Green Gas

1

Talia pov

        Looking up at the trees i see beams of sunlight being cast down between the leaves creating a zig-zag pattern of spotlights. I pulled my scarf down and wiped the sweat on my forehead off with my hand. Things have changed for the world. It's been over a year now, and most everyone is dead. If they are not dead, then they are your enemy. 

    I remember it like it was yesterday, the memory of it all has been seared onto my brain, on April 4th of 2020 the world ended and it all started with an explosion of a gas plant. The explosion itself created a green gas that traveled to every corner of the world. it started effecting the people close by at first, and it was fast acting, they vomited blood and looked as if their skin was being melted off, me and my family were sitting in the living room watching the news as it all unfold. When Jamie Covenhelm said that the gas would reach us in the next hour, it was as if a gun had been shot. People flooded the stores for food or other items for their survival, but for us my dad just went down to the basement and grabbed three different boxes all filled with things like first aid kits, gas maskes, flash lights, food, and water. 

    My mom had put the boxes together a few years back, she had this great idea that one day we were going to need it due to some pandamic problem. Everyone thought she was crazy or just simply didn't believe her, and i was one of those people. But she clearly proved me and everyone else wrong. We basically had our own store in our basement because of her which was a plus side for a good while. 

     I pulled my water out and took a quick drink while watching my sister Alice carve a symbol into a tree that she and my dad had came up with as a way to tell us where we have been and how to get back. "You need to hydrate", i finally broke the silence that took over us a few hours back. "Nah i'm fine, let me finish this and we can continue on", she waved her free hand dismissing me and what i said, i looked up again to see the sun right above us "yeah no can do, we gotta head back it will be dark by the time we get back",  walking towards her i pulled my scarf back over my face and took the knife Alice held in her hand and replaced it with the water bottle. 

    She finally gave in and drank the rest of the water that the bottle contained as we started walking back the way we came, "do you think things will go back to the way things were?" She played with the straps on her bag while she thought about the old days of only having to worry about school, friendships and boys. I kept quiet as if I didn't hear her question, Alice is hopeful but being hopeful isn't going to keep us alive, worrying about right now and what's going on will. The day dreaming and the hoping is for times when you know you don't have to look over your shoulder every 5 minuets to make sure there's no one following or even a groulie. 

    Groulie's are the walking dead, i wasn't sure as to what to call them when we first found out about them so I called them what came to mind. Which was 'groulie' they are just like every zombie you see on tv shows, they eat flesh. Only diffrence is groulies have mutated, think of it as "left for dead" or "the last of us" thing is you just have to know what your working with and how to kill them. There are ones with four or more arms, they are fast and quiet deadly, only one of them could rip you apart in 5 seconds flat, so imagine two or even three. 

    You wouldn't have a chance in surviving that, well that is unless you are a supernatural being, WHICH so happens we have, we got the werewolfs, vampires, and the fae? I don't know much about them since we never encounter them nor do I want to, the moment that the groulies were found the supernaturals came out of hiding, well more like a group of people ran into them while being chased by a hoard of groulies and they had helped them. 

 By the time we got back to base the sun was already setting, I knocked on the metal door three times to tell my father that we are back, we waited for a few moments until the door finally opened up to reveal my father. His curly dark brown hair looked like a mess as if he has been running his hands through it all day. As for his clothes they were covered in grease and dirt, I guess he was working on the generator today. "Rough day?" I walked passed him with Alice in tow. "Something like that", he mumbled closing the door and locking it behind us, we walked through another door but this time it was glass which in turn he again closed and locked behind us. 

    To the right of us sat a wooden box my dad made to hold the bags we carried and weapons of course. After my mom passed we found this mental hospital and decided that it would hold us for the time being since winter was about to come. The walks were a white brick and and the floors were a light brown colored tiles, we headed to the open area that was used for patients to socialize and play games and watch tv. 

Alice and I put our bags on the table closest to us and poured out all the things we had in it that we found, which was only a couple of bottles of water, two cans of beans and stale peanut butter crackers. "That's all you found?" My father said looking at the table of stuff we got. I nodded my head "sadly", Alice mumbled, my father sighed and rubbed the back of his head and looked up at the ceiling.