"Rise and shine, Astrid!" Trent yelled as he nudges me with his foot.
"Astrix," I mumbled and sat up slowly. It was pitch black in the room and it wasn't even dawn yet. I could hear Ashley still lightly snoring but it sounded like Van and Jeff were bustling around already.
"Whatever. Do you want to train or not?" Trent asked. I could hear a click and a dim light flicked on. I looked down at Ashley, who had her blanket over her head and was groaning.
"Why so early? Why not wait until it's light out?" I asked squinting my eyes. Trent ignored me and walked out of their small sleeping area. I looked at my watch that I had strapped on my left wrist. Of course it was only 4:30. I stood up and nudged Ashley. She groaned again and took the blanket off of her head.
"Hey, zombie bait," Ashley said when she saw me. She yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Zombie bait, huh?" I asked. I extended my arm to her. She grabbed it and I helped her up.
"Yeah. It seems like that would be an appropriate nickname for you seeing as of how you were alone for three months. Lots of zombies tried to eat you, right?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah but they were never smart enough or fast enough to catch me," I said smiling. That was probably the first time I had smiled in a long time.
Ashley changed into clean clothing. Like actual clean clothing. No blood on them or anything. She tossed me some clothes.
"Put them on. You will feel better," Ashley said smiling. I nodded a "thank you" and changed into the blue jeans and white tank top. I put on a dark blue tee shirt over it and a black zip up hoodie. Wow, clean clothing. I had been stuck in my blood soaked and ripped clothes for a while now. I put on my tennis shoes and Ashley and I walked to the clearing in the storage room where Trent, Van, and Jeff were waiting.
"Finally! Come on girls! The sun will be up in a few minutes!" Jeff said. The sun was starting to come up over the hills, casting a gray light on everything. We all walked out of the storage room and to the front of the grocery store. Jeff took out some keys from his pocket and unlocked the doors. We walked into the parking lot of the grocery store. There were no zombies that I could see.
"Okay, Astrid-"
"Astrix!" I said angrily interrupting Trent.
"I am going to fight in hand to hand combat with you to see how well you can fight. Don't be afraid to throw punches. We aren't taking it easy on each other," Trent continued as if I hadn't said anything.
"I don't plan on it," I grumbled. Ashley cracked a smile and Van shook his head with laughter.
"Alright, Ashley, Van, dad, step back," Trent said. They backed up at least 10 feet.
I walked up to Trent. He smiled.
"Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you," Trent said. He turned his head and winked at Van. I shook my head and threw a punch at Trent. It took him off guard and I got him in the nose. He stumbled back a bit.
I grinned and Trent came at me, faster then I had expected. He punched but I ducked and swung my leg around, kicking his leg. He half collapsed but was on his feet again almost instantly. I threw my leg up in the air and kicked him in the chest. He fell back a little and I heard Van whistle.
Trent flew at me faster then I expected and kicked my legs out from underneath of me. I landed on my back hard. Trent positioned his foot over my stomach. I rolled to my right before he could step down. I jumped up quickly and elbowed him in the chest. Trent grabbed my arm and held it behind me at an angle. I held in my cry of agony and kicked my leg up, connecting with his knee. He let go and I got out of his way as he slammed into the concrete. I turned to walk away but felt a hand wrap around my ankle. I tripped but moved my hands to stop myself from smacking into the concrete. I rolled quickly and wrenched myself out of Trent's grasp.
I stood up but Trent followed in close pursuit. He grabbed the collar of my jacket and we were face to face.
"God you just don't know when to give up, huh?" I asked sarcastically. I threw my fist upwards and connected with his jaw but he didn't let go. Obviously he had a high pain tolerance because I don't punch like your average girl.
Trent threw me downwards and I landed on my back, winded. I gasped and tried to stand up but Trent was on me in a second. He had both of my hands pinned down and his face was inches from mine.
I brought my leg up quickly and connected with his thigh. He grounded and loosened his grip on me for a moment. I was able to wiggle my right hand out of his grasp and elbow him hard in the face. He rolled off of me and held his hand to his face. He moaned deeply. I stood up and walked over to him. I leaned down by him.
"I win," I whispered, I stood back up and walked over to Ashley who ran over and gave me a tight hug.
"That was awesome! Trent's the best fighter of us! He never looses to anyone! You are amazing!" Ashley rambled on and on.
