Still Alive

CH6: Maggie & David

The previous day almost feels like a bad dream when Maggie wakes up, warm sunlight filtering into the room.

Except she isn't waking up to the sound of her alarm. She isn't waking up alone in her own bed, in her own apartment.

When she gets up and feels the aches in her body, when she looks around a stranger's room and feels the unfamiliar hardwood floor beneath her bare feet, and when she walks over to the window and looks outside, she knows.

Yesterday was every bit as real as today.

The tiredness in her swollen eyes is another testament to the tortured night she was somehow able to survive. As the previous day's events come rushing back to her, the crippling pain in her chest returns with a vengeance. Her head spins a bit and she is forced to sit back down on the bed, overwhelmed with the reality that the new day brings.

There are no classes to teach. No papers to grade. No buses to wait for. No e-mails to check.

There will be no phone calls from her mom. No random texts from her younger sister. No invitations for dinner out with her friends.

All that is left now is to scrape together what little is left of their lives.

To endure the guilt, fears, tragedies, and loss that mark this new day and the rest of their days.

And to somehow keep their sanity in check through it all.

She's not too confident about that last one.

Their first day in this new home is still ridden with fear and paranoia. When they open the door to their bedroom, it is with weapons at the ready. When they cautiously venture downstairs, they half expect something dangerous waiting around the corner, ready to pounce on them. It is only when they've checked that the doors and windows have not been tampered with or broken through during the night that their hearts are slightly calmed.

But only just slightly.

Every so often, they hear the familiar sound of the infected passing by outside, a constant reminder of the horrors beyond the walls of their home. The pair goes still every time they hear it, afraid to make any noise. The house fortunately sits on a high foundation, making it difficult to reach the first-floor windows, and the curtains are thick enough to hide them from the outside world, but they still won't dare to attract any attention to themselves.

Scouring through the kitchen, they find some bread and peanut butter in the cupboards and make themselves a late lunch. It looks as if sandwiches will be a usual for them from now on...not that they're complaining. They are grateful for any food they can get their hands on.

In the kitchen, they eat in silence for a long while before finally deciding on what needs to be done next.

Both of them are aware that finding this house was a stroke of luck and that wandering around outside is out of the question. Both agree that for the time being, their best chance of survival is staying hidden here.

Maggie suggests they check what else they can find in the house and take note of things they may need in the future.

The fact that neither of them mentions the possibility of the owners of the house returning speaks volumes.

To their relief, the kitchen isn't completely bare. They've found some canned and boxed goods and other supplies in the cupboards.

They're not counting on electricity coming back anytime soon, so they decide to finish the perishables in the refrigerator first (well, whatever's still edible anyway), which isn't really much.