The Explosion

Chapter 6

"Ohhh," Lily moaned, clutching her stomach, "I'm starving."

"Ah." Max said. "I forgot to pack any food. I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, don't worry." Lily reassured, although she didn't look too good.

"Are you okay?" Max asked, concerned that Lily was going to pass out or something.

This time, it was Zoe who replied. "She'll be fine. She just doesn't do too well with the whole hunger thing." Zoe laughed. "Something to do with blood pressure or something." She added further information when she saw Max's startled face. "It's nothing medical, don't worry. It's just something she got from her mu-" Zoe swiftly snapped her mouth shut and moved her left arm from around Lily's shoulder to under her arm and twisted at an odd angle to place her right hand on Lily's shoulder where she delivered a somewhat comforting squeeze. Lily wrapped her arm around Zoe's waist and they touched heads. They're like soul sisters, Max thought to himself as he watched the two girls lean into each other.

Lily and Zoe stayed walking like that for around five minutes until Max said, "Hey guys, there is a supermarket over there, remember? Just down the road to our left. It'll only take around ten minutes to grab some food, pack some rucksacks and get back on the road."

"Oh, my gosh, yes!" Lily exclaimed; she had obviously forgotten about the shop that they were now all running towards. It wasn't long at all until they were walking through the automatic doors of the shop but their excitement was quickly drained when they saw a couple of workers in uniform and a few adults who must have been doing their shopping lying on the floor. Lily and Zoe, who had unattached for the run to the shop, clutched each other's hands tight as they allowed the vision to sink in. They were correct. They must be. All the adults were dead.

Lily took a deep breath and took one step forward into the shop. She then turned around and said, "Let's make this fast." And then continued down one of the food isles, trying her best not to look at the bodies that were keeping them company. Max and Zoe turned to face one another and then followed Lily inside.

*

"Thanks." Vivian said meekly as Thyme passed her a cup of water. She looked terrified, Thyme noted, but hey; who wasn't? Thyme himself was completely baffled as to what had happened and it was taking all he had not to break down into a mass panic attack. He couldn't do that again; he had already done that today approximately an hour before they met Vivian, just after they found their parents, and it was not something he wanted to repeat.

At that moment; Thyme's train of thought was paused as Rosemary stuck her head around the door that conjoined the kitchen and the living room and asked, "You aren't veggie, are you, Vivian?"

"No."

"Okay, great. I mean – you can be veggie if you want – I just needed to know whether I needed to make a vegetarian chilli or not." Rosemary blurted. "You do like chilli, don't you?"

"It's fine, and yes, I do like chilli." Vivian replied with an amused smile. "I bet anything you make will taste great."

Rosemary beamed at that statement and swung back into the kitchen. Vivian surveyed the room, scanning from left to right with her eyes; it was a nice little house. She and Thyme were sat on a small, brown sofa that faced an average sized television that sat on a small wooden stand. Pictures of Thyme and Rosemary were dotted around the room; some on the walls and some on cabinets and tables. A few of them were obviously with their parents – who had a wedding photo proudly presented on the short-legged, long table that was next to the front door – and some were of other people who may have been other family members or maybe friends. The walls were a pale white; not pure, but not dirty either. "You have a lovely house." Vivian acknowledged when she stopped her scan of the room.

"Thanks," Thyme responded. "We try our best."

Vivian was going to say something else when she was interrupted by a cheerful, "Woof!"

A sandy coloured Golden Retriever burst into the room with more excitement than Vivian had ever seen in a dog and threw itself at Thyme with an extreme determination to lick his face. A bubbly laugh evacuated Thyme's mouth as he wrestled with the jovial dog. "Down boy, down!" The helpless boy yelled; trying to sound demanding but only ending up laughing with glee at the dog's love and content for him. Rosemary stuck her head around the door again and said, "Hey, boy!" with a broad smile portrayed on her face. The dog immediately transferred his focus to her and bolted into the kitchen to where Rosemary had kneeled down in the doorway. "Hey, baby!" She cooed as she delivered a big bear hug.

"Sweet dog." Vivian chuckled as she watched Rosemary cuddling it as if it were her baby. "What's their name?"

"Bailey." Thyme replied, he too was watching the little encounter.

"How long were you out before we came back here?" Vivian asked, believing that they must have not been home since the start of school.

"Around half an hour. We came straight back home after the explosion." Thyme answered with a crooked grin.

The explosion, huh? Vivian thought. Pretty accurate, really. "Wow. He must really love you to have missed you that much in such a short space of time!" She exclaimed.

"Haha, yeah, he loves company."

"Can I stroke him?"

"Of course!"

Vivian heaved herself gracefully off the sofa and walked over to Bailey, who was now calmly sitting in the entrance to the kitchen next to Rosemary. She reached out a hand and placed it on his soft golden hair. Vivian smiled at the way the touch felt and felt joyful when Bailey stuck out his tongue with delight.

The three sat, stroked and played with Bailey for ten minutes until Rosemary announced that food was ready and that they shouldn't let it get cold. They then all stood up and moved over to the sofa where there was a long, rectangular glass table to place their plates. "This is delicious!" Vivian exclaimed halfway through the meal.

"Thank you!" Rosemary replied gratefully with a smile on her face. "Guess what herbs I put in it?"

"Oh, let me think." Vivian said jokingly, lifting a thoughtful hand to her chin. "Basil?" They all laughed at that until Vivian said, "Rosemary and thyme!"

"However did you know?" Rosemary asked, looking shocked. They all laughed again and Vivian realised that she was genuinely, feeling ecstatic. She had met two amazing people. The perfect people. At the back of her head was the thought that she should be feeling sad – very sad – at this moment in time but she shook it away and continued laughing. She wasn't going to let this joyful memory slip away into sadness. There would be another time to brood over the tragic day's events. And this wasn't it.