Nightmares (Complete)

thirteen

 I woke up to a soft knock at the door, my eyes fluttering open to stare blankly around the room. My brain quickly caught me up on what was going on though, the memories from yesterday quickly returning.

"Who is it?" i mumbled, rolling off the bed to a standing position, stretching my arms above my head. I swiveled my head to the door with a small frown. It still seemed so early.

"Me!" a deep voice i recognized. It was chastial. I climbed from the bed, glancing down at myself with a small sigh. Grey sweatpants and a white tank top, my now brown hair in messy waves behind my shoulders.

"What's up?" i asked, opening the door slightly, my body hiding behind it as i peeked my head out. He rose a brow, shaking his head slightly then sighing.

"It is time to work" he said. Then he spun on his heel, starting to the kitchen. "Breakfast on the table" he said. I nodded, closing the door with a small huff. Why work so early. It was at least an hour before i normally awoke.

It was my turn to shake my head as i changed into a pair of leggings and a sports bra, pulling on a sweatshirt that went past my fingers and butt. Then i brushed my hair, mumbling about how long it was and how annoying it was to brush. I braided it after getting all the knots out, walking to the table, smiling slightly at the waffles bathing in syrup.

"Why so much syrup?" i asked, sitting down and stabbing a fork into it and shoving a soggy, sweet piece into my mouth.

"So you won't have to eat for a while. The more sugar the more a zombie can go without food." chastial said from somewhere in the house. I nodded, quickly eating the rest then washing the plate and fork, setting them to dry.

"Alright, i am ready" i said, determination hiding in my calmness. He appeared at the door to his room, walking over to me, handing me a leather backpack thing. Then he left me to scramble from the seat and follow him out the door.

"Your new bow is in the bag, along with supplies to skin any animals and pack up the stuff into zip-locks." he said, which once again made me nod as we walked past the gate into the forest. "Alyssa should still be asleep, she won't be starting her job until we gather ethan and Nalla" he added.

We were perched in the branches like a couple of monkeys, our bows drawn at a deer. If i missed the shot, chastial was going to kill the deer if he could so we wouldn't be scaring any more prey than necessary.

I pulled the string of the wooden bow back, an arrow with beautiful feather nocked. The string was by my ear, my eyes focusing on the heart of he deer, taking a deep breath then releasing the arrow, which zoomed, hitting just above it's mark. The deer gave a yelp in surprise, but then fell to the ground as chastial's arrow landed just below mine, killing the deer quickly.

"Good job." he said, using a hand to drop from the tree. I climbed down a little less gracefully, my hand scraping painfully against the bark. We skinned the deer, draining some of the blood and putting the best chunks of meat into plastic baggies, then stuffing them into the leather backpacks.

He lead me to the back of the gates, two empty backpacks waiting. We traded ours out, heading into the forest again for berries and greens. I found a raspberry bushes, both of us spending about an hour there, gathering the best and most ripe one to eat with lunch today. I, of course, ate some straight of the bush, a small smile on my face.

"You look kinda evil like that" chastial teased, flashing his teeth, which had some red from the raspberries, making him look more like a zombie. I laughed, standing up and stretching.

"You too" i stated in return, both of us packing up and heading back to the front of the gates. Alyssa was there, standing at the top of a watch tower type thing, her hand waving as she smiled.