In The End ~Watty2017 Entry~ (COMPLETE)

More Unwanted People

I get out of my seat at five am, four days after this all started. We're keeping busy buy building a place to live around the van. It's still dark out when I open the door to the van and start to make a fire and a list of things that would be nice to have to make our campsite more of a home. Chase is sitting on the roof as I make the fire and sit by it. He joins me and closes the door to the van. I just watch the fire as he flinches at everything that makes a sound.

"Don't freak out so much." He looks at me. I don't look up. "It'll scare the Twins if you keep freaking out over everything." He nods slowly pushing his hair out of his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Why are you so calm?" He looks at me as I shrug my shoulder and write down more of a list.

"How far are we from Costco?"

"A mile or two, why?" He drags out the 'why'.

"Because I want us to get some stuff. We'll also need to scope it out to see if we should hide out there for winter.'' He nods slowly as the sun steadily rises above us.

He ruffles his hair as I look at the watch. Seven am. I stand up and make the rest of the package of bacon and the eggs as Chase wakes up the twins. I feed everyone and we relax by the fire as the twins clean anything we got dirty. "Do you think we can go down to the river?" Chase asks as I listen around us. There's way to many crunches of leaves and rustles to not be an animal or a group of people.

"Why?" I listen more intensely.

"So we can wash up," he laughs as I hold my finger to my lips.

"I see a fire! Maybe it's people!" A voice pipes up. I look at Chase as he shakes. I take the gun from his hands and quickly move the twins into the van.

"Stay in here until me or Chase say to come out." The nod as I close the door and point my gun into the woods. Chase hides by the door with his axe in hand. The crunching comes closer and closer until a group of people come into view. They look sick, very, very sick.

"Hello. Could you help us?" One asks. There's nine of them and their all clinging onto each other to even stand up straight.

"What's wrong with you?" Chase asks.

"We're all hurt. We're trying to get to the east coast." A girl says. She couldn't be older then nine. "Could you help us get there. Spare any food or water?"

"We need everything we have. Try the Costco it's not far." I lower my gun.

"We were just there. Everyone's dead in there, the smell was horrible," a young man says. "Could you at least point us in the way of the east coast?"

"Why?" Chase asks. "What's at the east coast?"

"There's a safe haven in India. Boats are going to every continent to get people there so we're trying to get to the east coast to get there." I slowly nod.

"Follow the river. It'll take you to highway 82 and then you'll get to where you need to know." They nod and take off towards the river slowly.

"Shouldn't we go with them!" Chase yells at me as soon as their out of view. I open the door and the twins come out.

"No. They're sick and will be dead before they even make it." I glare into him as I climb into the van. I grab my hairbrush from my bag and brush out my ratted hair.

"We should at least go down to the river and wash up," Chase says. "If we're this close to a water source we should use it."

I bite my lip. I don't want to be seen naked by anyone here. It would be traumatizing for the twins and weird for Chase. We're classmates–were classmates. Now we're surviving on our own together in this fucked up world, and we probably won't even live long enough to see the world become peaceful again.

"It's been a week Olive," he continues. "We all need to wash up."

"You're right, it has been a week." I glare into him. "We should get to Costco and-"

"And camp out there because it's better then the fucking woods." He curses at me. I just keep brushing my hair until it's less ratted then I put out the fire.

"If we camp out at Costco people will be more likely to go their and kill us. The woods is our best option." I walk into the van and clean up what we have. Chase glared into me. He knows I'm right. Everyone will be staying in humanity and in houses and near supermarkets. Only a few groups will head into the woods.

"What will we do for winter?" August asks softly. I look at her and June. Their hair is greasy and sticking to their faces.

"We'll either hide in the van all winter or hide in Costco but if we do the latter, we'll either need to put the van in the building or abandon it. We can't leave any trace we're alive. It's all for all in this world now."

"I think we should live in the van," I look at August. "If we live in the van and keep it running where it's on but not wasting gas we can stay warm and if we line the inside of the van with something that reflects we can stay warm all winter." She smiles. She's a smart kid. June simply nods.

"Where would we get the lining?" Chase crosses his arms.

"Costco," I laugh as he glares at me. "Everyone in because we're going on an adventure."