AJ woke up and yawned. She looked over to her right and saw the dark haired boy sleeping next to her. He had a light amount of scruff on his face and he sweated from lack of AC in the summer heated room. Moving her hand, she rested it on the back of his forehead and held it there for a few seconds. He was burning up. The blonde stood up quickly, walking over to the faucet and taking a hopeful breath as she turned it on. Nothing came out. The water had been turned off for three days now and she’d have to go down to the streets again to get water. It scared her out there though and she didn’t want to go. Randy had always gone in the year or so before, but he was sick now and could barely get out of bed.
Tying her hair up into a bun to keep it off her neck, she threw on a semi-clean shirt and her worn out boots. Every piece of her wanted to wake Randy up and tell him she’d be back. But he needed his sleep and she knew if she woke him up, he’d get none. It was a scary enough thought that the raiders could be back at any minute, shooting up empty buildings or unleashing The Dogs to tear apart anything that moved. And when you knew that one of your own was down there, at greater risk of being seen, it made it almost impossible to bear. So instead of waking him, she moved to grab the dagger and water bucket in the corner before sneaking out the door.
The Raiders usually came once a week, but by now there was no way to tell what day it was or how long it had been since the last search. AJ hoped with all her might that today was not the day, that they wouldn’t bring the dogs or their guns or even show up at all. This trip had to be successful. Randy needed water badly if he was going to get any better. She knew they had stayed here too long. In any book or movie she’d ever seen about survival, the people always had to keep moving. It was stupid to stay in the same place for an extended period of time because it made you more vulnerable.
But Randy was sick and the next city was San Francisco, which would take at least two days to reach on foot. Chances of finding a working car were slim, and even if they did, it’d be too loud and attract too much attention. There was the possibility of finding a horse, but that may involve stealing from who knows where. It was more trouble that it was worth. Thinking about it was making her head start to pound, especially from lack of hydration, so she focused on the task at hand.
AJ knew there was a water source on the ground floor a few buildings away from theirs, but the last time she went there she’d had a nasty encounter with a pack of grunges and she didn’t want to take the chance again. Their long claws had torn up her arms and the sound of their howls made her ears ring for hours. Ever since she was a little girl she’d been afraid of the terrible beasts, hearing stories of how their massive size made them almost impossible to kill and their dog like faces were so hideously frightening. They lived on the outskirts of town, in the wooded areas, and never dared enter the city. That is, until the raiders came and turned the whole system upside down. Now, animals like grunges ran this place and humans were merely cockroaches scrounging for whatever they could find. And that wasn’t much.
AJ and Randy were the last ones left, in their city at least. Everyone else had either been snatched during the first raid, or killed off over time. Whether it was by guns, creatures, or elemental reasons, it didn’t matter. People got picked off- and picked off quickly. People they had hardly known before became their companions, only to become dead a day or two later. But now, there was no one left to befriend or loose. It was the two of them who had somehow managed to survive. Maybe it was because they were smart enough to stay hidden, or because they knew how to use their resources wisely. It didn’t matter. They had gotten this far and that was what counted.
There was a small chance that the water across the street was still on. She would have to take that chance and check. She took a step out onto the street, making sure not to step on any rhine plants. The barbs stuck into you for weeks and made the area around them swell like crazy. If she got stuck, they were screwed. Plants covered the streets and there was barely any sign of actual pavement. She was half way across the street when she heard a loud snapping sound. AJ’s head shot up from the ground and she pulled out the dagger.
