I open my eyes as I let out a quiet groan. My whole body aches from being attacked just moments ago. My vision is blurred at first, but once I blink a couple of times I notice Alex sitting beside me. I glance over at him seeing him staring at me before looking away. I look away and towards where he's looking and saw that the door that we came in is blocked. My eyes widen when I saw the reason why. Undead is on the other side trying to get in, and there's a lot of them. I sit up quickly wincing and hissing from the pain as this is very bad. I look around the small diner and saw Savanna with a kitchen knife at one of the broken windows. I look around for Alice and saw her by the other window blocking it with chairs. What happened when I was passed out? I wondered confused. How did the undead found out where we were? I stand up making Alex stand up with me, and I'm confused why but realized why when I almost collapsed onto the ground again.
"Be careful Loki, you were just attacked remember?" Alex says and I noticed that he's holding a broken piece of a chair leg.
I shake my head at him as I don't care as we need to get out of here. I look around the diner trying to see if I can find another way out of here. Those chairs and tables won't hold them back forever. Diners usually have backdoors right? I thought as I look behind me. The doorway where I was attacked is the only option but what if there's undead back there as well? I shake my head as we just have to hope that it's clear for us. I turn back towards Alex indicting for him to get Alice and Savanna then to follow me. Alex furrows his eyebrows confused but seems to get it when I gestured it again. I started limping towards the back as Alex went to get the girls. I peek inside the back and saw that it's the kitchen, and I look around making sure there's no other undead or any other of those creepy-ass ones in here. It's safe.
I start walking through the kitchen and towards the back, and I hear the others behind me. I glance behind me seeing them all have strange looks on their faces. Do they not trust me? I wonder. I guess it would make sense for them to not trust me, but still, it hurts to know that they don't trust me. I shake my head as we reach the backdoor, and before I open it I try to listen to see if I can hear anyone on the other side. Sounds safe. I thought feeling relief as I open the door slowly. There's no undead out here but only out in the distance. How lucky for us. I wave my hand at the others to tell them to head to the house down the road. They nodded before making sure it's safe before running towards the house that I pointed at. I stay where I was at the moment as I feel pain everywhere, and to be honest I'm not sure what I should do.
Shaking my head I follow suit meeting them inside of a brown house. The door was unlocked and it looked like there was a struggle. An undead must've gotten inside. I thought feeling guilty for the person who lived here. My eyes widen at the inside of the house though as it seems bigger on the inside than it does on the outside. I noticed that the couches are up against the windows trying to block them. I look around and noticed that even though there was a struggle, it looks like someone else took over this place. I don't know if that's good or bad. I thought slightly worried. I peek into the kitchen and noticed that Savanna and Alex are peeking inside a pot that looks like it's cooking something. I took a deep breath in and smelled that it smells like soup that's cooking. Someone is living here which means we are in danger, more precisely Alice as I are the ones in danger.
"This smells so delicious." Savanna says smelling the soup.
"It's making me so hungry." Alex says licking his lips.
"Do you think they would mind if we take a small bowl?" Savanna asks with hunger-filled eyes.
"I mean, probably but maybe they would be okay with it when they realized we haven't had a decent meal in days." Alex says already grabbing two bowls.
I watch them as they served themselves to someone else soup. I still have this nagging feeling that we shouldn't be here at all. If there's another human around, then Alice and I could be killed on the spot. I look around for Alice and noticed her looking at some pictures in the living room. I decided to join her as there's no sense in me staying in the kitchen. I walk up next to her and look at a picture of two guys smiling while one is holding up a big fish. I kept staring at the two guys as there is something familiar about the two, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I reach out and pick up the picture as I feel like I know them but how?
I felt a tug on my sleeve which made me look down at Alice whose looking at me with a questioning look. I shrug as I shake my head before putting the picture back. I turn to leave the living room to go explore the rest of the house when I suddenly hear something. I stop dead in my tracks as my gaze snaps towards the front door. My eyes widen when I hear footsteps coming towards the door, and I hear what sounds like something being dragged. The person who lives here is back! I thought horrified.
I snap my gaze towards Alice who looks terrified as well, and I indicted for her to hide. Alice nods as I ran into the kitchen to tell the others but stop when the door swings open. My eyes widen when one of the guys from the picture stands in front of me with wide eyes. He seems to be in so much shock that he stands there for a quick second, but then the next thing I knew he pulls up his shotgun and points it at me. I turn to run but heard a shot, and then pain, and then as I'm falling to the ground I heard screaming.
