Take over

1400 hours:

It didn’t take long to block off the court, we also decided to take out some of the fences in between the houses to reinforce the road block off. I came back into the house to see Ryan playing with Harper, James and Ava cuddling on the couch talking. Amelia comes walking in panicking.

“Guys, there’s some people walking towards us, I think they’re coming from the nearby hospital.” Amelia spoke as she tried to catch her breath.

“Where did you see them, how far are they?” I asked her.

“A few km away from the gas station.” she replied.

“How can you see that far from our house?” Ryan asked her. She scratched the back of her neck.

“I actually went to the gas station, I wanted to get something.” Amelia replied.

“You shouldn’t go out by yourself Amelia!” James stood up and walked towards us. “You know if you get sick, you can’t get better! You could've gotten all of us infected too!” I was about to step in but Amelia spoke up.

“If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that dozens of infected are heading in our direction. We most likely have a few hours till they reach us.” She told him and they stared at each other.

“Okaaayyy” I said as I stepped in front of them. “Instead of arguing, we should set up a plan.”

“Kira is right, I think we should hold out here, wait til they pass. They are obviously walking towards something, there are still rioters out there, let the infected head towards them.” Ryan stated.

“Man, this kid is ruthless, but he got a point.” Ava added, “on the other hand, we don’t know how long it will take for them to pass.”

“And what if they get too close? Or get into our court?” Ryan asked.

“Then we’ll have to take them out.” James told us. Everyone went silent.

“We’re gonna kill them?” Ava asked James judginly.

“Would you rather get infected?” James stared at us.

“He’s right,” I added, “if we’re put into that situation, we cannot hesitate or it will be too late.” everyone nodded.

“Ava still has a point, we don’t know how long it will take for the dozens of infected to pass us, we need to get more food.” Amelia told us.

“Actually James and I were working on the truck and SUV that the neighbours left behind.” I waved my hand telling them to follow me.

“Yeah we added a muffler on the truck to make it quieter and a reinforced bumper on the SUV just in case we hit something.” James added and laughed. We got into the garage and James and I showed them the red truck and the black SUV.

“Better than that warned down jeep James got.” Ryan picked on James.

“Come here you little rat.” James joked as he put Ryan and a headlock and gave him a noogie.

“Before we do anything, Kira. I know you collect weapons so you won’t need my blade anymore, would you?” Ava asked me.

“I’ll have you know, I always have my secret weapon on my body.” I pulled a little metal cylinder from my pocket. I pressed the top and pulled out the safety and released it. It popped straight out into a metal bow staff. “Plus I have my katana upstairs in my room.” I smiled, went upstairs and brought it down. I handed Ava her machete back and collapsed my bow staff. “Amelia and I will take the SUV to the gas station. We’ll stop at the nearby shoppers too if we have time.” I told everyone.

“James and I can go through some of these houses, maybe find something to reinforce the entrance.” Ave told us.

“Don’t be too loud, we don’t want to attract any attention.” James told us then Ava and him got into the truck and drove off. The only way to get into the court is by moving one of the fences so they left it open for us.

“What about me?” Ryan asked, “can I come? There’s nothing to do anymore at home.”

“I would say yes but we don’t know what we’ll have to face out there, maybe if you did some more training with me, I could let you and Harper come too.” I told him.

“What do I do then?” Ryan asked me.

“How bout you take harper to the neighbours house and bring whatever food they have. Once that's done see if they have any blankets and clothes. Once that is done, move on to the next house but don’t leave this area until we get back.” I told Ryan.

“Sounds like chores.” Ryna snapped back.

“Right now, it’s the only way I know you’re safe buddy. Once we get back, I’ll help you out then we can start on some training, how does that sound?” I asked him.

“Better than nothing I guess, maybe I can find some computers I can mess around with. Set up cameras, yes yes okay, you two can leave now.” Ryan told us and went back inside to put shows on.

“Before your tech stuff, at least get some food from 1 house. Also take something from my wall before your leave to protect yourself. Don’t forget to keep your mask on, and sanitize your hands before and after touching something. Put on a jacket to stay warm..”

“Yes yes I know, stay safe, be good and stay out of trouble, starting to sound like a mom aunty Kira.” Ryan spat at me.

“Aunts are pretty much cool moms so I take that as a compliment.” I said as I got into the car with Amelia, “would you mind closing the gate after we leave? Keep your phone close in case of emergency.”