"I thought your dad was?" I asked.
"No he just knows a bunch of techniques. Trent is like his little test monkey," Ashley said finally letting go of me.
"That was very impressive. I've never seen anyone move so fast," Jeff said.
"That's what happens when you're alone for three months. Fast reflexes," I said shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.
"I think you broke my nose," Trent said walking over to me.
"Good, now you know not to wake me up. I wake up when I want to, got it?" I hissed menacingly. Trent almost flinched.
"So, that was taking it easy, huh?" Van taunted.
"Yeah. She wouldn't have won if I didn't take it easy," Trent said crossing his arms over his chest and grinning.
"Do you want to go again?" I asked taking a step near him so that we were almost face to face.
"Any day, princess," Trent hissed.
"Not now you two! We have to get out of here!" I heard Ashley yell. I broke out of my trance and looked at her. She was looking at the other side of the parking lot with wide eyes. I shoved Trent out of my way and looked. There was a hoard of at least 20 zombies coming towards us.
I reached for my knife and gun that were both in my weapons belt. I whipped them out and squinted my eyes.
"Astrix! Don't even think about it!" Ashley yelled. She ran up to me and grabbed my shoulder. I shrugged her off.
"Get out of here, you don't have any weapons!" I said as I surveyed the 4 people behind me. I heard a scrape and turned. Trent had two knives that were at least a foot each. He walked up to me. I nodded and we turned to the approaching beasts. I heard Jeff yell at us but we ignored him. Trent and I started to walking towards the hoard and I heard the door to the store open and then close. It was just us now.
As the monsters got closer a hatred grew inside of me. Those beasts ripped my life away from me. They took everything away from me. Now they were all going to die.
The first zombies reached us and I immediately stabbed my knife into the throat of one. It fell to the ground and was replaced by another. I threw back both of my elbows and felt them connect with two of the beast's heads. I heard loud cracks and two thumps. I swung my gun into the head of another zombie and it fell onto it's side. I unloaded a few shots into the crowd around me, hitting at least three zombies in the center of the head. I kicked a zombie in the head and it's head flew clean off of it's body. I jammed my knife into the stomach of a zombie that was about to sink it's teeth into my neck.. I twisted it and took it out. throwing back my elbow and snapping it's neck.
I saw a zombie right in front of me collapse and Trent was there. He jammed his knife into the throat of a zombie right by me. There were only two zombies left. Trent head butted it hard and I heard a loud crack. The monster dropped to the ground. I easily swung my knife up and slit the last zombie's throat wide open.
"Holy shit," I heard someone whisper behind me. I turned and saw Van, Jeff, and Ashley.
I breathed heavily and Trent and I walked over to them.
"How the hell did you do that? That was amazing! You just went all Hulk on the zombies!" Ashley said with a huge grin on her face.
"That was impressive," Jeff said. It was like he couldn't give any other compliments.
"That was more then impressive! There were no words to explain how amazing that was!" Van said.
"I swore to myself that I would kill every last zombie that I could. They took away my family, friends, and life. So those bitches are going to die," I half growled.
"Well I understand what you meant by, "I don't need any training," Jeff said. He came up to me and patted my shoulder.
"I tried to tell you," I said with a grin.
"You're welcome to stay with us for as long as you would like. We could use someone like you around here to kick ass like that," Jeff said.
"It wasn't all me though. Trent helped. A little," I teased. Trent smacked me on the back of my head.
"With you two, I think we could conquer the apocalypse," Jeff said, ruffling Trent's hair. "So what do you say?"
I stood still for a moment. These people were offering for me to stay with them. I wouldn't have to be alone anymore. My heart fluttered at the idea but somewhere inside of me told me to keep going. To keep looking for my friends. That they were still out there, somewhere, and that they needed me. I couldn't take it anymore. I crushed the last of those thoughts. They were dead. They were never coming back. I would never find them and it would be pointless to keep looking for them.
"Yes, I would be happy to," I said. Ashley squealed and hugged me. I laughed and pushed her away a little.
"Awesome. So we are going hunting later. Care to join?" Van asked.
"Hunting? Sure why not," I said. Honestly if I could hunt zombies I could hunt animals too, I hope.
"Well come here! I want to show you something!" Ashley said leading me back to the grocery store. I followed her through the doors and into the storage room. It was nice finally being around someone my age. Maybe I could get used to it.