“Do...do y’all mind if I join you?” June asked, looking up at the man and woman, waiting for a reply.
The woman scoffed.“Let you join us? Why?” The woman took a look around. “Where’s your group?” She used an irritated tone, which made something burn inside June.“I don’t have one. My family..they all died. So, I don’t have a group.” She said matter of fact, hoping and praying the man would agree.“Everyone’s family-” the woman started with a flash of anger in her eyes.“Alice..” the man interrupted her with a warning tone. “Let’s be nice.”The woman rolled her eyes but stayed silent.“My name’s Rufus. This here’s Alice. We have a rather small group and are trying to make our way to Savannah. We’d love for you to come along.” The man offered a warm smile which eased June’s fears and soothed the burning in her chest.“I’m June. Thanks for letting me join.” June returned the smile and continued searching the store. They didn’t find anything other than a couple of stray granola bars and cans of beans.After they were done searching, they met up at the front of the store again to discuss what they’d be doing next.“Okay, we got one more spot to search, and then we meet up with the group again and find shelter for the night.” Rufus explained to June.“Sounds good to me.” She nodded and followed them to the old restaurant next door. She didn’t expect to find much there, but maybe there was something they could use for weapons.They entered through the back door which had been busted in and carefully did a sweep. Once they confirmed there was no dead inside, they began searching for anything useful.Once again, they found nothing. Even the knives were missing.Feeling a bit nervous about meeting the rest of the group, June followed Rufus and Alice to a nearby pharmacy. Climbing through the broken glass doors, she saw 4 others standing around, she guessed they were waiting for them to return.“Ayy Rufus, how’d it-” one of the guys started but then he noticed June. “Who’s this?” He gave Rufus a puzzled look and took a step back. June thought he seemed nice. Nicer than Alice, anyway.“I’m June.”“She’s gonna be joining us from here on out. She just lost her folks and doesn’t have a group. Well, she does NOW, but..” his voice trailed off.“Alrighty. Well, my name’s Tobias, but you can call me Toby. This here is Eli, Audrey, and Montana, also known as Monty.” Tobias introduced everyone in the group and they all said hey. June couldn’t help but notice Montana kept his eyes on her for a second longer than everyone else. She also couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t mind.“It’s gonna be getting dark soon, so we need to find somewhere to hide out for the night.” Rufus reminded everyone.“What’s wrong with here? We could hide out more towards the back and leave first thing in the morning.” Audrey suggested. The idea seemed good enough for June.Rufus looked outside as the sun was near setting. They had an hour, tops.“It’ll have to work for tonight.” He sighed.They all went towards the back of the pharmacy, hiding behind some shelves, and they all began setting up for the night.Most of them had sleeping bags or some kind of good blanket. June laid out the small blanket that her dad had given her when she was 5. That was 14 years ago, so it was more worn than she’d like to admit.“So, where are you from?” Eli asked June after they had all gotten adjusted and were eating canned vegetables and beans.“Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s right above Chattanooga.” She explained, taking a bite of her cold pork and beans.“That’s nice, I think I’ve been there a couple of times. Just passing through, though.” Eli started rambling about some small restaurant he used to go to with his friends occasionally. “When we’d get bored on the weekends and we had a couple of extra dollars and enough gas, we’d take off to Cleveland and see if we could find a small restaurant to try. We usually did and it was always a fun time.” He laughed.The group sat around and talked about the good old days until the sun had been good and set. After a while, silence fell upon everyone and one by one they dozed off.Even June didn’t have much trouble drifting off to sleep. She felt good here. Safe. Safer anyway. She couldn’t wait to get to Savannah with everyone and maybe settle down. Start new. Her dreams were filled with hopes of the future until the sun rose and one by one everyone started waking up to the cold, harsh reality.The group walked down the interstate, checking cars just like June was doing before, and keeping an eye out for any signs of the dead. They all walked in silence, except for the stray comment or question that someone may have had.June still felt good and safe with this group. Sure, Alice was a bit rude when they first met, but after they all sat and talked last night, she seemed to have warmed up to her and the whole situation a bit.They all walked with their weapons close. Most of them had guns with limited ammo, but they all chose knives and machetes and saved the big weapons as a last resort.June’s weapon of choice was a relatively simple pocket knife her father had given her when it all started. It was solid black, had a slightly curved blade which she kept as sharp as possible, and was a good 3-4 inches. She always had it on her, especially when she was alone.Eventually, after a few miles of tiresome speed walking, the group stumbled across a beat-up old minivan with half a tank of gas.