It Ends With Us

Chapter 9: Beautiful Morning

Aliyah

   Today was the day I'd have to go scavenging out into the city for supplies. I woke up insanely early this morning, my eyes still feeling heavy. My mind wasn't yet fully awake so I didn't really pay full attention to what Trevor was talking about in front of me. Me and Aaron were waiting by the front gates of the camp. Our scavenging party was pretty small, I don't know what I expected but I certainly did not think there would only be at least six of us going out there. The people who would be joining me on this expedition was Aaron, Halle, and some other kid I had not seen from camp, must've been a newcomer like Melissa. Trevor and George would also be joining us.

The sun was barely starting to rise now, I started to get a little nervous about venturing outside out into the city. I don't think I was prepared, it felt too early. I remembered the lessons Trevor had taught me from having to use a firearm. Still, I don't think I had in me to pull the trigger when the time came of me facing those ferals again. My hands and legs began trembling now, my fear of heading outside was starting to worsen. Before Trevor commanded the soldiers to open the gates, I hear a familiar girl's voice calling me from behind. I turn around to see who it could be. It was Lena. My heart began to beat a lot faster now, but it was not from fear.

"Aliyah, Aaron wait!", she says. She looked to be out of breath, she came running over here and for what?

"Just wanna say, be careful. Who knows how messed up the city will be out there. Also I wanted to ask if you can keep an eye on Halle for me please. She's been through more than enough, and well I just can't bear to have something bad happen to my best friend", she says. "I hope it's not too much to ask for".

Aaron nods, "Sure, no problem. I'll make sure everything is good, including Halle".

Lena smiles, "Thanks, I appreciate it. Good luck out there guys", she then looks at me, and pulls something out from her leather jacket. It was a rabbit's foot.

"Here take this, it brings out good luck. Hopefully it'll help while you're out there scavenging", she places the rabbit's foot in my hand. "I expect to see all of you come back in one piece". Just by her being here, it was enough to have calmed down my nerves. It felt strange honestly, just a moment ago I couldn't stop trembling.

"Thanks, I'll take good care of it", I say. I put the rabbit's foot inside the pocket of my green hoodie. Me and Aaron say bye to her as we head outside the gates. It was now time.

Our party was now walking out into the city, I turn to look behind me. I could see the camp not too far away, I really do hope we all come back in 'one piece' just like Lena said. "Keep your head up Ali, we got this", I hear Aaron beside me say.

  Twenty minutes later, we had been passing a lot of stores, Trevor had told us to stop now to check out a grocery store nearby. We hadn't come across any ferals so far, surprisingly. It felt strangely quiet outside, I needed to be cautious of my surroundings. I held my gun close to me, preparing myself for whoever popped out. Trevor had mentioned earlier that our camp is in need of medicine, so I hoped there was a pharmacy nearby we could scavenge.

 We all entered the grocery store except for George, who told us he'd keep watch outside the store instead. As we all made our way into the dark gloomy store, I began to smell a terrible stench coming from inside. Trevor told us to stay calm and cautious, I was already beginning to worry. The terrible stench was starting to worsen the farther we walked into the store, plenty of lights above the ceiling kept flickering on and off. I instantly remembered my trip to the hospital when we were searching for Mom. I had a bad feeling about this, it made me feel sick to my stomach. We encountered some dead bodies as we kept walking, then Trevor signaled all of us to stop.