A/N: Determining what period Josh's and Erlina's birthdays pass is for you to realize the more you read the story.
SUMMER
With the inability to acquire some sort of air cooling or conditioning, this time of the year wasn't always the best to go out in. No one knew what the effects were called, but summer could bring out the worst in people—especially during times like these. However, less harsh weather conditions made it easier for survivors to navigate so it explained why people did most of their traveling during these times.
No one was too sure on the approximate time and date, but Pam was positive it was around early August since the weather was just beginning to cool down. This entire time, Josh, his mother, and Erlina had been camping inside of a really old group home Josh's mother formerly worked at before the world went to shit. She would take care of disabled clients and the very house they were taking refuge in was attached to two other homes that served the same purpose before the outbreak. Pam would tell stories of how she used to bathe her clients, feed them, and make sure she took their daily doses of medication. In addition, the prime form of communication between her clients gave her the skill of utilizing sign language.
A couple of months back, Josh and his mother were chased out of their home after it was run down by some thugs who wanted to claim the area. They eventually had no choice and got settled in a quarantine zone but, like everything else in the world, there was an end to that. People felt like not being killed off was the biggest insult. The soldiers in this QZ just stopped caring, figuring that no one was even worth a goddamned bullet. FEDRA's numbers dwindled by the tens almost every week and eventually, the QZ was left alone to run amok. When the message got through that no one was around to run the zone, things fell apart and that's when the family of three left.
When Pam first arrived in her old workplace, she was more than terrified to witness that her clients had been left to turn. The place wasn't even sealed shut for their protection, so despite turning and dying, the place was vacant of any spores due to the exposure. It broke her heart.
The cleaning process was strenuous and took three days until every corpse and trace of fungus was cleaned out. It was a little distressed for Pam but she was ultimately fine with the fact that she and her family could remain here for as long as they could.
It had been weeks later, almost nearing a month. Erlina slowly walked down the stairs after a short afternoon nap. The blazing sun was already high in the sky, letting its presence be known with the eighty-degree heat that was cast all over the east coast. Daytime, however, had its pros and cons. But most importantly, Infected had an affinity to the shadows, so you couldn't really expect to run into them a lot unless you were searching inside a musty, dark area.
Like many other kids who had to survive outside of QZs, Erlina was a kid who had to be armed at all costs. There were no ifs or buts about it. Besides that fact, she knew what day today was. She had been preparing for it for some time now and it naturally took her aunt a lot of convincing to get around to the idea of it. The youngster came downstairs clothed in black jeans and brown boots she used for tough, long walks. She wore a white top, but over it was a really thin, short-sleeved denim jacket. It took weeks, sometimes even months, of scavenging to find crucial items they needed, but it was still never really enough, and Josh figured that maybe an extra hand could help. Recently having the time to have her hair styled, Erlina was given small box braids that stopped to the middle of her back. She tied it in a half-up, half-down style.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pam inquired.
Erlina never knew what the correct term for it was...but her aunt was anxious. It was told by the constant shaking of her leg as she sat on the couch across from her. Plus, it was something they all relatively did whenever they felt uneasy about something.
"Yes, I told you a million times already. I have to learn this stuff anyway. There might be a time where I'll be on my ow—"
"Don't say that!" Josh griped, placing his hand up and signaling her to stop.
Although he beat her to the punch, it was something that required some practical thinking. After an awkward moment of silence, Pam came to terms with it when remembering a day where she thought she wasn't going to be making it home to her son, The thought of him being alone was exactly why her baby boy knew what he did when it came to handling firearms.
He walked into the corner of the living room where they had all gathered around. Retrieving a key from his pocket, he opened a closet door that held most of their tools and ammunition. As usual, they were running low. Strapped around the top of Josh's thin thigh was a holster, and inside the holster was a marked up super-shorty shotgun. In addition to the unfortunate supply of ammo, the shorty only ran on two bullets at a time and took a hell of a time to reload. Even if it wasn't the most ideal weapon, it was something Josh had no choice but to take after finding it taped underneath some rotted bed frame. On top of that, around the right side of his hip was a handgun that also ran low on ammo but was more convenient.
