"June! June!" I felt someone shaking me awake gently. I gazed up with groggy eyes at Glenn who was waking me up.
"Hmmm…" I groaned, sitting up, wiping the tiredness from my eyes.
"It's time for breakfast," Glenn said, leaving the tent. I stretched my arms up and yawned. I undid my sleeping bag, pulling on my socks and then my boots. Ace had left the tent but waited at the entrance for me. I exited the tent, tying up my hair like yesterday, and sat beside Carl and Eliza. Sofia and Louis sat up on the log, while Eliza, Carl, and I sat on the gravel.
Dale handed me a small bag of mulberries that I had gotten with Shane yesterday. The rest of the group all had something small to eat for breakfast and chatted away. None of the conversations interested me, so I sat in silence listening for anything of interest. Once breakfast was finished, the group stayed around the fire.
"Alright, can I get everyone's attention, please? Thank you," Shane started while the group quieted down to listen to him.
"We are going to need a few volunteers to go back to the highway," Shane informed us. My hand flew up, hoping he wouldn't turn me down.
"No June," Shane deadpanned to me, going to speak again, but he was interrupted.
"I'll go. I can keep an eye on June. If that's alright?" Dale asked. I stared at Glenn awaiting his answer.
"Yeah, I'll be there too," Glenn motioned for me to come over. I bolted up, practically bouncing with excitement. I sent a smile up at Dale, listening to Shane. He was interrupted again as Juan (Morales) volunteered to join us on the highway. His wife gave him a worried look, but he still walked over.
"Can I go?" I heard Carl ask. Lori looked down at him with a horrified expression.
"Uh- I don't think so, honey," Lori started.
"You know what, I'm going to so I can keep an eye on him," Shane offered. I watched as Lori seemed conflicted.
"Please?" Carl begged his mother with big puppy-dog eyes. Lori let out a sigh before responding.
"Fine, but you listen to everything Shane tells you, understood?" Lori spoke sternly. Carl nodded enthusiastically with a wide grin. He ran over, sticking close to me as we prepared the U-Haul to go to the highway.
I ran to grab my bag and set it in the U-Haul. I helped unload the supplies found yesterday and loaded up Ace and our small group of volunteers we set off to the highway. Glenn and Dale sat in the front two seats, while the rest of us sat on the floor in the back.
"Now, when we get to the highway, we'll go in three groups. Dale and June, Juan (Morales), and Glenn. I'll have Dale and June going through the cars, if that's alright?" Shane started.
"Fine by me," Dale agreed as I nodded.
"Juan, Glenn, you're on gas duty," Glenn and Juan agreed with their tasks.
"What are we doing?" Carl asked Shane eagerly.
"We are going to be looking through cars with June and Dale," Shane replied. Carl looked at me with a grin, clearly excited to help.
We arrived shortly after the conversation ended, and I felt the U-Haul stop. Everyone piled out, going off to do our assigned tasks with our partners. I grabbed my bag, following Dale down the highway. We took the left side of the highway, going further up than Shane and Carl, who could be seen. Everyone stayed in sight of each other, but were spaced pretty far apart. Ace was beside me, in between Dale and I.
"Thank you," I said, gazing up at Dale.
"No problem. Be good for today, maybe they'll let you come out again," He suggested. I agreed with a nod, stopping in front of a red car. I set my bag down just to grab my crowbar. Dale stood waiting for me to give him any supplies as Ace watched out for any danger. I rummaged through the car, pulling out some blankets and stray water bottles. I saw that the glovebox had a key lock and pried it open to find a small hand gun, and a cartrige of ammo for it. I made sure the safety was on before setting it on the driver's seat for Dale to grab.
"Go on ahead, and leave anything you find outside the cars, okay?" Dale said. I nodded as he walked off with my findings. I walked around to the trunk, popping it open with the crowbar. I found four more guns packed in the back of the trunk, as well as ammo and a gigantic box full to the brim with cans. Whoever this person was, prepared well for the apocalypse we now live in. I set them on the ground beside the car, moving along to the next car.
I popped the next door, only finding a small lighter in the glove box. The rest was just papers and empty water bottles. I opened the trunk, seeing only a tire and a tire jack. The only thing of interest was a small, red bag filled with tools. I figured the tools would be helpful, and set them on the ground like I had before and moved along.
I continued my routine, clearing out car after car, watching as Dale took the supplies back to the U-Haul. Ace stood stiffly, on the alert for any of the dead. After about six cars in I found a box of cookies. I set that to the side, but not before sneaking one for myself. I stuffed the cookie in my mouth, and moved along.
"June!" I heard Dale's voice call. I poked my head out from the car I was in and saw him motioning me over. I walked over, to where he was about three cars back to see what he wanted.
"You're doing great, but would you help take some of this back to the U-Haul?" he asked.
