Author's Note: Please review. They make me happy and they motivate me!!

Chapter 6: June 30- Davey

Josephine walked around abandoned Cleveland for hours. She would glace at her map every now and then when she would get confused, which wasn't as often as one would think.

Then it finally hit her with all the force of an atomic bomb: everyone was dead.

Everyone. Mothers. Fathers. Children. Babies. Teenagers. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. All dead.

The news stations were right. It spread from the south and everyone was dead within days of contracting the disease. People's bodies were lying on their porch as they went outside to get mail. Or their bodies were lying lifeless in their cars, which had crashed or were simply stopped in the middle of the roadway. People had gone on about their lives thinking they would get over it and everything would be OK. And within days everything was OK, everything was better, their pain ended now that they were gone.

Most people, though, had retreated to their homes and stayed there in bed until their final breath, which was probably choked and painful.

The army and police were dead, too. Their bodies could be found near city exits and near bridges and tunnels. They died following the orders of the also-now-dead-government who just wanted to make their mistake disappear. They believed if they pretended nothing happened, then the problem would just go away. To the government, the army was just a band-aid that would heal the wound.

But the real battle is only beginning.

"HELLO!?!?" Josephine yelled down the empty, body-riddled streets. She was furious with this 'God' that everyone knew and loved. She was furious with him for bumping off an entire civilization, despite what Mother Abigail said. But how could Josephine be mad at a God she didn't even believe in?

It was June 30th, the day she had left home. It was now about 3 in the afternoon.

"CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!?" Her voice echoed down the streets but was then swallowed up in silence.

Then she heard a gun shot out in the distance. Josephine had heard them all day. She knew there were more people, but she was just hoping she would find someone who wasn't insane or wasn't going to gun her down.

She gulped loudly and quickened her pace down the middle of the street.

When she entered the store, she was grinning frome ear to ear. It had been the first time in days that she had actually, truly smiled.

She had walked into the store that had the boots she had been looking at when she past by the line of stores on the 20th. The boots were still in the window.

She walked around for a bit, looking at everything. This store was one of the most expensive in Cleveland. Only the rich even dared to look through the window.

Josephine grabbed the black combat boots that were in her size and she then continued her search for some other nice clothes. She found a very nice pair of pale green pants and a lovely black tank top to go with it. Then she darted off to the dressing room.

Near the dressing room doors she saw a woman's body lying next to a rack of clothes. Josephine paused and stared at her with sympathy. She assumed the woman must've worked there or something considering that she was the only other body in the store. But something was strange about her...

Josephine thought for a moment that she heard crying, but then she walked into the dressing room with her items without a second thought.

Josephine admired herself in the mirror. The pants, top, and boots fit her nicely. She left her other clothes in a pile on the ground as she picked up her bags and walked out of the dressing room.

She walked around the store a little bit longer, picking up that shirt and those pants, these socks and that hat. She stopped dead in her tracks, though, when she heard the crying again. It was coming from the 'Employees Only' room.

Josephine crept slowly to the door and opened it. As she peered inside she saw a young boy. He was no older than 10. Near Kimmy's age. He had black shaggy hair and blue jeans with a dark green top on. Josephine couldn't see his face because he was in the corner of the room with his head on his knees, sobbing.

Josephine walked into the room, eyes wide. She was so happy to see someone else, even if it was only a child.

"H-hello?" Josephine said softly, so as not to scare the boy.

The immediately stopped crying and looked up at Josephine. He stood up and then ran around the other side of a near by table. "Git away from me!" he cried out. His face was pale and he had circles under his eyes. Not to mention his eyes, which seemed lonely and scared, were a dark green, similar to his shirt.

"Wait! No!" Josephine cried out as she reached out for him. "I'm not here to hurt you! I'm just looking for other people!" she said sympathetically. She was actually there to steal the clothes, although, it technically wasn't stealing anymore...

"No! You hurt my mommy!"

"No! I didn't!" Josephine was suddenly confused. Someone hurt the boy's mother? Didn't she get the disease, like everyone else?

"And now you're gonna hurt me! Git away from me!"

"No, please! I didn't hurt your mom and I won't hurt you! I'd never hurt you!"

The boy looked at her suspiciously and then slowly walked towards Josephine. "Promise?" he whispered.

Josephine looked at him and then smiled kindly. "Promise."

Josephine held the boy's hand as they walked over to the woman's body that Josephine had seen earlier in the store. She gained the boy's trust after consoling him and then giving him some of her food.

"That's my mommy." the boy whispered. He sniffled for a moment.

Josephine suddenly realized what was so strange about the woman's body. She didn't look like she died from getting Captain Trips. She looked perfectly normal, but there was a small pool of blood around the woman's head.

The woman had been lying on her back and staring blankly up into nothing. She had pretty black hair, like the boy's, whose name Josephine found out was Davey. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt.

Josephine was curious, yet disgusted by the scene, but she wanted to know how the woman died. She flipped the woman over and saw that someone had hit her in the back of the head with some kind of blunt object. Josephine quickly backed away from the body. Davey just stared with sorrow in his eyes.

"W-what happened here?" Josephine asked Davey.

Davey sighed and then looked up at Josephine. "Mommy and I didn't git sick like everyone else. After daddy died, we came here. Mommy wanted to git some nice clothes then she promised we would go off to the store for me."

"Does she own this place? Does she work here?"

"No, but she comes in here lotsa times. It's her favorite store. After a while a man came in here. Mommy saw him and told me to hide. I hide over there." Davey then pointed to a large rack of clothes. He must've hid in it. "I didn't see what happened then, but I heard mommy scream. And then it was quiet. I ran as fast as I could into the room where you found me and I never came out."

Josephine knelt down and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry, Davey." she whispered. "Ya know what, let's go. We don't want anyone else finding us then."

Josephine and Davey walked the streets cautiously. Davey rarely, if ever, let go of Josehpine's hand. He was so fragile and afraid. When he would hear a gun shot, his eyes would get wide and he'd look up at Josephine, who would then reassure him.

It was about 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon when they finally came to Josephine's... therapy place. It took so long to get there because they kept stopping everywhere looking for people, but all they ever found was dead bodies.

Josephine stood in front of the building and paused for a moment. "Can we go in here for a minute, Davey? Would you mind?" Josephine asked Davey without looking at him. She didn't want to drag the poor boy into somewhere he didn't want to be.

"Kay, Joey." he said with a small smile. He didn't exactly answer her question, but she knew what he meant.

He didn't know what was in the building, but he knew it had something to do with his new friend, Joey.

Josephine's grip on the boy's hand tightened for a moment before the two ventured into the building.

Author's Note: I dunno, for some reason this chapter seems waay shorter than my other ones. Oh well, I still think this one is pretty good. Do you? So please review. And I'm sorry if this story seems overly and nauseatingly sad, but this IS a piece of fiction based off of a (and my favorite) Stephen King novel so... And it might get worse, but trust me, the ending is perfect...