Decaying Hearts

Little Mouse

My face scrunched up holding the can of beans in my hand. I hated beans, but these days I can't afford to be picky. The line between life and death these days was extremely thin, I couldn't jump over that line because of my aversion to beans.

"Hurry up Little Mouse we are about to load up," Issac hollered from the front of the small local grocery store we had been searching.

I sighed at the nickname. When this group found me a couple months back I had been hiding in a cabinet fearful they were merciless raiders. Hiding was always my go to when possible, it was the easiest option seeing as there are lots of hiding spots for someone who is five two. After the nickname was immediately born by Issac they hadn't even asked my name, nor did they care to hear it. Issac is the only one who knows my real name, but he still continues to call me Little Mouse or Mouse.

I slid the cans into my open backpack beside me before zipping it up and throwing it onto my back. I bent down once more, snatching my metal hatchet off of the floor. I maneuvered around the cluttered store, merchandise and trash were scattered across the dull tile, making my way to the front of the store. A thin layer of dust thickened the air around me, coating the gray disheveled store shelves.

Issac leaned his backside against one of the cash registers, flipping through an old magazine he had pulled from the disorganized shelf beside the once operational pos. He pushed his brown wavy hair out of his face before flipping the page. His fair skin complimented his brown hair well. His blue eyes glanced up to me finally noticing me approaching him.

"Did you know a shrimp's heart is found in their head?" his dark eyebrows slightly rose, as he flicked his eyes back to the magazine.

"I did not," I clicked my tongue, glancing out the large dirty windows past Issac. The rest of the group were packing up into our two vehicles. A black sedan, and dark green jeep. "What are you even reading," I mumbled averting my gaze to the magazine his attention was glued to.

"Some cooking magazine," he shrugged, letting the gloss coated paper fall to the bland white tile.

"Better load up, before they leave us here," Issac quipped, seizing the two jugs of water off of the conveyor belt. Before making his way towards the glass double doors.

I squinted as the sun harshly beamed down on us. The July heat was already scorching us. The air was definitely fresher out here, not stale and consumed by rotted produce like inside the store. Although remnants of the infected's stench plagued every inch of the town. No matter where you were in the town you could always catch a whiff of their lingering odor.

"You two find anything useful?" John called out from behind the black sedan.

"A couple cans of food," I honestly answered, tossing my bag into the back of the vehicle.

"Issac?" John's brown eyes narrowed in on him.

In response Issac snarkily held up the two jugs of water, shaking them at John. Rolling his eyes while he placed the jugs in the back of the sedan.

There were now seven of us in our group, myself included. I glanced around at them. Three girls and four boys. John was the unofficial leader, he made all the calls, and kept us level headed. He was forty nine with peppering black hair, a decent build and sun tanned skin, likely due to all the farm work he did before all of this. I glanced at Carrie who was pulling her blonde curly hair back up into a ponytail while in a deep conversation with John. She was forty three, despite her and John's denials we all knew they had something going.

My eyes trailed to Issac, Jacob, and Lexi who stood around in a circle chatting. Issac was probably the person I had grown closest to in the group, likely due to how close in age we were compared to the rest of the group. He was twenty four while I was only a year younger than him. Lexi would be a very close second. She was only sixteen, I at times felt like she was a little sister to me, someone I felt a need to protect. Seeing as she was still just a kid. Carrie always liked to point out how we looked like we could be siblings. Since we both have dark brown hair, and similar slim facial features. The only difference was our eyes, hers were a dark brown while mine were a lighter hazel shade. I watched Jacob chuckle at something that was said. He was twenty eight, with a dark complexion. He was also extremely muscular, but really was just a giant teddy bear at heart. He was probably one of the kindest souls I had ever met, even before all of this stuff. He genuinely cared about people, and just wanted to help.