The wind was blowing hard, with it a sharp icy sting. Both my hands were tucked in my jacket pockets, trying to keep them warm. I could see my breath in the air every time I would exhale, watch it as it blew away with the wind. I was standing on top of a small hill on the south side of the town I had just arrived in; maybe 100 feet away stood a sign that said “Welcome to Peterson, Oklahoma!” beneath it some catchy phrase that could barely be seen anymore due to weathering. Eyeing the town, I bring my hands to my mouth to help get them warm. There was a convenience store right at the edge of town closest to me. The building was black as night and in shambles, it looked as if a Fire had taken it down, the roof caved in and the windows shattered. save one. in the parking lot were a couple of cars also charred. The fire must’ve been huge to catch the vehicles in the lot. Within one of those cars was the remains of someone who had burned with it. “Poor bastard” I mutter to myself as I begin walking toward the charred remains. 

As I approach the lot, a loud noise sounded through the air, sounded like broken glass. I immediately run to the backside of the closest car to remain hidden as the sound I heard was across the street in what looked like a thrifty store. Crouched behind the car I peek over to see what had made the noise. I couldn’t see anyone but I could hear a low laugh from what sounded like a man. “Damn son, we’re here to see what’s left, not destroy the place,” the man says with a hint of laughter. As I continue to watch a young guy in his mid-twenties come around the corner with another man who looked to be a bit older, maybe in his forties. The men were dressed in hunting gear and the younger guy had a pipe in his hand whereas the older guy held a rifle. The rifle looked older like something from one of the world wars, probably a surplus rifle from a pawn shop or gun store. I couldn’t really make out the model because my eyes don’t really work well, I lost my glasses some days ago in a fight with some random stranger who tried to rob me. If I had to guess it was more than likely a bolt action like a Mosin or a Karabiner. Both men walked through the front door of the thrift store, they didn’t need to open it meaning they broke the glass. I pull my head down behind the car to quit watching them and pick my shirt up a bit to look at the handgun I had, it was a Glock 22, found it in a precinct that had been abandoned among the outbreak. The Glock was pretty damn good, the only issue I had with it was that it shot .40 Cal and that wasn’t around that was really left alone once all the looting started. Apparently, a lot of people use that round which made the gun seem a bit useless due to me not having many rounds with it. My Adrenaline was through the roof, I always expect there to be some altercation every time I run into someone, especially with times like these. The gun slides smoothly out of my waistband and I bring it to chest level. I pull the slide back a bit to make sure there is a round in the chamber, my hands were trembling from the adrenaline, as I pull the slide back, my hands which were sweaty slip on the slide letting the slide go forward with a loud metallic ring. I close my eyes and stay still as a statue, praying and hoping that it somehow didn’t attract their attention. After what felt like forever had passed I could still hear them rummaging around in the store. Low talking and soft laughter could be heard from the thrift store, The two were joking around as they looted the place. I slowly peek my head up again over the hood of the vehicle and begin to watch them again, I couldn’t see much but I could see figures moving from one side of the store to the other. I sigh in relief that they didn’t hear the loud clack of the slide, I pull my head back down and close my eyes letting out a big breath realizing I was holding my breath the entire time. A shuffle sounded right in front of me and I open my eyes to see what it could be, there in front of me was another man, looked older than the two who were looting the store. He had to stand at least six feet tall and had a dark tan, his beard was long and grey which shifted ever so lightly with the breeze. “Don’t you reach for that gun boy” he said in a low rumble, “if I so much as see a finger twitch I’m shooting.” I nodded my head in understanding, “I’m not looking for a fight or to cause any trouble, I was just passing through and didn’t want to be seen.” I replied to him, my voice shaky. “Could you let me go? I promise I won’t come back.” The man shifted his weight a bit looking uneasy, he kept looking to me and to the store watching the other guys. “John!” he yelled loudly “I got somebody here who was watching ya!” I close my eyes tight again realizing this could be a shit storm I probably couldn’t get out of. You could hear the glass crunching under their feet as they came out of the store to see what was going on. “What?!” the older guy yelled back as he continued to walk towards the car I was sitting behind. “I said there was somebody watching ya!” the old man repeated. I open my eyes again once more and look to my left as the other two men walk around and into my view. “Well look what we have here,” said John as he looked at me with a smirk on his face. The younger of the three didn’t seem too ecstatic about the situation. “John what you wanna do with him? he was just sitting here watching yall, even got a gun here out and all,” The old guy said as he looked over at the two. “well we are gonna take his shit Harold, what else are we gonna do?” John replied as he made a large step towards me. He was maybe an inch from my face staring me dead in the eyes. John put his hand out expecting me to place something in it, “That gun you got there, ima take it from you now, you won’t be needing that” He said. I slowly hand the gun over to him shakily, not only was I scared but the adrenaline pumping through my body wouldn’t keep my hand still. In an instant my vision blackened, Harold had hit me right in my head with the butt of his gun. 

