A/N
That's what I'm talking about! We got a bunch of awesome reviews from a bunch of awesome people, and that makes me very happy. Keep up the good work! Now, in regards to the story, this is a really important chapter for the girls, but this is just the start. We have stuff planned out for the next like 20 chapters but we want to know what you think is gonna happen! We love audience participation, and I'm excited to see what y'all say.
The school was a special kind of eerie at night. Maybe it was the emptiness, or perhaps the mess of graffiti that covered the exterior. We had jumped the chain link fence to the courtyard, and had used one of the benches as a battering ram on the windows of the doors leading to the science wing. Cyrus had wanted to bring a torch, but I was afraid of us being seen. Near death experiences will do that to ya. I knew right as we climbed through the window that she had been right, though. I couldn't see a damn thing beyond the twilight coming in from the widows.
"Told you so." whispered Cyrus.
"We're just gonna have to open all the classroom doors on our way, then." I sighed. It was gonna be a drag to do, but we didn't have much of a choice. We had to see where we were going.
Cyrus glared at me. "Dude I'm sorry I didn't listen to you but we would have been seen." I said, trying to salvage her good graces.
"Lets just get this done and get out of here, this is creepy."
Again she was right, I didn't know how long we had been in there, but it had taken us at least 15 minutes to get from one side of the school to the other, something that should have taken maybe five. At most.
I looked around, squinting. It had only grown darker since we had broken into the school, and the lack of windows that gave all the students vampiric tendencies wasn't helping. The far right corner of the gym was where the supply closet was, and to my relief it was unlocked. Cyrus seemed disappointed, I think she liked the smashing. I thought back to my time as a gym teacher's pet. Mrs. Tophangar would always let me put the stuff away from the period before mine so I didn't have to run laps at the beginning of class. Right after spring break, the juniors started archery, the bows were here somewhere... I stepped to my left and shoved a bin of hockey sticks out of the way, and grabbed the pvc rack of bows. Dragging it out into the gym, I told Cyrus to get the bucket and crate from the right of the hole in the mess of athletic equipment where the bows had been. There wasn't much of a selection, really, it's not like our school had spent time and effort in choosing the bows, there were just a few plastic compounds, and one recurve for the weaklings who couldn't handle pulling back 30 lbs of tension. I always felt bad for them, when it was their turn to shoot they would try a compound for a few minutes and not shoot a single arrow. Tophangar would see them, make everyone stop, and send the poor kid across the shooting range and to the closet to grab the recurve. It was tragic, really, but what can you do?
I grabbed a red bow and Cyrus grabbed a blue. I walked over to the bucket, pulled out two quivers, one red, one blue, and started sorting the arrows by state of disrepair. Cyrus was digging through the crate of arm guards. "You think we'll need these? Maybe we can duct tape them together and make breast-plate thingys..." she wondered.
"Well that's not gonna work" I responded "Just for stability reasons, also can you imagine that? It would look ridiculous, but I could use the shorter ones as gauntlets... You should get a long one as well, just so you have it."
I put all the good arrows I could fit into the blue quiver, and the rest in the red, along with those slightly inferior quality. I checked to see if they were too full. I soon came to the conclusion that the quivers were full enough to not rustle or empty at a slight angle, but loose enough to allow itself to be emptied quickly and with ease. In other words, they were perfect. Cyrus handed me two short camo arm guards, and I handed her the blue quiver.
"Lets see..." I mumbled, trying to find a place to hang the bow on my pack.
"You wouldn't be having trouble if you didn't make us carry these giant things" Cyrus complained, motioning to my pack, as well as her's.
"Cyrus I don't think you understand our situation. We will need these."
"Liar"
"Ok let's make a bet then, one year from today, if you haven't gotten any use out of carrying a pack, I owe you 50 bucks, if you have, you owe me 50 bucks. Deal?"
"Deal."
I strapped my bow next to my sleeping bag on the bottom of my pack.
"Lets get the hell outta here."
Judging by the moon, we had several hours of night left. My eyes had adjusted well enough for me to be able to see about five feet ahead of me, and I was grateful for it. We were almost to the strip mall near our house, and I didn't want to miss any turns, nor was I eager to let people know we were here by lighting a torch.
We took the last right. "Just a few minutes now... Just a few minutes now..." I repeated to myself. Hot damn I was tired. I had slept from about five to around noon, then Cyrus slept and I made sure no one came a'knocking at the abandoned house we had squatted in. It was strange. I didn't know the family all that well, but I had English and Science with one of the kids that used to live there. Connor I think his name was. From what I heard he and his family split about two weeks after the lights went out. I never knew where they went, but it was obvious that they weren't planning on coming back. They had taken most of their clothes, and all of their canned food was gone. I guessed that the disorder of their house was in was due to looters. I know this not because I was looting, I was just going through everything to see if any of it would be useful to us. That's not looting I promise.
