Outbreak

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Marlowe

Some rustling outside the barn wakes me. I wish I could just cover my head and go to sleep again, but I sit up anyways, taking care not to wake Avi.

She's only a few months younger than me, but I feel like she's my responsibility. She's not usually this fragile. Before the outbreak, when we met at that little cafe by the park, she was outgoing, bubbly even. I was always so awkward around new people, guys especially. She always loved meeting new people, and was friends with practically everyone. When it first started, and less people were infected, she was the same way, always trying to help.

I think she stopped that after we started seeing more and more people die. Once on a supply run, when we were still staying in that moldy cellar by her grandma's house, we saw an entire family, even the kids, shot for seven cans of peaches. I think the worst part was how crazed their attacker's eyes were. He was such a regular guy. He was stout, and had a receding hairline. The kind of guy you would sit next to on an airplane. The kind of guy who might hold the door for you at the doctor's office---had it not been for his wild eyes and rifle in tow.

That's when she stopped being the Avi I knew. Something deep down inside of her broke, and it changed who she was.

I hear the rustling again. I squeeze through the crack in the barn door, and almost immediately the aroma of bacon, a long lost delicacy fills my nose.

"Rise and shine, sleepin' beauty. You hungry?" Reyes grins at me. This guy is always happy.