Reaching into the closet, he retrieved a bow and quiver filled with six arrows. This wasn't Josh's weapon of choice, though. Erlina learned how to use guns and it was preferred that she stick to it. But all it took was some old movie poster of a girl and an arrow to inspire her to want one. Finding one wasn't easy but there were some archery facilities nearby that had nothing left but an old wooden recurve bow. The arrows, however, were handmade thanks so some old manual found there, but considering the supplies needed, there was only so much they could do. They weren't the easiest to make and they sometimes broke on impact due to their lack of durability. However, despite the many cons, Erlina found them fun to use. During the few times when holed up at the archery place, Erlina would use the few remaining bullseyes for practice. A way of telling that she really wanted this was seeing how much of a natural she was and how she and the bow essentially became one like it was merely an extension of her.
Being the youngest, Erlina was exposed to blood, violence, and gore since infancy. Of course, certain sights could be too overwhelming for her, but rarely did it ever happen. She wasn't like her older cousin, who, despite being born in this time, his mother sheltered him from a lot until his early teens. Pam couldn't stand the sight or sound of it but simply pulling a trigger made things easier. Nonetheless, if it meant survival, each of them was willing to do it. Erlina was armed with a small folding knuckle knife—pretty much a brass knuckle and knife in one. It was sleek with a black handle and its blade never seemed to dull seeing how clean its strikes usually were. The only disadvantage was Erlina's age and size, which they could imagine making things difficult when it came to facing opponents head-on. Another thing that had to be acknowledged was that they were sitting ducks compared to other composed and capable survivors. So they wouldn't dare go looking for a fight even if they had the means to do so.
When they first moved in, Josh and his mother did what they could board and barricade any broken or shattered windows. Finding supplies was hard and dangerous, so they used whatever was around the house. They found a couple of tools in the attic and disassembled some old bookshelves, dressers, and bedframes and ended up hammering them to the walls. Therefore, the main level of the house was scarcely lit by the streaks of light that protruded through the thin spaces of the boarded-up windows.
"She isn't ready," Pam instantly claimed, "How about she stays and I take her place instead?".
"Mom..." Josh scoffed, almost smacking his face with his dirty palms, "You're not getting any younger. Plus, who's to say that we come back here and something happens to Erlina? If anything we have a better chance of you staying here and protecting the home," he protested, hoping to at least sound reasonable.
Pam was proud she raised a boy with some common sense. Then again, she could just be giving herself too much credit for things they learned just by merely trying to survive—including Pam herself. Whenever she would skip the flaws in her plans, her teenage son was there to correct her. She'd hate to be the reason that something terrible would happen to her family because she was overridden by emotion or personal feelings.
She nodded in understanding and didn't bother questioning his valid point about her age. She knew deep down he felt that way because he cared and there had been instances where she could no longer perform things like she could when he was a toddler. As if things weren't already stressful before, there were times where she just felt like she was being worn out by this world's problems. Her bones were beginning to arch and her lower back was getting overworked by so much lifting.
However, not to get her incoming feebleness confused with defenselessness, the beretta she found at the mall had done her wonders ever since then. Luckily for her, it was the one gun she found the most ammo for and she also had a strange affinity for finding kitchen knives for self-defense. Her top-tier weapon was a rifle that she continuously sat beside just in case shit hit the fan,
"Be back soon, okay?" She said, looking at them with unrest, "If you both stay out too long I'll have to come looking for you," she said.
"Yeah, sure," Josh said before giving his mom a quick peck on the cheek and walking to the exit.
