Life After Death (#1)

Chapter Nineteen

Max woke up earlier than usual, carefully sliding out of bed, so he didn't wake the peaceful Lizzie. He took advantage of any time she was quiet, he laughed to himself. After taking a long shower and slipping on his clothes, Max wandered downstairs into the kitchen. The entire Jennings family was already sat around the table, tucking into breakfast and chatting away.

"Don't you people ever sleep?" Max laughed.

"Never waste a minute of the day, Max, my man. Never miss a minute," Henry smiled, his eyes gleaming as usual.

Max had never met such a warm-hearted man who managed to smile both with his mouth and his eyes.

Max pulled up a chair and sat down at the table.

"Are you not eating, Max?" asked Emily, whilst trying to control the two young girls, fighting over the last bowl of cereal.

"Nah, that's okay, thanks Emily. I'm going to head out soon, see what I can scavenge from around here. I'll grab something to eat when I'm back," Max said nonchalantly.

The whole table fell to silence and the whole Jennings family stopped eating.

"I must have misheard," Henry chuckled, looking around the table. "You said you're heading outside the gates?" he asked, clearly puzzled.

"Yeah, just a quick look around, see what I can find in nearby houses, maybe some food and medicine and stuff," Max explained, unsure as to why it had caused such worry.

"But they... they're out there," Sophia said, trembling and hugging her mother's arm tightly.

"She's right. It's not safe," added Emily.

"It's fine," Max scoffed. "I've been out on the road long enough, I've fought and killed those things enough, and I know what I'm doing," he reassured.

"I don't think it's a good idea Max, we have plenty of supplies here," Henry argued.

"Well Henry, those supplies will eventually run out, and if you're not prepared to go outside to find more, well then I'm sorry, you're fucked," Max said, pushing his chair back and getting to his feet, ready to leave.

"Language!" Emily snapped, covering Megan's ears as she did so.

"Sorry, but the sooner you realise it, the better. This is a fu... screwed up world we live in, and we have to do stuff we don't want to in order to survive. End of story," Max snapped back at her, annoyed by the sheer ignorance of the family.

They had been locked away in the safety of their home since the start; they didn't know what it was really like out there. More than that, they were in complete denial about the need to explore in order to survive. If Max was still planning on leaving Lizzie here, he'd be having second thoughts 'round about now.

"Look, come with me Henry, let me show you, teach you what it's like out there. Eventually you will need to venture outside your little haven here," Max urged.

Henry mulled this over in his head, but Jenny weighed in before he had the chance to reply.

"He most certainly will not!" she shouted. "If you think my husband is risking his life out there just to match your idiotic bravado then you're sadly mistaken!"

"Right okay, well I'll see you all later," Max said, fed up with the opposition he was facing about such a menial task.

"Would you at least like me to look after Lizzie whilst you're gone?" Emily asked with a condescending tone.

"Actually, she's a big girl, I'm sure she can look after herself," Max shot back at her.

"Who can look after themselves?" Lizzie said, stumbling into the room, rubbing her sleep filled eyes.

Silence.

"Wow, who died?" Lizzie asked, confused. "Well apart from like 99.9% of the population obviously," she laughed, picking up a spare piece of toast and cramming it in her mouth.

"Max here is thinking of going outside the gates to 'scavenge' for supplies," Jenny announced.

"Cool, can I come?" Lizzie said, picking up another piece of toast as she did so.

Jenny's mouth fell open in shock as all eyes locked onto Lizzie.

"What?" she said, spitting out crumbs as she chewed.

"Go get dressed, we leave in five," Max laughed, heading towards the kitchen door. He didn't want to be in this room a minute longer than he had to.

"Aye aye captain," Lizzie responded, sarcastically saluting before darting out of the room in front of him.

"This is irresponsible and I-" Jenny began to yell, but Max was already out the door, humming a tune in his head without a care in the world.

Lizzie was sprinting down the stairs within the next minute, ready to go.

"That was quick," Max chuckled.

"Less time for that lot to argue," Lizzie replied cheekily.

"Come on then kid," Max said, smiling as he opened the front door and walked out towards the gate.

As they reached the towering metal fence, light footsteps could be heard, approaching from behind.

"Grandpa said that I should close the gate behind you," Megan beamed proudly, happy that she had been given such an important job.

"Sounds like a good idea Megan," Max smiled, ruffling the top of the young girl's head.

Megan giggled and walked alongside Max to the gate.

Max pulled up the bolt which fixed the gate into the ground, before pulling it open and stepping through to the other side.

"We'll see you later, okay Meg?" Lizzie said, being unnaturally nice to the child, obviously in a better mood since she had been trusted to come with Max.

Megan nodded, still with a grin on her face as Lizzie and Max walked off down the street.

"We'll start a few streets down, then circle to these houses on our way back later, okay?" Max said.

"Sounds good to me," Lizzie agreed.

The two walked down the street into the distance, as Megan began to pull the gate shut behind them. She closed it, before pushing the bolt back down into the ground, struggling with the stiffness of the slightly rusted metal. The bolt slid part way into the ground and Megan hightailed it back into the house before slamming the front door behind her.

The gate wobbled in the breeze.