We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Seven

Boston, Mass.

          Cora and Jay had decided to move by rooftop, considering they were train surfers and roof jumping was a lot easier than their normal stuff. As they opened the door to the roof and walked out, they were met by a bright blue sky and shining sun. Looking up, it almost felt like nothing was wrong. Almost.

           Jay and Cora both had backpacks slung over their shoulders, one stuffed with mostly food and bottled water and the other with a couple of small blankets, a pocket knife, and a couple of steak knives. Both were wrapped together in a towel to be sure that they didn't cut through anything while in the bag.
          Cora looked up at the beautiful sky, then down at the chaos below. She stood and stared for a few minutes, trying to convince herself that this wasn't real, trying to wake up from that awful nightmare. But she couldn't wake up. She was already awake. This was real.
          'Mom's really dead.' she thought to herself, a tear streaming down her cheek. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and tried to block any more tears. She couldn't break down, not yet, not here. Suddenly Jay was at her side, holding one arm around her and the crowbar with the other. It reminded Cora once again of the pistol, holstered in her belt and hidden by her shirt.
          "We should go." He said softly. Cora looked at him and nodded.
          "Yeah." The two of them looked out at the building next to theirs, judging the distance. It didn't look too far. Cora went first. She walked to the end of her roof, then took off at a sprint. Right before the building ended, she jumped, pushing off with her legs as hard as she could and driving her knee up to get more height; she landed with feet to spare. She rolled to take in the fall and stood up, watching for Jay. He followed seconds later, landing so close to Cora that she had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. Jay stood up and brushed himself off, then looked back at Cora and smiled.
          Cassidy's apartment was five blocks from Cora's. She and Jay made good time, but the only problem was when they came to a street. Too far to jump, they'd have to down to the ground to cross the street. It would have been easy if there weren't crazed cannibals running around. Instead of going inside, the scaled down the fire escapes, then made mad dashes across the street and to the next one. This would catch the attention of some of the cannibals, but most of them lost interest when they got to the next building; Jay, the faster and more athletic of the two, was first to reach the next building. He'd get the ladder down and race up it with Cora close behind before pulling it back up. Despite a few close calls, they managed to get away unscathed. There were some other people running around, Cora noticed, but none came close to them; sometimes they'd even distract the cannibals. She couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

           Almost half an hour later, they were crossing the last street. Cora crept in front of Jay to the front door of the building, gun ready in her hands. She hadn't had to shoot it yet; Jay had taken care of any problems with his crowbar. They didn't want to make any more noise than possible, especially with gunshots. Some loud noises the cannibals seemed to ignore, but they always, without fail, moved towards a gunshot.

          She carefully opened the door and looked out. There was a group of cannibals across the street, all crowded around something on the asphault. Cora didn't have to see to know what it was; the body of some poor victim that had been reduced to a clump of gore and bones. At least there was a chance that whoever it was, wouldn't come back. There were others wandering the street, but none were close to the two of them. She looked at Jay, gave a small nod, then ran from the safety of the building and across the street. Immediately, one of the half-dead people on the street ran at them, reaching at them with bloodied arms. Cora heard it but didn't look. They were close to the last building now; they could make it without any trouble if they kept running. At least that's what she thought until the two sets of running feet stopped with a thud. Cora stopped suddenly, almost sliding on the road, and looked back. Jay was laying on his back in the middle of the road, with the person bent over him, snapping its teeth at his face. Now able to get a closer look, Cora couldn't even tell what gender it was because of how badly it was burned. It's hair was gone except for a few strands, and it's clothes were ragged and torn, barely covering the red and charred skin. It had to have been caught in a bad fire, but they'd never seen any smoke that day; did someone burn it alive? She shook the thought from her head. It wasn't important.

          Jay had his hands on its shoulders and his feet pushing at its stomach. Without even thinking about it, Cora pulled out her 9mm and pointed it at the burned person. She pulled the trigger, and watched as the body jerked and then fell to the ground; some of the others glanced up from their meal, but soon went back to eating. After that, all she could do was stare until Jay caught her by the arm and dragged her toward the apartment building. She snapped out of her trance and ran after him. She was getting tired, so she was relieved when they reached the building. Her relief didn't last long, though.

          "Jay..." She said quietly as he pounded his fist on the door. "I killed someone..." He spun to face her.
          "No you didn't. You killed a monster. It may have been a human before this, but the thing that came after us wasn't a person." She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the front door opened and she and Jay were pulled into the building.
          Cora struggled to stay on her feet as she was practically thrown into the small apartment building. Mica had let go of Jay and locked the door. Cassidy just watched. Cora could tell she was scared; it showed on her face, as clear as day. After the door was locked, Mica turned back to them and smiled.
          "Glad you're okay. I thought you might have died out there." Jay gave him a hard punch on the arm.
          "Now why would you think that?" He asked sarcastically. Cora wondered how he could still joke after the event of the day.  She smiled, but stopped herself when she thought about what had just happened outside.
          "Are you okay?" Cassidy asked. Cora shook her head.
          "Just be glad you didn't have to go out there." It was quiet for the next few seconds. Finally Mica broke the silence.
          "Most of the others living here are okay. Except maybe Bob. He hasn't been home since yesterday." Cora thought back to her apartment building. She and Jay had left on their own, not even bothering to see if anyone else was alive. Suddenly she felt consumed with guilt. Had they left them to die? Or were they better off, maybe found a safer place? They were so dead-set on getting to Mica and Cassidy that they didn't think of bringing anyone else along.
          "Have you guys been watching the news?" Cassidy asked suddenly, her voice filled with excitement. When Jay and Cora didn't answer, she continued. "It's all over T.V. It's some kind of virus or something. Apparently it's everywhere, even in the other countries." Cora stared at her.
          "Well, they're working on a cure for it then, aren't they? or a vaccine? I mean, they have to be. Someone has to be..."
         Cassidy shrugged. "They didn't say much on the news about it. Just that everyone's trying to figure out what's going on. But they did talk about some fortified place protected by the military. There's actually a few that were listed, but they're all smaller than the first; that one's the most fortified, I heard. It's in Ohio, right?" she looked over at Mica, who nodded.
          "Yeah," he said, "Cincinnati. It's supposed to be some kind of safe haven. The military's trying to clear out the whole state."
          "That's great!" Jay said, before adding, "Or at least it would be, if it wasn't so far."
          "It's not too far." Cassidy said. "Just a few states away."
          "But-" Cora was interrupted as someone ran up behind them. She recognized Jack, who lived just across from Cassidy. Jack was about 25 years old and had short black hair with dark brown eyes. He waved and smiled as he came up. He could be pretty childish, for an adult.
          "Just came to make sure you're okay. It's nice to see you two. Good to know you didn't end up as breakfast." He added to Cora and Jay.
          "Where are the others? Why haven't we seen any of them yet?" Cora asked, slightly unnerved by the comment.
          "They're all upstairs." Mica answered. "None of them wanted to be down here in case one of those things got in. Oh yeah, did you see any of them out there?"
          Cora hesitated, and it was Jay who answered, "Yeah, they were all over the place. We ran into some, but..." he held up his crowbar, which was covered in blood.
          "Oh..." Cassidy covered her mouth and looked away. Mica stayed quiet, and Jack stared at the crowbar.
          "We should get back to the others." He said after a few minutes. "They're  probably wondering what happened to us." No one argued as they followed Jack up the stairs.