As for Erlina, Pam gave her wonderful niece a strong, wet peck as well, and Erlina followed on after her older cousin. They both grabbed their bags, where they kept important items such as bottled water and stale snacks just in case. Josh had a small brown-colored bag and placed it over one shoulder. Erlina had a black bag, similar to a computer bag, with a big Hello Kitty insignia on it. It hung from her right shoulder and traveled down to the left side of her body. Her quiver was worn underneath on her back, and her re-curve bow was placed over the opposite shoulder—on the side not obscured by her bag. The front entrance was sealed in a customized way to strictly prevent strangers from entering the house from the outside. After some time, Josh managed to exit the house and closed the door behind him.
The dead cars in the streets were all rusted up, blocking certain paths that led off into other roads and intersections. If you cared to look long enough, anyone could tell there were multiple accidents when this all started because every once in a while you would come across cars that were practically attached to one another.
There were irregular yet systemic patches of tall weeds that fought to grow out of the cracks in the pavement. The healthy greens and foliage grew so tall that it managed to Pam's car in the driveway. It had been so long since they last used the car, that Josh and Erlina forgot it was around sometimes, and maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Turning back to look at the house, they saw Pam's pair of wise eyes peeking through the boarded-up window. Just as any teenager would, he understood it but didn't necessarily enjoy it, because they worry only allowed more worry feelings for the worrying. Josh sighed while rolling his eyes and began staggering off, watching his step as he stepped over broken garbage and whatnot.
"Are we going to search there?" Erlina asked as she followed. She pointed at a large building that was ultimately a couple of yards, across the street and in the center of a massive parking lot.
"Mom told me that it was a catholic school. I could only begin to imagine how many infected are in that thing..." Josh replied, unable to remove his eyes from the building as it came into clearer view.
Erlina began to assume right away that there must have been more dependable items in a catholic school rather than a regular gas station. Erlina looked down for a moment, deep in thought.
"Are we gonna search in there?" Erlina asked, feeling as if she were being called by it.
"Search where!?" Josh exclaimed while turning around. He continued walking backward and looked at her, hoping to be correct about her regarding a whole different location. She continuously look up at him. Despite the silence, there wasn't much else she could have been talking about, "Hell no, are you insane?" He questioned.
"Fine..." she gave up without traying, lingering with an inquisitive smile on her little face.
Josh exchanged a grin and faced back forward, somewhat admiring his cousin's eagerness to excel, but even then, Josh was far from ready to face such places head-on. His mom wouldn't even let him explore family houses when scavenging together. Admittedly, he wasn't ready for scales such as those.
"I was thinking we could go to that gas station up ahead?" Josh got back on track.
"Didn't we check there already?" Erlina questioned, quite perplexed.
"Not the garage," Josh reminded, eventually receiving an understanding glance from her, "It's been barricaded for days and I'm sure there can be some important things in there," he finished, sounding almost desperate. Although they had walked these streets multiple times before with Pam, they were given the allowance to slack and look around as a way to kill time. Things were different from the photographs they had seen on refrigerators back at the home and they often imagined how it would feel to be among a flooded with civilization. The roads used to be clear and there were definitely no wild animals inhabiting this part of the city except for the occasional possum and raccoon. It was all different now. Now, deer and black bears were usually around and a sight for sore eyes. Suddenly, amid their wondrous gazes, Erlina bumped into Josh's shoulder as he stopped walking, receiving a look from him that demanded she pay more attention. Josh lifted an arm, "There it is," Josh pointed at the gas station.
Josh immediately began jogging across the street with Erlina managing to keep up. They hadn't seen other people in days, so there was nothing to worry about. Looking both ways was a rule for children in the past but Josh would've preferred that than looking over your shoulder.
Once they reached the gas station, they walked past the two tall gas machines, with four cars parked on either side. Gasoline, through all the years, was something that retained its currency and although they never bothered trying, it was doubted that there was any drop left. As promised, they headed to the garage instead—a small white building with the words with an even smaller sign that had the words "Auto Care" written in brick-red font over yellow. Just in between the two metal shutters was a small white door accompanied by rusted signs far more rusted and illegible than the one above the former company.
