13 Years of Struggle

Chapter 10

2 months later… 

          Around 2 months have passed by now. It was now mid November. It was starting to get colder and winter was fast approaching. So we had to make more and more runs for food, warm clothes, firewood, and other essential things.      

           I slowly awoke to the sun. It was 7 am. I sighed as I got up and stretched. I soon got dressed. I put on a pair of gray jeans, a blue long sleeve shirt, boots and I put my hair into a bun.

             I walked into the bathroom. I washed my face with the sink water. I wanted to look at least presentable. I brushed my teeth rather quickly. I then spit and looked in the mirror again. I would say I looked decent for the apocalypse. 

          I walked down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Anais was cooking something on the stove and Kolson was writing in his journal at the table. Anais looked up. “ Oh morning Claire.” 

                   “ Morning.” I replied back, waving my hand awkwardly in the air.  

       “ Hey Claire.” I heard Kolson say. 

       “ Hey Kolson. Did you sleep any better last night?” I asked, feeling curious.   

   “ Yeah! I got two extra hours of sleep.” He replied as he looked up from writing. 

             “ Well that’s good news.” I sat in a chair next to him. “ So what’s for breakfast?”

     “ Powdered eggs, again.” Anais teased. 

               I let out a sigh. I know I should be grateful we have food. But I hated eggs before the world ended and I still hated them. Especially powdered eggs. 

    “ I’ll pass…” I replied.

          “ Alright.” She puts some eggs on a plate for herself and another for Kolson. 

     He smiled and replied. “ Thank you Anais.”

     “ You’re welcome, Kolson.” She smiled and turned off the burner of the stove. 

  I soon heard a loud knock on the door. “ I’ll go see who it is.”

              “ Alright.” Anais responded. 

         I got up and walked out of the kitchen. I approached the front door. I looked out the peephole and saw it was Gemma and Violet. I unlocked the door and opened it. “ Oh morning guys.”      

                  “ Good morning Claire.” Violet replied with a small smile.

  “ Hey Claire, We’re gonna go outside the walls and go hunting you wanna join us?” She asked. 

              I thought for a minute. “ Alright, sure why not. I have nothing else to do. Just let me get my knife and gun.” 

           “ Don’t take long, we're burning daylight here.” 
      
                   “ Don’t rush me Gem.”  I replied. I called her Gem as a nickname once and it just stuck ever since.      

           “ You're slow.”  She giggled to herself.
     
        The three of us left the house and I closed the door behind me. It was a very beautiful day for November and everybody was out doing their job or something else to keep them occupied. I walked alongside Violet while Gemma was staying silent. 
       
          The gate was not far away. “ It's gonna be winter soon, we're gonna have to go on some more supply runs for supplies.” Gemma replied.
      
        I nodded to her. “ I know.  But that's tomorrow's problem. Right now we’re going hunting.” 
     
           We had reached the gate and Garrett was on watch duty. “ Hey Garrett, can you open the gate for us?” Violet asked.