Barely Alive (#JustWriteIt #SuperCharged)

Chapter 1 - Travis and Darcie Jones

"Do you ever listen?" Travis asked.

Darcie just clung to her brother in silence. She started to breathe heavy.

"Shh. Shh. Don't cry, Sweetheart," he whispered.

"Why did mommy want to hurt me?" Darcie asked.

"Mommy didn't want to hurt you," Travis whispered. "The virus did."

"The virus?" Darcie asked.

Travis bit his lip. He thought he said that so Darcie couldn't hear him. He was wrong.

"Nothing. Just go get out of your pajamas. Go put on something like we were going hiking as a family in the mountains," Travis instructed.

Darcie released Travis and ran upstairs. He listened as her door shut. He himself ran and pulled on some cargo pants and a black t-shirt. He dashed across the hall to his parents room and grabbed his parents backpacks that they take hiking. He grabbed his dad's hunting knife and the sheath. He attached it to a black belt which he put in his belt loops. He sighed before going to Darcie's room and knocking on her door.

"Darcie?" he called.

The door opened and Darcie stood before him. She was in a pair of camouflage cargo pants and a grey tank top. She put her hair in pigtails and used a black bandana as a headband.

"Whats going on?" she asked, her voice confused and innocent.

"Darcie, I hate to say this, but it's time for both of us to grow up. Do you know what a zombie is?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You know that zombies are very bad, right?" Travis confirmed.

Darcie nodded.

"Well zombies are coming after you and me. We need to protect ourselves," he explained.

Darcie stared up at her brother, those dark eyes swallowing his lighter ones up.

"Darcie. Do you trust me?" Travis asked, an unreadable look on his face.

"I should," she whispered. "You're all I have left."

Travis was taken back by those words. They were coming out of the mouth of a five-year-old. His mind just entered a spiralling descent into blackness.

"Travy?" Darcie asked in hopes of breaking her brother out of his prison of a mind.

Travis entered the real world again.

"We need to get out of here," he stated.

Darcie nodded. She followed Travis down the stairs. Travis, keeping his eyes peeled for danger, walked to the front door.

"Travy?" Darcie asked. "Don't people in those zombie movies usually have guns?"

Travis stopped in his tracks. Darcie was right. They were prepared for close combat but they needed something more. His eyes fell upon their neighbour's house.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Mr. Kendall a hunter?" Travis asked his sister.

Travis knew Darcie spent a lot of her time at the Kendall's house playing with their daughter, Jayleen, so she would know better if Mr. Kendall was a hunter.

"Yes he is. Why?"

Travis smirked inwardly. This was what he needed. A neighbour who hunts. He would have more than enough guns and ammunition.

"Travy, will we need to pack food?" Darcie asked.

Travis smacked himself in the face. How could he have been so stupid? He never thought about packing food. That's the whole reason he grabbed the backpacks their parents brought hiking with them.