Life After

Chapter 6: The Day We Were Captured

The next day, I woke up to the sound of Doofus whining at the door. The sun was up and the winter air was biting cold. I shivered as I sat up and watched the breath come out of my mouth. For a moment, I missed the warmth of the house. Despite all the bad memories and qualities, it was well insulated and kept out the harsher weather.

I flung off the blanket and grabbed my jacket off the floor, quickly putting it on to keep myself warm. I looked behind me and saw AJ still sleeping. I hadn't really seen him sleeping before. The majority of the time we spent at the house, he had usually already been awake when I woke up or just waking up,himself. And we always went to bed at the same time and slept in separate rooms.

I couldn't help but stare at him. He looked so peaceful, but goofy at the same time. His mouth was slightly open with a trail of drool from the corner of his mouth down to the pillow. He was snoring softly and as I watched, every few moments, his eyebrows would twitch, probably from dreaming. I smiled and let out a giggle, being sure to stay quiet so he wouldn't wake up. If I had a camera, I would have taken a picture to later show him how silly he looked.

I was snapped out of it by Doofus letting out another whine and nudging my leg. I bent over and pulled my shoes on and stood up, stretching my arms and arching my back to crack it. Then I went over to the door and opened it so Doofus could run outside. While he ran around sniffing all the trees, bushes, and anything else he could pee on, I watched the clouds roll through the sky. They were moving fairly fast and I wondered if it meant an incoming storm that day. I missed the days of smartphones where I could have easily looked at an app to see.

As I stood there staring at the sky and Doofus finding a squirrel to chase, I heard the door behind me open and close and AJ stepped up next to me. We stood in silence for a few moments before he said, "Morning."

"Morning," I replied and turned to him with a smile. He was looking at me, also smiling. I felt the same feeling as the night before, suddenly very conscious about myself. I cleared my throat and looked away from him before I started blushing. "I'm going to see if I can find something for us to eat."

I walked around the RV's and started pulling on doors to see what was unlocked. A few were unlocked, but as soon as I opened the door, the smell was so horrendous that I didn't dare go inside. I finally came across a small popup camper that was empty and too small for a kitchen or bathroom so there was no smell from months of rotting food, sewage, or anyone who might have perished from the infection.

In that small camper, I found multiple boxes of snacks, Granola bars, fruit gummies, and trail mix all stashed away in an easy to carry box. I also found a half empty case of energy drinks. I took it back to the cabin where AJ was back inside, huddled under a blanket with Doofus, waiting for me to get back.

We happily munched on the snacks for about 30 minutes before we were full. We drank the sugary drinks as I internally wished it was coffee instead, but I knew we weren't going to have time to go start a fire to make any coffee. We had to get moving so we could cover as much distance as possible. Plus, a part of me was still worried about what could happen if we lit a fire outside after the bear the day before.

When we were done, we made sure we grabbed all our bags and made our way back to the road. We continued our way North, following signs toward Texarkana since that would lead us straight into Arkansas.

We had been walking for a few hours when we stopped for some water, then continued on. We would talk a bit about some memories and even talked a bit about what we wanted to do when we got to the Air Force Base. AJ talked about how he wanted to find a house of his own and maybe work as a mechanic. We talked about how he always wanted to learn more about mechanics and be one, but he had never really had a chance to.