***

A dull ache pounded through my head as I finally woke up from the forced nap from the gentleman named Harold. I groaned as I picked myself up from lying on the pavement, the headache I had worsened with the movement. Sitting up against the car, I put a hand to my head where I was hit. My hair was matted down where my temple was, it was dried blood, sharp pain seared through my head as I touched the wound. I was definitely split right open and it wasn’t gonna be an easy fix for me to do myself. Licking my lips as they were dry I looked around me noticing everything was gone, my backpack, gun, the knife I had on my belt, those guys took everything I had except for the clothes on my back. Regardless of the pain racing through my head, I picked myself up off the ground and stood up. Looking around, I didn’t see anyone else in the vicinity but that doesn’t say much, especially from what happened earlier. Looking back to the thrifty store those guys were looting I decided to make my way there and see if there was anything of worth that those guys left. Glass crunched under my feet as I stepped in the store. The store still looked pretty full but, it didn’t seem to have much of use, on the right side of the store it was mainly clothes and backpacks hung up on the wall. To the left of the store, there were shelves filled with ornaments, candles, oils, and what looked like medication. The medication was in small packets like they would in a gas station, holding maybe a pill or two. Most of the medication was gone but there were still some packs hanging from the rack they were put on, walking slowly toward the rack with the pills I also notice a few knives on display closer to the back right of the store where the counter to check out customers was. I ignored the knives for the moment and started browsing the rack, luckily there was a single pack of medication for headache relief, ripping the pack open, I immediately toss the pills in my mouth and swallow them with great effort. Meaning my mouth was dry it didn’t want to go down too easily and left a terrible taste in my mouth. Coughing a bit from the pills, I make my way to the knives, there was a small collection and it wasn’t of anything too fantastic. All of the knives were just pocket knives but I couldn’t be picky due to me not having a damn thing anymore. The one that caught my attention was around three inches long with a wooden handle, it was a flip knife and had a name carved into it “Jessie.” The glass to the display was shattered by who I think would be those two guys. I snatch the knife from the display and proceed to open and close it a couple of times, taking the knife I rub the blade slightly against my arm to see if it was sharp enough to shave the hair on my arm, and to my surprise it does. A small smile shows as I flip it closed again and stuff it in my pocket. I begin to look around for food as my stomach rumbles, I had to be out for at least four or five hours, it was around midday when all the bullshit happened and it’s about sunset now. There wasn’t much left on the rack that was tucked in the corner near the shelves, it wasn’t much but a few bags of chips and some candy. I grabbed a few of the chips that were left on the rack, it was a mixture between barbecue and hot chips. Opening a bag of barbecue chips, my mouth waters as the sweet-savory smell reaches my nose. In a matter of a minute, the bag was completely empty, it wasn’t much and it didn’t fill me up but it would have to do until I could find more food. I grab a backpack off the wall so I could have something to put the chips in and whatever else I find along the way. 

