My body was sweating I was so hot. I slowly opened my eyes, pushing against the hot floor. I sat up, the hot breeze blew through my hair. I looked around me, everyone was still sleeping. My eyes were still only half open. I finally rubbed away the daze, and opened my eyes fully. I was trying to figure out why I was so hot. I took a better look around, we were no longer in the office, it was wide open, nothing in sight. I looked down at my hand, it had greyish pieces of dust, it was ash, I wiped my hands on my pants and stood up. It was hard to breath, my vision was all cloudy. I picked up the bag and swung it over my shoulder.
I walked around to everyone, and forced them awake. I was expecting it to change, but not this way. "What did I tell you." Daniel woke up in his usual cruddy mood. Evelyn explained to Anthony what was going on. Number 1 stretched her arms, and observed her surroundings. She walked over to me, she was trying to show me something, but I couldn't figure it out.
A small spark passed my face, and it hit me. The air was filled with smoke and ash, with little sparks floating around. My eyes were burning and my throat was dry. I needed to drink something, but we were running low on water.
"Does anyone else notice that's it's hard to breath?" Evelyn asked. Daniel stopped complaining and looked around, he observed the surroundings, picked up his hatchet, and began to walk.
"Where are you going?" I yelled out to him.
"I'm getting the fuck out of here."
I caught up to him, grabbing his shoulder I swung him around, "You can't just leave. You don't even know where you're going," I stopped to try and take a breath, breathing in the smoke, I coughed, "Let's all just go, but we can't afford to just go running around and lose people in this." He pulled his arm back, and nodded.
I turned around to tell them to follow, but no one was in sight, the air had gotten thicker, my eyes were still burning, the oxygen was dropping by the minute. "Hey!" I tried to yell, but my throat was so dry it came out all scratchy. Daniel looked back.
"Where'd they go?" His voice was scratchy, but also shaky.
"I have no clue."
"So I guess you're gonna blame this on me too."
"God Daniel, did I say that?" I scorned him, before he could respond, there was a loud cracking noise above us. We both looked up, I couldn't see anything. The crackling got louder, before I knew it, Daniel was pushing me to the ground, we both tumbled around in the ash, I look up, Daniel was pushing himself off the ground, a beam had fallen, if Daniel hadn't pushed me, I'd be dead.
When the beam fell it just pushed a whole new wave of smoke and ash into our faces. I pulled Daniel up, we had to get out. I prayed that the others would do the same, and they were okay. Still holding onto Daniel's arm, I dragged him, as we maneuvered our way through. I had tripped over some other fallen junk. I really couldn't see now. Daniel still had his hatchet.
"Why don't," we were still moving, he had to take short breaths, "I just... break... everything down... with this?" He held up his hatchet.
"No... if we did that... everything... would... fall... crushing us... all."
We had reached a wall, pushed into it, I tried to lead my way down, I tripped over something again, I was still in the lead, my eyes my as well have been closed. Still pushing against the wall, I hit the other wall, we were literally cornered.
"Shit..." I mumbled under my breath, Daniel ran into me.
"What's wrong?"
"We need to crawl... isn't that what... they always said?" I didn't answer him.
"Why.. did we stop?"
"Corner." I knelt down, Daniel doing the same, we were aimlessly crawling around now, There were many cracking noises, I couldn't tell where they were coming from exactly. I heard another crack, and the sound of something hitting the ground, following with a scream, it was muffled, but I could tell who it was, Daniel. I spun around and jumped to my feet. I heard a yelling from behind me, seeing the others come to my aid. After a lot of struggling, we eventually pushed it off, Evelyn grabbed his arm and helped him walk. Number 1 took the lead. I grabbed Anthony by the arm and helped him, Number 1 had found a broken window, she smashed the rest of the broken pieces with her shoe. We helped Daniel get out, then Evelyn, then Anthony. The ceiling above us was caving in, as it began to fall, I had wanted to grab Number 1 to push her out, but she was already ahead of me, she pushed me out the window. I landed on my chest, gasping for air. I spun around to see the house had caved in, the smoke and ash had blurred my vision once again.
