Maybe

Chapter 4

      This was a survivor, I'm sure of it. Walkers didn't know how to use guns. The gun went off again and this time I could hear the general direction from where it was coming from.

"Who's there? Stand up and show yourself!" A deep voice yelled from the front of the store.

I didn't dare answer as I heard his footfalls getting closer to my aisle. I was a good shot and I already had a leg up on him because I had a plan. It might have been the most stupid plan that I have ever had, but at least it was a plan. I forced my legs underneath me and stood up in a crouched position, waiting for him to round the corner.

"I said show yourself!" He growled again

       I held the gun away from my body as I watched his shadow come around the corner. Before he knew what happened I shot the gun out of his hand and as it clattered to the floor I took this opportunity to shoot his leg. My gun didn't go off.

"What?" I thought to myself, I had just loaded the thing

     I reached into my back pocket for another magazine as the man took lumbering steps toward me. I didn't have time to reload before the gun had been knocked out of my hands and was skidding across the dirty linoleum floor. I looked up at the boy with eyes wide in fear. Before I could make any attempt at self-defense, the boy had both of my hands locked in his grasp as he sat on my legs willing me not to move. I fell on my back as he placed his forearm on my neck making it hard to breathe. I felt a single tear slip from my eye as I thought back to the last promise that I had made my dad.

"I'm sorry dad, I tried, I really tried." I thought to myself

"Please, please don't hurt me." I said with a pleading expression in my eyes

"Who are you?" He asked

"I'm just a survivor, I didn't want to hurt you, I was just looking for water." I said

"What's your name?" He asked

"Olivia." I said as I met his eyes

       He didn't look evil. He looked to be about my age maybe a year older. He had beautiful green eyes and floppy, disheveled, brown hair.

"Please, just let me get up and I will leave you alone, I will never come back here. I promise." I said

"Are you alone?" He asked as his expression softened

"Yes." I said sadly

"Can I trust you to not shoot me if I let you up?" He asked

"If I can trust you to not shoot me." I said

"Deal." He said, but he didn't sound sincere

      As soon as his grip loosened I shot up and sprinted to grab my gun. I racked it as the bullet in the chamber fell out and was replaced with a new one. I turned around and trained the gun on him to find out that he had done the same to me.

"And here I thought we were going to trust each other." He said with a smirk on his face

"Isn't that the first thing you learned out here, don't trust anyone?" I asked completely straight-faced

"Well played, Olivia." He said as he slowly placed the gun on the ground and put his hands up in surrender

       I took this as an attempt at gaining my trust and slowly put my gun back in the holster.

"I'm Ethan." He said

"Nice to meet you Ethan." I said

"Wow, the girl's got manners." He said with a slight laugh

       We were still standing about 15 feet away from each other, not completely certain that the other wouldn't pull out another gun and shoot.

"Are you alone?" I asked

"Yeah, it's kind of a new thing for me." He said looking down

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, I mean I'm probably not the only who has lost everyone." He said

"No, you're definitely not." I said

"You know, you're the first survivor that I have found in more than a month, I was certain that I was the only one left alive." He said

"I've been in hiding." I said as I shrugged my shoulders

"I thought I was too, until I figured out that I'm probably not the best at hiding, seeing as you're here." He said

"A grocery store? Really? This is the best you could do for hiding in an apocalypse?" I asked in disbelief

"Well no, actually the store was my brother's idea, it was the closest place to go after he was attacked by the crawlers." He said sadly

"I call them walkers." I said even though I knew that wasn't important

       Ethan laughed, of course knowing that the name of them was pointless. I suddenly realized that it was not safe for us to be out in the open for so long and we had to find a better shelter. And then I realized that I just said we, as if we were a team now or something.

"How old are you anyway?" He asked

I could already tell that Ethan was a very straightforward person.

"17." I said

"18." He said

"So...are we a team now or what?" He asked with a small smile on his face

"A team? How do I know I can trust you? You did almost just try to kill me." I said

"No, I would've never killed you." He said

"Oh, how reassuring." I said with sarcasm laced in my voice

"Come on we both know we aren't going to survive alone for too long, why don't we just stick together?" He asked pleadingly

      I thought about this. It would be nice to have someone there to watch my back, to take shifts during the night, to have someone to talk to for the first time in more than a month. I decided to give Ethan a chance.

"Ok fine. But, if I wake up with a gun trained at my head in the middle of the night, this "team" thing is off." I said

"Deal." He said, "Shake on it?" He asked as he reached his hand out and took a step closer to me.

      My immediate reaction was to take a step back. I looked at his grimy hand and then up to his face. He had hope in his eyes and a smile plastered on his face, something that I haven't done for as long as I can remember. I took a few steps forward and clasped my hand in his. He gripped my hand and it felt like a lifeline. We were each other's answer to survival and quite possibly to death, but I was ready to take those chances.