———
I jump when I heard a loud bang which made me whimper in fear. I coward behind a tall tan brunette who I call mother. I hugged her leg as I shivered from the loudness as I never heard it before. My mother bends down before picking me up and giving me a gentle smile. The other woman she was talking to looks almost guilty about me being afraid.
"Oh, the poor little dear. He's never heard a gunshot before has he?" She asked my mother.
"No, he hasn't and I thought his father was going to warn us when he was going to start shooting." My mother said annoyed.
"Do you want me to scold them? My husband is with them so he knew to warn us first as well." The woman said a bit annoyed as well.
"No, it's okay. I'll go talk to them." My mother said tight-lipped.
"Is that a good idea? Your boy is shaking." The woman said matter of fact.
My mother lets out a sigh before looking down at me before giving me another gentle smile. I hugged her tighter when another loud bang sounded making me jump in my mother's arms. I felt her started to walk until she sat down in a rocking chair where she rocked us both. I held on to her like my life depended on it.
"Your okay sweetie. Daddy is only shooting guns with his friend." Mother said rocking us both.
"It's scary and loud." I said in my two-year-old voice.
"I know it is, but it's okay. They are out there and we are in here. It can't hurt you as long as it's not pointed at you, and no gun should never be pointed at you." Mother assured me.
"Promise?" I asked looking up at her.
"I promise..."
The memory faded when I started to hear yelling, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't open my eyes. It was almost impossible but I felt weak, tired, and felt so much unbearable pain that I didn't care. I just decided to listen, and listen I did. The voices sounded faint but I recognized Savanna's voice right off the bat.
"You killed him!" Savanna shrieks.
"I had no choice!"
"Yes, you did! You didn't have to pull the trigger!" Savanna shrieks again.
"He's dangerous! Are you insane?"
"He's not dangerous! He was my friend and you shot him!" Savanna cries.
"Stop being stupid. Let's get out of here."
"No! Let me go!" Savanna growls.
I barely opened my eyes as I saw the man who shot me pull Savanna and Alex out of the house. I tried to sit up but pain shot right through me as I whimpered from the unbearable pain I'm feeling. When the house is silent I feel so completely alone, and once again hate that I can feel all of this pain. I close my eyes as I feel like I'm going to pass out again, but then I felt hands shaking me. I open my eyes again and saw Alice who looks like she wanted to cry but couldn't since she's undead. She's okay. I thought feeling relief mixed in with all of the pain. I give her a small smile as I once again tried to push myself up, and tried to ignore all of the pain. When I'm sitting up and leaning against the wall I look over at Alice hating what I'm about to ask her. I indict for her to take the bullet out of my side. Alice stares at my side where I'm bleeding before looking back up at me, she then nods looking determined.
I let out a sigh as I lay back down on my back to make it a bit easier for her. Alice takes a deep breath as well before she lifts my tattered and bloodied shirt, before digging her nails into where the bullet went in. I let out a grunt of pain as I can feel her fingers digging around trying to take the bullet out. I hiss as it stings as she's twisting and turning inside of me. I squeeze my eyes shut as I'm tempted to shove her away, but I need to let her get that bullet out. I let out another groan of pain as she rips her fingers out, and she holds the bullet between her fingers. I felt some blood seeping out but I ignore it as I push my shirt back down covering it back up. I sit up feeling everything stinging and hurting all over. I look over at Alice giving her a nod before standing up to find Savanna and Alex.
I don't care what anyone does to me, they can beat me or shoot me but they aren't allowed to hurt Savanna and Alex. Alice and I ran out of the house, well she ran while I limped but we tried to hurry up and catch up with them. It makes it a bit easier now that I have Savanna's scent. I thought and knew that it isn't good but at this time it is great. I just hope that guy isn't planning to hurt them, but I don't think he will since they are human. I'm just worried that maybe he will since they were hanging out with Alice and me. I shake that thought away as I just have to stay focus and try to find them as fast as we can. They shouldn't have gotten that far. I thought as we look around the area but stop when we found them suddenly. My eyes widen I saw the guy dragging them inside another house, but this one is white and slightly bigger. This house though seems familiar to me and I'm not sure why.
I shake my head as I don't have time to think about that as we have to save them. We ran towards the house as the guy closes the door. Alice and I peek through the window and saw the guy forcing them to sit on a couch. I turn towards Alice asking her with my eyes if she's ready to go in and save them, and she seems to have got it as she nods. I noticed that she had slight fear behind her eyes though, but she pushed it behind as determine came back. I nod again as we both stood up, and I kick the door open making the guy and the others sand up quickly.
"Loki!"