And so, our life went on. Though it wasn't much of a life. We just sat around all day, moping and waiting. Carefully eating our rations, saving as much as we could. After the past few days of excitement and terror on the brink of death, it was indescribably strange to be calmly lounging around. Occasionally, I'd stare at the window, expecting to see that dog or another horror to be peering in at us. A few times, I swear I'd see some nightmarish face glaring at us, but it would turn out to just be me seeing things. I hoped I was just seeing things, at least.

All the while, the rain continued to fall unceasingly from the heavens.

A week passed. To pass the time, I started to try sculpting things out of some of the scrap wood in the basement. Aaron started to draw with the pen and paper we had found upstairs. Jared was always on the alert, listening off into the distance for something, always on guard and ready to spring into action at any moment. He spent most of his time fiddling with the radio, trying to get a message. There was nothing but noise.

When he wasn't doing that, Jared took the time to teach me and Aaron how to properly use a gun, because obviously it would be a better idea if all of us knew how to use it instead of just one of us. The shotgun was one of the newer models, and was capable of holding four shells. Jared showed both of us how to reload.

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"Guns are pretty unbelievable..." Jared told Aaron, "With this thing, even a little guy like you can take down a full grown man, or maybe even one of those things."

"...really?" Aaron asked, almost like he couldn't believe it.

"Yep, but a little guy like you also needs to be twice as careful. And... if we can, we're going to want to avoid these things instead of trying to fight with them. Don't ever get too cocky or..." he pointed to his stump, "That could happen. Or worse. So promise me, and your dad, that you won't ever bite off more than you can chew... and if things ever come to a fight, leave it to us."

He nodded.

"Good," Jared smiled.

When he wasn't teaching us, he'd also spend a lot of his time practicing how to reload and aim now that he only had one hand. Apparently, it wasn't that powerful compared to other models or something, so he'd be able to use it with one hand without too much trouble. Obviously it wouldn't be as effective as when he had both hands, but he said he'd get used to it. He'd reload it by resting the end on his stump, and he could use it that way to aim too.