The Apocalypse: The First Year

Know Thine Enemy

"You wanna tell me about yourself?" The girl asks from her bed.

"Not particularly. Apparently, I've already given you too much information." I say, not turning over to look at her. I'm not entirely sure how much sleep I'll be getting tonight. There has to be a reason that boy Aiden wanted to room with my brother and have Ashley with me.

Are they planning on taking us out one by one?

"I'm not gonna hurt you. If that's what you're thinking." Ashley says and I can hear the amusement in her voice.

"I wasn't-"

"Aiden's gay." She says cutting me off. "I'm sure that's why he wanted to room with your brother. Not so he can kill him and take his supplies or anything." She says and when I turn to look at her she's smiling.

"My brother isn't..." I trail off and shake my head.

Is he? Come to think about it, I've never once seen Glen with a girlfriend.

"Mhm." Is all she says and lays back on her bed, facing the ceiling. "So..." She starts.

"Yeah?" I question, facing the ceiling now too.

"How old are you?" She asks.

"Sixteen." I answer.

"I'm eighteen. I have a sixteen-year-old sister though. The one I told you about. She's at camp with the rest of our group. I don't dare let her come out with us on scavenges. Your brother let's you-"

"My brother doesn't tell me what to do." I cut her off, turning to look at her. She's still looking at the ceiling.

"But he's protective right? I can tell." She says and turns to face me. She stares at me for a moment.

"Yeah." Is all I say before turning back to face the ceiling.

"That's cool. I'm protective of my little sister too. She's the only family I've got left." She says and I can feel her eyes boring into me. "What about you? Where's the rest of your family?" She asks.

"It's just me and Glen." I tell her.

"Your parents?"

"Gone." I say simply.

"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose your parents. Mine didn't die of the fever like I said earlier." She says in a sad tone which causes me to turn and look at her.

"What do you mean?" I ask, intrigued.

"I shot them." She says and my breath hitches.

"I had no choice. My dad caught the fever first and he went crazy, started trying to eat us and he was so big and strong that I...I couldn't help him. I didn't know how to help him." She says with conviction. "I wanted to save him but I couldn't. He was coming after me so I picked up his gun off the table and I shot him in the head. A few days later I found a scratch on my moms back. She caught the virus a few hours after that and she started acting the same way as my father. She almost bit Kyla. I couldn't risk that happening so I shot her in the head too." She says as I continue to stare at her. Pain written all over her face.

If it had come down to it. I don't know if I would have been able to do that to my parents.

Thankfully, I didn't have to make that choice.

"I don't know exactly how my parent's died." I sit up and throw my legs over the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry." She says again and I can tell she really means it. I shrug and smile a little.

"I'm sorry I thought you were gonna kill me in my sleep." I tell her and she giggles a bit.

"It's cool." She waves me off. We sit quietly for a moment before I break the silence.

"So your friends gay, huh?" I ask and she nods.

"Yup. As a bag of skittles." She says.

"Oh my God, skittles." I say remembering the delicious candy. Oh how I miss those days. Overdosing on junk food until I felt sick and my parents would want to scold me but they'd say that the tummy ache I'd get was punishment enough.

"Can I ask you something?" Ashley says suddenly.

"Sure." I say, breaking from my thoughts.

She looks like she's in thought for a moment before she shakes her head and says never mind. Then mumbles a quick goodnight before turning over and going to sleep.

"Goodnight." Is my reply, turning over and doing the same.

–

"Will things ever get back to normal?" I ask my dad as we sit on the floor of an abandoned house we'd just scavenged.

"I don't know, sweetie." He says looking straight ahead. I know the answer is no though.

I'm fifteen and he still tries to protect me from everything.

"Dad." I say and he looks down at me.

"Hmm?"

"Are we gonna die?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"I will never let one of those things get you, Spence. You're gonna live a long and happy life and get married and have children like you should." He tells me and I see the tears building in his eyes.

"Okay." I nod. Dropping the subject. I don't want to make my dad emotional. I know that what he's telling me isn't the truth but I appreciated him trying.

The total of dead has risen. There are probably more dead now then living now.

It's gonna be hard to outrun everyone and there aren't nearly enough bullets to kill them all.

The virus wiped out about twenty-five percent of the population and those of us who are left are being picked off by the dead.

Eaten if we're lucky.

Bitten or scratched and turned into one of the dead if we're unlucky.

The government is no more.

Water, food and other essentials are becoming scarce.

Everyday is a struggle to stay alive.

But we're doing it. My father, mother, Glen and I.

We're a family.

And we're gonna stay that way. We're gonna make it through all this...whatever this is...we're gonna survive.