Chapter 4: The Morning After

Paris, France.

October 7, 2016

Aaron Gungnir, civilian

The church offered us some peace and quiet. Cat and I slept there and woke up with some thunder around 5 in the morning. We slept at dusk, so we were rested enough. Cat and I were both starving after that night so I went out to find something. Cat refused that I go without her. I gave the AK-74u to Cat while I took knives.

As we walked around, we heard footsteps. I immediately took the knife by the blade, ready to throw it. I saw shadows draw near and I prepared the knife, but surprisingly we saw no gear or weapon on the shadow, despite in a crouched, frightened position. I payed attention to who would come across the corner, and it was a fellow in glasses and spiked hair: Michael.

Happily surprised, I went, "Eh!"

Michael shrieked, and flailed his fists around, "Holy shit! What? Aaron? Oh, you lucky mother fucker!"

He and I shared a hug and a laugh. He explained that he was in France because after the bombs went off, he drove right on over here. and after that the tanks blew up everything.

He was the first survivor that Cat and I found. He was able to come across some food, canned fruits, so we knew that we'd be able to survive for some time. It was raining, so there we came to the conclusion that no soldiers would come here. And yet, we were still low on supplies; with no sleeping arrangements, and low food.

The storm seemed like it would offer enough cover to go running around to salvage some things. Michael, Cat, and I, all agreed to go find things. However, Cat seemed reluctant to agree. I offered Michael knives, for he was good with a knife, and they'd offer more stealth than a gun, but Cat still held the magnum. We set off leaving the Ak-74u at the church. Cat held my hand the entire time.

We were under the cover of rain throughout the morning. However that meant everything else was under the same cover, and it'd take a while to find supplies. Michael, Cat, and I went into the city. We walked for a while but we spent most of our time catching up.

"How'd you find us?" I asked as we left the church.

He pushed his glasses up. "Searched up the IP of your phone. Wasn't hard" he said somewhat snobbishly.

We caught up on the life we knew 24 hours ago, and what we might do when this crisis is over. I can't remember what it was. Likely wasn't important. Probably the usual 'kill some zombies' we often did.

After a few moments of silence I had to ask, "Why did you come here, Mike?" It was bugging me.

"We take care of our friends. You already have a girl to take care of, and I thought my best friend could use someone to help him in a crisis like this."

Cat said "Thank you," before I could. It was the first she'd talked that walk.

There was a little patrol camped out in the early rain... They were at an abandoned street corner, but they sat in a circle so I'd be hard to come to them without being seen. The storm however would make our approach easier. We all sat down around a street corner to discuss options. We had 2 options here: Kill them all at once, or divert them away from the site. We decided on a mix; disperse them, then kill them 1 at a time. Well, when I say 'we' I mean Mike and I. Cat remained silent this whole time.

Michael and I took rocks from broken buildings, laying on the ground, and threw them into alleys on opposite sides of the road. This brought away 2 guards, and left 1 sitting at the site. Luckily, the remaining soldier faced away. Michael took one alley, I took the one sitting, and Cat took the opposite alley. I already knew this wasn't going to go smooth.

As the soldiers began to disperse, and we readied ourselves to follow, I asked Michael, "You ever killed a man Mike?"

"Nope, but I suppose we don't have much of a choice. What about you?"

"I've hunted before, but yesterday was the first human."

"Well there's a first time for everything. Let's get on it." Michael said with a groan getting up.

"Alright, you ready, Cat?" I asked, getting up.

Michael and I took out the guards with a good fight, but Cat had a different experience. Cat didn't want to kill him. She hid behind a dumpster as the soldier walked idly down the alley. However, he turned around spotted her, and spoke angry Russian that she couldn't understand. He pulled out his combat knife and charged for her. She ran back out, or at least she tried. The soldier drew near and she grabbed his hands and tried to hold the knife away. It worked for her so she gave one last push to get the soldier away, but the push caused the knife to stab the soldier in the neck, killing him.

Cat's hands began to shake uncontrollably. There was blood on her hands. She stared at them for a second before running back to me, screaming. I was confused, even as she held me tightly in her arms. My shirt soaked the Russian blood and tears from her.

"Cat! Shhhhh. Please... Everything's alright, love." I said in an attempt to calm her.

"Aaron, I killed someone... I... Aaron, I'm going to hell! I... I'm not a murderer." She cried and sobbed so hard that some of that was difficult to understand.

"Cat, please. Listen to me. It's not the end of the world." I said to reassure her.

"Aaron, help me." Cat cried so softly.

I realized I couldn't snap some sense into her so I let her sob into my shoulder

I took Cat and carried her, as well as backpacks full of cooking supplies, food rations, and rifles, consisting of an AK-74, Dragunov SVD, and magazines. The rifles had camouflage for urban areas with digital paterns of red and black, peeling to reveal gun-metal-gray underneath. They also carried grenades, semtex, and claymores. Plenty of ammo was found inside the packs. Michael and I could guess they were about 60 pounds each. The 2 packs sufficed as we went on our way.

Cat's cries softened, with the rain as we made our way back to the church that morning. Surprisingly enough that only took one full hour.