No nightmares. No dreams. Nothing but endless darkness consumed Alex as she slept. The room was lit brightly with the afternoon sun shining through the window, but the cold reality of the world seeped back into her mind as she started to stir. The soft blankets beneath her didn't take away from the pain of the hard buttons on her clothes digging into her skin. Alex kept her eyes shut, hanging onto to the faintest hope that it was all in her mind. Deep down she knew that the world she was waking up to was one infested with walkers as reality pieced itself back together.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Alex shuffled through to the next room. Billy, Tobias and Zoe were sat amongst various boxes and piles of clothes, folding them as they chatted.
"Hey, do you need any help?" Alex asked slipping in the room and sitting next to Zoe.
"We're pretty much done. There wasn't much worth keeping." Zoe explained pointing to one of the smaller piles "Theres a few bottoms and t-shirts and stuff that will fit you so I put them aside."
Alex held up an ugly mustard coloured vest from the pile and held it against her body.
"What do you think?" she mused wiggling her eyebrows sarcastically at the others. The boys chuckled and Zoe held her hands up in defence.
"Hey! This is no time for fashion statements."
Alex scrunched up the shirt a hurled it to the other side of the room with a scoff.
"I don't care. There's no way in hell that I'm wearing that."
"Well I thought it brought out your eyes." Billy mocked smirking, earning a snigger from Tobias.
Alex grabbed at another shirt and threw it at Billy, hitting him square in the face. He cackled and launched it back her way but misjudged completely, smacking Toby in the side of the head. The children erupted with laughter, sending various items of clothing flying across the room in the attempt to hit the others. They didn't know why they found themselves laughing so hard, but all of the sudden, they couldn't stop. Breath came in quick gasps between unstoppable fits of giggles. Tears gathered in the corners of their eyes, threatening to spill over. The horrors of that morning fizzled out of their minds and the room filled with the sweet sound of innocent laughter.
"Stop! Stop!" Zoe wheezed, catching a rather forcefully thrown shirt from Alex. "We spent ages sorting these out! Don't ruin it now."
"It's Alex's fault!" Accused Tobias putting down the balled up socks he was about to launch at Billy. "She started it!"
"I didn't even hit you!" Alex bickered between giggles "You can't blame me!"
Just then the door swung open revealing a very angry looking Layla glaring at them all.
"Do you have to be so loud? Jesus Christ, how old are you?!"
"Just having a bit fun, Lay." Billy spoke still breathless from his previous laughing fit.
"Well just keep it down will you. It's annoying."
"Why?" Tobias retorted "We're not bothering you."
"Yes, you are." Layla snapped, still glaring at them all "I'm trying to read my magazine..!"
"Wow! Layla... I didn't know you could read?!" Zoe exasperated sarcastically sending everyone into another fit of laughter.
Layla opened her mouth to argue but Alex spoke up, recovering from her giggles.
"Lighten up..." She started
"Lighted up!?" Layla hissed cutting Alex off mid sentence "I don't think you realise but while you were catching up on your beauty sleep my phone ran out of battery AND the waters stopped working so I can't even have a shower!"
"I don't think your phones battery or you not being able to shower are our biggest concerns right now." Tobias retorted coldly, with a glare to match Layla's.
"FUCK YOU! What do you.." Layla roared heatedly.
"OKAY OKAY ENOUGH!" Alex shouted standing in front of Layla to diffused the situation.
"We're sorry okay?" She carried on "We'll keep the noise down so you can get back to your reading and we'll try not to disturb you again okay?"
Layla huffed in response and stormed out the room slamming the door behind her. The others stayed in silence for a few seconds until laughter consumed them again. They sat snickering for a few moments until Alex broke it up.
"Why wasn't she helping you guys anyway?"
"Because she's selfish and inconsiderate." Tobias mumbled folding up the clothes that were lying around him.
"Okay I get it, she rubs you up the wrong way so you don't like her," Alex sighed "but she's our friend and she doesn't mean it."
"Yeah, but I don't get it. You two are nothing but kind to her and all she does is complain about everything and throw it all back in your faces. She won't help with any chores and when she does she moans about it the whole time."
"She's not like that all the time." Zoe defended "She's just a bit unsettled at the minute."
"Yeah aren't we all."
"So...why didn't she help?" Alex asked again, this time to Zoe.