"Where does the gas come from anyway?" Erlina asked after going off on her own to examine the gas dispenser. She removed the pump from the holder and played with the pump, struggling far less to squeeze the trigger with both hands.
"Well, from what I remember being told by someone back at the last zone, there's a huge gas tank built underneath the gas station. And every now and then a gasoline truck would drive by and have to fill it up."
"That sounds fake," Erlina admitted looking directly into the nozzle.
At this point, Josh couldn't help but laugh at how unreal it sounded either. Erlina began to chuckle too, but it was brought right to a halt after hearing something bang on the garage shutters, with ferocity, from the inside. Josh quickly rested his hand on his handgun. Already at an ideal position for her weapon, Erlina already had her bow and arrow intact, more than ready to fire. Listening closely, they heard croaks that sounded stifling.
"Ugh...a clicker?" Josh questioned in displeasure. It wasn't like he favored one class of infected over another since they were all just as threatening, but as far as Erlina could tell, Clicker's were Josh's least favorite and the same contempt was beginning to rub off on her. He placed one of his minimally bruised hands on his forehead and paused for quite a while before finally speaking, "Stay there."
Doing as she was told, Erlina nervously watched her older cousin as he took a step forward.
"...J-Josh?" she stammered.
Josh looked back at Erlina, placing a finger to his lips and signaling her to lower her voice and remain calm. Quietly, he approached the garage door of the gas station and looked through the tinted windows. As expected, the interior was darkened. With the window broken due to whatever brutality it faced in the past, Josh figured he was thin enough to possibly squeeze his hand through and unlock it from the other side. But before he could even do something as so risky—whether it resulted in puncturing an artery with glass or getting it torn off by a Clicker—the best thing to do was think about this carefully. He tried to get as clear of a view as he possibly could and, as far as he could tell, he couldn't hear much of anything else in the garage other than the terrorized creature on the inside. From what his eyes could make out, he could see automobiles and some tools just around the corner of an opened doorway. As a test, Josh backed away and proceeded to bang on the metal shutters once again. In an instant, the Clicker crashed into the garage door, relentlessly banging it from the other side. Erlina gave a soft gasp and hunched her shoulders up, fearing the Clicker was capable of breaking the large door down.
"Ugh," Joshua groaned to himself, "Never mind let's go home..."
Josh sulked in annoyance, embarrassed by the thought of returning to his mother empty-handed. Turning his back to the garage, without question he began walking back up the direction in which they came. Erlina, on the other hand, lagged behind him. However, after a long pause, she broke the silence,
"Can't you just kill it?"
Josh sighed and placed his hands into his pockets and looked down at his cousin. It was more silence from him until he finally decided to reply to her prying eyes,
"...I was looking and I saw an open space through the back," he looked away and swallowed, "it's small enough...for you to fit through..." he rolled his eyes, "So, I was going to send you in there to see if you could find something. Anything," he stopped, almost like he was beating himself up, "I just never knew that damn Clickerwas in there."
Suddenly, Erlina didn't bother moving. Instead, she slowed down to a half and kicked around tiny rocks for a while. A breeze picked up and she placed a collection of braids over her shoulder. When Josh realized he was no longer accompanied by the smaller footsteps, he slowed down after feeling her presence fade. He took a double-take, realizing she hadn't moved since he finished talking.
"I'll try it," she said, sounding slightly unsure.
Josh watched her in skepticism. Although it was inappropriate, he began chuckling almost like it was too good to be true. He and Erlina joked around many things but it turned out that she wasn't joking this time. His smile slowly deteriorated as she gravitated back in which they walked once again, already being halfway home. Slightly perplexed at her determination, didn't move completely unsure of how to react. He didn't exactly want to encourage her but he also didn't want to take something like this away from her. He knew she could do it, but being capable didn't matter because death was greedy.
"You're serious," he said, sounded almost quite fearful of her.
