Mag-log inWe walked through the football field as we tried to locate Lester's car. As we made way around court, like an alarm was rung, an army of sick people came pushing through every corner of the main building and they where coming straight for us.
Lena let out a scream as we began to run." Fuck!!!" I screamed in frustration as I ran with the guys at my heels we ran as fast as we could but the sick people where faster than we imagine."Shit they are fast" Elise screamed as she ran faster. Like the universe was totally mad at me, I tripped on my own foot and fell face down."Ethel!" I heard my name being screamed as I tried to get myself up. I pushed myself up but I was pushed down as a heavy weight fell on me.Damn those things stink. I heard the gnashing of teeth and the snarling close to my ears which wasn't a pleasant sound at all.My elbow collided with it's face as I used my legs to kick it off me. Elise then grabbed me by the collar and pulled me towards her. I then managed to get up and looked around.Lester was pulling Lena along with him as he ran. Jake was bashing the heads of some of the sick people as I closed up on him. I grabbed my bat and hit the sick people beside me hard and it's head just splattered.My insides churned as I watched it's shaking body hit the ground. I kept chanting in my head that they where dead and we're only ridding them of the agony. Yes... We are only helping not killing right?.We soon got to where Lester and Chloe where and Lester was already starting the car. We all jumped in and I was breathing heavily.The car started almost immediately as we rode down the road which was clear of sick people. But cars where everywhere and blood. I sneaked a glance at Lena who was doing everything in her power to avoid looking at the road.I really felt bad for the poor girl. She was so Little to be going through this but she's really lucky she has a brother as fine as Lester ..... I mean..... Like Lester.He really really obviously cared for his sister and I'm sure he'll do anything to keep her safe.Lester drove down the road in a moderate speed which was really starting to piss me off. I mean everything was starting to piss me off."Hey look!" Elise said as she pointed to my right. It was shop which had a sign. " Rob's Gun shop"Lester made a sharp turn I nearly hit my head in the window."Hey!" He muttered a sorry and kept driving to find a parking spot."Does anyone know how to handle a gun?" Jake asked as he looked around."I do" Lena said smiling widely"Anyone apart from the Kid" I laughed at her pissed face she's so so cute."I do" Lester said and they all turned to look at i and Elise."Urm .....I know how to paintball guns..." I shrugged"Yhup me too" Elise grinned."So no gun for you guys" Lester smiled and I scoffed as I shrugged in my seat."Yeah I think it's better we stick to a bat yeah?" Elise looked at me and I sighed."Yes Elise a bat is the best option" We pulled into the parking lot of the gun shop which was clear no cars what so ever was in sight and it didn't look damaged at all."Well this shop looks good" Jake said and I nodded. Weird right?."So ... I'll go in first and scout the place for those things. If the place is clear I'll call you guys in" Lester said."I'll come with" Lena said with fear all over her voice."No you stay here and protect them yeah?" She nodded as she looked down at her feet."I'll come with you" I said"Fine you can come with " he nodded and looked at Jake "keep an eye out for those things" Jake nodded and Lester and I walked into the shop.We went through the other side as Lester suggested we use the back doors. The door was huge and black. It was very very old. And it was locked.Lester looked around and found a crowbar which he used to open the door. Honestly, I don't know how he did it. I was busy looking around for any signs of sick people. And I was worried Incase there was an alarmAfter a deep breath, we walked into the shop our chest heaving well maybe just mine but I was scared. Lester was right in front of me as we walked slowly.As we got the to middle, I looked around in awe. The whole shop was covered in guns, grenades, and some other things I don't know."Well there's a lot" and I nodded we should've brought a large bag. Immediately that thought crossed my mind, I looked around and saw large duffel bags hanging on the wall."I think we should call the others so we can pack more weapons" i said and he nodded in agreement.We called the others in and handed them duffel bags and we began to pack. Jake was so so excited like he won a lottery as he picked the guns and examined them. How can someone be so happy for guns."You seem really happy" Elise voiced out my mind. See.... Twin thing."Yeah.... My dad always took me hunting so... We usually picked out the guns together" he smiled sadly and my heart ached for him."Hey I need the keys to these beautiful knives thingy" I said trying to change the subject. Jake then walked over to my place and peered into the glass."Step back" he said and I did as he said. He looked around and picked a small metal stick and smashed the glass with it. I flinched at the sound and stared at him. "there.... You don't need a key now" ."Thanks champ" I said and he smiled."Do you think you can open this one too?" Lester called from behind us and we all turned to look. I began to laugh as Jake rolled his eyes."I'm not Thor or superman" and I laughed even more. Soon, Elise joined me. Well it was a cage where the guns are kept to be safe. And it was well...chained and only a key can open it."Found the key!" Lena said and we all looked down at her"Thanks kiddo" Lester took the key and I turned back to get a knife. Since guns weren't an option knives are the best. I looked around the sharp knives which looked very pretty and chose three sexy sharp ones."Y'all done?" Lester asked and we nodded."Wait I think we should look at the back" I said"I'm coming with" Lester said as we walked around back with our duffel bags. We found some plastic plates abd cups with utensils which we stuffed."There's a lot of water lucky us" I smiled as I picked some bottles and Lester did the same."We're done" I bent to tie the bag and I felt a cold metal