This town was just as empty as all the rest that I’ve come across, hardly anything moved in it except for the occasional animal such as a rabbit or even a deer sometimes. I haven’t seen those guys since that incident, they must’ve just been passing through like me, ill be damned though if I let them get away if they show their faces to me again. I’ll never let that happen to me again, I can’t afford to let it happen again. Amidst my frustration I almost missed a food truck, the hatch on the back was already opened and there were boxes that were laid all over the place. pretty much all the boxes were open and their contents missing, going through each box I found one that was partially closed, in my excitement I hurry and rip the top of the box apart opening it as quick as I could. I didn’t know what I was gonna find and I don’t know why I had so much hope for it. In the box was meat, vacuum-sealed, the meat was brown like it had already been cooked with a hint of green and white mold on it. If it wasn’t for the way it was bagged I’m sure the stench could’ve been smelt from the other side of town. I lean back on my feet pushing the box away in disappointment, this truck must’ve been hauling food for a grocery store or something of the sort. It was depressing that the bit of food that they did have was spoiled and rotten now. I couldn’t catch a break lately, I’ve been in this town for almost 3 days and I haven’t found much other than snack food which won’t help in the long run if I want to stay healthy and nourished. After sitting back for what felt like an hour I stand back up, there was only so much of the town left to look for supplies and if I couldn’t find anything by the end of the day it would be time to move on somewhere else. I’ve been through every store in this small town, they didn’t have much but a couple of grocery stores and gas stations. All that was left in this town for me to search was to go from house to house and see if there was anything that the strangers of this town might’ve left for me. Being in the Neighborhood meant I had to be extra careful, there could be bodies in some of these houses, infected bodies, meaning I lost all my protective gear that meant if I messed up near one of those it would be over for me. There’s a pro and con to having an infected body in the house thought, pros are that no one looted it to stay safe from the virus and that meant if there was anything left in the house worth taking then it would still be there. The cons are if I breathe in the air without something to filter the air I’m breathing in then I will be infected and die I had a full-face respirator that worked in these situations. Them damned bastards took that with everything else I had. Nonetheless, it wasn’t an issue if I didn’t come across a body to begin with, I was overthinking it, rather than thinking too much about it, it was time for me to scavenge, to see what I could find, and hopefully survive on something better than chips. The Streets were desolate, not a soul in sight or anything that really moved other than the trash that was littered here. Once that virus really broke out, everyone began panicking, looting, rioting and etc. It was basically the cause to why any town you go through is full of trash like it just became Mother Nature’s dumpster The few houses that I passed by had already been looted, windows shattered and doors broken down, it is to be expected, everyone is just trying to survive, even if it’s just a day After what felt like two hours’ worth of walking up and down streets I sit down for a few minutes. Sitting on the curb I take my backpack off and open it, pulling out yet another bag of chips and a bottle of water that was only a quarter full now. I open the bag of chips and begin to eat them, crunching loudly in this dead town where the only sound there is, is bushes and trees shifting in the wind as a slight breeze blew Taking small sips of water in between every few chips to conserve the water, only eating half the bag, I took one more sip and closed both the bag and bottle. I slung the backpack back onto me and stood up looking around once more. Instead of waiting to see if there was a house that was untouched I thought it would be best just to check any house even if it was looted already, never know, they could’ve missed something. Across the street from me there was this brick house, with two white columns at the front of it, it stood two stories tall with a number of windows both on the second floor and first floor The house looked like it might have been expensive if I would’ve tried to get one before all this shit, but now the house was damn near worthless because there was no one to occupy it anymore Nearing the house I could see the curtains in the windows shifting ever so slightly as the windows were all pretty much shattered, indicating that someone must’ve been through this house already The door to the house was heavy to push open, it would make sense because it was bigger than the average door and looked like it was made out of something like mahogany, why would someone want a mahogany door? I’m not sure but that’s what it was. The door creaked loudly as I slowly pushed it open, I swear this could be heard from the next town over, that’s how loud it seemed to me in the quietness of this town There was a rotten stench in the air, but not that of a body, the stench was more of rotting food like what I would imagine that meat would’ve smelt like if I had opened that package. I put my hand to my nose to cover it and breathe out of my mouth so it wouldn’t be as bad. The living room was the first room that the door opened into. The living room was a mess, rain had gotten in it leaving the carpet with a large dark stain of what I believe was mold, the sectional that sat there in the middle of the room facing the fireplace was broken into two pieces, and cushions laid around it. There was a large flat screen tv mounted above the fireplace that was cracked and spider-webbed, pictures, and personal items were littered all over the floor. Someone had been through this house before unless the wind had gotten bad enough at some point. Seeing there wasn’t much I decided to move to the kitchen