The Beginning in the End

Stranger

"Hey mom I'm going out I'll be back later." I shouted from the top of the stairs. I was eager to get back to the normal before school starts. "Be safe honey, no drinking and drugs." she shouted from her bedroom, sleep evident in her voice. She's been sick, she won't admit it but you can see the concern in her face. "I love you!" I shouted basically running downstairs. The feeling of freedom as I got into the car that waited outside for me. "Let's go to this party!" I said excitedly.

*Unknown P.O.V*

The struggle out here has everyone around me on edge. Everyday it seems like we have to fight off a hoard of these shufflers, or at least hide from them. "Look, we'll go in through the back, the door there is already open." I whispered to the group trying to regain my previous confidence. "We'll enter and search for food, we don't all have to go but some of us have to." my head was down so they wouldn't see the concern in my eyes. Honestly, I think this was a bust. There's no possible way that we would make it out alive. There's about 20 of those shufflers in the front of the store, and we all have to sneak by a few.

"Honestly I'm scared, but I'll go with." my best friend whispered, with some confidence showing in his eyes. I appreciate this guy, we've been together through this whole thing. He and I have saved each other more times than I could count. "We'll go too we're good at being sneaky." Justin, Jake, and Leon all nodded. "Alright then we'll leave in a few. Tie up your loose ends, who knows when we'll be back." I whispered back with a slight nod.

These guys expect me to be there for them, to be strong. Some days I don't even know how I do it. The days get harder, food gets more scarce, I also think a few of them are losing hope. I can't blame them though, I'm losing hope too. I'm trying to make it to the south side of town. I know there's a way out because I found it a while back. I just hope that no one has covered it up I need to get out of here.

Things in the past were the best for me. I took everything for granted though, I should've taken my chance with Ash. When it came to her I lacked confidence that I had with other women. She also wouldn't want someone like me, at least that's what I keep telling myself. Sure everyone knows that I slept around with girls, but I needed to blow off steam. It didn't help that I would think of her when I was with them.

"Hey man are you even listening to me?" Brendan said while waving a hand in my face. "Why don't you just go talk to her, don't be such a p*ssy." he shoved my playfully. "I can't she wouldn't want to be seen with someone like me anyways." I shrugged my shoulders as we walked to the lunch room. I've been wanting to ask her out for a while. I also had a plan that after football camp that I'd ask her out. No not like anyone else, I mean I'd take her on an actual date. Something about her made me want to be a better man. "I'm going to do it this summer. My parents are guna let me use the boat." I said a little too excited. Brendan raised an eyebrow at me "Yeah we'll see." he chuckled pulling me into a head lock.

I hated that I also would put it off. My mom was for it after all, she kept asking me why I waited so long. If I would've known that we would've ended up like this I would've made my move one her.

"You guys ready to head out?" I said soft enough so the shufflers wouldn't hear us in our hiding spot. "Guys I really appreciate you guys coming with me on this. Remember only the important stuff food, meds, water." I whispered softly sliding the back door open. I peaked my head out to see if there was anything out there, thankfully it was empty. We all came out slowly hugging the surrounding buildings, using the shadows to keeps us hidden from any unknown threats.

I'm pretty sure I said this before but this trip is going to be highly dangerous. Thankfully we can go as far as we need right now, the rest of the group has food and water that should last over a week. We reached the corner I signaled to everyone to stay behind me as I peaked around to see what's out there. For some odd reason it was quiet. Quiet enough that the hairs on the back of your neck stood up, and goosebumps appeared on every visible part of your body.

"Ok guys it's dead out there stay close and do not wander off." I sighed "and guys if anything happens just run to safety." my voiced laced with worry. I was the first to slip out and run quietly down the road. Brendan followed along with everyone else. Before anyone says anything, yes we all have knives with us, we've all killed shufflers this isn't new to us. We all jumped the fence one by one trying to make the least amount of noise to not draw unnecessary attention. After I got thumbs up from everyone we slid into the building taking off in our own directions except for Brendan and I.

"Let's go this way." He pointed towards the front of the store. Now the better part of me didn't want to the front of the store wasn't properly locked but I shook my head in agreement. We weren't even there for five whole minutes before everything went bad. *Crash* the window shattered and that changed the whole game plan.