Chapter Two
Night had fallen.
Evan took one last longing glance at his constellation and bounded off to do his job. As he passed through the worn screen door, he noticed Cassie's guns sitting by the door. He snatched up the weapons and took them to the barn. Will she trust me when she wakes up? He placed the guns under a sheet in the barn, taking mental note of their location and strode into the forest to find more survivors.
Evan knew this forest well. He grew up here, playing everyday with his best friend and, eventually, his sister. He wasn't playing anymore, though. He grasped his gun, using the shadow that had taken over his brain and conscience to sense where drones had seen survivors. He heard a stick snap. He tuned around immediately, using all of his senses and previous experiences of Silencing to tell what would happen next. Smell of metal and sulfur, twig snapped about 20 feet to the left. When he turned to face the noise, he turned into a gun pointed at his head. Before looking at whatever person it may be, he pulled the trigger. A loud crack sent through the woods, the being before him slumped to the ground and released the steady grip on the gun it had. Evan took a closer look at the person. It was a woman, mid thirties, brunette. She was beautiful one but her face had already begun wrinkling. Evan tilted his head to listen for any more signs of danger. He heard the wind caressing the trees around him, leaves rustling. He sensed no warmth but his own and the diseased birds. The silence was so deafening, he could hear the worms burrowing through the earth beneath him. That was his job though, wasn't it? Silencing. The earth would be silent and empty when he was done. He wouldn't silence his Cassie, though. She's to precious to me. She's a treasure, complete with hair of gold. He chuckled at his thought. The crickets had gone silent when he shot the woman and they had begun to sing again. It was time for him to move on. I should get back. I need to find a way to give her food and water.
Evan began his trek back when he remembered the ambulance that had stopped about two miles from his home when the first wave hit. He made his way to the ambulance, mentally making a list of things he would need to save his treasure and keep her alive if she were to remain sleeping for very long. She lost a lot of blood. It could be a few days before she wakes up. When he reached the ambulance, he popped open the door (he hadn't found a locked one yet) and searched for everything on his list. He found an IV and a large first aid kit and decided that would be enough to sustain and help heal the wound. He picked up a few extra pain killers and headed back to his home where his treasure lay sleeping.
When he returned, he set his weapon by the front door and ran up the stairs with the first aid kit and the IV. He had to set one of these up on a cow once, how different could it be? He stuck the IV in what he supposed was the right place in Cassie's arm and set it up how he had seen in hospitals on TV. He worked with the light of dawn, as it shone through the window casting his shadow on the wall and bathing the room in a sensational orange. When he finished, he stood back and examined his work. He ran a hand lightly across her head, caressing her face. He wanted someone to talk to. He sat back, once again in the chair with yet another handful of Hershey Kisses and watched the sun wash over his treasure. He watched her chest rise and fall with each breath. He longed for something to do besides wait. He lumbered down the stairs, content with how Cassie was fairing and decided to make a loaf of bread and prepare for the day.