Chapter 1: "For the First Time…"
"So…"
The fire was gently crackling among the three survivors, feeling its warm atmosphere.
"Are you guys lost or something?" The survivor asked and shoved a beef jerky in his mouth.
"It's been awhile since… I've seen people around here actually." He said again.
The other two survivors looked at each other contently and whispered to one other.
"Do you think we can trust him? I-I don't know if we should tell him about us."
"Don't worry about it. I don't think he's going to hurt us… He seems like a nice person anyway."
"But still… What if he.. you know… kill us or..or… even ra-"
"If he does, he'll regret it for sure." Then she showed her a hidden shiv in her sleeve.
"If anything happens, I'll protect you no matter wh-."
"Ahem.."
The survivor in-front of them interrupted their whispering conversation and they slowly notice that he had a gun in his hand.
"Sorry it's a habit… You can't be too careful nowadays. Especially "them"
"I-I'm sorry, but what do you mean by "them" exactly?"
He cocks his gun and shoves another beef jerky into his mouth. Gently chewing his food, he gets a cup behind the log he was sitting at. He pours the cup what seems like steamy light brown liquid and hands it to her. "Want some?" He asked. The redheaded woman was openly curious about the contents of it.
"Um… What's in it?" she dared asked him.
He chuckles lightly. "Don't worry." he sighs "It's just hot chocolate."
"OH!" She quickly gets the cup and descriptively smells the cup with careful sense.
He watches the redheaded woman have an almost delightful adorable expression and she takes small sips and letting out of heavenly sighs every time she drinks it again.
"ANNA!"
"Hmmm…" She slowly turns to her friend. " What? It's hot chocolate Elsa! C'mon!"
The woman with the blond hair heavily sighs and says, "What if it's poisonous? I mean for all I know it could be expired!?"
The survivor had an awkward question expression, "Why would I poison the hot chocolate? I'd be dead by now y'know?"
He examined the two women arguing with the hot chocolate he had given to Anna. He purposely coughs again to interrupt their chat.
"I don't want to interrupt the Hot Chocolate Poison Topic, but you might wanna keep it down."
He gets up, scanning area, and sits down on the log. "There could be runners in the area." He said to them.
"Runners?" Anna asked.
He blandly blinked at the question that Anna asked. "You don't know about runners?"
"No?" Anna said and then paused for another minute. "OH! You mean the zombies?"
The woman with the blue hoodie by the name of Elsa sighed, "We call them zombies. It seems like all they want to do is eat people." She shrugged, "Well… That's my theory anyway. It could be different."
He chuckles, "You guys horror flickers?"
"Mostly I watch zombie flicks, like The Walking Dead!" Anna quickly said and then sighs, "They never got to finish Season 4…"
"I know right? It freaking sucks man. I was waiting for the next episode where they got to that Terminus place. Maaaan… I was excited for next Sunday." He said to her.
"I watch apocalyptic movies like Book of Eli or The Mist. They're all interesting, but I do miss watching The Walking Dead for sure." Elsa said.
The three both stared at each other for brief moments and they all chuckled and small laughter filled the small campfire. The three were finally relaxed then silence again.
"My name is Joe by the way." He said to them, breaking the awkward silence.
"Joe?" Both of them asked him.
"Oh m-my whole name is Joseph Takashi, but you can call me Joe for short."
"It means a person who's in the military or a warrior." Elsa blurted out. Joe stared at Elsa for a second.
She grinned, "Your last name… Takashi."
"Oh yeah that's right." He chuckled nervously. "It's…. um.. It's been awhile since someone said that to me; mostly my grandparents called me by that name."
"Man your name kicks ass! I wish my name was like "Anna Takashi". Wouldn't that be awesome Elsa?!" she exclaimed to her.
"More like Akira would suit you Anna." Elsa told her.
"What's that mean?" Anna curiously asked her.
"It means bright like the sun." Elsa giggled, "It's perfect for you Anna, really." And she stared at Anna's eyes, looking beautiful as usual.
Joe looked at the two women. He examined Elsa, staring at Anna with those eyes. A familiar scene he once had with someone who he liked too. For some reason, he felt good to communicate with people. Mostly he would be by himself most of the time. He liked the company and felt a rushing feeling that Elsa liked Anna as well, but deeper than that. Deeper than friends he thought to himself.
"So you guys are Elsa and Anna huh? Are you two sisters or something?"
"Oh NO! It's not what you think! Are you craaaaazy? We're friends and all since elementary actually. We're kinda in a tight close friendship." Anna explained. "We're just friends, that's all"
He listened to Anna and then looked at Elsa. In an instant, her happy expressions turned into a frown. Joe felt the feeling; he then asked Elsa, " Hey you okay? Something the matter?"
Elsa quickly looked at Joe, "Oh it's nothing. You don't have to worry about me."
Silence again filled the atmosphere.
Anna spoke up again. "What about you Joe? What's your story like?"
He scratches his head; "Me? Um… Hmmm… Well I used to live all the way to California."
"California?!" Anna was surprised.
Elsa wanted to speak up, but let Anna precede the conversation. She too was interested in Joe's story.
