Hyde

Chapter 1

As I walk through these empty streets littered with trash I remember what it was like before. I see the old center store, the only store in our small town, it looks rugged and broken. Half of the building is gone. Crumbled across the Main road. When the town was cleared, they couldn't do it fast enough, so when the Hyde ridden "people" got in they had to blast it. As I enter I notice a Hyden in the corner, it hasn't noticed me. Slowly, I sneak up behind it and pull out my machete. One hit was all It took. The lifeless decomposing body crumbled to the ground.

I check the rest of the small building and go back to the front. I take off my backpack and start filling it with canned food and bags of Chex mix and chips. I found a little bit of beef jerky but it looks moldy, so I don't take that. As I am grabbing the last of the Utz I hear voices outside. The front door opens and I duck behind the next isle.

"C'mon Charlie, I swear something moved in hear." Says a male voice.

"There ain't nothing in here Duke." "Charlie" yells from outside.

I peek out from the other side of the shelf and see the man is turned around so I crawl to the counter and make it just as his head whips around. He doesn't see me. I crawl behind the connected deli and into the back room quietly and walk out the back door with my bag of food. I run towards the other house next door and into the back yard. I jog through the next few yards until I come up to the fence of a house. At that I walk to the front of the yard and into the street. I check to see if those people from before were out there before I run the rest of the way to our house. Josh opened the fence for me.

Right after Hyde was released, our neighbor died. But as he was, he told us to expand our fence. To have his house and farm. So, after he passed, we did. Then the other neighbor died and she gave us hers as well. Eventually we had half of the street. And to us, that was enough. We have a group of 13 people. Including the children and me. One of the women, Mandi, was pregnant. About 1 month left. She got pregnant just before the end. Her husband died while trying to keep her safe. We took her in along with her son Dan, who is my age,15, and my best friend. There was my mother, Margarette, my stepfather, Carter, and my brother, Brian. John was one of the main guards and his sons Jack and Joey. Johns wife Carol is here to. The old English teacher Charles McAnten is here with is daughter Jill who is six. Then there is Ross and his girlfriend Bailey, they are both my age as well. And then there is me. Ashton. Yeah I know that it is a boy's name. But I am a girl. I don't know who those two people were outside of the store.

As I walk into the pantry I notice Brian outside in the yard with Jill, Jack and Joey. The boys are the same age. Dan is inside. Dan is my best friend and I am in love with him. But I would never tell him that because that would ruin our friendship and I know he doesn't love me back. He smiles when he sees me and walks up to me meeting me half way and hugs me. He is extremely tall. I have to stand on my tippy toes so I can bury my face in his chest. I feel safe again.

"So did cha find anything good? Did you run into and Hyden? Or any strangers? You didn't get bitten or scratched or anything, right?" he asked me in a rush as he pulls away.

"Calm down. Yes, Yes but only one and Yeah 2. But they didn't see me. And no, I was careful." I chuckle.

"I knew I should have gone with you, you could have gotten hurt. Are you sure you're ok?" He stumbles over his words as he takes my bag and looks over my arms and hands worryingly.

"I'm ok, I swear."

I take the bag from the ground and go into the storage room in the back. The shelves are starting to look barren. I should go on another run tomorrow. I start to unload the bag and put the cans and bags of food on the shelves in their proper places, doubling the amount that was already there. Dan helps me, putting the last few cans away before taking the empty bag and walking with me back to my house. He lives next door.

"Wanna hang out tonight with Ross and Bailey? I think they found some wine coolers on their run today."

"Sure. But right now, I need a shower."

"Cool I'm gonna stay and read while you're in there."

I agree and go into the bath room starting the shower while Dan walks into my room to get his book. We still have water because of the wells. I undress and look at myself in the mirror, seeing the blood from the Hyden I killed earlier at the store. Dan knocks on the door asking if I am in yet. I quickly get in and close the curtain and yell back a yes. He comes in and sits on the toilet while opening the book. This is what we do. He knows I can't deal with being alone with my thoughts for too long and I barely survived the walk to and from the store. He starts to read the book, Looking For Alaska by John Green. It is my favorite book. I scrub my hair with the shampoo and rinse it out, the doing the same with the conditioner but I brush my hair before I rinse. After I scrub my body clean of the dirt and blood I let Dan know that I am getting out. He gets up and goes back to my room to wait for me. I dry my hair and body and get dressed. I walk into my room to find Dan laying on my bed. He is reading an iron man comic. I hang my towel and he glances at me over the comic book then goes back to reading so I grab Looking For Alaska and lay down next to him and start to read it. He scoots closer and I lay my head on his shoulder. We stay like that for a while until Bailey knocks on my door so we can go to the river.

They didn't find any wine coolers, just soda. We hang out and laugh until dark then we all go to our own houses for curfew.