Milton stood awkwardly outside of Philips house; he had been invited over for dinner by him and his wife. He had never been invited over for anything; this was a whole new experience, making friends. Not even in school had he made a single friend and years later still he was just as alone. Philip was his very first friend and he wanted to make a good impression.
When the door opened Philip smiled down at him, Milton returned and he felt his nerves die down slightly. He felt more comfortable around him than anyone else, and just the pure fact that he never made Milton feel low.
"Hey, you made it, come in." Philip stepped to the side to let Milton in; closing the door after his co-worker he patted him on the shoulder. "I'll introduce you to the family."
He followed Philip through the house to the kitchen, he felt himself grow nervous again as he saw Philips wife make her way to them. He wasn't quite equipped with the greatest social skills and was plainly visible when he found it very hard to reply hello to her.
He shut his eyes and cursed at himself mentally, but he heard her laugh softly and opened his eyes to look at her. "Don't worry; it's ok to be nervous." Her voice was sweet and she looked at him with understanding.
He found himself smiling at her as the nerves went back down again, the night should turn out to be just fine.
After they had cleared the mess from dinner, Philip's wife went to put their daughter to bed leaving Philip and Milton to themselves in the living room.
"See? Went a lot easier then you thought it would." Philip sat next to Milton on the couch; both of them just looked straight ahead at the wall. "Somewhat. I still think I worried your wife at some point during dinner." Philip chuckled at his friends' response, shaking his head. "You didn't. She just feels bad for ya."
Milton snorted, "I don't need anyone to pity or feel sorry for me."
Philip looked to his friend, his eyebrows furrowed, "We didn't invite you here because we pity you, we invited you here because you're my friend. I wanted you to meet my family because I felt that maybe you need people in your life who care-"
Philip paused for a second to study Milton's face. His friends face had begun to turn a slight red; he turned his face away in attempts to hide his growing emotion from Philip.
Philip sighed and clapped him on the back, "We are here for ya, and I wanted you to know that."
Milton started to shake slightly; this was not going the way he had thought. He had felt that at some point they would leave him like everyone else who had pitied him. They all felt bad but none of them had truly cared.
Philip was showing that it wasn't like that at all, and his family was practically inviting him to be a part of something he never had. He felt warmth spread and it wasn't anything he had experienced before. The feeling of care.
Milton turned to look at his friend, he gave small smile. He knew he would cherish this friendship and do anything to keep it.
The memory had started to fade when Milton felt someone shaking him, his eyes fluttered open with Dan's face coming into view.
"We're having a bit of trouble, mind getting off your ass."
"What's going on?" Milton sat up straight, he hadn't realised he fell asleep in the back of the car. Looking out the car window, noticing they were now parked on the side of an empty road with trees surrounding it. It seemed calm, no other cars, clear road and no signs of infected.
"We ran out of gas, looks like we didn't hit that gas station after all. So guess what, we're walking. Now come on." Dan got up and out of the car; Milton followed and shut the car door. He let out a heavy sigh; leaning against the car he put his head in his hands. This was going to be even more miserable than he thought.
The drive was annoying enough listening to Philip and Dan, but no, this time he got to go on a fun nature walk with them. He hoped they would just reach a location that would either evacuate them or assist them.
If only he could wake up, hope that this was all a terrible dream. But it was real and it was happening now.
"Here, you can carry your own bag." Dan sneered at him and shoved a bag into his arms. Milton was already growing impatient, he had just woken up and he already wanted to punch him. The fact of the matter is Milton didn't know how to punch, and he didn't feel like wasting his time trying.
Milton walked silently behind Philip and Penny. He held her hand tightly, glancing down every few moments at her to see if she doing ok. But he hadn't uttered a single word, not to anyone. Milton wondered why he was so quiet, it wasn't like him to remain silent for so long.
Looking passed the two Milton saw Dan in front, who seemed to be commanding their direction. Dan made it clear that they would first find some where to stay the night. Milton hoped they would even find a place. They were literally in the middle of nowhere, it was just an empty road that went on for miles, not even a back road was found.
He felt his feet grow tired every minute they kept walking, the bag on his shoulders seemed even heavier as well. His head slumped downwards, looking at the ground as he kept his feet moving. It was when he heard something odd that he looked back up. It wasn't come from any of them; he felt a pang of panic as he turned his head around.
Milton's heart dropped, his stomach turned, when an oh shit fell from his mouth Philip turned to see what happened. Instead he was greeted with the same wave of panic.
Behind them wasn't just one or two but a crowd and a lot closer than expected. Their tiredness and lack of awareness had allowed them to miss this, and had nowhere to go but forward. Milton felt Philip tug on his shirt and pull him, Dan was the last to turn and see the approaching threat.
None of them thought of it before they ran, Philip picked up Penny and held her as he ran, Milton right behind. Despite the running they only seemed to come closer and Milton felt himself losing his balance. Trying to regain it he only fell, face coming into contact with the hard concrete.
Philip looked behind him and stopped, he debated on what to do before he felt Dan take Penny, "Go get him now, I got her. Go!" Dan began to run forward again as Philip went over to get Milton onto his feet again.
He pulled him to his feet, "Come on!" Gripping Milton's hand he tried to get him to move faster, but Milton struggled with getting his feet to co-operate with him.
Milton felt fear take over him completely, Philip called his name but everything went silent. They were only 10 feet away and Philip didn't have time for Milton to freeze up. He gave him one final tug on his arm and practically screamed his name.
Milton felt himself move without consent, and they both started to run again. Philip still had a firm grip on his friends' hand, keeping his friend aware that he wasn't leaving him.
As they neared Dan, a stone structure came into view. Dan waved to them before disappearing behind one of the walls. Upon arriving they turned around the same wall as well. It was a giant square with stone walls, but no sign of Dan.
Philip felt a light smack on the side of his head, looking up Dan offered his hand to lift him up onto the ledge. Philip did the same for Milton as soon as he was up. It wasn't soon after a few of them had wondered into the stone structure as well.
All four of them backed up as much as they could to avoid being seen, breathing heavily they watched them wander back out. Right then it became clear that this had become even more difficult than they had imagined. After only 48 hours there were already crowds of them.
This time Philip felt panic take over him, he wrapped his arms around his daughter as he closed his eyes. They needed to figure a plan out, somewhere to stay. The facts ran through his head, the cities were being shut down, bombed, and waves of infected were already making their way through.
He knew it wasn't as simple as getting to an evacuation center, he knew that in these 48 hours, the whole world had begun to shut down. It was just them now, and it was going to be much harder than ever.