Chapter 3: Leaving Behind Memories
Morning had just struck, early sunlight seeping in through the window and disturbing whatever humanity still remained in Atlanta. I was always groggy in the morning and the smallest things would get on my nerves. I rolled over from my place facing the wall to see Lola who was still soundly asleep.
“Lola.” I whispered, my attempt to wake her up which went without success.
“Forget it.” I mumbled to myself as I pulled my quilt off of me.
Realizing I was in my mere underwear, I grabbed a grey short and silky robe out of my wardrobe and slipped into it, tying it up around the waist and making a limp bow.
The kitchen tiles always threatened to give anyone who dared to step on them hypothermia in the mornings, so I slid into my fluffy pair of slippers.
I tiptoed out of the kitchen and into the lounge room where I saw that Shane was fast asleep in his place, but Rick was nowhere to be seen. My heart leaped as I came to the worst possible conclusion; he snuck out during the night to go back to his camp.
I walked further into the lounge room and the balcony came into view, my heart resting and dropping its fast pace as I witnessed Rick looking out at the city of Atlanta from high up here.
I walked past Shane who continued to sleep and quietly creeped up to Rick.
“It’s a great view, isn’t it?” I asked as I came up softly behind him.
He turned to look at me, his shocking blue eyes harsher first thing in the morning as opposed to their soft status last night.
“It really is, you’ve got a great place” replied Rick, nodding lightly.
“Shane reckons you’ve got better.” I said, almost a whisper.
“I think we both have great hideouts,” said Rick “You’ve got stuff…. Things… and we’ve got the safety we’ve always desired.”
“Did Shane talk over the offer he made me to you?”
“Of course he did, but it’s up to you if you want to take it.”
“I’m debating it.” I sighed.
“Well, you’ve not got long,” smirked Rick “We’ll be on our way soon and you can either join us or leave us,”
“You’ll at least stay for breakfast, won’t you?”
“Only if that’s what you want.”
“It is”
“Well then, thank you for having us.” He smiled as he gave me a small pat on the shoulder before turning around and leaving us.
After around an hour, everybody was awake and I was currently making breakfast for everybody in the kitchen. After breakfast, I would take over the decision we had to make with Lola. I felt like I wanted to go, to leave. If she wanted to leave, we would go. If Lola however wanted to stay, we were fucked. I felt like I wanted to get out of this parasite infested area. They claimed that their place was safe, on the outskirts of Atlanta. Ours wasn’t so safe. That barrier wouldn’t hold out forever and one step outside the building could result in a horrific, slow and excruciatingly painful death.
Because breakfast was the most important meal of the day, I used more food than I would for something like lunch or dinner. For breakfast, I decided that everyone would get a buttered piece of grainy bread and a piece of fruit; quite a nutritious breakfast if I do say so myself. I called everybody to the table and gave them their meals, the two men that we had found yesterday giving me an appreciative nod. Lola ate her food slowly, allowing me time to talk with the men.
“How old are you two?” asked Rick.
Lola opened her mouth to speak but I stopped her “age is just a number.” I replied.
“Still curious,” mumbled Shane as he took a bite out of his apple “When are your birthdays?”
“Had mine a week ago,” I said “but that’s all you’re getting.”
“Why won’t you tell us?” asked Rick.
“Because the moment we do, people start to think of us differently. You know, they think we’re not capable of certain stuff and capable of other things. Age is just a number, maturity and skill is what counts.” I announced, hiding the fact that I was indeed a mere eighteen year old. My birthday was the 23rd of June which was last week and I had just turned nineteen. Lola would be turning eighteen in October; her birthday was the day before Halloween.
“Fair enough.” Smiled Shane as he bit into his apple again “you’d fare well in our group.”
“So what are ya’ll thinking?” asked Rick “Will you come with us or are you staying?”
“I’m gonna need to talk it out with Lola quickly, and then we’ll come back with our verdict.” I said firmly.
“Well, you’re gonna have to be real quick about it because if you wanna come, you gotta quickly pack up your shit and leave.” said Shane.