I finally opened my eyes, the entire area was surrounded with smoke. Evelyn was trying to help up Daniel, Anthony was on his hands and knees coughing, I looked around me, my ears were ringing, I couldn't see Number 1 anywhere. I had burn marks on my back, I couldn't push myself up, my body ached. Daniel finally on his feet then he helped me up.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"I don't know, I didn't see if she made it out or not." Evelyn said.
The realization finally hit me. I jumped to my feet, and headed back to where I thought the house was, it hadn't completely fallen yet, some of it was still supported. The fire was gone for the most part. I started to throw pieces of the house aside, trying to find her. She had to still be alive. She had to. I couldn't find her, or any remains.
"Where are you!" I yelled out, as loud as I could. Everyone was standing behind me, I could hear them speaking, but they were talking too quiet. I was still pushing things aside, adrenaline running through me. I yelled again, "Number 1! Answer me!" I fell to my knees, the ash surrounding me like a cloud. I heard a soft banging noise to my right. I looked up, the tears had just started to come. I stood up, and walked over to the noise. Picking up the debris. I saw long black hair. I had another spurt of adrenaline, I began to throw all the beams away, soon revealing Number 1 lying on her stomach, her back had taken all the pressure.
Daniel and Anthony helped me with the rest of the ruble. I began to choke on my tears, I was trying so hard not to cry. She had started to try and push herself up. I grabbed her arms, and helped her up the rest of the way, she was breathing heavily, and cringing in pain. My back still stung from the burns. I carried her away from the house, it was still hard to breath, and we had lost the bag.
Number 1 had her arms wrapped around my neck. Everyone picked up their weapons, and followed me as I began to walk. I didn't know where I was going, but we needed to find a safe place, that was all. I needed to get Number 1 to safety. We walked down the street. It was a normal neighborhood, as a matter of fact, it was the same neighborhood we had started in with the zombies, except the houses were all on fire now.
We continued down the street. I was still holding Number 1 bridal style. We needed to find a safe area, everyone was exhausted and hungry and thirsty. Number 1 had slowly regained her consciousness. She was watching where we were going, but at the same time her face was buried in my chest. We turned the corner, everywhere we went, it was on fire, and filled with smoke. We really needed water.
"I can't believe I lost the bag." I mumbled under my breath, Number 1 heard me, she looked up at me, giving me a reassuring smile.
"How much longer?" Daniel complained.
"How the fuck should we know?" Anthony responded. It was the first thing anyone had said since the house collapsed. It was nice to have a different sound than the cracking of the fire.
"We just need to keep walking." I said.
"We need to drink something." Evelyn said.
"I know, I'm sorry you guys." I apologized.
"It's not your fault." Anthony said.
"Yes it is. I dropped it." I kept walking, picking up a faster pace.
"You were trying to get out." Evelyn consoled me.
"So I was thinking about myself?"
"That's not fair." She whined.
"No, it's not. Nothing's fair, why the fuck are we in this mess?"
"Do you ever shut up?" Daniel asked.
"No, I really don't. I'm constantly thinking. I never forget anything!"
"Oh my God, you people are so annoying. I don't even know how to talk to you guys sometimes. Yes, we are in this mess, but there is nothing we can do about it." Anthony scolded us.
"Well, it still sucks." I mumbled, but not quiet enough because Daniel heard me.
He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, staring at me, Number 1 tapped my shoulder, I let her down, she walked over to Evelyn and Anthony, "No shit it fucking sucks you douchebag! All you need to realize is that you're fucking alive! We're all here supporting each other, none of us would be alive if you weren't here, you realize this, right? You're the one that told Number 1 that you should look for more survivors, you guys are the ones that figured the way up the tubes, you guys are the ones that started fighting back against the zombies first, you guys are the ones that wanted to save Anthony's cheap ass, you are the one that came up with the plan to save everyone with the fog, you are the one that helped us get me out of the burning building You calmed me down, my family died in a fire Alex. You do so much for us, stop treating yourself like shit!"
There was a long silence, when Anthony finally said something, "Hey, I'm not cheap."
A laugh escaped my lips, causing the others to laugh, Daniel wrapped his arm around my shoulder, I did the same, we continued down the street, I heard the others behind conversating. It was normal, for a few minutes.