To Be A Survivor

Chapter 55: Hold On

Running. They've been running for so long.

Singer's not just scared, she's terrified. Three days. They've been running for three days from those people who killed Reggie. Wesley, Joey and Tori haven't even had time to grieve for their father's death. Not with those lunatics chasing after them.

She can't understand why though. She didn't take anything from them, and they killed Bro, Reggie. Why would they...

"They still want to punish me," She murmurs, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"What?" Wes asks, scooting closer to her.

"It's me. That's why they're still chasing us... They still want to hurt me."

"Why?" Her mother asks.

"I broke the old lady's favorite vase. It made her mad."

"Then... then we'll just have to give you  up," Jessica says, standing up. "I mean, it was your own fault. Maybe if we do it, they'll leave us be."

"You can't be serious." Wes frowns. "She's your cousin."

"Second cousin. And if you haven't noticed, every death that's happened, including the death of both of your parents, were because of her."

Singer winces. She's right, she was the reason for those deaths. All of them were because of her. Her mistakes-her choices.

"Like I'm gonna listen to a crackhead," Wes snarls, and Jessica's jaw drops.

"I've been clean for six months, you know!" Even as she tells that, something fearful shifts across her eyes. Singer's seen it before. Wesley smirks.

"I think you should just shut your mouth," He says, and Singer can't help but look at him in curiosity. What does he know that they don't?

"It doesn't matter," Tori says. "We can't just... let them have her. She's twelve, and who's to say they want Katelyn too? She's only a year and half younger that Singer, and they don't look too friendly."

"No, they don't," Michelle replies as she looks out the boarded up windows of the dingy hotel room. "We'll need to leave at nightfall, go as quickly as we can. They won't follow us at night, not with the old lady, and we know her boys won't go anywhere without her."

"Nightfall?" Great Aunt Connie's brows furrow together. "That's when all the zoms-"

"I know. That's why we need to leave then. They won't follow us, and we can go across the tops of the buildings until we get to the edge of town. You did say there was another small city nearby, right?"

She nods.

"That means if we're quick, and if we're smart, we should be able to get at least a town between us and them. We can't survive like this. We're running low on our food supply, and because of these guys we haven't had time to search for more. We'll have nothing in two days' time if we don't find more."

"Why can't we fight back?" Julia asks. "I mean, I'm not saying we should kill them or anything but-"

"We can't," Joey interrupts, running a hand through his blond hair. "Singer didn't get Dad's gun after he was shot, so it'll be like bringing a kitchen knife to a gun fight."

"That's exactly what it'd be." Elijah paces around the small room and takes a look out of the window, his lips pulling down into a frown. "We have maybe an hour until sunset. That's when they'll head inside. We'll need to leave then."