There's a short A/N at the end, please read! WARNING: Unedited! Read at your own risk!

Chapter 8

Boom.

Bullets danced across the pavement mere feet away from Rosie and I.

"Run!" I barely recognized my own voice as I scrambled behind a nearby car. Never in my entire life have I sounded so terrified and helpless.

I looked up to see Rosie crouched besides me, her hands laced behind her head, and her eyes filled with terror.

Boom.

Whoever was shooting at us was getting closer.

I took a quick glance through the car window, and saw a person cloaked in black running towards us.

We have to get out of here.

I looked back up through the car window, and saw someone's keys still in the ignition. Hopefully there's still gas in the car. If not...

"Rosie," I say quickly. "Whoever's shooting at us is getting closer. When I say now I need you to get in the back of the car, and stay low. Don't look out any windows, and keep your head down. If I say run, get out of the car and zigzag into the forest. Got it?"

Rosie nods her head.

"Now!" I hiss.

Rosie jumps up into the back of the car, as I take the wheel. I keep low as the shooter gets closer and closer. Bullets fly through the air, and footsteps echo off the pavement.

"C'mon...Stupid car...Start!"

At this point I'm desperate. If this car doesn't start Rosie and I will die...

"C'mon..." I mutter. Then, the engine roars to life.

After the engine turned on, everything dissolved into one big blur. The shooter was far behind us now, and the car had enough gas to get us into town.

I kept my hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel, and my eyes glued to the road. I felt as if we were driving in circles. The car seemed to fly past the same trees, and the same broken-down cars.

"Do you think they'll find us again?" Rosie asks from the backseat.

I shake my head, "No. It'll take them at least an hour to walk into town. We'll be in and out in less than twenty minutes. Trust me, Rosie. We're going to be fine...I won't let anything happen to us."

Rosie nods her head, and then goes back to looking out the window.

The minutes passed by quickly, and soon, Rosie and I found ourselves driving into what looked like a ghost town.

"What happened here?" Rosie whispers.

I shrug, "Beats me. Most of the people were probably evacuated, the other half probably died...Then those who chose to stay were most likely picked off by looters."

"How can you say something like that so casually?" Rosie asks.

"It's a different world now, Rosie. You adapt, or you die," I say.

"It can't be a different world," Rosie protests, "There must be good left in the world somewhere. For all we know there's people like us in Texas. Maybe that's why Rebecca wanted to go there. It's supposed to be safe-"

"This world isn't safe anymore. There are good people, and bad people, but you can't trust any of them. You never know who will take advantage of you kindness..." I counter.

Rosie sighs, "Why can't anyone work together anymore? Why can't everything go back to the way that it used to be?"

I pull up into a deserted parking lot, and turned back to look at Rosie, "It's just human nature Rosie. It's hard to explain, but it's just the way things are now. You have to accept the world for what it is now. There's no point in trying to change it."

Rosie stares at me stubbornly, "I don't want to think like that..."

"You don't have to."

"Ba-da-dum-" Rosie was humming softly to a song I'd never heard before, as we walked through what used to be a supermarket.

The lights flickered above us, and glass crunched beneath our feet.

I scooped up a small basket that sat on the floor by my feet, and tossed some canned goods into it.

"Go get yourself a basket," I say, "You don't have to stick to my side, just don't walk to far. If you need me, just shout."

"Okay," Rosie nods her head, and skips towards the front of the store.

I walk down the isles slowly, and glancing at the expiration dates on every package of food. There wasn't much left in the store, but there would be enough to keep Rosie and I well fed for a few weeks.

I could hear Rosie humming from a few isles down, and I couldn't help but smile. I walked a little bit farther down the aisle, and stumbled upon some tacky looking sweatshirts, and matching sweatpants. They weren't much, but they'd be good when winter came. I picked up the clothes, and stuffed them into the basket.

Cruuuunch.

I stiffened the second I heard the glass crunching. I crouched down, and pretended to look at the label on a can of corn. My hand found a sharp glass shard, and I stood up slowly.

I took in a deep breath, before whipping around.

Boom.

I feel like this chapter was awful, but I just wanted to get something up.

I hope you all liked the new-ish format that I tried out. I hope it wasn't to irritating to read...

Anyways, I wanted to try dividing this story into parts, but I'm not sure how it worked out. I feel that this story would be better if it was longer, but I'm having so many problems with making some of these chapters long. I'm working on trying to get some more plot written into the story. By the next chapter you'll be meeting the attacker/shooter!

Thanks for reading!