We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Two

   Pocatello, Idaho

          Jared looked up as a police car sped by, siren blaring and lights flashing. He weakly pushed himself up to his knees, trying to avoid the broken glass scattering the ground. He looked over at the broken seat belt buckle lying beside him. He winced at the stinging pain in his leg as he pulled himself from the car, which was flipped over onto its roof. He tried to stand up, only to collapse back to the ground when he felt the pain in his leg grow and a cry escaped his mouth. As he fell, a wave of pain ran through his head, too. He sat up slowly and brought his leg up to look at it. He stared through wide eyes at the shard of glass sticking out of his calf. The pain hit him again, worse this time. He looked around desperately. The road was scattered with cars, most of them empty. Down the road a little way was a figure, a person. They seemed to be wandering around, maybe lost.

          "Hey! I need help!" The person, a young woman, shot her head up at the sound. She looked back at Jared, her face hidden by the glare of the sun. Jared noticed that she moved weird, almost like she was having a muscle spasm through her whole body.
        "Maybe she's hurt too." He told himself. He tried to stand again, this time trying to keep his weight off of his injured leg. He looked down at his leg, then back at the woman. When he did, he froze. The woman had started to sprint toward Jared, jumping over most of the cars in the way like they were nothing. As she got closer, Jared could see her face. It was covered in blood, mostly around the mouth, and her eyes looked blank and clouded.
       Suddenly a loud gunshot echoed from somewhere close to them. Jared covered his ears and fell to the ground. When he looked up again, he saw the woman lying on her side with a gaping hole in her head.  Another gunshot rang out, and Jared ducked as the bullet flew past him. Not bothering to look for the shooter, he struggled back to his feet, fighting the pain in his leg the best he could. He only took a second to look around before limping up to one of the stores on the side of the road. The door only opened a crack before stopping suddenly. It felt like something was in front of it. He thought about going to another store when he heard another gunshot and saw the concrete crack near his feet. He threw himself against the door and felt it budge. He stepped back, gathered as much strength as he could, then rammed the door a third time. He was surprised when he fell right past the opened door and hit the floor hard. He heard someone close the door behind him before two hands grabbed him by the arms and pull him up. He tried to stand by himself, but his legs collapsed under him.
       "Is he still out there?" he heard a woman call. He could barely see through the dark gloom, but he could see that she was one of the two that had helped him up.
       Another voice, a man, answered, "I can't see him."
       "Get away from the door then." A third voice said, another woman, this one younger.
       He heard the man's voice again, "What about him?" The two holding Jared had set him on the floor so he was lying flat on his back. He saw fingers snapping in front of his face, but everything seemed distant. He tried to lift his head only to drop it back to the ground. He was aware of the blood flowing from his leg. He heard the first woman's voice but couldn't make out what she was saying. Finally he closed his eyes and gave way to sleep.

          Jared woke up hours later. He was still in the store, laying on the ground. He looked around to see clothes racks scattering the store. As he sat up, he realized that he was laying on a pile of clothes set up almost like a bed. He tried to stand up, but as soon as he did he felt the pain in his left leg and fell back down onto the pile. Seconds later he heard quick footsteps running towards him and a
familiar voice talking to him.
       "Lie still, take it easy," she said quietly as she lowered him back to the ground. He recognized the voice of the second woman from before. As he laid down he looked up at her. She was dark-skinned,  with dark brown eyes and medium-length black hair. She looked like she was no more than a couple years older than him.
       "How are you feeling?" She asked quietly. Jared opened his mouth to talk, but was interrupted by a fit of coughing. "Here," the girl pulled a bottle of water out of a bag and handed it to him. He took it and drank gratefully, gulping down most of the bottle.
       "Thanks." He gasped once he was done and handed the bottle back to her. He hesitated a moment before asking, "Who are you?"
       "My name's Casey," she answered quickly.
       "Oh...and the other two?"
       "Tom and his sister, Ella. They're outside looking for supplies; we might be here for a while." She looked towards the door, then back at Jared expectantly. "Your name?"
       "Um, Jared." He answered. Looking around the store, he asked, "Where are we? What happened out there? There was someone shooting, and cars just left on the road, and..." He broke off, suddenly overwhelmed by the questions running through his head.
       Casey shook her head. "No one knows. It happened so suddenly. People started to get sick, and when they did they got really weak, like they could barely move. Then they were on their feet again, just like that, and they started attacking others. Most of the other survivors we've seen have been raiding the stores. That is, unless you count the crazy guy with the sniper."
       "Wait, you said that they were sick? Like almost dead sick?"
       "Uh, yeah." She replied, "Why?"
      "Dead people attacking the living." He gave her a goofy smile. "Like zombies."
      She laughed softly, "I'm not sure I would call them zombies, but if you want to."
      Jared laughed with her and sat up slowly, holding a hand to his head when he noticed the headache.
   "What about you? Why were you out there on the road? Are you even old enough to be driving?"
    Jared glared, "Actually I am; I'm 17." He thought for a moment before adding, "I was driving to my house; my mom had me get some groceries.  I remember I heard tires screeching; someone swerved in front of me, I think, and I tried to avoid hitting them. Then I think I hit my head and blacked out."
    Casey nodded, "You're lucky, surviving the crash and the shooter. Tom wanted to leave you out there; they got attacked by one guy earlier, and we don't know if the sniper has a clear shot through the door. Ella wouldn't let him, though."
    "I'm glad she didn't then." Jared said with a small laugh.
    Casey smiled with him. "Yeah, make sure to thank her when she gets back." She had barely finished the sentence when they heard a door slam closed. They both looked up to see two breathless people near the entrance of the store, hurrying to push objects up against the door. The girl had slightly long blonde hair and was the youngest of the two while the man, the older one, had short brown hair at the top of his head and a think beard. Jared guessed that they were Tom and Ella. They both looked like they were around their mid or late twenties. Once they were done they started walking towards Casey and Jared.
    Jared looked up as Casey stood beside him. "Wait here." She whispered to him before walking over to the two. After about a minute of talking she came back and sat by him. "So what'd you find?" She
 asked, looking at them.
    Ella sat beside them and slung a bag off her shoulder. "We got some food, mostly canned, water bottles, and some medical things. Not a lot, just aspirin, pain killers, stuff like that." As she said it, she tossed a bottle to Jared. He caught it clumsily and muttered a quick 'thanks.'
    "And a radio." Tom added, pulling it from his own bag. Jared leaned in close as he switched through the stations, but all they heard was static.
    "Maybe it's broken." Casey suggested.
    "Yeah, that or no one's alive to broadcast." Tom replied dully. He looked at one of the windows, which were mostly blocked except for a few cracks. As he turned, Jared saw the pistol in his belt. He stared at it until Tom turned back. "It's getting dark out," he said, "We need to get some rest." He stood up, then looked down at Jared. "Nice meeting you." Jared didn't think they'd really 'met' each other, but Tom was already walking away.
    Casey pulled his attention away from him. "I'll sleep by you, so if your leg starts hurting again then just wake me up."
    "Yeah, thanks." He said before popping a couple of pills into his mouth. He laid back down and was asleep in seconds, oblivious to the fact that he'd already slept almost a full day.