SIX

~Adrian~

            They sped past sign after sign announcing their upcoming arrival into Vancouver. The land began to dry out as they got closer to their destination.

            “Adrian. Adrian look!” cried Richelle. Her arm shot forward, indicating the red Dodge Ram sitting alone with the driver’s side door wide open. Adrian sped up, pulling up just behind the abandoned truck. Adrian leaped out of the car and ran towards the truck. It was empty except for several drinks in the floorboard and a couple bags of food in the back seat.

            “There’s nobody here.” He called back to the car. That’s when he saw them. There was a body flung across large pieces of rubble. A large black mass was curled into the side of the body.

            “Richelle stay here.” He said, walking back to the car. He pulled a small caliber gun from the floorboard and approached the body. When he got closer he saw that it was shaking, this thing was alive. He scooted closer and lowered the gun down to level. The body must have heard him approaching, the person jerked upright. Spinning around, the person was now facing him holding a gun. The person was a girl. She stood taller than Richelle by quite a bit. Her long red-ish brown hair hung around her, pieces stuck to her face with tears. She was still crying as she shakily held the gun up.

            “Who are you?” she asked. The black mass that had been next to her jumped up, baring its teeth.

            “I’m Richelle.” Said Richelle. She ignored Adrian and came around to stand next to him. “This is my younger brother Adrian. Who are you?”

            “I’m Jake.” She sniffled.

            “You’re Jake? Like Jake Sacrifyce?” Richelle gaped.

            “Yeah. How’d you know?”

            “The letters!” she giggled. “We found them.”

            “She thought you were a boy.” grumbled Adrian. Richelle laughed and ducked her head. Jake nodded her head and rested a hand on her dog’s head.    

            “This is my dog, Hielo.” Said Jake. The Doberman stopped growling and lowered his head. Shaking his head, Adrian lowered his gun and stomped away back towards the suburban. He threw the gun in the back seat and climbed in the driver’s seat. Purposefully he slammed the door shut. They didn’t need another person with them. He never thought that they would actually find Jake. He honestly wouldn’t put up with it if Richelle wasn’t his sister. He’d had enough of new people after their run in with Cameron.

            Cameron was a nineteen year old runaway. He had been in an art school when he gave up and ran away. The plague broke out and he just went on, wandering and killing returned. They had run into him when they left their father’s care in Florida. He had offered safety and acted like a friend. Richelle, of course, fell for him immediately. Then he had run off with all their supplies while they slept. Adrian had had to shoot him three days later. He’d run right into a pack of returned. Richelle hadn’t talked for days afterwards.

            Adrian watched the two girls talk. Richelle seemed like a child next to Jake even though in the letters it said Jake was 20. Her height didn’t help. Richelle was about 5’4” so he put Jake at about 5’8” maybe 5’9”. He chuckled to himself. He was still a lot taller than both of them. Jake was wearing an old leather jacket with a small yellow shirt and dark black skinny jeans tucked into her calf length black leather boots. He had to admit, she was kind of pretty. Even in the grungy conditions they were forced to survive in. Her dog, admittedly, kind of scared him. He was about waist high on her, lean with obvious strength.

            Adrian watched as Jake nodded her head and walked with Richelle towards Jake’s truck. Jake stopped at her driver’s side door and waited. Richelle ran on ahead and pulled open Adrian’s door.

            “Can Jake come with us to the Ohio Sanctuary?” she asked, excited.

            “No.” he growled.

            “Too bad.” She said and turned to shout over her shoulder. “He said yes. Come on bring your stuff.” She giggled and ran around the front of the car to Jake’s passenger side. She began helping cart all the drinks and a bag of food over and dropped it off in the trunk. Jake finished it out with a bag slung across her back and one in her hand. Jake threw the one in her hand in the trunk and kept the second one with her.

            “Actually can you give me a second?” Jake asked sheepishly.

            “Yeah. Go ahead.” Said Richelle gently, shooting an angry look at Adrian daring him to contradict her. Jake slid out of the car and ran back towards the ghost town. She disappeared inside one of the building and was gone for quite a while.

            “Does that dog follow her everywhere?” grumbled Adrian.

            “She says the he does. He was with her family from before the return. She really cares about him. Did you know that Hielo means ice in Spanish? She thought it was a good name because they got him around Christmas time.” Rambled Richelle. Adrian was about to go in after Jake when she appeared next to the car. She opened the door and climbed in.

            “Where did you go?” he asked, suspicious.

            “To say good-bye,” she said quietly. Richelle smiled sadly back at their guest. Adrian noticed it smelled slightly like burnt flesh in the car now. Shaking his head he started the car and pulled out. He didn’t say anything about the small envelope Jake held in her hands but he was curious.

 

 

~Jake~

            People. Actual living people. She couldn’t be happier. Well, she would be happier if Adrian wasn’t so cold towards her. Richelle was nice but she couldn’t believe that she was Adrian’s older sister. She seemed so little, so innocent. She was short with golden blonde hair that hung in ringlets that cascaded past her shoulders. She was slender with thin everything. Jake didn’t think that Richelle would be able to survive on her own if Adrian wasn’t there.

            Jake had run back into her parent’s old home and grabbed the photographs. She couldn’t bear the thought of returned around them after the smell of burnt Voc virus wore off. Then that gave her an idea. If she kept some burnt Voc virus with them, it would keep returned away from them. Every now and then she would just have to re-burn it. Not wanting to stir any alarm with the group she had put the piece of flesh in her bag before getting back in the car.

            They drove in silence for a while before she pulled out one of the notebooks and began writing. She figured since she had found people, a journal would be a better use for all the paper.

Day 378

I have found people. Or rather, they have found me. Adrian and Richelle. Richelle told me that she is 28 and that Adrian is 20. We’re going to the Ohio Sanctuary. I made it to the Vancouver Sanctuary. It failed and burned. Mom and Dad weren’t there. They either returned or died in the fire. Either way they are gone. I found their house though. They had pictures up. And I found the stuffed unicorn that Dad won for me in Georgia. I remember that day. Mom didn’t feel good from the cheap Chinese food they had bought on the way to the fair. Dad felt terrible about staying there while Mom didn’t feel good so he said that we would play one more game. I remember really wanting a prize. I tried and failed to knock over the gigantic tower of cans. Then Dad came along. I guess he felt bad that we were leaving sooner than we planned so he tried. And needless to say, he won. Since I was 10 I picked the unicorn. I wish there never was a plague. It’s like a punishment but nobody knows what went wrong. I think the worst part was that there were no doctors trying to create a cure. This thing will never go away. Ok, Adrian keeps shooting me glares in the rearview mirror. It’s like I’m plotting their demise. What has he got against me?

~

            Jake flipped the notebook shut and slid it back in the bag. She leaned against the door on and crossed her legs. Hielo jumped up and curled up against her legs. She smiled and ran her hand down the dog’s back.

            “It’s okay Hielo. Everything is okay now,” she whispered in his ear.

 

Reviews

[Sylvana]

In the first paragraph of Jake's part, it says didn't that. I think you meant didn't think that. ^-^
And I live Richelle .She's so outgoing and demanding. Haha.