Written In The Scars

Chapter 4

That day it was our turn to go out and gather up resources, I was a tad bit nervous since It was my first time, I had to do this, I took a deep breath and tried to overcome my anxiety. Luke handed me a rusted ax while Emma had a hatchet. He was also leading the group."We'll be heading north" stated Luke before tucking his shiny metallic sword in his scabbard. He gave us a go signal and both of us followed him while the other groups scattered in other directions. We slowed down a bit after we were surrounded by a bunch of houses.

 "Careful, don't let your guards down" he whispered. The abandoned houses were giving off an eerie feeling and the fact that it was night made it even more creepy. The only source of light was the moon, reflecting some light. "What's up with searching at night?" I hissed. Luke looked back and said, "It's easier to hunt at night without the enemies spotting you". We walked miles until we came across a multi-story house right at the corner of the street. "This one looks unexplored," Luke said. The house was locked so we intruded via walls, we climbed inside then Luke went on to open a rusted door in front of him, a corridor awaited us whos candles were still lit, by the end of the corridor there were stairs which lead to the second floor and there were plenty of other rooms on the ground floor.

"Alex, check out the rooms on the first floor and Emma you go check ones on the right" ordered Luke before heading left. The first floor had 2 rooms and a balcony. I went into one of them, the room was pretty neat and had a working bulb connected by a series of wires. The room had nothing in it which we could use, it also had a bathroom and surprisingly had running water!  I was about to rinse my hands when I heard it, the sound of someone groaning. I stopped and followed the voice, groaning changed into sobbing. I slowly opened up the door, it was dark in there so I headed back and grabbed a candle from the corridor and approached the voice, the room was giving off a disgusting smell as of a rotten meat. I could sense someone's presence there.

"DAD" a weak voice came from right in front of me, I took a step backwards but then managed to gather up the strength to go and check. I approached the voice and I could see him now, his eyeballs were almost on verge of coming out of his eye socket. His face was pale and some of his bones were visible. Some insects were already consuming his stomach and lower part of his body. The sight was disgusting and creepy. His hand reached out for me, "I'm not your dad" I replied, his hand stopped midway.

 "Daddy's... Jacket" 

 I was stunned and shocked, I lowered my gaze to the jacket and realized it was that man's jacket which Luke gave me. It belonged to the man I killed, an innocent man who pleaded for his life just for the sake of his kids, he mentioned kids, which meant his sibling was here too. "Do you have anyone else here with you?" I asked.

"Yes, sister," he said,  he was still a kid but was going through a lot because of me or maybe because of how this world functioned.

"Where is she?" I asked. To which he raised his hand and pointed directly above him. I lifted up the candle and realized it was a 2 story bed. There lied a lifeless body, the only thing left of her was her hairs and a few bones. It was so gross that I almost threw up. My head felt like it would explode. The door opened and Luke came in soon Emma followed. They notice what was going on. Luke placed his hand on my shoulder, "I killed their father" I sobbed

I couldn't control it, I could feel their pain, the pain of losing someone important and I burst into tears. "Isn't there anything we can do, Luke?" I asked while sobbing. "The least we can do is put him out of his misery". he stated. He approached the boy and dug his knife into his head. He stopped moaning and that was the end for him. "It's not your fault, Alex," said Emma in a comforting tone. I calmed a bit. "Well, forget what happened and move on, we didn't get anything from here though" Luke sighed. "They have running water here" I mumbled.

We filled the plastic bottles issued to us and realized something was off about it. "It's not water, Alex, this is blood, blood mixed with water or more like water added in blood," Luke said as he monitored the liquid. It must have been obtained by killing countless people and using their blood as an alternative to water. It became a common practice as human life was cheaper and accessible compared to pure water. In the end, we had to go empty handed knowing we will starve for the whole day tomorrow. 

 It was odd to see the front gate open. "Geez, how many time do I have to tell them" complained Luke. Something seemed odd about the place as no one seemed to be around. Everything was out of place, the table upside down, the windows shattered and blood-stained footsteps on the floor, blood all over the walls. 

"Luke!" I hissed. "What happened here?" Emma was as shocked and so was I. The sight was gruesome and shocking. Then something hit the floor, each one of us paralyzed in fear, I turned my head slowly and saw the grumpy's old man head thrashed on the floor, "Boss" Luke whispered.

On the stairs stood a tall man wearing a black jacket and a hat which covered his eyes and had an evil grin on his face. In his hand was a razor-sharp sword, the fresh blood dripped from it. "Steve Mcmillon" Luke whispered. "RUN!" he shouted and both of us followed him without any delay.