Returning to the gas station soon after, Erlina bent down and picked up one of the many jagged rocks that were naturally chipping away from the pavement that made up the driveway. She eventually used her arm to toss the rock at the garage shutters to alert the creature that was inside. Out of all the infected, Clickers were the only ones who couldn't see you. Luckily for them, their fugal plates made it extremely hard for any adult to take them on physically, let alone a little girl. The only upper hand Erlina had in this fight was that an arrow through the head or chest would do a Clicker justice. Either way, she knew she was properly equipped to exterminate it. Josh just needed to take a moment to connect everything in his head. She paced back and forth, waiting for his hesitance to dwindle. It would be a shot in the dark but was it that important? Important enough to put his baby cousin's life on the line?
"Do you know what could happen to you if you go in there?"
She looked at his lanky figure for a moment and looked down at her pigeon-toed feet. It was something she didn't want to acknowledge and to be frank, she thought it was pretty crappy of him to bring something like that up as if fatality weren't at the forefront of every person's mind from the moment they woke up. Looking up at him, she breathed in slightly and exhaled, giving a slight nod.
"Just...remember what I told you," Josh nearly fumbled on his words from speaking too quickly, "Stay low at all costs and try not to make a sound. If anything happens, be quick," Josh said fixing up her collar and clutching her shoulders as he looked down at her. He looked her in the eyes just before pulling her in to hug her.
He never figured the day would come where the older cousin would be persuaded to complete a hunt by his younger cousin.
"So, how does this sound thingie work again?" Erlina asked just to be sure. It had been such a while since she last saw a Clicker, and whenever there was a clicker around, it was either her cousin or aunt who took care of them. She held her bow in one hand, "Echo-vacation?"
"Echolocation..." he groaned. He put up one finger, "Echo," and brought up his other hand, "plus, location," he explained, bringing both fingers together as if they were bonding. Josh sighed and pondered on the best way to explain the way echolocation worked—at least how it was explained to him in QZ school. He remembered that she was eleven and that there were some explanations she wouldn't quite be able to grasp. He looked around before backing away a few feet from her. Looking almost comedic, he lifted both arms, horizontally, from his sides.
"Okay, so. Imagine I'm a Clicker. My arms are—um..." he made a face that showed even he didn't quite understand what he was saying, "my arms are how far the sound waves of my clicking travel, right?"
Erlina rested on the hood of the nearest car and eventually dug her hand into her bag to chomp on a couple of stale crackers.
"That's pretty wide," Erlina commented, proceeding to munch.
Josh scoffed and slapped his sides as both of his arms fell back down,
"Well, I know that, but they aren't really that wide. They're wider," he scratched behind his ear, "We're just pretending they are because I'm trying to figure out how to explain this to you in the simplest way..." suddenly he stopped as Erlina began snorting and covered her mouth so nothing unfriendly would fly out considering that she was eating. Her laugh was creepily annoying and sounded like a—as Josh would put it—"wet windshield wiper". To him, this was far from funny. So all the adolescent could do was stare at her blankly, "What?" Josh rightfully questioned.
"I know how it works," she snorted, "It was just funny seeing you do all of that."
If it weren't for the Clicker waiting for them on the other side, it would've been funny. So all Josh could do was force a smirk to grow on his face and stick his tongue at her.
Erlina took her bow off her shoulder and prepared herself so that her quiver was in an accessible position. Josh made his way around to the back of the gas station garage and she followed. She glared at the space in the wall and looked at it for a couple of seconds before releasing a large breath. The anxiety was seen radiating off of both of them. Erlina's hands slightly tingled and she shook her arms, trying to shake free from the trembling like it was something physical. She crouched down and got on her knees and slowly crawled through the space. Josh stood on the outside, feeling his heartbeat accelerate as the garage swallowed her whole. Just as he was about to change his mind and call her back, he paused, realizing a call would only endanger her. Thinking he made the biggest mistake of his life, he realized that there was no returning from this.
