Alone (End of the World Book)

Chapter 5

Zoe's POV

I opened my heavy eye lids at and blinked at my unfamiliar surroundings. I rolled over and touched something warm. I looked up and saw it was Mitch. Standing up, I rubbed my eyes. Then I walked over to the railing and looked over it. Some people were already up, talking quietly and walking around. I turned around and stared at the two sleeping figures. Looking at my watch and seeing the time, I decided to wake the boys up. I woke up Mitch up first. I said his name a few times and shook his arm a few times. He woke up but when he saw me he fell back down and closed his eyes.

"C'mon get up!"

Mitch rolled over on his stomach and sighed deeply. "No. It's too early."

"It's 8:00 in the morning!"

"That's about two hours too early!"

I groaned and fell face first into the covers which startled Chris awake. He gasped and shot up. He started breathing fast.

I jumped up and hugged Chris.

"Hey. Shh, shh it okay were here. Shh." He hugged back tightly and slowly, his breathing returned to normal.

After awhile I said, "We need to get ready for the day. We are going out to the city to look for supplies. So you can change or do whatever." I grabbed my bag and got out a new long sleeve shirt. I turned away and went over to Spark's corner. I took off my over shirt, thank full that I was wearing a undershirt, and put the long sleeve short over it. I turned back around and was surprised to see the boys dressed. I slinked over to my bag and pulled out my pocket knife and a flashlight. I put the flashlight in the backpack after I emptied it in my other bag.

"Well let's go downstairs." I suggested and moved to the door. It opened easy and I jogged downstairs. I looked up and saw the guys following me and opened the door.

We walked into the auditorium, where everyone was crowding around the stage. Baxter, the leader, was on the stage. He started speaking soon after we go there.

"I'm Baxter. I will be leading you. I'm sorry there was no election, but I had to step up to the plate. I will respect you if you respect me." He paused. "There will be no rough housing. If you have a problem come to me. Today our task is to go out into the city and find supplies. You have all day, but I would advise you to be back before dark. Get items that are needed for survival. Be safe." With that he stepped off the stage and walked out the doors and waited by the outside door.

I grabbed Mitch's and Chris's arms and pulled them to the doors. Volts handed me a walkie talkie.

"So we can all communicate if we find something big." He explained.

We continued out to the cars.

"Do you want to ride with me Zoe?" Mitch asked.

"Sure." I replied.

We got to Mitch's black truck and hopped in. I sat in the middle, leaving Chris to side. Mitch started the truck and backed out. When we got out of the parking lot we turn to the left. I turned on the walkie talkie. There was nobody on the air so I started my message.

"This is Zoe. I will be heading west of the base, looking on the edge of the city."

"Copy that."

We rode down the road in silence until we passed a place that we thought had supplies. It was a little grocery store. We got out and walked in. The smell of rotted food almost made us leave. We pulled our shirt collars over our mouths and noses before going any farther. We looked down each aisle and started picking out the cans that had the farthest expiration date. Mitch disappeared into one of the back storage rooms and came back out with a few milk crates. Chris and I stacked in can after can of food, filling up crate after crate. Chris disappeared somewhere after we started loading up the truck with the crates of food.