, I can see it in his expression, but he doesn't say anything.

"Is it good?" Ace asks instead, to break the silence between us, pointing at my pasta.

I nod. "It's good. I thought it would have tasted worse."

"Hey, I wanted to check out the bedrooms."

"Sure, it's a big one, and is upstairs, I'll take you." I eat the last bite of pasta and get up. He follows.

We walk down a hallway with bare white walls, with only a few paintings here and there depicting the city and my mother, all belonging to her.

At the end of the hallway is a black spiral staircase that we climb.

On this floor there are no walls to divide the individual rooms, everything is open, with a few columns here and there to support the roof. Two beds are placed on opposite sides of the walls. There were never any secrets between my father and me.

"Before my mother died it was my parents who slept up here, I slept downstairs, but after that happened, neither my father nor I wanted to be alone at night, so my father split the double bed, which was made up of two single mattresses, and I brought my things up here because it was more spacious."

Aside from this open space, at the end of the room, there is a colorful bathroom, not very small, but not very big either.

We've never owned much. We were never rich and never lived in a mansion, but we were happy with what little we had as long as we were together.