Erlina was officially in the presence of a Clicker. She had never been this close to one before and, luckily, there were already two white and black automobiles in the garage that she could crouch behind. One was a regular convertible while the other was similar to a minivan. Typically, the Clicker would cry out and began to blindly roam the room, which was bad news for anyone to remained camped in one place. As the Clicker neared her she managed to swiftly creep away from it without diverting any attention to her shuffling feet. It was terrifying to her knowing that she could be a goner if this thing got his hands on her. At this point, Erlina swore that the maddened host had functioning eyes of its own because it managed to make its way towards the very same vehicle that Erlina hid behind, however, it was completely exposed this time. As she managed to make her way in between the stationed cars, she equipped her switchblade sneaked behind it as it was waiting aimlessly on the opposite end of the mini-van. Unfortunately, just as she was going to do that, her bag brushed against a small cart on wheels, causing it to roll and bounce against the wall, which in turn, caused a bunch of wrenches and unidentifiable tools fell off the edge of the cart to clatter to the floor. Quickly, she got up and delicately paced to the very corner of the garage on the side opposite of the Clicker.
Josh, from the outside, heard the noises and began to panic. He was trembling in fear and hyperventilating at this point. Immediately, he placed his stomach and chin on the ground and peeked through to the inside. All he could make out were Erlina's two feet underneath the cars. He knew not to shout because that would only get her into more danger if she happened to answer. Knocking the wall where he laid, the Clicker's attention was caught just like he hoped and it wandered over.
Now was the best time to attack and it was time to stop hesitating because lingering around a Clicker could only do so much. She pulled out one of her six arrows from her quiver and placed it intact with her bow. Having it pointed at the ground as a precaution, Erlina lifted the bow with her left arm, loaded the arrow with her right and held the end of it between her index and middle finger. Along with the string, she pulled back the arrow and slightly turned her head to the side, using her right eye as the dominant. Releasing the string, the arrow twirled and beam through the clicker's cranium within a split second. It yelped just as it fell forward and flopped to the ground. After it stopped twitching and croaking, Erlina waited a moment before confirming the death herself.
"Killed it," Erlina let out a heavy exhale.
She exhaled almost like she were holding her breath as a way to avoid the Infected, hearing Josh compliment her through the space in the wall beside her. As she glanced over, she could see Josh's shadow making his presence vaguely known. She walked over to the Clicker that was on the floor and immediately noticed that she was having extreme difficultly pulling the arrow from its head. She eventually went unto one knee and tugged her hardest, eventually yanking it out. She reached into her side bag and took out an old washcloth, using it to wipe the blood off the arrow. Placing the arrow back in her quiver, Erlina explored the garage.
To her surprise and like many places she had been to before, it looked larger from the outside. Then again, that was normal when it came to places that have been abandoned and left to clutter. From experience, it was quite obvious that someone had either been seeking shelter here and probably still was. Naturally, the rule was to get in and get out—fast. She searched every countertop that was pretty much dominated by empty paper plates and dead mosquitoes. Practically turning over every stone, she found a small red container that was filled with some kind of thick liquid. Erlina didn't know much about cars but she knew enough about the consistency of gasoline and there was no time to sit and question it considering that she was in the middle of a gas station. Just as the youngster was getting ready to leave, her big brown eyes were caught by a random set of photographs thumbtacked to a bulletin board of families. It was the rare smiles that spoke to Erlina and it was bizarre to see people that looked so happy for whatever reason. Standing straight to fully examine the pictures taken from a prior universe, it was damn near impossible to imagine a world where fighting for your life wasn't the norm.
Suddenly brought back to the present by Josh's rushes, she returned to her task. She managed to lift the gasoline tank and walked back to the space in which she crawled through. Before exiting, she turned the tank onto its side and slid it underneath. Immediately having it grabbed by her older cousin, who then managed to stuff it into his very own backpack. It took up just enough space, limited the chance of taking home any more supplies if he ever crossed it. Given the green light to safely crawl out, she extended her arm and grabbing her quiver and bow right behind her, after placing them down for a brief minute.