at the back of my head and I heard a gun cocked."Turn around slowly and don't do anything stupid or I'll blow your head off" a male voice sounded behind me. We dropped our bags slowly as I turned to look at Lester.Shit.The dust motes were her only companions, the tiny, dancing sprites of forgotten air. They swirled in the single, slender finger of sunlight that pierced the gloom of her room, a room that was not a room at all but a tomb of rough-hewn stone and despair. It was cold, the kind of cold that seeped into your bones and made a home there, a permanent chill that no amount of huddling or shivering could ever dislodge. The walls pressed in, not with a visible motion, but with a heavy, constant weight, making her feel impossibly small, a forgotten trinket on a dusty shelf. In this oppressive silence, the only thing that felt real, that felt like hers, was that crack in the wall.It was more a flaw in the ancient masonry than a window, a long, jagged line that ran diagonally across the stone, wide enough in one place to press her eye against, wide enough to let in that precious, life-giving beam of light. Now, standing on her toes, her bare feet cold against the gritty floor, she leaned into the
The night after the exile was not a time of rest, but a protracted, collective daze. The shelter, usually settling into a wary quiet after sundown, was instead a hive of subdued, sorrowful activity. Jake’s funeral was to be held at first light, a decision made both for the practical advantage of cooler temperatures and because no one could bear to let another full day pass without laying their friend to rest. The knowledge of it hung over everyone, a somber deadline that made sleep impossible.Ethel moved through the hours in a state of emotional suspension. Her body performed the necessary tasks—checking on the dwindling food stores with Ben, speaking in low tones with Moe and Carlos about rotating watch schedules, ensuring the perimeter was doubly secure in the wake of Marcus’s banishment—but her mind was elsewhere. It was trapped in a loop of memory and anticipatory grief. She wasn’t ready for this. The finality of it, the physical act of lowering a box containing all that remained
The grim finality of the vote settled over the shelter like a shroud of lead. The words, "The sentence is exile," echoed in the cavernous silence of the hall, a verdict that felt to many not like justice, but like a precarious, half-measure, a dangerous gamble with their collective future. A low, restless murmur rippled through the assembled crowd, a current of disbelief and simmering fury. Exile. It meant he would still be breathing. It meant he was out there, somewhere in the vast, unforgiving ruins, a predator set loose, his rage and psychosis now amplified by a death sentence narrowly avoided. The fear was palpable, a sour taste in the air. People were pissed, their faces etched with a fresh layer of terror. They had wanted closure, a final, brutal line drawn under the horror. Instead, they had been given a ghost, a perpetual boogeyman who now had a very real, very personal grudge against every single soul within their walls.Ethel stood amidst the discontent, her own disappointme
The first conscious sensation for Ethel was not the pale, grimy light filtering through the dust-caked window of her small room, but a profound, cellular ache, as if every particle of her being had been pulverized into a fine, leaden powder during the night. She did not open her eyes immediately, clinging instead to the fragile blankness of the semi-waking state, a gray, featureless plain where the horror had not yet fully coalesced. But memory, cruel and inexorable, flooded the void. It did not come as a single image, but as a wave, a physical pressure on her chest that made breathing a conscious, laborious act.It was the memory of sound that broke her first: the raw, jagged sound of another human soul tearing itself apart. Elise’s breakdown. Ethel had told her. She had practiced the words in the silent theater of her mind, sanding down their sharp, lethal edges, trying to coat them in a veneer of manageable tragedy. Jake is gone. There was an accident. It was quick. Lies, all of th
The wedding was amazing. It was a word Ethel would have scoffed at using just a day before, but it was the only one that fit. In the soft, golden glow of the salvaged fairy lights, with the stars beginning to prick the velvet blanket of the night sky above their fortified walls, the grim reality of their existence had been temporarily suspended. The ceremony itself had been simple, heartfelt, and profoundly moving. Patrick, the unassuming gardener, had spoken the ancient words with a dignity and conviction that belied his usual quiet demeanor. Sarah had wept happy tears. Ben’s hands had trembled as he slid a ring fashioned from a twisted piece of copper wire onto his bride’s finger. The entire shelter had watched, united in a rare, uncomplicated moment of joy.Now, the reception was in full, raucous swing. The makeshift dance floor—a cleared space in the center of the courtyard—was a whirl of moving bodies. Elise, of course, was at the heart of it, her guitar set aside now as she danc
The clean, post-shower feeling was a fragile bubble of normalcy, and Ethel knew it was about to be popped by the complex social mechanics of introducing a feral, unpredictable element into their carefully balanced ecosystem. She found Levi where she’d left him, looking slightly less like a startled animal but still radiating the tense energy of someone waiting for the other shoe to drop. His damp, green-streaked hair was a stark declaration of individuality in a world that often punished it.“Come on,” she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Time to meet the rest of the family.”He followed her with a reluctant shuffle, his eyes taking in every detail of the common room as if mapping escape routes. She led him towards the far corner, near the large, south-facing windows that flooded the space with afternoon light. This was where the softer side of Birkin Shelter often congregated. Elise was there, carefully polishing the frets of her acoustic guitar with a soft cloth. Lena,