We made it. Cyrus walked ahead, counting the storefronts until she reached EMS. "Well I don't know what I expected..." she remarked. The front window was smashed open, and everything inside was askew. Of course people would go there first, EMS has knives. Raiders love knives. They make them feel powerful.
"I really need to get better at making plans. I always miss something important." I sighed "Lets see what we can salvage anyway, I guess" We stepped over the shards of glass that were the front window. I got the right side of the store, she got the left, and we got to work.
Maybe an hour later we laid everything out in the staff room. I lit a candle. Cyrus unrolled her sleeping bag, and took a corner. Meanwhile, I sorted it all and put together a list.
Ryanne
(red) compound bow (sorta crappy, but hey, it was free and we didn't have to fight anyone for it, a major plus)
a (red) quiver of the least-horrible arrows we could find at the school (not as good as Cyrus's, but she'll use it more) (we should probably sharpen them too... when we get the chance)
full tang sheathed knife (straight edge, damascus steel, petrified wood handle, filing, really snazzy, it was a birthday present)
hunting knife (clip point, folding, black plastic handle, and a skinning hook)
machete (a big ol' khukuri, good for hacking at things, and mighty intimidating)
multitool (leatherman sidekick)
fishing line
full tang bushcraft knife (4.5 in. blade made of stainless steel black micarta handle)
flint and steel (you know, I should find a chain and put it on a necklace, that'd be convenient)
fire starters (homemade, lint and wax, all in an egg carton)
mess kit
bear canister
water pump and purification tablets
canteen
other canteen
bandanas
paracord (type 550, 50 ft. or so)
duct tape (that stuff fixes everything)
heat reflective blanket
sleeping bag
emergency whistle
balaclava
wicking shirt (short-sleeved)
change of pants
base layer
wicking shirt (long-sleeved)
wicking long underwear
hat
gloves
compressed jacket
Cyrus
(blue) compound bow (same type as mine)
a (blue) quiver of the least-horrible arrows we could find at the school
hatchet (nothing big, just enough to chop branches and firewood)
partly serrated pocket knife (approx. 2.5 in., steel handle, used to be Cyrus's dad's)
snare wire
drawstring day pack
little sewing kit (literally just a needle, thread, and tiny scissors)
first aid kit (gauze, neosporin, band-aids, the whole deal)
mess kit
matches
candles
canteen
other canteen
emergency rations (the gross dehydrated protein bar things and some beef jerky, it's not much, but hey, if we need 'em we need 'em)
apples (the green kind, granny smith I think it is, they're the best kind, also they last hella long, and hey, they've got vitamins or something)
emergency whistle
mirror
sleeping bag
biodegradable soap
bug spray (the deep woods type, hopefully it'll work)
sunscreen
ziplock bags (quart)
notebook (for obvious reasons)
pencil (most of one, anyway)
wicking shirt (tank top)
change of pants
base layer
wicking shirt (long-sleeved)
wicking long underwear
hat
gloves
compressed jacket
I don't know how I fit it all, but after a few tries, I did. I checked outside. It was probably two hours until sunrise. I woke up Cyrus.
"Cyrus. Dude we should clear out, I wanna be gone by daybreak."
She rolled over. "Lets just stay here today..." Then, sitting up "I mean, it's not like anyone is gonna come around... all the good stuff is gone."
"Cyrus don't you get it? We can't stay near here. You saw what they tried to do to us the other night, they might not still be looking for us, but we can't take that chance. We have to assume that they would kill us if they could, if we don't, we might get hurt." I insisted.
"Ok fine, where do you say we go?" She asked, quickly waking up.
"I know most of the way to Penn State... We take 208 to 80, and beyond that we can pick up a map at a rest stop, but that's our only shot now, and we have to take it."
"Cant we just go find Kyle? He's closer..."
"I thought about that, but I'm not too eager to go blindly into the city." I admitted
"Yeah, I agree."
We packed everything up, and made it to the highway by sunrise. "Lets put in half a day and quit, I'm running on empty right now." I groaned.
The sun was high when we stopped. I ate an apple and took a power nap while Cyrus looked over the list and practiced snares.
A/N
Ok so one last thing. By now you have probably tried to go onto deviantart and find the character drawings. The truth is that we are still trying to convert the drawings into actual documents that we can upload without shadows and other such lighting issues. I know that its still early in the story but if you want to, send us a drawing or a description of what you think Cyrus, Ryanne, Oliver, Kyle, anyone looks like! Email it to us at justforthegloryofitatgmaildotcom (I'm not allowed to give you links, but the unbolded words should be symbols when you type it, you can figure it out), and if you do, you will get a secret perk. The most accurate descriptions win fabulous prizes. Submissions will be allowed until we say otherwise, aka a few chapters from now.