Flesh (n.s.)

one

Niall's POV

"No, Daniel, your father and I don't think it's time for you to be able to carry a gun yet. If you are ever in danger, you have your small axe." I heard Carrie say as I walked down the stairs that morning. 

"But mum," Daniel whined. "We have an extra gun. Why can't I just use that?" 

I walked up behind Daniel and ruffled his sandy blonde hair. "C'mon buddy, don't argue with your mum about this. She knows what she's talking about, and the only reason why we have that gun is because I don't like to use one." 

Daniel sighed and dropped the topic, and Carrie looked at me with a look of thanks and relief. I just smiled at her and sat down at the small, almost grimy table. 

"So, what's for breakfast?" I asked. 

Sebastian, the old man that gave Liam and me a ride to his home for sanctuary the first time we met, then walked into the room. He had two cans in his hands. "Canned pears!" He said excitedly. 

"Yes!" Jenny cheered. "I love me some pears." 

I chuckled and watched as the seven other people I grouped with took their share of pears, leaving me some. 

I took the bowl left for me and started chewing on the slimy, but still tasty, pears. The last thing I had eaten was two days ago, and that was oatmeal made with cold water. 

Liam smiled at me from across the room where he was leaning against the doorway when he noticed I was eating. I had a habit of just giving off my food when we ate, which I think Liam had noticed. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat, it was that sometimes, I just couldn't. 

I remembered the times when I was alone in the streets, huddled in corners and covered in Roamer remains so that they would leave me alone. I remember my stomach turning itself inside out from not having eaten in forever, and then I remember how there are still people out there like that, most likely. And it makes me feel guilty. It never bothered me until it happened to me.

Once we had finished eating, Andrew went upstairs to retrieve all of our weapons and then brought them back down. "Alright," He said. "Take what's yours and get yourselves ready, we're leaving for main street soon." 

We all reached towards our weapons and fixed them onto ourselves. Liam took his baseball bat and pistol, Carrie her gun, Andrew his pistol and club, Jolene her gun and her shovel, Jenny hers, Sebastian's crossbow, Daniel his axe, and I took my katana. I already had my throwing knives on a belt around my waist. 

Soon enough we packed up what little we had and were on the road again, walking  through the eerily quiet neighborhood. Every once and a while a rotten Roamer would come by, and Sebastian would quietly kill it with his crossbow, or I would go up to it and stab it in the head. 

We couldn't risk shooting a gun or making any loud sounds with a bat or something like that, so we stuck to being silent and not drawing attention to ourselves. We weren't the strongest group, but we could handle ourselves. 

Eventually we reached the downtown area and I wiped away the blood from my brow onto my dirty t-shirt. Ahead we could see what looked like already raided stores, but also some department stores that could be useful. I looked down at my shabby jeans and t-shirt, and the worn-out sneakers I had on. They could definitely be changed. 

We walked a little further until we reached an area that wasn't as vulnerable. Being in a big city or downtown area is dangerous because that's where all the people fled to when this thing first happened, and that's where most of them turned into Roamers and stayed there.