𝑨 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒚. (𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏)

{28} Bailey Scotts

"You gonna tell me what the fuck all this was about?"

•••

Shards of glass cracked underneath her feet, a musty stench of decomposing corpses wafting amongst the still air.

"Brooke, what are we doing here?"

Sparing her little sister a glance, Brooklyn huffed, "finding some food." She carefully squeezed through the newly created hole in the shop window, "I don't know about you, but I'm starved. Now, I want you to mind the glass and quietly crawl through just like I did, got it?"

Eager, the young girl nodded and excitedly dived through, giggling as she toppled in to Brooklyn's arms.

"Bailey! What did I say?! We've got to be quiet, this isn't a game!" She scolded, pulling her back to her feet.

Pouting, Bailey squeaked a croaky, "sorry Brooke." Her tiny fingers curled around Brooklyn's, clinging them tightly as if her life depended on it.

The two siblings cluelessly ambled throughout the different aisles, finding nothing but raided shelves and empty cans. To be honest, a part of Brooklyn expected it to be like this, they'd been searching for some supplies for a while, but had always been left with no luck.

Almost as if mocking them both, Bailey's stomach gurgled, blatantly demanding for food. It had been a few days since they'd last eaten, and even then it hadn't been enough to last.

"Looks like this place is empty!" The youngest moaned, stomping her foot and folding her arms, "I'm so hungry." She clenched on to her aching belly in an attempt to ease the need for hunger.

Brooklyn placed her hands on her hips and exhaled a sigh of annoyance, "that makes two of us." She chewed on the inside of her cheek in a way of expressing her deep thinking, "we'll go through each aisle again, but split up to save time. K?"

Bobbing her head up and down in agreement, Bailey steadily pulled her hunting knife from her pocket, raising it in defence. Without a word, she skipped in to the opposite direction, the glistening blue hue in her eyes darting from left to right.

Being her older sister, Brooklyn had always been overprotective, but having to singlehandedly look after the budding girl in the midst of an apocalypse tipped her overprotective nature over the edge. It wasn't easy, especially when Bailey was extremely adventurous.

"Huh," she swiped a can of baked beans off of the dusty counter top and pursed her lips, "how'd I miss this son of a bitch?" She murmured, inspecting the label.

In an instant, her actions had been interrupted as a bloodcurdling shrill, followed by countless fits of heavy shrieking, filled the silent void. The can of beans slipped through her fingers, rattling against the floor- and leaving herself no time to think, Brooklyn hurried towards the ear-piercing screams.

Figuratively slamming on her own self-brakes, Brooklyn stopped. Bile rising in her throat at the horrifying sight before her. She almost felt paralysed, or as if her own soul had escaped and drifted apart from the shell of her body.

"Bailey!" She pathetically scuttled towards the scene, her knees buckling and feet stumbling.

It mentally- and physically pained her to process what was happening. One of those terrifying creatures had it's rotten teeth sunk in to the base of Bailey's neck, gushes of thick vermillion gunk spraying messily from the wound. The monster scraped its jagged fingernails deeper in to the small girl's skin, ravenously searching for more flesh to feed on.