"Before the outbreak started, I was going to college. First year and all that crazy stuff. Had a bunch of friends of mine who went the same college as I did. Life was kinda heretic, but it was fairly alright with me. And in the middle of the night, it just happened and you know the rest."
Joe slipped his drink. " After that, a bunch of us got out to California and headed east. The radios say that there are evacuation camps somewhere in the east coast. Los Angeles was taken down pretty heavy and well that was the end of it. We got lucky and we just went out."
He looked at the sky with tired eyes. "There were smokes and fires everywhere. Helicopters circling around the cities and military trucks all over the place."
"For the people who didn't make it to the checkpoints were shot down by soldiers. Couldn't risk with so many people and they shoot down the few for the many. Full of crap I always say, but people do crazy stuff when they're scared. I wouldn't blame them."
He yawned and looked at the two girls, "And that's my story. Ain't nothing special about it."
"What happen to your friends? Sorry.. I'm just curious that's all." Anna asked.
"We got separated. Some went with their own ways. Some went to find the Fireflies. And some went with the Military and got enlisted. Hopefully they're still alive… I think."
Elsa couldn't help, but finally asked him, "What about you Joe? Didn't you go to find the Fireflies or went to the Military?"
"Naw, I'm not that suicidal. Finding the Fireflies was a death sentence. Military was hunting for them always because they go with the rebel without a cause shit. Not to mention the group themselves were hard to find, but people still try. Military… well… I wasn't a big fan of it so I just cancelled that option away like nothing."
He got up from his log and walked to his backpack. Elsa and Anna looked at him and he picked up a sleeping bag. He laid the bag in-front of them and then went back to his log to sit down.
"It's the only sleeping bag that I've got, but I think it'll fit the both of you."
"That's okay. Anna and I can just slee-"
"I call Dibs on the left side!" Anna yelled; interrupting Elsa.
Elsa shook her head and sighs at Anna who's already on the sleeping bag.
"For the first time in forever! I can finaaaaaaalllly sleeeeeeep!" The cheerful Anna sang.
"You guys watched the Frozen?!" He exclaimed.
Elsa sighed and she then told him," Yeah we did. Anna was real excited for it. None of her friends wanted to watch it because it was too childish for them. But for me, I went with it and watched with her. It was pretty good actually."
"It was more than good Elsa! IT WAS AMAZING! A-MA-ZING!" Anna exclaimed to Elsa.
She chuckled, "I know Anna." And looked at Joe again, "It's amazing like she said."
Joe smiled and got his backpack to his side of the log. Elsa lay next to Anna on the sleeping bag. Both of them were ready to sleep by now, but Elsa kept an eye on Joe. He put his backpack on the ground and used as a pillow. Then put the fire out and Joe lay on the ground for sleeping.
Elsa was tired while Anna fell asleep after she rambled about how she misses watching Frozen with her.
"The sky looks so pretty isn't it? During the night, I would watch the stars and just think about how beautiful it is. Almost like nothing has changed at all since it all started." Joe blurted out.
Elsa agreed with him, "Yeah you're right. You don't get this view in the cities."
He laughs lightly, "Yeah… that's true. Well… Good night. I'll see you two in the morning." Joe went silent after that.
She looked at Anna, who's been sleeping so peacefully and brushed her red hair gently with her hand.
Oh Anna… She thought to herself while touching her cheek. Anna hummed tiredly and her mouth turned in a small smile. Elsa smiled too and poked her cheek.
You're too good for this world Anna. Sometimes I'm scared for you… Even fear for you…
She hesitated for a moment.. But I'll protect you as long as I can.
And looked at Anna again and kissed her on the forehead.
As long as I'm still alive… I'll always be here for you…
Elsa snuggled up close to her and gently closed her eyes…
"I love you Anna… so much." She whispered and finally went to sleep.
Author's Note: Hi my name is Yazjin3XZ and I used have an author's note here, but I decided to change it.
So apparently, there's been like... 99 views and 51 visitors that kept reading this story of mine. Then suddenly, I now have a follower so... this makes it more interesting for me actually. I don't know why, but let's get down to business *Plays Mulan in the background*
*Coughs* Anyway! So I was wondering that, maybe, people are wondering what happen to chapter 2? Alright so... Chapter 2 is kinda hard for me because there's some action already. It's kinda fast, but it's necessary for me and also for the characters. It'll be their first time doing something.
And also it might be longer than Chapter 1. Um.. I'm trying organize and research a lot of things. Then suddenly, I'm doing art stuff and vidja gaming along the way so I procrastinated like a douchebag and I am sincerely apologize for that cause.
Writing is weird ain't it? Next thing you know you're writing and... shit happens... Then you're like... Like... Ah forget it.
Chapter 2 is on the way! I promise you! I'm real sorry about the long updates and everything.
Thanks for the review though! I appreciate very much. Speechless is a huge word for just reading this story, but I'm glad still.
For heads-up, thank you for the favorite and follow. Seriously, you're awesome :D
That's it and I'll see ya'll in Chapter 2!
- Yaz