The Apocalypse

Survival

"That story never gets old!" Ethan laughed. "We used to be such idiots!"
"And we still are," Megan chuckled.
"Well, at least we were right," Cade pointed out. He had just finished retelling the story of the gang when they were younger and kind of all idiots when compared to now. He got up from the camp fire. And stretched. "Now there's just the story of a little later where we became slightly prepared."
"Ooh, that's my favorite!" Holden smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Lemme try and tell it this time." He smiled and too a breath, ready to retell that story of the one faithful day. 

"We need to go scavenging soon!" Henry yelled from the basement. "There's just scraps left!"
     "Henry, as much as I want to, we're defenseless. We're lucky we haven't been raided yet, but leaving just says we're here," Cade called back as he walked up the stairs.
     "Well we gotta do something!" Henry began pacing back and forth. "Wait! There's an antique shop with some weird stuff down on campus, but it's in a sketchy area."
     "I'm not driving there!" Megan yelled from the living room.
     "Then I'll drive!" Henry yelled back. Muffled laughter could be heard from the living room as Megan and Holden were doing all they could to hide their laughter. Henry, now upstairs, shot them a dirty look.
     "You know," Lane leaned over the couch chair. "You might be able to get there. I know that area weirdly enough, but it's really hidden and there's a lot of smoke from near where it is."
     "Well I plan on going, wether you come or not," Henry walked towards the door.
     "Henry you don't know how to drive, so I'll go to see how much you fall apart," Megan got off the couch and followed him.
     "You all go, I'll stay here and watch," Ethan yelled from the bathroom.
     "I still have no idea how we still have power and water after a week of this," Alex mumbled as he strolled to the door.
     "Are we ready?" Cade asked in the truck with everyone. He got some weary answers that sounded like regret, so he pushed the button. The automatic garage slowly crawled up. Slipping out as fast as possible, Megan maneuvered the truck in ways she didn't know she could. Soon, they were once again speeding down the road. Every now and then, there would be a lone survivor begging for help or one of those weird people that attacked or flailed wildly.
     "They don't look in control," Alex whispered to the gang. "I'm just gonna call them zombies."
     "Well that seems to be what they are," Cade pointed out as he gestured across the street. There was one of those people with rotting, disfigured arms and black legs with skin turned to leather with age and exposure. It watched the truck go by before going back to devouring a survivor, writhing in pain.
     "Take a left here," Lane called as he tried to change the mood in the car. Megan turned and slid back into an alley way.
     "This doesn't feel safe, are you sure this is it?" Megan whispered to him.
     "It's not, but there were guys with huge guns up ahead," Lane whispered back. Everyone froze at the sound of gunfire followed by screaming and a soft begging sound. That was almost instantly followed by a final gunshot and silence. Nobody dared to move.
     Megan stared at the rear view mirror with eyes as sharp as daggers. The sweat dripping down her face showed that her concentration was about as good as it could get. She froze as she saw someone turn the corner into the alleyway. His echoing footsteps and the flicking of the gun wrapped around him made everyone in the car loose focus on reality. All that mattered was the guy walking towards them and themselves. He stopped.
     "Anyone there?" His deep, cracked voice asked the truck. "If there is, I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanna talk." He got silence.
     "You sure there's nobody here?" He took his gun and hit the back of the car where Collin was hiding against. The bang of the gun made him freeze. Soon, the man stopped and he began walking out of the alleyway.
     "You might wanna get out of here before dusk," the man threw his head back and began to laugh. "You better run run run as fast as you can!"
     They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. After what was actually a good twenty seconds, they dared to breathe again. Hoping there was nobody else there, Megan barely nudged the gas pedal. The truck inched forewords towards the empty street on the other side. Megan was sweating and anyone looking at her could see her teeth clenched and every muscle in her body tighter than a spring stretched beyond its limit. They had nothing but complete silence in the truck and only the soft sound of crunching gravel could be heard aside from the occasional gun shot.
Sliding out into the street as slow as possible, Megan, Cade, Lane, and Henry who could see around them scanned all around the area. There was nothing but a body here and there.
"I don't trust these bodies and I know I'm being a little paranoid, but we need to get out." Henry whispered. Megan nodded and they slid out of the alley. Back on the road, Lane gestured for Megan to turn left and right until they ended up in another alley. Lane made a stop gesture with his right hand as he opened the door with his left. Megan hesitantly removed the keys and opened her door. In a few moments with short shuffling, everyone was out and in front of the truck, ready to walk in the store.
"I don't know how this place is gonna look so we should get in and out as fast as we can," Lane whispered to everyone else. "Be quiet or I'll make sure you never hear the end of it." They creeped in the abandoned store with flickering external lights and pushed on the metal door covered in rust. The door creaked open and they slipped in.
"Alright," Holden scanned the room. "Now we can-" his hand had slipped from the door moments before and he was now interrupted by the door slamming shut with a clang louder than the gunfire from outside. Before a second had passed, everyone was at Holden's threat, but the dickering lights from outside had been the only source of light, nobody could find his throat. Holden cringed in the darkness as Megan and Cade searched for a light switch.
After a good 3 minutes, Megan found a switch. She flipped the switch and found herself on the other side of the store, realizing it was surprisingly small. The store was only about the size of a classroom and was crammed with stuff from top to bottom. The dim lights were only capable of illuminating a small part of the store.
"I'm honestly shocked that these lights still work," Cade mumbled as he walked around the store.
"We need to find weapons and any kind of supplies nearby," Alex called to everyone. He began looking for anything useful as Cade locked his eyes on something shiny. He reached down and pulled up two daggers just a little shorter than his hands down to his elbows. They gleamed a cold silver in the red tinted light.
     "I think I'm gonna use these," He chuckled and kept looking. "Aha!" He pulled out a belt-like strap and sheathed them in the proper holes. They have him an appearance of a hunter or something like that as they swung at his sides. Satisfied, he walked back to the counter where Megan was.
     "I think I could show you where something you might like is," Cade whispered. He pointed to a little farther down where he has found his own blades and grinned. Megan, suspicious, creeped her way over. She took one look and a grin immediately spread across her face.
     "A katana," she laughed as she pulled it out of the junk with the holding belt still attached. "This is perfect!" She jumped up a little, smiling and feeling the happiest she had been since before the apocalypse.
     "This'll work," Lane pulled an old, yet sturdy, steel baseball bat out of the junk where he was looking.
     "Nice, but I'll think I'll use these," Henry whispered as he pulled out two small battle axes. They were only three feet long, but the blade arched over two of those feet and matched Henry perfectly. They looked like they were made for him with each curve and groove.
     "Don't know what you're thinking," Holden called as he pulled out a bow. Not long after that was a quiver with arrows that had tips of steel. "I could probably poison or light these," he pondered.
     After a few more minutes, it looked like they were almost done.
     "I'll use these babies," Alex grinned as he pulled up dual desert eagles. After a little more looking, he found a satchel filled with ammo.
     "I can't find anything," Collin complained. "Knowing me, I might as well use this," he each for a teddy bear and tried to pick it up, but surprisingly couldn't with minimum effort. "Wait a minute... this is steel!" He realized. The teddy bear was a steel frame coated in soft fabric.
     "We should get something for Ethan. I think he'd get mad if we didn't," Cade called to everyone else who was outside already. He reached in and picked up a pair of nunchucks. "That'll do." They began walking out and got in the still warm truck. Megan pulled out with a slight issue with her new katana and slid out of the alley. Everything was going fine when...
     "Where do you think you're going?" The voice of the man who almost attacked them earlier asked. "You're not allowed to leave here. Not without payment."