off to the apocalypse

her

"what the fuck?" george swore before taking down our barricades and running outside. i follow him as he looks around, trying to find where our car went, completely stressed out.

i sigh, wanting to say something to comfort him, but instead feeling my body get jerked back and something cold getting pressed against my neck. george immediately raises his gun, presumably aiming for the person standing behind me.

"put your gun down now or we slit her throat." the female voice behind me says. her voice was shaky and high-pitched. she didn't sound threatening at all. george put his gun down on the ground anyway.

another woman picks up the gun, she's short and looks like she's around our age. she stands stiffly waiting for the woman behind me telling her what to do next.

"listen, we don't want any trouble, we'll give you anything you need." george spoke. "just don't hurt her."
there was a silence for a while until it was broken by the voice of a little girl, "mommy, i'm hungry."
i consider trying to escape now, then consider my clumsiness, and decide to keep still.

the woman hesitantly released me, and the knife at the same time. fuck it. i shoot my arms out to grab the knife off the ground, pushing the woman behind me against the building, holding the knife against her neck this time.

"angela, let her go." george chokes out. i glance at the woman holding his gun, she doesn't seem to know how to use it, not even pointing it at me. my eyes land on the little girl making me step back. i raise my brows, putting the knife in my pocket. i choose not to acknowledge the fear on the little girls face and waited for someone to say something.

"we're really sorry about that, we didn't know if you people were dangerous, we're just really hungry." the woman says, pulling herself up from the wall. the woman with the gun moves toward the little girl to hold her hand.

"it's okay, we get it." george says walking back into the building. "come in."
i follow him inside and sit next to him watching the two women and the girl sit on the opposite side of us.

i glare at the gun. guess we exchanged weapons.

i sigh, looking over at george, he's taking snacks we found here last night out of his bag.
"eat." he says calmly.

"if you insist." the woman with the gun says, taking a chocolate bar. all of them start eating, chewing quickly as if their life depended on it, they really are hungry.
"so my name is george and this is angela." george says pointing at me. "wanna tell me your names?"

i take a look at them to see little girl staring at me. the older woman, who i assume was like their leader, spoke: "my name is lacey. this is my daughter misty and this is my sister theodora."

theodora. it's a pretty name. she is pretty.

"where are you guys headed?" lacey asks.
"we don't know yet. maybe we could tag along with you guys for a while?" george offers. "safety in numbers, y'know?"
"wait what?" i ask looking at george angrily. he gives me a look that's basically telling me to shut up. so i do.

"staying together seems like a good idea. we were gonna go to her school." theodora says pointing at misty. "there will be plenty of food and medicine there."
"sounds like a good idea." i answer, this time receiving an angry look from george. "we'll stick with each other then."
"let's go then." lacey said standing up, making her way toward the car.