"Stay low..." Josh whispered. The sudden warning took her by surprise and she looked up at Josh with the most frightened look. It wasn't his intension to scare her but would rather her be prepared to fight if shit ever hit the fan, "While you were inside, I heard a couple of gunshots," he muttered, obviously gulping hard from nerves, "It might be some more looters," he muttered.
Again? Erlina thought to herself silently. It seemed that they were both in the clear for now since they were well hidden behind the garage away from the main roads, but it was time they put their sneakiness to the test again. They slowly crept out and ran to hid behind the nearest car they could find. Thankfully, some were still parked along the sidewalks and even stacked in the streets. As Josh picked up his speed, he made it across the street that traced its way back to the block where his mother was still currently camping. He checked almost every second to make sure Erlina was planted to his back. There were instances where taking a moment or two to follow would've lessened her of being seen, but they were still undetected for now. Shortly afterward, they stopped to make sure the coast was clear and that they weren't being followed before Josh made the staunch decision to beam the rest of the way home once they turned into a separate block.
Everything seemed fine so far, however, going through the front entrance would've been the stupidest idea since they'd practically be welcoming the wild to follow in behind them. The young pair of cousins remained to the far right of the houses. Instead of going directly towards the house, they hopped over the back fence to make their way through the shared backyard of the two other homes adjoined to the house they currently reside in. Now that they weren't so exposed, Josh and Erlina carefully walked beside a large tree and located a ladder that was purposely hidden in the tall grass behind an old picnic table. Quickly hustling it towards the back stairs of the house, he placed it beside the awning that craned over the back entrance while Erlina frantically kept a lookout. Once the ladder was firmly in place, Josh summoned his cousin with posthaste.
She ran towards him and he placed his hand on her sides to stabilize her hurried climbs up the ladder. Within a couple of seconds, she was already making her way inside through one of the upstairs windows. Josh followed while looking out and did the exact same. Next was the hard part: Rolling up his sleeves, he used all the strength in his thin, yet built, arms and managed to pull the ladder in through the window with him. It wasn't exactly silent but it wasn't something that an average person could hear if they were more than fifty feet out. Entering the room quite loudly, he let it rest on the floor and slammed the window shut before locking it.
Erlina ran ahead, took the nearest route downstairs, and made her way into the living room to catch her aunt resting well in the rocking chair. Despite her aunt's frustrations when it came to being startled away, Erlina intended to do just that. She woke up, slowly regaining focus on what was going on around her. Josh took the longer route that led directly across from the living room, all while skipping stairs on his way down. Once he placed his eyes on his mother, it wasn't hard to tell she had just awoken from slumber,
"Were you sleeping?" he questioned in disbelief.
"I was just-just closing my eyes," she somewhat confessed. Obviously to her, it wasn't the same thing. She kissed her teeth and stood up, ignoring her son's fired u[ complaints. Instead, she changed the subject, "Did you two find anything?" she remembered.
"Yeah," Josh answered, "Some gas but there are some people around. I heard gunshots," he crucially added.
Pam began to somewhat fuss on her way to the window, obviously getting sickened by the reoccurrence of this. Something had to give at this point and everyone just wasn't sure if it meant having to kill everyone in sight or having to leave for good. She peeked through a space in the planks of wood that boarded up the living rooms windows and noticed about four men walking down the street in which their house sat dead-center at the three-way junction. Backing away, she looked at the two of her kids,
"Erlina, go hide," she pointed at her son as Erlina disappeared from the room, "Josh, find somewhere to hide but get ready to shoot if anyone tries to come in through the front door."
Immediately, Pam took her hunting rifle and hurried up the stairs with it. She may have seemed feeble or weak-spirited but she learned that protecting her family was a priority ever since she lost her brother and nearly lost both her niece and son in the process.
Erlina ran into her bedroom, which was on the same floor as the living room, and wasn't actually too far off. She reminded hidden behind an old pine dresser that was beside the bed. Even though facing enemies were normal, pumping adrenaline became normal as well. She became extra focused, her heart began racing, and her breathing picked up. And despite the refusal to ever let her face dangerous men such as looters face-to-face, she was already preparing herself.
