Spero: A Post-Apocalyptic Short Story |COMPLETE| ✔

<FOURTEEN>

10:30
July 4, 2023
Day One~Hundred and Six

I cocked my head at her, my inner voice yelling at me to turn around and face the foolish man that lay on the ground.

"No," I whispered. I shook my head, and brought my blood-reddened hands to my head, my wounded arm going numb as the irony liquid coated me. Gun in hand, I clasped as my overgrown hair. Behind me, I heard the weakened man behind me shift. I whipped around my eyes and chest becoming icy.

His dark eyes were upon Raina, and a deep disgust for this man rose up inside of me. I cocked the weapon, aiming it straight at his forehead. My arm was rigid, refusing to shake as the muscle memory took over, my index finger rested upon the trigger before I gained control of myself.

"Get in the truck," I said to her. Behind me, I knew Raina was there.

"Turn the key, and start it."

I heard the door slam shut and I also heard her sniffling, trying to compose her emotions. I ground my teeth together in anger and dissatisfaction at the person that sat hunched in front of me. I guess I did more damage than I thought I did.

I looked at the other man, still knocked out cold and bloody on the ground. A dark feeling filled my stomach as I gazed at the two of them. I should kill them, but...

I glanced over at the truck, and at the young girl who crawled over into the passenger seat with tears in her eyes.

I scoffed, and turned away, toward the only thing that mattered to me now.

I might regret this, but I couldn't do it... I wouldn't.

I grabbed ropes from the back of the truck and tossed them onto the ground.

I looked at Reina and gave her my best smile.
I squatted down to her level as she came out of the truck to look at me.

"Guess what," I asked, almost choking on my words.

She looked at me, her tears still on her face and in her eyes.

"What," she said, he little voice quivering.

"You can go get anything you want from that store, anything, and I'll let you bring it with us. How does that sound?"

She moved to look in the direction of Tyrese, who's chest was no longer rising, but I tugged her little hand to the doors of the station. I covered her little face and rammed my boot's heel into the bottom of the glass door. It took a few tries, but it shattered soon after. An old alarm blared, but I ignored it.

"Be careful of the extra glass," I told her as I tugged a rag from my pocket and wrapped it around my hand. I pulled out all of the shards I could see and the rest of the pane.

"O- Okay..." She went into the store silently, and vanished behind the racks.

I went to the back of the truck and tugged out a hammer as the alarm blared loudly. I crawled through the busted door, and found the source. I took the hammer in my right hand, the one that wasn't bleeding everywhere, and I leapt, whamming the pointed edge into the alarm system. I hacked at it until it went silent, and glanced back at the little girl who had sat on the floor, clutching at a chocolate bar. She was still sniffling, holding the candy to her chest and staring at the floor.

I picked up the ropes I had earlier and dragged them over to the two men who were both now unconscious. I tied them together, back to back, and dragged them into the back of the car. I couldn't close the trunk, so I left it open. I ground my teeth and looked back at the truck, knowing what I had to do.

I tugged a bandana to cover my nose again, and moved over the the back of the truck.

I tugged the tarp out of the doors, and wrapped Tyrese in it. I made sure that the tarp covered Tyrese, who's eyes were closed, and who had a single tear on his face. I shook my head as I pulled his body out as gently as I could and winced with the sheer weight. I don't know how, but I carried him into a clearing in the near woods, and retrieved a shovel from the utility side of the gas station.

I got to work, not caring about my limp left arm or the dizzying sensation in my head.

Only after I had completed my task did I remove my bandana and tie off my arm.

I returned to the truck, bloody, dirty, and stumbling.

When I searched for Raina, I saw her in the passenger seat, 3 chocolate bars, a rumpled teddy bear, and a camouflage beanie, the one Tyrese had been wearing in her lap.

I sighed. The truck had been running for a long time, so I poured some gas into the tank, grabbed 2 things from the store, and got into the truck, now cold from the A.C.

I stared at the white car in the lot, and pushed the truck's gear into drive.

My rage did not disperse, and yet I pulled out of the lot without killing the people responsible for it.
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