Eli was barely staying afloat before the apocalypse. Working long shifts, taking care of his younger brother, and just trying to figure out what to do with his life.
When he finds his mom trying to take a chunk out of her youngest son though, Eli...
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Sitting in the storefront, I watched the large flakes fall from the sky as Ember napped next to Sarina, huddling together for warmth in the drafty store. Nothing was going the way it was supposed to, but there was nothing to do about it now.
The ground was quickly having inches of snow adding to the icy ground. The storm came out of nowhere as the temperature plummeted in the day that Wolfe, Javier, and I spent walking.
Had we of been on track, we would have managed to outpace the storm until we got to the meeting point, but here we were. Freezing in a hunting shop with barely enough food to last us a handful of days.
My arms were covered in goosebumps and my lips trembled from the cold. My long shirt and jacket went to the young girls, at this point the only thing keeping me going is getting Ember back to our family.
A set of knocks sounded at the back door that the three of us agreed on before the door jiggled. The snow making it difficult to push the door in as it sucked against it.
"Red?" Javier softly called as they entered, dropping their bags to the ground. I felt as frozen as the dead I could see in the distance, sluggishly moving through the snow. Its movements slowly dwindling as its body froze in the elements with no protection.
"Where did your coat go?" I blinked heavily, smiling slightly as Jav kneeled beside me. He looked so much older, the weight of everything he's seen haunted his beautiful eyes.
When I didn't answer, he wrapped his single arm around my waist, pulling me up. "C'mon, we can start looking through the merchandise. Wolfe is doing the final check."
With chattering teeth, I nodded. My busted lips protested as I uttered the word. "Eli,"
When Javier didn't respond, I knew we wouldn't be leaving until spring. "The snows coming in too heavy, Ember and Sarina would never make it."
His truthful words pressed an invisible weight down on my chest at the reality that Eli and I were going to be separated yet again, with neither of us knowing if the other is alive.
"They'll be fine." His soft whisper fell on deaf ears as I caught sight of Wolfe dragging out the five dead bodies that were in the store as I had been with the girls in the office, watching over them until they got back.
The only way for me to stay sane and block out my mind's constant speculation is to keep busy. Pulling away from Javier, I pushed my cold body forward and began to look through the camo clothes that were flooding the store.
Taking the clothes off the hanger and onto the floor beside me, I found what would best fit me. Snug clothes were better than loose, less material for the grabby dead's hands to lock onto.