On Josh's end, he was left alone in the living room and had yet to depart. Looking through the gleaming spaces of the barricaded window, Josh noticed three strangers walking towards the house and just about on the property. Just as Josh was certain that no one could see him, he saw a man's wandering eyes match up with his after taking a moment or so to realize that an eyeball was spying on him and his comrades,
"Hey!" the random man called out, pointing towards one of the windows. Josh gasped and instantly backed away as if something had stung him directly in his eye. He slid down to the floor with his back resting against the wall. As he glanced up, he could see a glimpse of Erlina from the partially visible doorway of her room. Using his hand, he swatted the air, signaling his cousin retreat, or else a bullet could come flying her way. This time, Josh maneuvered himself around and peeked through the lower space of the window. He could see the same man, standing about with others and guns. Before Josh could be spotted once again, the same man spoke, "We don't want any trouble!"
He was Caucasian with a stocky built. He had ruffled short hair and a mildly balding hairline. The two extra men with him varied in height but looked formidable overall. There was one bald Black male with him and the other was another pale-skinned man with a blond scruff who just so happened to be the shortest. Frankly, odds like this frightened him and there had been multiple times where he had seen young boys like him get torn apart by other people, let alone infected. Admittedly, he didn't believe there was much an eleven-year-old and fifty-year-old woman could do to save him if it ever came to stopping that.
"We were just looking for a place to stay for the night. Everywhere else looks pretty bad 'cept here..." the first man spoke, "We have food and clothes in a trunk couple blocks away. We know you're in there."
Finally, Josh found the voice hidden in the pit of his stomach.
"Well, this place is off-limits!" He shouted back, "I'm just here alone...so, move along."
The initial man continued speaking.
"Look we don't want any tro—" However, he was cut off by the shorter man in the back.
"Gus, stop wasting damn time! He sounds like some young'n," he spat, "We could rush in there and shoot that damn kid."
"You're ruining the plan, Tee!" the Black male spoke next, obviously agitated by his companion's foolish brashness.
"We searched for days and found no one except for one kid!" The one referred to as Tee started off, obviously being a lack of his patience, "For all we know, he's probably the one responsible for killing Kish and Mike!" said even more viciously.
For all Josh knew, he was probably telling the truth but everyone was always encountering danger all the time, so he didn't know for sure. However, there were more important matters at hand. For one, the sun was beginning to set and everyone knew that more Infected would soon come out. Although both enemies were just as bad, the Infected was something they would rather not deal with, and that would be impossible to avoid with people knowing their whereabouts. So at that moment, something in Josh's head clicked like a lightswitch. Since there was no guarantee of them not being a threat, Josh figured that the best thing he could do was give himself and his family a reason to fight back,
"If I killed anyone," Josh began, "I-I'm sorry. I was only trying to protect myself and, if anything, you should understand seeing why you're here!"
"Are you saying you killed our friends?" the main guy of the group questioned. But before Josh could even give an honest answer, he interrupted, "Sorry, kid. But that doesn't matter anymore."
It wasn't like he expected a sort of positive outcome, but it still worried him that his family would now be in danger because of a few warmongering men. It was obvious that this would be a non-negotiable situation.
Again, the one named Tee broke apart from the armed bunch and decided it was his turn to take a more assertive charge for the loss of his fellow friends. But as soon as the sole of his boots touched the property's grass, a deafening gunshot was heard. The sunlight hit the weeds at the right angle, making the spritz pattern of his blood more visible as his lifeless body became swallowed in the bed of foot-long grasses.
Flawlessly hidden in the bedroom upstairs, Pam quickly reloaded her rifle by flawlessly pulling back the bolt handle and letting the insignificant shell hit the floor in the same manner her target did. After reloading it with two more bullets, marked with the rest of her target's names, she placed the barrel through the thin, narrow space that the window permitted. Not wasting a second longer, she pulled the trigger yet again.