This Beautiful World - Book #1 (BxB)

Chapter 15

Hardly even a full day had passed and already Riley and I were back out in the open world. There were no monsters in the immediate area, which did help calm my nerves a little bit. If these were the slow type of zombies, then they wouldn't have been that scary. But of course, they had to be the type who could keep up with us and some even had some sort of parasite inside of them. Seeing how the ones that had a creature inside of them didn't die from a single headshot made them more terrifying. I prayed that this trip to Riley's house would be easy. Even though we had Arin and Stella accompanying us, it didn't make me feel any better. They could end up getting hurt just as well as us. 

Reluctantly, Riley took the lead. She might have been desperate to want to find her parents, but she was still scared. I walked beside her so that she didn't feel like she was alone in this situation. Whatever happened, we would deal with it together. Staying beside her did seem to help her feel a little more comfortable. Behind us, Arin and Stella stayed close. We only had to go a couple of blocks. Everything would be fine.

The town was deathly quiet. It was strange to be faced with this sort of silence after living here for my entire life. This wasn't a particularly large town, but you would still hear the sounds of people going about their daily lives. Now there was nothing. It was hard to believe how quickly things could change, especially when faced with this sort of devastation. I didn't know how I would be able to adjust to this. There was no guarantee that I would even survive for long. One scratch was all it takes. 

We walked in silence, each of us trying to stay as quiet as possible. Though we couldn't see any monsters lurking about, that didn't mean that they weren't there. I was scared that some of the dead bodies that we saw lying on the ground might have been a monster. The body that I saw yesterday at the apartment building ended up reanimating when I got close to it, so there was a possibility that might happen again. I didn't want to take any chances. 

As we continued, I heard something behind us. It was a soft noise, but it still made me turn around quickly. I was on edge right now and the town was quiet, so I was alert to anything that I heard. When I turned, I saw something dark duck behind one of the cars. From the brief glance that I got, it looked like a person. Someone was following us. 

I didn't think that it was a zombie. Why would a zombie try to hide from us? Those things seemed to attack when they noticed us. They also seemed to mostly respond to noise instead of sight. If it was only a person, then we should confront them. I had a feeling that I already knew who it was that was following us. The dark hair that I saw kind of gave it away. 

I said loud enough for my group to hear, "I think my sister might have snuck out of the apartment building and is now trailing us."

If it was actually Caitlyn, then I wouldn't be surprised. She was acting like a rebellious teenager, so of course, she was upset that she was left behind once again. Since I wasn't the one who had the chance to talk to her before we left, I wasn't able to tell her to stay there. That still didn't stop me from being annoyed with her. She should have known better than to follow us out here. It was too dangerous and we already had four people in our group. It was better to stay in a smaller group like this. We would attract less attention to ourselves. 

I let out a soft sigh. Now that I noticed her, I had to confront her. I knew that I couldn't tell her to go back to the apartments. I didn't want my little sister to go back on her own. Unfortunately, she would have to come with us. I would scold her for it later. I approached the car that I saw her hide behind. 

As I thought, it was my sister. When she saw that I had discovered her, she looked up at me with a guilty smile. "Sorry, Aiden."

I crossed my arms. Right now wasn't the time nor the place to scold her even though I wanted to. She was lucky that the coast was clear up to this point. If something would have happened to her while she was following us, then I don't know how I would deal with it. It would have felt like my fault since I didn't go see her before leaving. I already felt guilty for not saying goodbye to the others. 

"We'll talk about this later. Let's just get going before something shows up." I held my hand out to her and helped her to her feet. 

The anger that I felt when I first saw her did subside a little bit. She must have despised the fact that she was left alone once again. She wasn't allowed to come with us when we checked the upper floors of the apartment building, and she technically wasn't allowed to come with us this time either. I rather she would have stayed with Mom, but at least this way I could make sure that she stayed safe. Mom would be upset that both of her children decided to go out here in this world, though. I could only imagine the earful that I would get once we returned. 

Besides running into Caitlyn on our way to Riley's home, it was a straightforward journey. I was a little surprised that we didn't see any zombies on our way there. Maybe there weren't as many creatures as we thought there were. Of course, that was only wishful thinking. There was no easy way of telling what was out there. 

Eventually, we reached Riley's street. Normally it would have only taken us a few minutes to walk these couple of blocks, but that time was doubled since we took each step carefully and slowly. Riley picked up speed the closer that we got to her house. She stopped once she was in front of her home. 

The windows to her house were boarded up, but other than that it didn't look like the place had been disturbed at all. It seemed almost peaceful. Riley couldn't contain herself any longer. She ran up to her house. Caitlyn and I were the first to follow. 

Riley tried to turn the doorknob, but it was locked. Through the cracks in the boarded-up windows, it was hard to see anything inside. I thought that I saw candlelight and then there was movement. There was someone inside of the house, but it was hard to tell who or what it was. 

Then the door opened.