which was basically the same room, the two were connected by a large archway cut into the wall. The kitchen was littered with pots, pans, and Tupperware. most of the drawers and cabinets were opened with nothing in them, one had the dishes used to eat such as plates and bowls, in one cabinet that wasn’t opened all the way, there was something in it that didn’t belong with the colors of the dark brown cabinets and the white wall they had in them. Moving carefully through all the objects on the ground, I make my way to the cabinet where I spotted the difference. Opening the cabinet I let out a sigh of relief, it was a can, the wrapper on it was coming off but in right yellow letters with a black background, it said “Creamed Corn” I snatched the tin can and stuffed it in my backpack. I continue to search the cabinets but there was nothing else left, there was a pantry too but there wasn’t anything of use other than a half-pound of rice in a small container, it would last a couple of days if I used it right and I didn’t eat too much when I used it. It was time I moved upstairs to see if there was anything of use I could have. The stairs weren’t quite in the least, every step let out a loud creak, if there was anyone in the house they sure would know I was here. Making it to the second floor I saw that there were about four possible rooms. Three of the rooms were on one side and there was one more on the opposite side. I decided to check out the one that was on the right side, it was the room that sat alone. Approaching the door I took my pocket knife out and opened it holding it in my left hand, my right hand gripped the doorknob of the room. Opening the door I shove it inwards and let it open itself, I stood still for a minute watching the inside of the room, waiting for something to come out at me with the knife ready. After waiting for that long minute I let my knife down and let out a breath I was holding in. The room smelt of dust, whoever ran through the bottom of the house didn’t make their way to the top, they must’ve felt that they found everything they needed down there. It was a kid’s room, there wasn’t much in it that stood out, there were posters on the wall and a twin-sized bed. There was a console on the entertainment center that was pushed up against the wall closest to the stairs, there was a closet next to it as well. It must’ve been a boy who stayed in the room, the gaming console and the posters on the wall seemed to say as much, it was a bunch of heavy metal bands on the posters, some I could barely read the writing so cryptic. On the plus side of the room were two chocolate bars that sat next to the console on the entertainment center. A smile crept across my face, I haven’t seen one of those in months, they were basically delicacies nowadays. Snatching those two chocolate bars off the entertainment center, I hurried out the room and across the hall to the first door on the other side of the hallway. Stepping to the door I stuff those two chocolate bars into my bag, and I didn’t want to keep them in my pockets otherwise they might’ve melted or broken. I slowly opened the door into what looked like some little girl’s room. The odd thing about this room was that it wasn’t dusty like the other one that I had gone into. This room seemed particularly clean, aside from some clothes on the ground and some toys like Barbie dolls and a house at the foot of the bed. Stepping into the room felt odd, felt like I was intruding on someone else’s living space, which I knew no one had lived here for a while. There wasn’t much to take in the room other than a few food wrappers and the clothes. “Hello?” I asked out loud. I wanted to make sure there was no one here before rummaging through this room, maybe someone was living here but they weren’t home at thee there was a slight shuffle, I almost didn’t hear it. The shuffle was quiet enough that I thought I was just hearing things. Again, there it was, another slight shuffle. It sounded like it was coming from the closet to the left of the dresser. I closed the drawer immediately and scanned the top of the dresser for anything that might do some damage if needed, there wasn’t much but I remembered there was that knife from the store in my pocket. Pulling the knife out of my pocket and flipping it open in my hand, I moved closer to the closet. Hand on the knob and knife ready just for incase. I took a deep breath in and opened the door quickly, a high-pitched yelp sounded through the air. It was that of a little girl, she couldn’t have been older than 9 years old. She was young, too young to be alone in this house by herself. I closed the knife and put it back in my pocket, I crouched down to get on the same level as the girl. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you, where are your parents?” I asked her in as soft a voice as I could. The girl pushed herself into the back of the closet more, not as if she could go anywhere but she was scared and she didn’t know what to do. There was some stranger in her room or what could be her room going through her things and now trying to talk to her. “Look I get it, I’m a stranger, but where is your family? will they be back soon?” I knew damn well this girl was probably by herself, this house hasn’t really had anyone go through it in a while, everything was dusty, and from what I’ve seen here, it’s already been rummaged through by someone else. I reached a hand towards her, “It’s okay you can come out I won’t hurt you, I promise” I tried to sound as peaceful and calm as possible, I truly wanted to help her, I wanted to make sure she was okay. The girl slow sat forward and grabbed my hand, she used it as leverage to get up and on her feet. She still didn’t say anything to me, she wouldn’t even look at me, just stared at the ground. Letting go of my hand the girl walked around me and went to her bed, she knelt down and reached under the bed, pulling a dark blue backpack out and opening it. She reached in it and out came a book, it looked like a photo album. I walked over to her and looked down at it, she almost dropped it as she opened it, her tiny hands and arms could barely hold it up. There were pictures of her and a few others, A