We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Thirty-Five

   Cora dug around in the can of baked beans. They couldn't find much food in the mall that hadn't been rotten or eaten by mice, so Cora decided to eat from her own stash. Jay sat back in his chair beside her, already done, and Avery and Ben were still eating on his other side. Cora noticed that Jay got protective with the two when they first met Tom's group, and she wondered if something was going on. Of course, everyone was protective of the group's youngest member, but Jay seemed to take it further. He was great with Ben and always kept him in a good mood, and if Avery was scared or worried he was always the first one to comfort her. Cora smiled. They did look cute together. She'd make sure to embarrass Jay with that. He should be expecting it, even. Being in the group for so long, the four knew what to expect from each other. And it wasn't always good things.
   Just a few feet away from them, all sitting in a closed circle, was a few people from the other group. She recognized Jared, Casey, and Renee, along with two other guys that she couldn't name. Crowded in another circle was the rest of the people from the second group. She recognized Louis, and his brother Bill. She had yet to remember any other names.
   She gasped loudly and dropped her now-empty can of beans when Ben came up behind her and jabbed his fingers into her side. Then he ran away laughing. She glared at Jay, who was trying to avoid laughing and making eye contact. The others didn't try so hard. She heard small
laughs and giggles from her group and some from the other one.
   "You know, if I ever have kids, I'm not letting them anywhere near you." She growled at Jay. "You'd probably give them tips on getting away with murder." He laughed out loud now, barely flinching when Cora punched his arm. It felt good to have some of tension relieved, though. Clearing the mall together had helped, but not by much. Still, it was better than when they first met. Cora shuddered when she thought back to it. She'd been excited to see other people, and maybe it was just because of the weapons, but when they got out of their trucks she couldn't help but remember their encounter
at the gas station that first day. It seemed like it was years away, but she remembered like it was yesterday.
   She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a scream. Ben had struck again. More laughs followed, and she let herself relax. It might take them some time to get used to it, but they needed each
other now.
   "Alright!" She looked towards the voice that caught everyone's attention. It was one of the guys in Jared's group. "We'll need people to guard the doors and make sure none of them gets close to the
building. We can put two people at each entrance and three on the roof. Who wants to take first watch?" Hands shot into the air. "Okay. If you get too tired and don't think you stay up, then find someone to switch with. Everyone okay with that?" There were murmurs of agreement from the group. He clapped his hands together. "Okay, so those who are keeping watch, find an entrance or get up to the roof. The rest of you can find somewhere to sleep."
   They said their goodbyes as Mica, Jack, and Cora grouped up with the other watchers. Jay had wanted to help, but he said he needed to be with Ben and the girls, to make sure they would be okay. Mica and Jack took the door they had come in. Bill and Louis, together of course, took one on the other side of the mall. Casey, Miles, Renee, Jared, Cora, and the two guys from Jared's group split up, with Cora,
Casey, and Jared going to the roof.
   The sun was setting, casting a pinkish-red glow across the city. Cora tried not to stare at it for too long, but it was hard. It felt so beautiful, so peaceful. The screeches in the distance told her that was a lie. Her pistol sat comfortably in its holster; she'd been given a rifle since she was on the roof but she was ready to grab for her 9 if she needed to. She slowly paced up and down the edge of the roof, watching the area in front of the mall. A few of the zombies ran by, but none seemed to notice them. It got dark fast, and soon they could barely see the ground beneath them, let alone the lot or streets surrounding the mall.
   "We need some night-vision goggles. I'll have to tell Tom the next time we go out." Jared said from across the roof. Casey joined in.
   "I can't believe it took us this long to figure it out. Hey Cora, did you guys happen to pick up any on your way here?"
   "Nope." She replied. "We didn't think we'd need them. We were so confident in Columbus..." She trailed off, then started up before she made the conversation awkward. "Besides, where we even get them?"
   "I'm sure they've got some in sports stores or something." Casey replied, also trying to change the subject. Jared didn't go along, though.
   "How do you think it happened?" He asked quietly. Cora could see his silhouette, standing at the edge of the roof with his rifle resting in his hands.
   "What do you mean?" She countered.
   "How do you think they got overrun?" He turned to her now. "They had to've had security, so none of the infected would be able to get in. The fences looked too high for a monkey to climb, and the tops were covered in barbed wire and stuff. And we saw a bunch of gun trucks and tanks inside, so how did they get overrun?" The silence cut through the darkness. How did they get overrun? Cora wanted to know, too. She wanted to know how their safe haven had been destroyed. She wanted to know if anywhere was safe anymore, if others had gotten out, if there were more survivors nearby. More than anything, she wanted to know how this happened. What kind of infection was so bad that it caused its hosts to rip their friends and family to pieces and eat the remains? What it even an infection? Or something else?
   "It doesn't matter now." She said, trying to push the questions out of her head. "It happened, and now we just have to deal with it. If we don't, we'll end up like them." She looked back down at the parking lot, even though she was practically blind. Clouds covered the moon and stars, taking away their only source of light. "We just have to survive. Maybe someone's trying to fix it, and it'll be over soon."
   "Do you really think that?" Casey asked.
   "No." She sighed. "But we can dream."
   The next few hours felt like days. They talked at first, talking about their lives before this and how they met each other and the people downstairs. Eventually they ran out of things to talk about, so they watched in silence, sometimes calling out to each other to make sure they were awake until someone came up to replace them.