Shards of glass mixed with cordial and blood flew everywhere. Simon tackled Mellie to the ground as the bullet flew past them and found its home in the wall behind them. Someone was shouting in the distance. Simon quickly pushed himself to his feet, pulling the frightened girl along with him. Novah looked like she was going to throw up, splattered with blood and still holding onto the broken glass bottle.
The two men lunged at them over the body of their fallen friend. Simon grabbed Novah's hand, making her drop the bottle and tried to duck past the flying fists of the two men. The people outside had decided to mind their own business and had started to wander away, moving like zombies through the rubble.
A fist hit Simon in the cheek. His vision went white for a moment but he quickly shook off the pain, pushing the two girls towards the exit. Novah had broken out of the trance, pulling Mellie along with her. Simon grabbed the collar of one man, throwing him at the other one with all his strength. They collapsed to the ground in a cursing heap, which gave Simon, Novah and Mellie enough time to stumble out of the store into the open air. They sprinted across the wasteland, pushing past the wandering humans.
"I killed him." Novah staggered to a stop, staring at her blood-splattered hands.
Simon grabbed a hold of her shoulders and shook her rough enough for her to look at him.
"Yes, you did. And you'd have to do it a lot more times if you want to survive. You killed it to save us. That would have killed all of us if you didn't act fast. So, what you did was not wrong. Do you understand?" He shook her shoulders again.
Her dark eyes cleared, her jaw tightening. She nodded.
Simon straightened, looking at both Novah and Mellie. "You two will have to fight for yourselves. I won't be able to be with you always. We don't know what the future will hold."
"Okay," Mellie's voice was small as she wiped the remainder of her tears. A few strands of her blonde hair stuck to her cheeks.
"We have to go now. Before they find us again." Simon said looking over at the direction they came from.
"I lost my bag," Mellie muttered, eyes glued to her shoes.
"That's fine," Simon reassured the girl. "We still have Novah's one. And I also have some stuff." He patted his pockets where he had stuffed two lighters and a few protein bars.
"What do we do now?" Novah asked, her dark eyes fixed on the road ahead. "Where do we go?"
Simon sighed. The night was slowly approaching, prompting the air to cool down sluggishly. They had to find someplace they could spend the night. People were coming to their senses fast. The man Novah killed won't be the only one. And Novah won't be the only person to kill someone either. This was just the beginning.
He looked at the two teenagers. He had to protect them now. He was not delusional to think he could go back to his family or that the world would go back to normal in a day or two. There was no time to grieve. There was no time for tears. It was time for him to use his cadet training in school.
The world as they knew it no longer existed. Now it was time for the survival of the fittest.
***
"What happens next, Simon?" Novah asked from her place.
They had found sanctuary under a bridge that had miraculously survived. It still looked like it might collapse if someone poked it too hard but they were close enough to the road to run if anything were to happen. A river gently flowed from across where they sat. They had started a small fire from a heap of dried leaves and newspapers. Mellie was fast asleep despite the uncomfortable ground. Novah sat cross-legged, staring into the fire and hugging her backpack.
"I don't know, kid," Simon admitted. "I have no idea what will happen when the sun rises."
"Our families are dead, aren't they? There's no way in hell they are still alive." She wasn't looking at Simon, choosing to pick at a hole in the knee of her jeans instead.
Simon hummed, squinting at the fire. Suddenly, he felt thankful that his kids died long before. Then he felt guilty for feeling that way. Yet he was thankful that those kids would not have to navigate this dead world. It was easier to be dead.
"You know," Novah looked up from her knee. "My sister was going to marry next month. She had it all planned. Our grandparents came here from India when they were newly married and my sister wanted to go back there. To see the extended family." She gave a humourless laugh. "I guess that will always be a dream now."
"Tell me about them," Simon offered her a small smile.
"Well, Reyna is the older than me by nine years. She is crazy. I used to joke Mom dropped her on her head when she was a baby. Turned out she really hit her head when she was five," Novah giggled, this time a real one. "What about you?"
"My kids and wife died some time ago," Simon gave a half-hearted smile. "It was just my mother after that."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"That's fine. I'm actually glad that they don't have to go through this." He shrugged.
Novah hummed thoughtfully, her lower lip caught between her teeth. "Yeah, I guess. Anything would be better than this. But we gotta survive now, don't we? We can't just give up now."
"And we won't," Simon assured. "We will live as long as we can. Whatever it takes."
There was an abrupt noise from above that startled them out of their conversation. Mellie jerked awake, looking confused and frightened. Novah and Simon jumped to their feet, looking up at the bridge.
"Is this thing going to fall?" Novah muttered panic etched on her face.
"No. Listen," Simon held a finger to his lips.
Voices of several people echoed from the top of the bridge. There was hooting accompanied by mocking laughter. Then there was a woman's voice shrieking for someone to get away from her.
"We should—We should help," Mellie's wide blue eyes stared at the bridge over them.
"Simon," Novah looked at him. "We have to help her."
Simon gave a jerky nod, sprinting out of their shelter, towards the entrance of the bridge. He could hear the girls' footsteps echoing after him, gravel crunching under their shoes. Simon's heart leapt to his mouth when a creaking sound came from the bridge but he kept going. There, on the top of the bridge was a mob of men cornering a woman around his age. She had backed up against the railing, a pocket knife clutched in her trembling hand. Despite her shaky hands, the look in her eyes was a fierce one.
"What is going on here?" Simon asked loudly, halting to a stop. Mellie and Novah stopped beside him, Mellie looking somewhere between frightened and disgusted, Novah looking absolutely furious.
One of the men grinned as the others leered. "Mind your business. We are just having fun."
"She doesn't look like she's having much fun," Novah pointed out, arching an eyebrow at the man.
"You've got a problem, little girl? You wanna go next? We can arrange that." The men laughed.
Novah dropped her backpack. It fell to the ground with a thud.
"Novah. Don't." Simon warned, reaching out to touch her shoulder.
He had no idea from where she had grabbed the jagged rock in her fist or when she had time for that but he knew this was not going to end well. There were about ten men there. No offence to Mellie, but she was not much of use in a fight. The woman in the bridge looked like she could handle a few men on her own but it was still three against ten.
Novah shrugged Simon's hand off her shoulder. "I have already killed a man no better than you. I won't hesitate to do that again."
Mellie took a step back, a surprised gasp coming from her lips. The man laughed, waving a knife at them.
"Are you threatening us?"
Novah shrugged, raising the rock clutched in her fist. "I guess I am."
The woman had inched away from the railing, eyes darting between the men and Simon's odd little group. She was bleeding from her shoulder, blood turning her yellow shirt dark.
The men cheered as their leader pointed the knife at Novah. "Bring it on, little girl."
Mellie backed away, muttering something under her breath. Simon took a step towards Novah, ready to join. This was going to end in a disaster.
Novah scoffed at the man in front of her. "Don't call me little girl."
Then she lunged.
Total word count 4595