The Last Alive

Chapter Five - Nathan's Missing

Chapter Five

Nathan's Missing

I stood outside the makeshift house staring into the small space passing as a living room. Mom sat in a chair knitting while Dad read a book he had read a hundred times while Sadie lay stretched out on her side sleeping. A deep sadness welled up in me. When I was younger I'd walked in on them sitting in the living room doing the exact same thing.

How do you tell them you're going out there again? They won't be happy. Mom always goes into such a spiraling depression.

Taking a deep breath, I walked through the door with a waning smile. I put the crate of food on the modest table in my family's new kitchen and lingered there for a few long moments. I grasped a can of mystery stuff. The label having been long gone. Despite having been there for four years, it wasn't home. It was just some place we were staying for the time being and Becca wasn't an undead. She was just off at another college or on vacation with her friends without me.

Nathan being missing quickly threw me back into reality. I was content being in the safety of the city. So, we lost a few luxuries, but we were alive. We were together. Well most of us were together. Either way it was well fortified. Mom smiled warmly and took the can from me. She was always so particular about organization. As Mom unpacked I grabbed my boots, more arrows for my quiver, and my leather jacket. I sat and unlaced my sneakers. My heart ached, and my stomach lurched.

What if you are too late?

"Why are you putting on your boots?" Mom stood at the table gripping one of the dented, rusting cans.

I didn't answer just pulled the boots on.

"What exactly are you doing?" Her voice went up an octave at my silence.

"Nathan's missing," I said softly, wiping at the tears that had made their way to the surface. I shrugged on my jacket and slung a bow over my back.

"Okay, so what are you doing?"

"I'm going to look for him." I pulled an extra magazine from the ammunition drawer and tucked it into my back pocket.

"Like hell you are!" she shouted, dropping a can of beans on the ground.

"I have to," I replied firmly. She wouldn't stop me. Nobody would. I was going to find Nathan no matter what it took. I'd drag his dead and lifeless body back after I put a bullet between his eyes if I had to.

"Why?" Dad asked, putting his book down and taking off his reading glasses.

"For one, he's my friend. Secondly, it's my job."

"Your job is to protect the city. Someone else can have the job of search and recover." He narrowed his eyes and waited for my argument.

"Who, Dad? He has no family here. I'm his best friend. Plus..." I put my pistols in the holster and took a deep breath. I hadn't told them about the promotion I had been given with the Safety Guards. "I'm the commander of the new search and rescue team that the chief put together."

"She had no right doing that!" Mom screamed at me. "There are others she can use. Why you? Why my only daughter?

"I'm a detective, mom and I'm his best friend. I'm not going to sit here and wait around for him to come back or someone to volunteer to go out there for him."

"Well you're not going out there." She scowled at me with red-rimmed eyes and a sob escaped her lips. My mother sank to the ground, her body lurching with each sob.

"Yes, I am."

"Like hell you are." Her composure slipped. Her hands shook, and the can fell to the floor.