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I stared at the girl that was pointing a crossbow at my head and was surprised at her appearance. The first thing I noticed was her pale chapped lips. She looked as though she hadn’t had a good meal in a while, but then I probably hadn’t either, but even then I could tell that I had been eating way better than her. She was wearing cargo pants and a blue t-shirt that hung a little loose on her. Her tan skin was unmarred and unbitten from what I could see; her long black hair hung loose and was clean, unlike my families since we didn’t have the time of water to spare.
We stared at each other eye to eye, before my father showed up. He immediately pointed his gun at the girl; she only became startled at the arrival of my father and didn’t move the crossbow. I could see my father’s confusion at this girl and the look that took place in my father’s mind.
“Dad, no!” I whispered a loud as I dared. My father was about to pull the trigger, even though I would call attention from the dead that walked around outside. The girl had made up her mind and turned to run up the stairs, but I had already grabbed at her hand that held the crossbow to stop her from running. Now she started to really panic as my father lowered the gun. Her finger was close to pulling the trigger that was still pointed at my face.
“Please we can help you. You can see we’re alive, and I swear we’re not infected.” I tried to convince her. At hearing my voice she relaxed in my grip to let me know that she believed me. I let go of her hand and as soon as I did she started to sway. I caught her before she fell and my father helped me get her to the living room. She looked around surprise in her eyes at seeing even more people. We put her down on one of our blankets.
“Can you tell us who you are?” my father asked. The girl opened her mouth but was too weak to speak loud enough, I moved closer to hear her.
“Serena Castor.” She whispered in my ear.
“She said her name is Serena Castor.” I replied to my father’s question, and then I turned to speak to her.
“I’m Gabriel Patterson.” She nodded her acknowledgement.
“Can you tell us where you’re from?” My father asked her, by this time my family was wide awake and alert. The girl pointed up to the wall at a hanging picture. We all looked to see a much healthier version of her posing with a man and woman that must’ve been her parents.
“I live here, I’ve been in the attic.” Her voice was stronger now.
“Are you alone?” I asked.
“Yes, I have been since this all started.” She replied.
“Can you tell us what happened?” my father asked.
“No I’d rather not, and I bet you can guess what had happened.” She answered my father.
“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” my mother asked.
“I guess a few days ago, I finished all the food in the house and ate the last crackers a few days ago.” She said thinking back. My father nodded for one of my brother’s to give her some food. It was a can of vegetables but she looked at it like it was a thanksgiving dinner. While she ate my family talked amongst themselves, but I stood by her.
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These were living people, not infected by the plague of zombie. The boy let go of my hand and all of a sudden my weakness returned. He caught me before I fell and he and his father took me into the living room. There were more people there, three other boys and two women. The man started to ask me questions and I talked for the first time in a long while. At first my voice was weak from lack of use and the boy helped me, but I got stronger, enough for me to speak out loud.
I introduced myself and learned that the boy’s name was Gabriel, the same as the archangel. I was starting to lose my belief in angels, or any religious beliefs for that matter. It’s hard to hang on to that when everything else around you is collapsing and your prayers go unanswered.
Then I received a miracle, these people gave me food. It must’ve been an unattractive sight but I ate it as if it was a mirage that would disappear any second. I ate while they talked to each other, except for Gabriel. He watched me eat and I wasn’t embarrassed until after I finished the can of vegetables. Even after that he continued to stare and I started to fidget. He must’ve realized how uncomfortable I was underneath his gaze because he then looked away.
“Thank you.” I said to all of them.
“It was nothing. You must be tired, why don’t you get some sleep and we’ll speak in the morning?” said what I assumed was the mother of the bunch.
Before I lay back down on the blanket, Gabriel put down a pillow for me. Actually it was one of the pillows from my room. He just smiled and turned to his own blanket, I guess he wouldn’t be taking watch again. I saw his father get up and knew that it was his turn. I lay there for an hour and watched as the rest of them fell asleep .I felt much safer in the attic and sleeping down here brought back memories sweet and sour, and all of them depressing to think about. As was my nightly ritual, I fell asleep praying to a God that I was angry at.
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After my father went to keep watch I lay awake for about an hour. I knew the girl Serena was also still awake for an hour as well. My back was turned toward her and all I could think about was finding another living person. The last living person we had come across tried to kill us on site and that was about a month ago. Serena wasn’t that different, she would have killed me if my father hadn’t shown up and she would have killed us all silently.
Now that I was thinking about it I should have been scared as hell to have woken up with a crossbow pointed at my head. She handled that crossbow like she had used it before, but not like she went around using it all the time with joy. It was funny though, that she would use a crossbow with wooden stakes to protect herself. That crossbow looked like something a vampire hunter in the old movies would use.
In the morning I knew my family would ask if she wanted to stay with us, it was only a matter if she would choose to. I’m sure my whole family would be glad to have someone new to talk to; lately we had all been getting on each other’s nerves. I soon fell asleep with all these thoughts circling in my mind.
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