#survival #FoundFamily #Apocalypse #Emotional #multiplePOVs #Gritty #Angst #MorallyGrey #ChapterOne

ARI POV:

It was the morning already. It feels like I didn’t get any sleep. Probably because I didn’t. I was right next to the boarded window where through a crack the sun points directly into my eyes. I groan and roll over where I see Kieran cleaning the gun and 

Looking out the boarded window. I watch him for a second but I don’t say a word. I hear shifting above me. Kylos waking up, he sits up slowly and rubs his eyes looking around the room. “We should all wake up now.” Kieran says vaguely looking towards Marin. No one says anything back. I look at the wall. He doesn’t seem to have the 

guts to wake Marin up himself again anyway. Eventually he stands up, his heavy boots hitting the rotting wood. He walks up to me and kicks my shoe. “Come on, blondie. Check the halls. Let’s do something.” I want to tell him to do it himself. That I’m not his slave. But my stomach growls loud enough to echo in the quiet room. 

I push my self up, muscles still tired. “I’m going to.” Kylo mumbles. He looks pale. His eyes darting to the door like he expects if he goes he’ll see Lina again.  “Stay close to him.” Kieran orders. “ And Marin-“ 

“I’m awake.” Her voice cuts through the room. She stands against the wall with her arms crossed like she’s been awake for hours. “If we’re moving let’s move. This place smells like a grave.” She pushes off the wall towards the door followed by Kylo I groan again. “Fine.” I say under my breath.

The hallways even uglier in the daylight. Dust motes dance in the sunbeams. Making the air look thick enough to choke on. Marin leads the way looking like she owns the place. While Kylo practically walks on my heels, stepping on me every time a floorboard creaks. “Stop it.” I hiss at him. “It’s annoying.” 

“Sorry.” Her voice cuts basically whispers. But he doesn’t stop. He looks like he’s walking through a ghost story. We pass the hole in the wall the lead to the gateway. I don’t even look. I don’t  wanna think about the pinkish blood or the way it hurt Kylo.

“Look.” Marin says stopping at a door with a frosted glass window. It reads “principals office.” 

“What? You wanna check your grades?” I say looking away at the wall next to me. She shoots me a side eye that could cut glass. “There’s a power light on the desk. This wing might still have a backup generator running.” She kicks the door open. It doesn’t slam. But the lock breaks and it groans on its hinges. 

Inside, is a mess of papers and broken glass. But she’s right. A small green light is flickering on a bulky old school radio unit. It looks like something from a museum.

Kylo comes over quickly to the desk with the radio. “Can we get help?” 

“Help doesn’t exist anymore, Kylo.” I say leaning against the doorframe with my arms crossed looking around the room. 

Kieran fiddles with the dial. Harsh staticky scratching sounds fill the room. Then, through the noice a voice cuts through. A woman. The room goes still. Her voice calm and emotionless like she’s reading a script. 

“North of the rainwood mountains. The green zone is secure. We have medicine. We have walls. We have life. We are waiting.” 

The message loops over and over again. I look out at the wasteland outside. The city is a maze of fire and hollows. And the mountains are almost months away. 

“It’s a suicide mission.” I state “it’s better than dying in a classroom.” Marin’s says gripping the radio. “Is this even still there?” I ask running my hand through my hair. “If we don’t try we’ll never now and die here.” Kieran cuts in, eyes pearing at the radio. 

“Fine.” I say shoving my hands in my Jean pockets. “But I’m not doing this without a knife or something. Kieran’s always hogging the gun.” I say. “Ari’s right.” Kieran says eyes bouncing us. He’s got that look again. The one where he’s calculating us like we’re just gear in his pack. 

“We don’t leave until we have everything this school has coughed up. Food, first aid kits, anything we might need.” He says.  “The nurse.” Marin says. “She has an ass load of gauze and rubbing alcohol. Me and Kylo can go to the nurses.” 