"Because apparently it 'wasn't fair' that she had to 'slave away' while you slept." Zoe replied and Tobias scoffed.
"Pathetic." he murmured "Why is she like that?"
"Well let's just say only-child-syndrome and bitch-itis isn't a well balanced combination." Alex joked.
They all smiled at the remark, continuing to fold the clothes that they had jumbled up. They worked quickly and soon had the room in a state of organisation. Before they headed out to give out the sorted clothes, they bagged up the rest to be used as rags. Soon the room was cleared of boxes and bags, returning it to its former state. Two single beds with matching striped covers - Sam and Freddie's old room. Tobias yawed as he and Billy finished making one of the beds.
"You don't need you're beauty sleep too do ya?" Billy joked earning a warning, yet mocking, glare from Alex.
"Nah." he smiled sitting on the bed and running his hands through his hair "Rae was up nearly every hour crying. She usually sleeps through the night but it just must be with everything going on. Mum was on watch so I had to look after her."
"I've got an idea. Why don't we have a sleepover." Alex suggested "It will give you a break from your sister and we can all get to know each other some more."
"Yeah that'll be fun." Zoe agreed
"But won't the army be back by then?" Billy offered looking at his friends "We could be down at the coast by tonight."
"You don't believe that do you?" Tobias asked, almost pained.
"Why not, they said they'll be back and..."
"There not coming back." Tobias snapped. "Never trust people in power. They're not coming back. We're stuck here and it's probably better that way."
The truth that no one wanted to acknowledge hit the children hard. Alex thought of her family. All of them gone. Her stomach knotted and heart dropped as the words sunk in. They sat in silence not wanting to speak.
"He's right." Alex swallowed, fighting back her pained expression "It's harsh but he's right. We're here now and we can take care of ourselves."
"But, my mum..." Zoe started, eyes brimming with tears
"I know." Alex said hugging her friend. "But they're safe...they have to be."
Alex trailed off and bit back her own tears as Zoe sniffled into her chest.
'I don't cry. I don't cry...'. Alex repeated in her head. A little motto she had stood by for a while now. Billy stood off to the side with his head hung as Tobias twiddled his thumbs.
"I'm up for a sleepover." Billy murdered, breaking the mournful silence "We'd have to ask our parents though."
"I can't, I have to look after my sister." Said Tobias as he shook his head.
"I'm sure your mum can manage on her own for one night." Zoe argued leaning against the wall opposite them.
"C'mon mate it'll be fun." Billy nudging Tobias in his side.
"Yeah Toby. One night. They'll be fine" Alex added throwing a sock that was left on the floor at him, which he caught.
"Alright." he sighed in defeat earning a round of smiles from his friends.
Tobias couldn't help but to smile to himself. He only ever had a few real friends in his life time. At school he was always the 'new kid'. He never stayed at a school longer than a few months before moving on to the next, so never found the point of making new ones. But suddenly, he felt accepted. Yes he was older than all three of them, but he never felt so accepted in his life. He was never bullied at school but he never found his place in any friendship groups either. However, these three children made him feel welcome. It took the world to end for Tobias Mathews to make real friends. Maybe this was the start of a 'happier' life for this boy.
"Hellllooooo. Earth to Tobias?" Alex droned waving her hand in front of his face, snapping Tobias out of his trance "Are you coming or not?"
"What?" He asked confused, realising that Billy and Zoe were no longer in the room.
"Lunch time." She stated plainly, opening the door "Then we'll ask about the sleepover and hopefully persuade my dad into giving us some shooting lessons."
"Oh okay." Tobias said following her out the room.
They caught up to the others who were chatting with Layla, who was acting like their little argument didn't happen. Tobias sighed as they all made their way next door. When they entered they were greeted with a table full of bread, butter and cheese.
"Hey kids!" Christina greeted with Rae sat on her lap. Her face lit up at the sight of her brother who returned the excited smile and lifted her off their mums lap.
"What have you all been up to?"
"Not much." Tobias answered vaguely "We sorted through the clothes next door and tided the room."
"Great." Christina said standing "Well everyone else has eaten so this is all yours."
She gestured to the table of food "It isn't going to keep long so it's better than it going to waste."
Without hesitating, the kids grabbed at the food hungrily and filled their plates with the food and topped their glasses with water out of the jug.
