The creatures

Chapter two

I opened my eyes to the darkly lit room that I was laying in. I let out a ragged breath and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.  To my right lying in his cot, was my dad, his breath even as he slept. I sat up in my cot, and pushed the covers off me. A light sheen of sweat stuck to my body and the loose hairs from my braid clung to my skin. I stood up and stretched my body, hearing clicks in my back and neck.

“God I miss my old mattress.” I muttered as I walked over to the wash basin in the corner of the room closed off by a curtain I put up for privacy. I close the curtain behind me and got a flannel and dipped it into the lukewarm water and washed off the sweat and dirt and grime from my face arms and legs. I ran a comb through my hair after undoing the braid, and then rebraided it neatly. I looked into the jagged mirror we put on the wall. My long golden brown hair looked soft and shiny from the bath in the creek I had the day before, and my skin still had a golden glow to it even though it’s started getting colder recently. My leafy green eyes so much like my mothers and brothers’ were wide and awake now. It’s been a while since I looked at my appearance properly, though it wasn’t much of a worry these days, it brought back a sense of realism into my life.  One of my dad’s shirts covered my tall and lean body, perfect for running and combat with the creatures that now roamed the earth.  I guess you could say that I was attractive, but that wasn’t a major problem now-a days, whether we were appealing to the opposite sex. I was mostly worried about living to see another day. I didn’t have the time or the effort to find a partner. Anyways, I’m better off on my own. Just see what happened to my brother, I couldn’t afford to lose someone else so close to me. With that I grabbed my folded clothes from the corner and threw on my plain long sleeved black t-shirt, thick tight black trousers, and combat boots. I left wash basin and shook my father awake.

“Dad, its daylight.” I said softly.

“Hmm?”  He murmured opening his eyes.

“Get up, we have work to do.”  I said coldly.

“Just give me a few minutes, ReeRee. I haven’t slept this good in so long.” He mumbled.

My blood boiled, “STOP calling me that! That’s NOT my name. You lost the right to call me that when your stupid CURE killed our family.” I screeched my breathing heavy. I grabbed his pocket watch from the ground and threw it across the room, “Get your ass up and fix what you started.” 

Halfway through my rant he sat up and put on his glasses, after rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I’m up.” He said softly.

“Good.” I replied coldly, “Now get dressed and take my blood so I can leave and do some house patrolling. We need food.”

He stood up without replying and went to the wash basin, closing the curtain behind him. I sighed, and sat down on my cot, my head in my hands.

“You have that dream again, Reece?” He called from behind the curtain. 

“Yes.” I squeaked.

“I’m sorry.” He said softly as he returned to the cot.

“Look, let’s not talk about it. I need to go, so hurry.” I replied wiping my face and standing up. He nodded and went to the other side of the room where his study was taking place. He had a table with beakers full of substances, and my blood in it. He has been working on the cure, the real cure for months. He grabbed the syringe and sterilised it before asking me to come over. After taking my blood, he gave me a Band-Aid and gave me a small smile.

“Today is the day.” He said quietly hopeful.

I rolled my eyes, “You say that every day.”

“Never stop hoping, Reece.”

“Whatever, I’ll be back around midday. I have my walkie talkie on me in case of an emergency. See ya.” I said grabbing my trusty pistol and tucking it into my boots. Then I grabbed the Samari sword I stole from a small pawn shop not far from here when we first set up “camp” here. I only ever liked to fire the gun in extreme emergencies. Whenever the creatures heard it, they came in groups. Large groups. I learnt my lesson the hard way, after all it was the gunshot I fired that attracted the creature that got my brother… I shook it out of my head, not allowing the thought to get to me and throw me off my game.  I strapped the sword to my back and with a small wave to dad I entered the elevator of the small empty warehouse we were staying in, in downtown Austin Texas.  The warehouse was in a rather deserted area, Matt and I had pretty much wiped it clean when we first got here.  I left the elevator and ventured out into the abandoned city, slowly making my way down the block towards a cluster of apartments. Dad and I needed food so I was going to search them for canned goods, and whatever else I could find. I broke the lock on an apartment on the second floor and slowly and cautiously made my way in. The apartment was nice, very modern looking. If I was still a normal average teenager, I would love this place to be my apartment while I was at college. I unsheathed my sword and held it close in case an attack. After searching the apartment and finding no creatures lurking in the nooks and crannies waiting to take a chomp out my arm I made my way back to the Kitchen and started to search through the cupboards. I found a good amount of tinned vegetables and soups.  I raided the cupboards of about five more apartments before hearing a scream of help not far from her. My head jerked up in surprise.  It sounded human! I ran to the window and searched the streets, without luck of finding anything. It must be on the other side of the complex. I ran out the door, down the stairs and out the building to find a small pretty blonde girl fighting off one of the creatures. There were about five creatures making their way to her, probably hoping this one will share. I groaned and unsheathed my sword and ran to the closest one. With a quick abrupt movement of my arm, I sliced his head off.  I looked at it and wondered how this creature could have once been human. It certainly looked human, well if the human was decaying. I turned my attention back to the moment at hand and took out the other four easily, I had worked on my combat skills since Matt… with that thought I grabbed the creature off the small girl before her could take a chomp out of her face and through him to the floor several feet away.