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G A M E O F
S U R V I V A L
· 。ﾟ
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥
𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝
𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡
𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩
𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
chapter five
a new friend
.·:*¨༺ ★ ༻¨*:·.
THE LITTLE GIRL sat asleep against her brother's chest with his large jacket covering her small body as his arms hugged her making her feel quite safe. The other sister, also asleep, sat next to them, her head on her brother's shoulder. It had been a few hours after their last stop where they decided to pick up the small family of three. Almost everyone was fast asleep besides Samuel and Letty who were in the front driving.
Letty, at the moment, was trying to reset Florence's phone for her. She had been locked out of her phone due to her kids trying to guess her password many times and unfortunately giving her no more access to it. The only option was to use a computer to reset the phone. So, Letty had been using the only computer they brought with them for the past few hours finding a way to save her storage and not have to completely wipe out the entire phone.
It took a few hours do to weak connection as they drove through different cities, highways, deserts, forests. She never had a stable connection. The mother had finally been able to access the phone and unlock it. Letty looked through the view finder to see Florence passed on on the truck bed with her two kids. She turned the phone off leaving it to charge as she decided to wait for Florence to wake up.
The sun was setting and the sky looked quite beautiful. The colors were mixed with purple and pink. The truck was leaving dust and dirt behind as it drove through a dirt rode. The family was in the middle of a hill trying to cross Yosemite National Park.
It was unfortunate how beautiful the park once was. The kids used to love going there but due to a lot of droughts and economic waste piling up, the waterfalls dried out and many trees started to die. A lot of animals migrated in search for a better home.
From a sudden harsh break, everyone woke up almost flying out of the truck. Rosie opened her eyes being lucky enough that her brother had his arms around her. If not, she probably could have fallen out. Nina hit the back of her head from the sudden break waking her up. Vincent quickly became alerted to the situation as he took a peek to ask his father as to why he stepped on the break so hard.
Vincent only needed one second to see before turning back around to grab his rifle. Nina blinked a few times noticing her brother picked up his weapon. Florence noticed the actions of the oldest siblings as Nina pulled out her knives. Vincent moved Rosie out of the way sitting her down in the middle of them.
Letty held onto Samuel's arm as they were in the front witnessing it. A crank stood in the middle of the road staring straight into Letty's soul. The woman felt like she knew who the person was but no one came to mind. She didn't know that the person they were dealing with was her brother's wife.
Macaria held Winston and Ana close to her, her hands covering both of their mouths. Florence put her finger up to her lips showing her kids as they both understood holding tighter onto their mother. Rosie looked through the windshield noticing a person walking weirdly like a zombie from a movies.
"Samuel," Letty whispered as Samuel grabbed his own rifle that was stashed behind the passenger's seat, "what do we do?"
The father didn't want to admit it but he was scared. He's never encountered a crank before and he didn't really know how they functioned. But this is what he trained his kids for. He knew something like this would come so his family would be ready for it.
"Should I kill it?" Samuel asked his wife who didn't know what to do. Letty shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head grabbing onto her husband as the crank moved slowly but closer to them.
Florence held onto her kids afraid of what could happen to them. The family was her last hope to get to her husband. All she wanted to do was go back to her home a continent away. A place that was safe and nothing like this was happening.
Yet.
"Just drive." Macaria whispered
Samuel nodded listening to his sister as he started to drive slowly but the sound of the engine alerted the crank. Rosie watched the way the crank shifted in their own body and ways a human could never do. No one was closing her eyes or covering her mouth. They were all either occupied with weapons or tending to the other younger kids. She wasn't old enough to be watching what was happening but unfortunately she couldn't take her eyes off the crank they slowly passed by.
"I want to go home." Rosie spoke not understanding the severity of her speaking at a normal tone. "I don't want to be here—"
The crank turned around again being able to hear the girl's voice and reacting to it. It was a few feet away from them when it started to run towards the slow truck. Florence's eyes widen as she backed up with her kids once the crank was holding onto the edge of the truck that was gaining its speed.
"Papa!" Rosie cried out as fear started to consume the young girl when she realized everyone was also afraid even her mighty father. The man who wasn't scared of anything. The protector of the family who'd sacrifice himself for his wife and kids.
"What do I do!?" Vincent asked his father who replied quickly.
"Kill it, hijo!" Samuel exclaimed pressing harder on the gas trying to make the crank lose its grip on the truck but it wouldn't budge.
Vincent swallowed bringing the gun up to his shoulder trying to get the right shot. Rosie clung onto her sister who was ready to do her part if her brother wasn't. "Any second now!" Nina exclaimed as the crank was lifting itself up to climb into the truck.
Florence covered her kids eyes turning them away from what was about to happen. Vincent pressed on the trigger causing the crank to fall down to the ground. A pitching scream was heard from a distance once the gun had made noise.
"There's more, we gotta go!" Nina yelled banging on the top of the truck as her father continued to drive through the dark forest. The sun was almost completely gone and so was the painted colorful sky.
