1.
She was alone. That was all Jaime could think of. It has only been two days but it seemed much longer. Two days since she lost everyone, again.
The group of people she was with were all killed. Most likely eaten by those things. They didn't had a chance. Too many of them just came out of nowhere and Jaime wasn't sure how she got away from there. She had been just lucky. But she didn't feel lucky right now. She missed them even when she didn't know them that well.
But they protected her for the last couple of weeks and made sure she got something to eat. They also taught her how to use a knife and how to fire her bow. She wasn't Robin Hood yet but she was ok. Jaime could hit a target when it stood still but she had some difficulties with moving objects.
That's why she wasn't able to hunt for food. And she was getting hungry.
For two days now Jaime stumbled through the woods with no idea where she was or in what direction she should been going. She was tired and lonely and scared. And the worst part was that she sometimes wished she was dead too. What was the point of living in this world anyway.
But somehow she still got some fight in her. So she kept moving. One step after another. Hoping to find something. Food, shelter or even better, people.
Slowly the sun set and it was getting darker.
„I really need to find a place to sleep" the young girl told herself. She looked around but other than a lot of trees, there was nothing. Tired and miserable, Jaime was near tears. „Maybe i should just curl up here and get it over with."
But then she saw it. Right in front of her was a leader. Curious she looked up to see where it was leading. The leader ended at the platform of a raised hide. Pretty sure it was built by a hunter.
Jaime climbed up quickly and sat on the platform. It wasn't huge but it was big enough for a eleven year old. Exhausted she curled up and was asleep in seconds.
The girl was woke up by the noise of birds. The sun was already up and shone through the leafs of the trees. Jaime sat up yawning. „Wow, i really slept through the night. I didn't even had a nightmare. Lucky me."
She grabbed her backpack and went through it. Finally she found the apple. It was the last eatable thing she got and she tried to eat it as slowly as possible. While eating, Jaime thought about her options. She would like to stay on her raised hide. It was quite safe up here. But without food and only a little water left that wasn't probably a good idea. As she was thinking, she suddenly heard bells ringing. Not like a doorbell. More like a church bell. „Where a church is, there are maybe some folks." With that in mind, the girl quickly grabbed her stuff and climbed down the leader. She tried to memorise the direction of the sound an started to head in that direction. She couldn't see the church yet when the bells suddenly stopped.
Oh god, please let the people still be there when I arrive, was all Jaime could think of. Luckily she didn't came across any dead but she was careful and on alert.
Finally the church came into sight. But it seemed deserted.
She got closer and as she did she realised it was true. Carefully she opened the big doors and stepped into the church. There was no one. There were e few dead ones. Well, at least they were really dead now. As Jaime got closer to one of the bodies she could see that they were killed not that long ago. She probably missed the people who did this only by minutes.
Jaime couldn't help herself. She started to cry silently. „This is so unfair. Why couldn't they wait for just a few more minutes", the girl mumbled to herself through her tears.
She was so lost now. With no plan, no food and no water left, she sat on a bench and cried some more. When she finally stopped she didn't know how long she was sitting there. It must have been a while cause when she went outside again, the sun was quite low already. Looking at the sun, she decided to spend the night in that church. The dead didn't bother her. She didn't care anymore.
With no food left the only thing she could do now was sleeping. But it wasn't as easy as last night. Jaime was so hungry and now she realised how thirsty she was. But there was nothing she could do about it.
After a long time, she finally fall into a restless sleep.
Jaime woke up suddenly. She had had a terrible night. Lots of bad dreams and the empty stomach didn't help at all. But she was wide awake now. One of her dreams wasn't so bad after all. Jaime didn't remember much about it. But the only and also the most important thing about it was still clear in her mind. There had to be a road leading to the church.
This thought gave her some energy. She still was very hungry and thirsty but now she had a plan at least.
The girl stood up and placed her pack on her back. Then she left the church and started looking for a road. Yes! There it was. She grabbed her bow tightly and began the journey along the road.
After awhile she finally saw a few houses. She made it! She couldn't believe it.
When she reached the first building she checked her knife, made sure it was easy to reach. Then she put an arrow in her bow and cautiously opened the front door.
Slowly Jaime entered and just stoop there for a bit. When she wasn't hearing any noise, she carefully closed the door behind her. The only thing she could hope for now, was that the former residents had left behind some food. Without wasting more time the girl started to look for the kitchen. The house seemed untouched so far which gave Jaime hope to find food. As she found the kitchen, she went through all the cabinets first. „Jackpot", she called out softly when she found some cans. Her mood really increased when she found a six pack of Pepsi and even better, chocolate and a couple of bags of chips.
Jaime gulped down an entire can of soda and sat down at the table to start her feast. When she finally was full, she went upstairs to check on the bedrooms. Everything looked like the people who lived here were just on vacation. Maybe that was the case. But whatever, they wouldn't come back anytime soon.
She carefully selected a bedroom. It had a large tree in front of the window which would make a great escape rout, if necessary.
With a full belly and a relatively save spot to sleep Jaime took a nap.
When she woke up this time, the girl felt quite good. She didn't want to stretch her luck, but she wanted to have a quick look around the neighbourhood.
Without making to much noise, Jaime walked around a bit. It seemed that she was in a little town. There she didn't go too far but she saw enough to make her feel a lot happier. When all the houses were like the first one, she wouldn't starve for a while.
It would be nice if there were some people left alive. Maybe she got lucky tomorrow.
She went back home and this time she took the time to go through the living room.
She found some nice books there and grabbed one. Picking up some chips and another Pepsi from the kitchen, Jaime went upstairs again into her bedroom where she sat down on her bed and started reading.
For now, the young girl was happy.