"Sure," I said, gathering up what I could in my arms, and speeding off to the U-Haul. I spotted Carl walking to the U-Haul as well, while Shane was rummaging through the cars. I walked over, carrying my pile of supplies. Dale wasn't far behind us.
"You having fun?" I asked, looking over at his pile curiously.
"Yeah, but it's a little boring," Carl said.
"That's okay, it gets better when you find fun stuff, like these." I held up the box of cookies which made his eyes light up. Dale chuckled behind us.
"You can have one when we get to the U-Haul alright?" Dale said. Carl nodded, grinning over at me. I met him with a smile and kept on course to the U-Haul. Once we reached it, we set our supplies down, organizing them into the piles Dale had made. One for food, one for guns and ammo, one for blankets and clothes, and the other for miscellaneous. Afterwards, Dale handed us each a cookie.
"Here, give this to Shane," Dale said to Carl, who darted off to do what Dale asked.
"And you give these to Glenn and Juan (Morales)." Dale said. I nodded, jogging down the highway where Glenn and Juan were.
"Hey June, what are you doing doing over here? You were supposed to stay with Dale," Glenn said sternly.
"Dale said to give you two these," I handed them each a cookie.
"Alright, good job. You being good for him?" Glenn asked.
"Yep!" I replied.
"Good, I think he's waiting for you," Glenn said, pointing over to Dale watching from a distance by the U-Haul. I ran back, going with Dale to continue our task. I walked ahead of him with Ace on my tail, and grabbed my crowbar from the ground where I left it. I proceeded to go through the next car as Dale took the small pile of supplies that was left. I popped the trunk of the car I was previously in, and found the jackpot. A board game called Sorry. I excitedly ran over to Carl, eager to show him what I found.
"Carl! Look!" I held up the board game, showing him my findings. He seemed just as excited, taking it from me.
"We can play this when we get back!" He exclaimed.
"I'm going to get back to work alright?" I called as I started running back to the car I was just looking through.
"Okay!" He called back, running off to our vehicle. I didn't find much else than some matches in that car, then moved along. I scavenged through the next car and the next, occasionally helping with carrying supplies to the U-Haul. As we kept going, I found three more guns, not many cans, and a lot of small snack items. As I went along, I was startled out of my focus.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The blood curdling scream made my heart drop and I took off with Ace towards the scream without a second thought. I knew it wasn't Carl, or anyone I knew. Ace ran ahead of me towards a man screaming on the ground with a dead one on top of him. Ace ripped at the dead one, but it didn't want to come off. I raised my crowbar, destroying the thing's head as soon as I made it close enough.
"Oh, oh, thank you… Little girl?" The black man asked. I pointed the crowbar at him, with Ace growling at the man.
"Woah! Woah! Please! I'm not going to hurt you!" The man yelled as he caught his breath. Shane, Glenn, and Juan (Morales) ran up a moment after.
"June, let him go," I lowered my crowbar, calling Ace to me. He stopped growling and sat next to me. I gave him pets for his good work, reminding myself to give him a treat once I got back to my bag.
"Ya'll got a scary kid," The man said.
"Thanks," I replied sweetly with a small smile.
"Who are you?" Shane asked.
"Theodore, everyone calls my T-Dog," He responded as Shane offered him a hand to help him up. T-Dog accepted it, getting up to shake everyone's hands.
"I'm Shane, that Glenn, Juan, and you've met June," Shane introduced us all.
"Nice to meet ya," T-dog said.
"Nice to meet you to," Glenn said.
"Do you have anyone else with you?" Shane asked.
"I- Yeah, Jaqui. She's up in one of the cars, just in case things went haywire," T-Dog said, pointing further up the highway.
"June, keep going through the cars, but we'll probably be leaving soon. So be ready to leave, okay?" Glenn said as he, Shane and Juan left with T-Dog to find whoever Jaqui was. I nodded, going back to Dale and Carl at the U-Haul.
"What happened?" Dale asked.
"There's a man up there, he's coming back with us and he has someone else with him," I informed them.
"They said to keep going through cars, but be ready to leave," I said. They nodded getting back to work. I did so as well, taking over Shane's area since it was closer to the U-Haul. I scrounged through the cars as Dale and Carl took the supplies back. Shane, Glenn, Juan (Morales), T-Dog, and a woman who I assumed was Jaqui with them.
"June, we're going," Glenn said. I nodded picking up some supplies running to the U-Haul. We all packed into the U-Haul with the supplies. It didn't take long to get back home. I helped unload the supplies as T-Dog and Jaqui were greeted by the group. Carl went to his mother, running over with the board game I had found. The rest of the night went faster than expected. I played games with Eliza, Carl, Sofia, and Lois. Before I knew it, I was being put to bed by Glenn. I was exhausted, and ready to pass out. I closed my eyes, falling asleep.