Another couple of hours passed by as Florence tried to get a stable connection to call her husband. The young mother was finally able to make a call at a gas station they stopped at. Vincent jumped off the truck grabbing his younger sister helping her off the truck. Nina jumped down after grabbing her watch on her wrist trying to see the time.
1:24 am.
"Stick together." Samuel stated as he got out of the car waking up his other daughter who was passed out in her car seat. "You need to use the restroom?"
Ana nodded offering her arms up as her father unbuckled her seat lifting her up and deciding to carry her. Macaria, Letty, and Winston also got down from the truck following Samuel. Florence kept dialing the phone number that belonged to her husband even though he wasn't picking up.
"You guys coming?" Rosie asked the two siblings the stuck like glue.
Newt had looked over at her mother who nodded pacing back and forth, "go on with Rosie. I'll be inside in a bit."
Lizzy and Newt climbed off the truck watching their mother dial the number for the fifth time. "I'll wait with her." Nina suggested to the rest of the family who agreed walking inside the isolated gasoline store.
Rosie walked next to her brother who held his rifle with his left hand while holding Rosie's hand with his right.
"It's okay, Newt." Lizzy whispered reassuring her brother who feared a lot of the situation they were in, "papa will pick up."
"What if he doesn't?" Newt questioned
"He will." Lizzy replied confident that their father would pick up the phone or call them back.
"But—"
Newt was cut off and shocked at the new sensation he felt when Rosie's hand grabbed his. "He'll pick up. I promise."
The boy could feel heat rushing to his cheeks and his body start to heat up from the simple touch. Rosie let go walking away to follow her parents leaving the little boy blushing. Newt didn't know what the feeling in the bottom of his stomach meant as he watched Rosie disappear in an isle.
Lizzy grabbed Newt's attention away from Rosie by tugging his arm and walking him to the direction of the bathrooms. "Vincent stick with the twins!" Samuel stated as Vince spotted the two siblings heading over to them.
"We're not twins!" Lizzy replied feeling somewhat at home with the family's company.
"You might as well be. You two look too much alike. It's creepy." Vincent spoke as he followed the kids to the bathrooms. He checked the family bathroom before letting Lizzy go in first. Vincent and Newt stood next to one another in silence.
The bell sound of the store door opening alerted everyone as Florence and Nina walked in. Florence wide eyed full of hope emitting from her. She scanned the room for her kids noticing they were being taken care of by Vincent.
"Edward picked up!" Florence announced rushing to Letty who had met her halfway.
"That's good news!" Letty cheered hugging the young mother, "is he still in Reno?"
Florence shook her head, "he's in Sacramento. They're not letting him pass further. How far is it from here?"
"Vincent, what city are we in?" Letty asked her son who had been the one in charge of their stops.
"Stockton!" He replied turning his phone on, "it's less than an hour from here."
Excitement rushed through Florence's body as she turned to Letty, "we're heading that way right?"
Samuel nodded as he packed a bunch of snacks for them. "We're going to make a stop there since we have some family over there."
The lights flickered inside the store causing Lizzy to quickly exit the restroom thinking it'd only happened inside the bathroom. The sound of a falling object grabbed the attention of everyone when the sound came from nowhere near them. This all caused the adults to realize they hadn't seen any people around. No cashier, no employe nor owner.
Rosie turned her head being the only one alone in the isles. "What was that?" Macaria asked quietly with Winston glued to her hip.
Samuel brought his pointer finger up to his lips. They had walked in the store focused on the main task to stash up and take a bathroom break. No one ever thought about the isolated and open store.
Everyone quietly walked to the middle of the store forming in a messy circle keeping the younger kids inside. Samuel motioned to his oldest daughter as the father and daughter walked over to where the sound came from.
The sound had come from behind the main counter and Samuel had glanced over to see what had fallen. Nothing was visible to him. The father jumped over ready to shoot whatever might come at him. Samuel quickly dropped his weapon once he spotted a young girl hiding under the counter.
"Are you alright?" His fatherly instincts kicked in approaching the girl with tears down her face. "Kid? Can you hear me?"
The girl shook her head, "no te entiendo."
Samuel glanced towards Letty who had walked over to them realizing the girl didn't understand English. "Estas bien?"
The girl peeked her head out from under the counter, "habla español?"
"Si, mija. Donde están tus padres? Porque estas aquí tu sola?" Samuel questioned her about the whereabouts of her parents and why was she alone.
The girl crawled out of hiding standing up taking notice of the rest of the family. "Me dijeron que me esconda aquí. Que horita venían por mi. Creo que hubo una pelea. No estoy segura."
She explained that her parents told her to hide under the counter telling her that they'd come back for her. She believed some sort of fight happened outside but was unsure.
"Y tus padres? Donde están?"
The girl shrugged her shoulders looking out at the empty parking lot, "los estado esperando por unas horas pero su carro ya no está."
Letty's lips turned into a frown as the young girl's parents had abandoned the poor child. Samuel turned to his wife trying to read her mind and see if they were on the same page.
"Tienes nombre?" Letty asked for the girl's name.
"Me llamo Eirene."