Defiance | Book 1 [EXTENDED]

CHAPTER 2

The streets of Manhattan were quiet. The wet sidewalk squelched beneath my sneakers. My finger on the trigger of my gun, ready to shoot any unwelcome followers. The store was on the other side of the wide street, a high risk area. One of the 'things' were around the corner, patrolling the area. I had to be quick if I didn't want to get shot, or even worse, caught. I was nervous, not scared, because being scared made people weak. The night was cold and all my senses were on edge. I had to cross the road to get to the other side and the mutant was alert. I had to run without making a sound. My back against the alley-way wall I shut my eyes and took a breath in. Here goes. I darted across the street as fast as I could and thankfully made it to the other side without being spotted. My breathing was heavy and my heart was beating fast. Two years and I was still scared, I wanted to join my family but I didn't want to die. Not like this.

The store was dark and cold. Most of the shelves were empty, except for a couple of cans and bottles. Something in the store smelt like rotting flesh. I lingering smell of something dead. I looked over the shelf, to see a limp figure on the floor, flies swarming around.

 I know what a dead body looks like. I've seen many actually. People that I knew, people that I didn't know, animals, mutants, I've seen it all and I had to hurry if I didn't want to end up like them. I opened the once cold cooler to grab the last remaining bottles of water and shoved them in my navy blue knapsack. The only edible thing I could find were eight cans of tuna and a couple of canned pineapples and peaches. I grabbed a new toothpaste and some fresh clothes and underwear from the clothing section, which were much needed, seeing that my clothes had rips and holes. My bag was getting heavy and I couldn't carry anything else. But there was one last thing I needed.

I peeked over the shelf again to look at the still and very- dead body. I needed his ammo. My gun's ammunition was running low and I needed his. I turned into his aisle and bent down to his level. He had a wound in his chest, a gunshot wound, probably from the green eyed monsters that lurked right outside. His body has been there for some time, seeing that his blood had dried onto the cheap tiled floor. I reached into his pocket and felt the shiny pistol. No one wants to take anything from a dead man but if it helped me stay alive, then that's what I had to do. I slowly took it out and pressed the small button on the side of the hand grip to eject the magazine. It was empty. There wasn't a magazine. Someone had been here before and I didn't want to bump into them. Even though they could be human, they're so... unstable they wouldn't think twice on shooting something that moves, they didn't care if they were human or mutant because paranoia would get the best of them and before you could protest they're shivering fingers would have already pulled the trigger and... the end.

I turned to leave just as I saw someone's figure walk past the door outside, their shadow reflecting in the store from the street lights. My heart stopped and I held my breath, not letting it out. I pulled out my gun and held it to my chest, ready to kill 'It' or myself, if needed. The shadow stopped and backed up. My hands were trembling and the gun shook nervously. Fortunately, it turned it's head and walked away.