“Blondie, we’re going to the gym. We take everything useful we find.” I’m still mad at him. I’d rather go with Marin or Kylo. But he’s already walking out the door. I groan and drag my hands down my face and slowly follow behind, my dirty sneaker crunch on the broken glass. The walk to the cafeteria feels quieter and 

longer than it should. Kieran looks so focused it’s annoying. “So you actually thin it there?” I ask. “The green zone. Not just some suicide mission?”  He doesn’t turn around. “Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s a target, you don’t survive without a target. Ari, you just wander until something catches your scent.” 

“That’s a real optimistic outlook.” I mumble eyeing the ground. 

We reach the gym entrance. The double door locked with a chain, one side it bent enough to squeeze through. Kieran stops and looks at me. His grey eyes hard. “You fast. If something moves in there, don’t wait for me to tell you to run. Just go.” 

“And leave you?” I say testing him, crossing my arms. His expression slightly shifts but then snaps back to serious. “I have the gun. I’ll be fine. You just run Ari.”  He pushes through the gap and I follow him into the dark carnivorous gym. 

The smell of old sweat and mildew hit me. My skin prickles. This is exactly the kind of place a Hollow would hide. “There.” Whispers Kieran pointing to a row of lockers next to the coaches office. “Check the ones pried open. I’ll watch the rafters.” 

I move towards the lockers. My hands shaking a little as I reach for the dusty blue backpack. I dump out a pile of text books. “Thud!” It sounds as loud as a gunshot in the quiet room. My gaze snaps to Kieran. He stands still staring at the darkness.

I realize the that he’s not just “tough.” He’s terrified too. He just hides it better than Kylo. I shoulder the blue backpack and take a baseball bat from the locker testing its weight. It’s not a knife but it’ll do. “Let’s just get the stuff and get out of here.” I mutter. “Before that ‘waiting’ woman decides to change her mind.” I say walking past him. 

I dont wait for him to respond. I start shoving anything I can find into the bag. A few rolls of athletic tape, a have used water bottle that smells like plastic and one of the granola bars that taste like cardboard. 

“Ari.” Kieran’s breath is barely a whisper but it stops me cold. I look up. He’s not looking at the lockers. He looking at the supplies closet with a the door cracked open. It’s dark and there’s a rhythmic slurping noise like something eating and multiple things moving around.

 “Go.” Kieran mouths. His hand tightened around the pistol. 

My heart hammers against my ribs. I have a baseball bat. But looking at the door. The wood feels like a toothpick. I don’t run though, I can’t. I can’t just leave him. If he fires that gun every Hollow from five miles in this echoey gym will come running. 

“No, together.” I whisper. He hesitates. Then he slowly backs away from the center of the gym keeping his eyes on that closet door. We moves like shadows. Our feet barely touching the floorboards. Just as we reach the gap in the double doors. A pale hand with to many joint grips the side of the closet doorframe. 

We don’t wait to see the rest. We squeeze through the gap and sprint down the hall the backpack bounces against my spine. My lungs burn and we don’t stop until we reach the nurses office with Marin and Kylo.

We burst through the door to the infirmary. Marin and Kylos heads snap around there hands full of white gauze and brown plastic bottles. “We’re leaving now.” Kieran demands gasping. He’s looking down the hallway. He doesn’t look like a “brave survivor.” Right now. He looks like a kid who’s counting down the seconds until those Hollows follow our scent. 

“We’re have enough.” He says “pack it we’re moving.” We don’t talk as we shove everything into the bags. Marin puts some bottles next to the granola bars in the bag. Kylos smiling anxiously trying to trick himself into being okay. 

We walk towards the front entrance of the school. The voice of the waiting woman plays in the back of my mind. “We have a life, we are waiting.” Kieran kicks the main doors open. The sunlight is blinding for a second reflecting off broken glass on old rusted cars. Beyond the green school fence, Is a city of smoke and graves on broken grey concrete. And way past that on the horizon. So far it’s hard to believe it’s there. 

The rainwood mountains.