I stood up from the table and grabbed a hold of Lola’s hand, dragging her behind me to the bedroom where both our beds were located. I sat down on my bed as Lola closed the door behind her to make sure that Rick and Shane couldn’t hear what we were saying. It was just a precaution just in case say either Lola or I were to say something hurtful or something to put them off taking us if we decided to go with them.
“So what are you thinking?” I asked Lola.
“I want to stay,” She said, folding her slender arms over her chest “we have too many memories here to leave behind.”
“Forget about the memories!” I hissed at her “Lola, we should go.”
“Give me one good reason.” She said.
“We’re not going to have food forever, the supermarket across the road is running low on supplies and we can’t afford to loot another one without going too far and getting ourselves killed.”
“Anything else you’d like to add?” she sneered.
“That barrier downstairs won’t hold out forever.” I added “This place isn’t going to be safe forever and Atlanta is a dangerous city!”
“But it’s our home!” cried Lola “we’ve lived here for years! We’ve got everything we need here-”
“Yes but Lola, we aren’t going to have this forever!” I whined “We have to go, it’s now or never.”
“Well then I choose never.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option,” I frowned “We’re going to have to leave one day, and now is the time. If we’re with these guys, we have a chance of survival. If we were to go on our own one day, it’ll be a death sentence.”
“But we’ve got tonnes of guns and ammunition!” she argued, gesturing over to the bag of guns that we had found not too long ago, the word SHERRIF written across the front in big bold letters.
“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed.
She puckered her brows at me before taking a deep breath, holding back tears that were about to spill right out from her eyes.
“Please, Lola, trust me on this one.” I begged.
She nodded without a word and stood up from the bed, opening the door to see Rick and Shane had not moved from their places. They sat right where they were from the moment that we left them.
As soon as we entered the room, the two of them lifted their heads up to look at us. Rick looked over at Shane before turning his attention back to Lola and I.
“So what’s your choice?” he asked.
“We’re coming.” I breathed.
Shane’s face lit up at the words “you’ll be coming with us back to the camp?”
“Yes,” I replied “just, give us a few moments to pack.”
Rick and Shane both helped Lola and I pack. We reserved one bag for all the non-perishable food and another for the food that wouldn’t last too long, making that our meal priority for the next couple of nights. Lola was in charge of packing all of our clothes. She had one backpack for both our clothes. (That being said, it was a rather large backpack). Next up, just a few of our special things with a lot of sentimental value were placed in another back pack with only one more thing left to gather: weapons.
Shane had the backpacks of food slung around both his shoulders, Lola carrying the backpack of our much loved items and I carried the clothes. Rick would be left to carry the guns. I dropped my backpack by the door of the apartment, jogging into the bedroom and picking up all our weapons. The bag was heavy as I trudged it into the living room.
“Here is the last of what we need.” I said as I heaved the bag down onto the floor.
I looked up to Rick whose face looked shocked.
“Where did you find that?” he asked, staring at the bag.
“By some kind of tank a few blocks away,” I smiled “it was just lying there in the middle of the road and it’s packed with some heavy artillery!”
“Nobody was around to claim it, so we might as well take it.” Grinned Lola as she passed the bag over to Rick whom continued to stare at it in an odd manor.
“That bag… it’s mine.” Mumbled Rick.
“Well, we found it,” I said “got any proof?”
“The bag clearly has SHERIFF written on it and I’m a cop,” smirked Rick “well, I was….”
“Look, the colour even matches his uniform.” Chuckled Shane as he held the bag up to Rick’s clothing.
“Alright, point taken,” I smiled “but we’re together now, so it’s not like it really matters.”
“We’re supplying you with our food, you share your guns.” Spoke Lola as she firmly placed her hands on her hips.
“It’s a done deal.” Grinned Rick as he walked up to the door.
“Alright, let’s get moving while it’s still morning.” said Shane gruffly as he heaved the backpacks of food onto both his shoulders.
“Hang on, one more question,” I said as I placed my hand on the door handle, stopping anyone from opening it “How are we gonna get back to the camp.”
Shane’s face lit up as he raised one eyebrow at Rick before a smile spread across his lips “you’ll see.”