woman who looked to be in her 40‘s, she was a beautiful woman. She had strawberry blonde hair, her facial feature sharp with thin lips which were a light shade of red, her eyes were like a emerald green and just looked beautiful. The man standing on the side of her was about the womans age as well, maybe slightly older by a couple of years if I had to guess. He had short brown hair that seemed it hadn’t really been kept up with like he had just woke from sleeping. He had brown eyes to match his hair both like milky brown color, a chiseled jaw and a really white set of teeth. then stood two boys with the girl, both boys looks like spitting images of their father except one had black hair. They all looked so happy in the picture, from the way it looked, it must’ve been taken before the collapse. there were plenty of pictures in the album, some of the kids when they were younger opening presents and when they would be at school graduating elementary. Some were just the mother and father together with a new years kiss, another of them on a beach in what looked like Mississippi, Biloxi if I had to guess. I put a hand on the girls shoulder, “Your parents look like they are great people, im sure they are fine, how about we try to find them?” I ask softly trying to sound reassuring. “Do you know where they are or where they went?” The girl closed the album and stuffed it back in the backpack, “No, they aren’t coming back” she said with such a sad tone that I could feel the heartbreak in her. “What happened to them?” I didn’t know any other way to ask other than to be upfront with her. She shrugged her tiny shoulders, “I don’t know, they were out shopping, they said they needed to get food for us.” she said sighing heavily. “My brothers had left to look for them after they didn’t comeback home that night, he never came back either.” I closed my eyes and took in a breath opening my eyes again, “I don’t want to leave you here alone by yourself, no telling how long you’ve on your own but I can’t just leave you here.” I said standing up “Grab what you need, any food you have, clothes, if there’s any type of medicine or band-aids please let me know I will carry that, we are leaving before it gets dark.” The girl nodded her head and began grabbing stuff from her drawers and stuffing it into her little backpack. l stepped out into the hallway and looked back down the hall to see how many more rooms I didn’t go through yet, there were still 3 more.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Checking each room there wasn’t much to take, the bathroom had a medicine cabinet with some antibiotics, only enough to last maybe a few days if someone got sick. There were also a few bandages for minor cuts as well as a roll of red gauze. You never knew when any of this would come in handy. The parents room from what it looked like didn’t have much other than a few pieces of clothes that I could wear that were the husbands, most of it one size bigger than I. they also had a gun stashed in between the mattress, it was a 9mm but it would work if anyone wanted to mess with us. The 9mm was a brand I never heard of, a Canik, seemed nice and had a nice sized mag up to 15 but the bad thing was there were only 22 rounds in a box plus the 15 in the gun making it only 37 rounds. I would just have to make my shots count where it mattered most. Next was the other boy’s room, it was almost the same as the other one but without the metal band posters all over the walls, there wasn’t anything of use in this room, the kid never really stashed anything here. I stopped by the girls room again to check up on her, she was on her bed with a backpack so full it seemed it was about to bust at the seams. “Come on you can’t take that much, you only need about 3 days worth of clothes and the rest needs to be stocked with food and other necessities like toilet paper, medicine, hell even doll to keep you company through the nights when we stop.” I said, she looked at me and gave a huff. “That’s not enough clothes sir, they will get dirty and I will just be wearing dirty clothes, that’s yucky.” she replied. “Yea but we can always wash them somewhere so you wont have to worry about that.” I said with a small chuckle. She didn’t say anything back and began unpacking most of the clothes, “What’s your name? mine is Calian, but you can call me Cal.” I said to her. She stopped for a second and looked up at me, “My name is Luna” She replied as she went back to pulling out a few more items in her bag. “well its good to meet you Luna, I promise I will keep you safe when we are out there, meet me downstairs in five minutes once you finish packing your bag right.” I said with a smile. Downstairs was just as much a mess as it was when I came in earlier. Of course there wasn’t really anything to take down here and with the mess it probably wouldn’t be touched again in a long time. I plopped myself on the couch in the living room, staring out the windows. It was cloudy outside and the sun was starting to set which wasn’t ideal but it would be okay we could just camp out later tonight in some abandoned house, well we could just spend the night here, not like it would hurt any. There really wasn’t any kind of rush here, not too sure why I set a time limit on these things. The girl came down the stairs dressed in a purple jacket, it was a pretty thick one like a parka. “where are we going?” she asked standing at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t know, I wanted to head up north, heard the virus isn’t all over the place up there.” I replied, grabbing my backpack, and standing up. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Isn’t it just as dangerous there as it is here?” Slinging the backpack over on my back again. “Yea maybe but its colder up there, cold doesn’t stop the virus but it slows it down so it could be more contained up there, hell there might even be towns full of people.” Luna shrugged her shoulders then walked over to the door waiting on me. “are you ready? we’ve got a lot of walking to do.” I told her as I opened the door letting the cold breeze flow through the house. The girl and I stepped out and began making our way out of town, heading north again.