if we survive

f o u r t e e n

r o r y

Benji cleared Colman to start going hunting. All of our hunters were either injured from the monster hoard or dead, so for some reason I was chosen to fill in and join Colman in her first real hunting experience. My job at camp normally varies, sometimes I'm Benji's "guard" when he's working on the cure, most of the time I'm teaching the kids, and other times I work at medical but never once have I been a hunter. Colman walked ahead of me with an arrow on her bow while I stood back and made sure she didn't hurt herself in any way.

"How many camps are there?" Colman asked spontaneously without looking back at me.

"Uh, I don't know, a lot?" I said without much confirmation in my voice. "There's individuals camped out around the woods, there's Adam's camp, our camp, and a few others I guess."

"Adam...is he a good guy?" She ask and rounded a tree. I hesitated. I didn't know how I should answer, I didn't know what Colman wanted to hear. She stopped and looked at me waiting for a reply. I spotted two lurkers approaching us with their teeth bared, one was a man wearing a bright red jacket and beside him was a woman with short brown hair. I raised my pistol and shot them both in the head.

"There are no good guys." It was the only thing I could say. I didn't want to tell Colman how I knew Adam and his camp so I just left it at that. She didn't have to know everything, I wasn't obliged to tell her anything. Colman turned back to begin scoping the woods. I sighed in relief that she didn't ask questions. After a few long silent minutes of walking and seeing nothing, we decided to find a different route. We found a road and followed it down to a neighborhood that looked like a ghost town. My first instinct was to raid the homes in hopes of finding supplies but my gut reminded of the things that could be left behind closed doors.

"Should we split up?" Colman asked.

"No, we don't know what's behind these doors." I said and began walking with Colman following behind. I pulled my gun out of my holster and tried the first door we came across, the knob didn't turn. It was locked from the inside which only meant that there had to be someone left behind the door.

"It doesn't look like lurkers have messed with this town, it just looks abandoned." Colman stated. I pushed her back and aimed my gun at the doorknob, I shot it causing a loud metallic clatter to sound around us. Colman cringed at the noise. Before I even had time to open the door myself, it opened and a brunette girl came running out full speed towards me. She tackled me to the ground and got one deep strike to my shoulder with whatever she'd been holding to defend herself. I felt pain dig into my shoulder and she was tackled off of me by Colman. When she tried to get back up Colman had her on the ground in a choke hold that clearly wasn't tight enough to actually harm her.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" I yelled examining my shoulder where a piece of glass was stuck. I carefully pulled it out, wincing with every movement and threw the glass to the ground.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you!" The girl screamed, fighting against Colman's hold. "This is my home, you can't just break in like that!"

"It's not like nobody's tried to get your supplies before!" Colman said.

"Why would someone break into my home? You're insane!" She yelled.

I shared a look with Colman. "Nobody has tried to break in? Monsters, survivors, freaks?"

"What are you talking about? Monsters don't exist, idiot." The girl tried to spit at me but didn't quite spit it far enough. "Look, just don't hurt me. I have to take care of my brother while my parents are out."

"How old are you and your brother?" I asked.

"I'm thirteen, he's five." She said. "Look, he's sick and my parent are trying to find some type of medicine to help him. He feels so bad he keeps banging on doors and freaking out when he hears noises."

Colman's face shifted into pure sorrow. I let out a sad sigh and signaled for Colman to release the girl. "What's your name?"

"Hannah."

"Hannah, you need to stay away from your brother and tell your parents to stay away from him too. He could be dangerous." I said and stuffed my gun back in its holster.

"Why? He's just sick, he'll get better." Hannah said brushing off her clothes. I started explaining to her about the apocalypse and exactly what was happening outside of her home. Her face showed so many emotions that I couldn't keep up with how she was feeling.

"My parents are out there! Can you go find them? My dad is wearing a red jacket and my mom has short brown hair and green eyes." Hannah begged but realization hit and I couldn't bring myself to tell her that her parents were dead. Suddenly, we all heard a loud crash coming from inside of Hannah's home and her eyes widened. "My brother could be hurt, I have to check on him!" She took off into the house before I could grab her.

"No! Hannah, stop!" I yelled and Colman ran into the house after her. I followed and when I caught up to Hannah and Colman, a short, five year old lurker ran out of the room and latched onto Hannah's leg and dug its teeth into her calf. Hannah screamed. Colman gasped and tears sprung from her eyes. Colman wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my torso so she didn't have to watch Hannah he devoured by her five year old brother. I pulled out my gun and shot the little boy in the head, silently apologized and did the same to Hannah. I pinched the bridge of my nose and holstered my gun. I didn't know how to react so I just stood there letting Colman weep into my shirt.