“What luck!!” Rufus exclaimed, laughing. They all piled in and took off, dodging the abandoned cars and hitting a few stray dead on the way. The plan was simple: get as far as they could with the car, loot whatever city or town they ended up in, and then continue on foot. They knew they wouldn’t make it to Savannah with the car, but they were all thankful for the nice break from walking it provided.They were about to pull off at an exit near Atlanta when they saw another group walking down the interstate.“What do you say gang? Should we stop and talk?” Rufus asked everyone. They all said sure, except for Alice, who just wanted to get going.They pulled the car over, which was about out of gas anyway, and they all got out, walking towards the new smaller group of 4 people.“Hey! Where are y’all headed?” Rufus called out to them kindly. Before he could even get the words out, though, the group all turned on them, each with guns raised and cocked, ready to shoot.Everyone stopped in their tracks. Rufus and his group instinctively raised their hands in surrender; the other group was on defense.“Listen.. we don’t want trouble. We just wanted to know where y’all were headed and if you wanted to join us on our way to Savannah.” Rufus stumbled trying to explain as he stared down the barrel of a gun.“Yeah? And what for?” One of the guys asked. They all looked a bit battered and worn, obvious they’d been through it since this all started. June wondered what all they had had to deal with but figured it better to not ask.“Bigger groups stand a better chance.” Rufus wasn’t sure how to answer. That was all he could come up with.“So you want to join us? Or do you want us to join you?”“I want us to join each other. But if that’s not what you want..” Rufus nervously chuckled and took a step back.The group of 4 looked at each other, then slowly lowered their guns. June and her new friends all lowered their arms in response.“Do you know Hunter?” One of
The next morning, June was the first to wake up. She quietly rose and packed her things, looking in the cabinets for something to eat.As she reached for a can of peaches, someone touched her waist. She gasped and froze as the hands made their way around, pulling her close.“Don’t scream or it’s gonna have to get ugly. I don’t wanna hurt you.” Thomas whispered in her ear as he guided her towards the bedroom. They had all agreed that they’d leave the bedroom empty, just to be fair.He quietly opened the door and shut it behind him.Montana heard the door squeak, and jerked awake, catching a glimpse of the closing door. He slowly sat up, and looked around, noticing the two missing. He had a pit in his gut. Something was wrong.Thomas pushed June onto the queen-sized bed, her heart racing. She reached for her knife but he grabbed her wrist sternly, making it clear that wasn’t an option.He crawled on top of her, holding both her hands above her head.“Please.. don’t..” June begged with t
The group made their way into Atlanta. The sound of the dead became much louder now, so they had to hang low as they made their way through the once-busy city. The deeper they got, the more dead they ran into. They decided it would be best to find shelter as a group instead of splitting up this time.They went from building to building, through old restaurants, bookstores, music shops, and clothing stores, looking for anything useful and scoping out areas for shelter. They found some food, bottles of water, and a couple of notebooks. They found an old thrift store with only a couple of busted windows and posters along with the others.“We’ll stay here tonight. It seems as safe as we’re gonna get. Two people will have to stand guard at all times though. Just to be a little safer.” Rufus instructed everyone once they got inside and in the back of the store. “Alexia, Daisy, you’re on tonight.” They both nodded that they understood the assignment.They all spread out closely and laid out