"Oh and go easy on the water." She "We've got some but it won't last forever. We have to ration it until the military is back"
The kids nodded but shared a glance, beginning to fill themselves with the meal.
"Tobias, do you mind watching your sister for a few minutes?" Christina asked "I need to see when I'm on watch and check some stuff with the others."
He nodded through a mouthful of food to which she mumbled a thanks and left the room.
Alex was first to finish and carried her plate through to the sink before re-joining the others at the table. Tobias was sat next to her trying to one handedly eat his food with his wriggling sister supported in the other. She could tell he was struggling so wiped her hands on her jeans and held them out.
"Pass her here." She offered "I'll hold her while you eat."
"Nah it's okay," he declined through a mouthful of bread "I can manage."
"I know you can, but I can hold her while you eat." Alex said more sternly, annoyed at how stubborn he was being "Anyway I had 3 younger siblings. I think I can handle her."
At that comment Tobias passed over his sister with a muffled 'thanks' and turned back to his food. The others chatted as they ate, polishing off nearly the whole table of food. Alex just watched Rae who was chewing on a piece of bread, babbling unintelligently. She thought of her own siblings. They were gone and she would never see them. Then she thought of the walkers and how scared little Freddie must have been. Her siblings may be gone for good. Even though Alex knew Rae would have Tobias to take care of her, she could tell her mum was naive. Christina- and the rest of the adults for that matter - believed the military were coming back for them. Alex had her doubts. In that moment she vowed to protect this little girl, and her innocence, for as long as she could. In the last few days, Alex had to shed the last of her innocence and become numb to the world. Tobias learnt to do that a long time ago. Billy, Zoe and Layla were tough but still slightly blind to the way things would have to be from now on. They would come round eventually...they would have to.
Christina came back and took Rae off upstairs to be changed and put down for a nap. They all sat chatting about the sleepover they were hoping to have and Tobias cleared the rest of the plates into the kitchen. Alex could hear the kitchen cupboards opening and soon Tobias called her name.
"Alex, come here for a sec will ya!" He called through the door "I need a hand with something."
Confused Alex slipped into the kitchen closing the door behind her.
"What?" She asked standing next to Tobias and looking into the opened cupboards.
"We definitely brought all the food into here when we cleared all the houses?" He asked still studying the cupboard.
"Yeah. Why?"
"We've hardly got anything left." He pointed out, gesturing to the bare shelves "I mean there wasn't much to start with but it went fast."
"Well with 15 people to feed 3 times a day it will."
Tobias looked like he was thinking up some sort of plan.
"The parents still think they're coming back don't they?" He asked sighing.
"Yeah." Alex nodded, exasperated at there utter blindness. They were never coming back. They had to fend for themselves now.
"We hardly have enough food to last us the next few days let alone the next few weeks. If we leave it too them, we will starve to death."
"So...what's your plan?" Alex raised her eyebrow.
"We need to get food somehow, right?" He started in a hushed voice obviously not wanting the others to hear.
"Well there's two supermarkets within a 10 minute walk from here. We go. Get food. Get back. No one has to know we were gone." He explained "We have one problem..."
"The walkers" they finished it unison
"Yeah." Tobias agreed "We can't get past them without the people on watch seeing us and the walkers have been banging at that gate since you set off that gun. "
"We could use the alley way." she offered pointing through the window beyond her bottom garden fence. "We have the fence and the walkers at one end but the other is where they came from, so we don't know how many will be back there. But if it means getting us food, it's worth a shot."
"I agree." Tobias said "I found a few big backpacks we can use. Fill them with whatever we can grab and get out of there. As long as we're quiet and keep an eye out for each other, we should be fine"
"Okay when we gonna do this?"
"Meet back here in twenty minutes and we'll head out. Okay?"
"Okay." Alex agreed. Tobias turned to walk out the kitchen "Tobias wait. Why me? Why not ask Billy to go with you, or persuade one of the adults. It would be a lot safer?"
"Because I trust you to take care of yourself." Tobias said opening the door "And I know you're a decent shot."
"Well I'm flattered." Alex mocked, dramatically placing her hand in her chest before turning to finish off the dishes. Tobias turned to leave, laughing. Maybe this world didn't have to be so bad after all.
