Chapter 2

“Do...do y’all mind if I join you?” June asked, looking up at the man and woman, waiting for a reply.

The woman scoffed.

“Let you join us? Why?” The woman took a look around. “Where’s your group?” She used an irritated tone, which made something burn inside June.

“I don’t have one. My family..they all died. So, I don’t have a group.” She said matter of fact, hoping and praying the man would agree.

“Everyone’s family-” the woman started with a flash of anger in her eyes.

“Alice..” the man interrupted her with a warning tone. “Let’s be nice.”

The woman rolled her eyes but stayed silent.

“My name’s Rufus. This here’s Alice. We have a rather small group and are trying to make our way to Savannah. We’d love for you to come along.” The man offered a warm smile which eased June’s fears and soothed the burning in her chest.

“I’m June. Thanks for letting me join.” June returned the smile and continued searching the store. They didn’t find anything other than a couple of stray granola bars and cans of beans.

After they were done searching, they met up at the front of the store again to discuss what they’d be doing next.

“Okay, we got one more spot to search, and then we meet up with the group again and find shelter for the night.” Rufus explained to June.

“Sounds good to me.” She nodded and followed them to the old restaurant next door. She didn’t expect to find much there, but maybe there was something they could use for weapons.

They entered through the back door which had been busted in and carefully did a sweep. Once they confirmed there was no dead inside, they began searching for anything useful.

Once again, they found nothing. Even the knives were missing.

Feeling a bit nervous about meeting the rest of the group, June followed Rufus and Alice to a nearby pharmacy. Climbing through the broken glass doors, she saw 4 others standing around, she guessed they were waiting for them to return.

“Ayy Rufus, how’d it-” one of the guys started but then he noticed June. “Who’s this?” He gave Rufus a puzzled look and took a step back. June thought he seemed nice. Nicer than Alice, anyway.

“I’m June.”

“She’s gonna be joining us from here on out. She just lost her folks and doesn’t have a group. Well, she does NOW, but..” his voice trailed off.

“Alrighty. Well, my name’s Tobias, but you can call me Toby. This here is Eli, Audrey, and Montana, also known as Monty.” Tobias introduced everyone in the group and they all said hey. June couldn’t help but notice Montana kept his eyes on her for a second longer than everyone else. She also couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t mind.

“It’s gonna be getting dark soon, so we need to find somewhere to hide out for the night.” Rufus reminded everyone.

“What’s wrong with here? We could hide out more towards the back and leave first thing in the morning.” Audrey suggested. The idea seemed good enough for June.

Rufus looked outside as the sun was near setting. They had an hour, tops.

“It’ll have to work for tonight.” He sighed.

They all went towards the back of the pharmacy, hiding behind some shelves, and they all began setting up for the night.

Most of them had sleeping bags or some kind of good blanket. June laid out the small blanket that her dad had given her when she was 5. That was 14 years ago, so it was more worn than she’d like to admit.

“So, where are you from?” Eli asked June after they had all gotten adjusted and were eating canned vegetables and beans.

“Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s right above Chattanooga.” She explained, taking a bite of her cold pork and beans.

“That’s nice, I think I’ve been there a couple of times. Just passing through, though.” Eli started rambling about some small restaurant he used to go to with his friends occasionally. “When we’d get bored on the weekends and we had a couple of extra dollars and enough gas, we’d take off to Cleveland and see if we could find a small restaurant to try. We usually did and it was always a fun time.” He laughed.

The group sat around and talked about the good old days until the sun had been good and set. After a while, silence fell upon everyone and one by one they dozed off.

Even June didn’t have much trouble drifting off to sleep. She felt good here. Safe. Safer anyway. She couldn’t wait to get to Savannah with everyone and maybe settle down. Start new. Her dreams were filled with hopes of the future until the sun rose and one by one everyone started waking up to the cold, harsh reality.

The group walked down the interstate, checking cars just like June was doing before, and keeping an eye out for any signs of the dead. They all walked in silence, except for the stray comment or question that someone may have had.

June still felt good and safe with this group. Sure, Alice was a bit rude when they first met, but after they all sat and talked last night, she seemed to have warmed up to her and the whole situation a bit.

They all walked with their weapons close. Most of them had guns with limited ammo, but they all chose knives and machetes and saved the big weapons as a last resort.

June’s weapon of choice was a relatively simple pocket knife her father had given her when it all started. It was solid black, had a slightly curved blade which she kept as sharp as possible, and was a good 3-4 inches. She always had it on her, especially when she was alone.

Eventually, after a few miles of tiresome speed walking, the group stumbled across a beat-up old minivan with half a tank of gas.

“What luck!!” Rufus exclaimed, laughing. They all piled in and took off, dodging the abandoned cars and hitting a few stray dead on the way. The plan was simple: get as far as they could with the car, loot whatever city or town they ended up in, and then continue on foot. They knew they wouldn’t make it to Savannah with the car, but they were all thankful for the nice break from walking it provided.

They were about to pull off at an exit near Atlanta when they saw another group walking down the interstate.

“What do you say gang? Should we stop and talk?” Rufus asked everyone. They all said sure, except for Alice, who just wanted to get going.

They pulled the car over, which was about out of gas anyway, and they all got out, walking towards the new smaller group of 4 people.

“Hey! Where are y’all headed?” Rufus called out to them kindly. Before he could even get the words out, though, the group all turned on them, each with guns raised and cocked, ready to shoot.