They all followed Zoran closely, having no clue where he was leading them. They were going deeper into the woods than June’s ever been. They walked until the sun started to set.“Um. How far away is this place? I thought you said it wasn’t that far.” Rufus chimed up. “It’s starting to get dark. We need to set up camp real soon.”“Oh shut your yapper, we’re almost there.” Zoran said. Something in his voice changed and June noticed it. No one else seemed to though, so she brushed it off as no big deal. She wrote a note of it in her brain and tucked it away for later.They kept walking and eventually they came across a large metal gate. It seemed out of place, coming up out of nowhere, but it was a sturdy-looking gate. It’d be good to keep the dead out. The whole place seemed.. untouched, despite the state of everything else.“How do we-” June started to ask as Zoran opened the gate and let them all in. June couldn’t help but notice that he somehow had a key to the gate. June noted that
June woke up early the next day. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she drank a few sips of water and stretched real good. It’s been a while since she stretched so it felt heavenly. After she finished stretching, she looked back at Zoran. He was still sleeping. A chill went shooting down her spine. She realized felt something for him. Not really in a romantic way...but in some way she’s never experienced it before. She grimaced as she thought about what it could be.June quietly made her way to the kitchen, searching the cabinets for anything that would make a good breakfast.As she reached up to grab a box of protein bars, she felt someone touch her shoulder. Jumping, she turned around, only to find Zoran looking back at her. She didn’t hear him coming at all, even down the creaky stairs.“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” He whispered, pushing a strand of loose hair out of her face. She had forgotten to redo her braid this morning, so her hair was a mess.“Good..morning.” She responded,
The knock on the door shushed everyone. The only sound was June’s footsteps as she carefully made her way down the stairs, trying to be quiet so whoever was outside wouldn’t hear her. Zoran was close behind her.“Guys.” She whispered with fear lacing her voice.“Rufus, what’s going on?” Alice asked. Everyone’s eye was on their elected leader, waiting for a response.“I...don’t know.” He stated as he made his way to the door.“You’re not gonna answer the door, are you?” Alice spat in disbelief.“What else am I supposed to do?” He peeked out the window and saw people in dark clothing surrounding the house. “They have us surrounded.” He slowly opened the door to find a man, assumed their leader, standing there smiling.“Well hello.”Rufus stared at him. He was about average height, with long blond hair and dark eyes.“We can do this the easy way. Or the hard way. We’re only here for one thing.” He smiled once more; a false sense of security, Rufus noticed.“Do..what exactly?” Rufus asked
After Zoran had June’s hand securely in his, he smiled at Rufus.“Rufus, it was a pleasure knowing you.” He gently pushed him aside, opening the door. “But we really must get going.” He led her down the stairs and out the front door, tears steadily streaming down her face now.They made their way outside and started walking towards the main road.“Where are you taking me?” Her voice shook with emotion.“To a house.” He stated, still holding her hand and practically dragging her along.June stayed silent the rest of the walk. They reached a large countryside just as the sun was starting to set.“See that house way over there?” Zoran asked, pointing to a large mansion in the middle of a large field.It must have had at least 40 acres, June thought. She nodded that she saw it.“Now I’m gonna let go of your hand and you’re gonna walk to the house. Try anything stupid and you can spend the rest of the night tied up in the basement.” He threatened with a wink and June nodded that she unders
Montana paced the floors of the old house, scratching his face and head. He had to find a way to get June back. Rufus, Alexis, and Daisy all agreed. They couldn’t let Zoran just kidnap her.“Should we split up or stick together?” Daisy asked, trying to get a plan together.“Might as well split up into groups of two. Me and Rufus, you and Alexis. It’s not like us being together would save us if it came down to us or them.” Montana said, feeling the heaviness of his last statement.They all nodded in agreement. The air felt heavy, making it hard for them to breathe.Alexis looked at Daisy. She was still in awe of her beauty. How was she supposed to act normal when she was paired with the most stunning girl she’s ever met?They all set out with their plan clear: split up in groups of two, and return to the house come nightfall.They both went their separate ways. They hadn’t seen which way June and Zoran went so Montana and Rufus went behind the house and Daisy and Alexis went to the lef