The Eruption of Time

Chapter Six - What Goes Around, Comes Around

As everyone wokeup, the dogs were lying silently by the kids' feet, the birds in the cage weren't making a sound. As Tiffany sat up and looked over she could see Jefferson was sitting up, "My leg..." he muttered. "Have you seen what's out there Tiffany? How in the world am I supposed to live in this new world like this?" he asked as he suddenly looked at her. "We had no choice, your alive. Take that into consideration. It's not a cure, it's how you live." he looked shocked by her answer. In some ways she couldn't believe she said it herself. He suddenly looks away and mutters, "Water?" Tiffany stood at her feet, grabbing the rifle as she stood; and walked into the kitchen grabbing a bowl and a couple of bottles of water. As she walked back in, Annabella was sitting by Jefferson. Tiffany set the water and bowl on the table and Annabella grabbed a rag and started tending to him.

It wasn't perfect, but he would live and that was all that Tiffany could remind herself. She peaked past the curtains on the windows, there wasn't a monster in sight. It was as if they moved on from the area. The chickens were gone, there wasn't a single sign of them, they were just gone. Tiffany exhaled slowly and woke up her father, "They are gone, we have to leave." but before she could say anything else, he stood up and started emptying her bags. Tiffany walked into the kitchen and grabbed the pistol from the top shelf and left it on the table with an aminition. Tiffany unloads some of the crates and steps outside. It was silent, with the sound of a bird here and there, but there wasn't anyone or anything in the area to be seen.

Holding the rifle to her tightly, she carried the empty crates to her father's Jeep. Her father meets her at the truck, "I can't go. You know what your looking for. If someone shows up, I need to be here, your brother can't even make it off the couch." he looks down and Tiffany looks away. "There was no choice," she said without any compassion. She pulled the crates out of the jeep and put them into her mother's car, "I can't drive your jeep." he scratched the back of his head,"I'm sorry." she looked back at him. "It's fine, I understand why your not coming along."

Before she knew it, the back of the car was full of empty crates, bookbags, and one full gas can. She had her rifle sitting in the passenger seat and a bag that had basic medical supplies, a couple of water bottles, a flashlight, and some extra blankets and clothes. As she drove down the driveway, she thought about Henry and how she hoped to see him again.

As she reached the gate at the end of the driveway, she stepped out of the car with her rifle close to her. Tiffany pushed open the gate and walked back to the car, looking over her shoulder every other step. Closing the car door, she took deep breaths and checked the back seat, just in case. She had seen Zombie Land before. It might've been fiction but it was something. She put the car in the driveway and started down the road. The first stop on her list was the auto parts store. She remembered seeing that it was one of the only places not being ransacked when they had been in town a couple of days beforehand.

On the way to the auto store, she realized that the town looked dead. There weren't any of the beasts around and none in sight either. Ever so often she would see a stray animal as she weaved around abandoned cars on the street. She finally reached the auto store and to her provable it was untouched, as she could see. The windows were intact, the doors were still locked as she reached them and pulled, but there was really nothing around she thought. Tiffany walked back to the car and grabbed her bag from inside. One of her brothers threw a mauilty use pocket knife into her bag. Pulling it out, she dropped her bag and used the screw driver to take it off the door nob all together, setting in her bag for safe keepings.

Pulling on the now hole in the door she opened it slowly and the bell over her head on the inside went off. All she thought at that moment was f**k. She held her rifle to her and looked around franticly. There wasn't anyone in there, but the place was packed with things they could use. Her mind was filled with possibilities. She turned on her heels and ran to the car, opening the trunk with the click of a button. She grabbed two crates and an empty bag, throwing hers in the back and setting the rifle on her back. She hurried back into the most heart-warming thing she'd found since this whole thing started.

She filled the bags with batteries, cases of lightbulbs, and small caps and wires. Within seconds she was looking at the boxes, trying to figure out if they would need any of them. That's when Tiffany ran across three boxes of radios that signaled for thousands of miles, so they would be able to hear each other and other people if set up right. This was a find and she knew it instantly. She put them in the crates. She then started to grab a couple of handfuls of bolts while she thought about Sabastion needing things for the boat. When she got back they would have to leave again to get the wood from the mill their dad works at anyway. Finally, she grabbed a couple of cans of spray paint, all in different colors, but made sure to grab a couple of extra cans of black and then some white verses of all of the other colors.

Tiffany put all the bags on her back and started to feel a cramp in her shoulder, but it was quicker this way. Then she picked up the only two crates she was able to fill with the small amount of knowledge she had. Without a second thought, she pushed the door open and started to load everything into the car and closed the doors. Then she reached into her personal bag and grabbed the screw driver and the doorknob, walked over to the door of the autoparts store, then screwed it back on and pulled the door closed, hearing the click of the door lock from the knob.

As she turned around she was faced by a man. His face was covered so she couldn't see who it was. Tiffany stood still, she could see a rifle on his back and two separate knives. "Tiffany? Is that really you?" the man called out, the voice sounded so familiar. His hands reached up and Tiffany pulled her rifle from her back to her hands and he stopped moving. His hands stopped mid way, then he slowly kept reaching for his hood as she pointed the rifle at him. All she could think was if this was going to be her first bullet leaving her rifle? For the living and not the dead?