“I gotchu” Ryan replied as he closed the gate. I got out of the car and climbed to the top of the fence to look at Ryna.

“If you get into any trouble, run back to the house and lock yourself in the washroom again, text me and James. We’ll be close.”

“Yes ma’am!” Ryan replied with a little salute. I hopped off the fence and got back into the SUV

“We finally ready?” Amelia asked me, I nodded and drove to the station.

1430 hours:

It took us only a minute to get to the station. After only being gone for a few hours, it seems the looters have visited this place. We entered the store quietly and noticed the windows were smashed, most of the smoke products and candy were taken. There were no more lighters or canned food but I did find some food in the fridge, some packets of hotdogs and ham that fell onto the floor.

“Hey, look at this!” Amelia called for me. I turned around to see her holding a box of booze in one hand and a box of fireworks in the other.

“I don’t know if it would be useful in this situation.” I smiled.

“Gas stations weren’t legally able to sell full on fireworks, these are mostly firecrackers. I’m bringing this home, I got some ideas.” she told me.

“Ok, just put it in the trunk.” I told her.

~DUMPSTER MAKING NOISES~

“Something is outside.” I whispered to Amelia.

“I’ll go check it out.” She told me.

“No, allow me.” I told her to pull out my katana. I opened the back door to see the store keep, he was banging on the dumpster. There was something hitting the lid trying to get out but everytime it opened, the man hit it. “Hey man, you good over there.” I loudly whispered but I didn’t get a reply. I can feel Amelia standing right behind me making me nervous.

“Something isn’t right, Kira.” Amelia said to me.

“Hey!” I spoke louder and he turned around, he came running towards us but we closed the door before he could even get close. “He seemed a little slow don’t you think?” I asked Amelia.

“He’s definitely infected but maybe their agility relies on how fit they were before they got infected. This man is a little on the not so fit side.” Amelia replied.

“Ok then, I got a plan. You hold the door closed while I go around. Bang on the door to keep his attention. I’ll knock 3 times, pause then 2 more times to let you know it’s clear.” she nodded in agreement and started banging on the door getting a bigger reaction out of the store keep. I quietly sprint out the front door and around to the back. I saw the man banging on the door so I opened the dumpster to see a raccoon. I left it open so it can get on it’s own. I turned my attention back onto the man.

“I wouldn’t normally attack an unarmed man unexpectedly but.” I thrusted my katana into his back but he continued to attack the door. I pulled it out and thrusted my blade into his left shoulder to hit his heart. Still, he fought on. He turned his attention to me with my knife still in his back. I extended my bow staff then I stepped backwards and tripped over a bag of garbage. The man jumped onto me, pinning me onto the ground with my katana inches away from stabbing my chest. I put my foot on his hip and kicked him over me and rolled over to get onto my feet. “Well I thought that would’ve worked.” The man laid on his back with the handle in his chest and the blade stuck straight out of him. I ran towards him raising my staff high into the air and smashing it straight down on his skull. I saw his arms fall to the ground and his body was lifeless. I knelt down beside him and carefully pulled out the katana. I saw his name tag. “Nick.” I signed. “Sorry this happened man.” I heard the door creak open and Amelia walked out. “I told you to wait for me to knock.” I snapped at her as I found Nick's wallet and put it in my pocket. “Something could've happened to me, you could’ve been hurt, you need to follow the plan.” I snapped at her and got into her face until she was against the wall. Out of nowhere she hugs me tightly and I felt my body tense up. Amelia was only 5’6 and I’m 5' 10 so she wrapped her arms around my waist.

“I know you didn’t want to do that.” she spoke to me calmly, “thank you for keeping us safe.” I relaxed my shoulder and wrapped my arms around her.

“His name was Nick.” I pulled out his wallet to grab his driver's license. “Nick Jentson, and he recently turned 37 on September 11th.” I put the license back into the wallet and into my jacket's inner pocket. “That was 16 days ago and now he’s gone.” I sighed and started walking inside.

“Kira..” Amelia started.

“Let's just put everything in the car and head back. I’ve had enough exploring for today.” I told her and started packing with her quietly behind me. We were about to leave then heard a gunshot. I looked at Amelia while looking around. “We gotta get back like now.” I told her and we drove off.