Desolate

Wiping her hair from her face, Charlie kicked her boots up and tried to wipe the blood on her arms; resulting in smearing the foul substance. Immediately smacking her feet back to the floor of the van, she started cursing; it was silent at first but started to turn into a loud and angry vent.

"Whoa, what's the matter?" Darren crawled from over the car's seat, moving to squeeze between her and Alex. Rolling her eyes, Charlie's cursing returned to being silent; despite the waiting look on Darren's face. "Well keeping it inside isn't going to help," he commented, crossing his arms in defeat.

"Well, aren't you tired too?" Charlie inquired, and everyone's eyes slowly moved to look at her. "Aren't you tired of the world we live in too?" she restated, brushing hair away from her eyes. "It's not personal to me, but for everyone who's fighting; it's just I'm getting tired," she finished, watching as Oliver nodded from the seats behind her.

"So you'd get so tired, you'd just give up?" Jordan questioned, loud enough to get Charlie's attention. "Too tired to even fight to stay alive?" she inquired further, her tone bitter; Charlie shook her head.

"I'll never get that tired," Charlie asserted herself, "We owe everyone else to fight. By fighting for ourselves, we're fighting for everyone who didn't get the chance to," she continued, tiredly pulling off her jacket; placing it on the chair as she scooted forward. "For Jordan's parents, to Andrew, To my brothers, to everyone's families. We don't fight for ourselves anymore, we fight for them," She finished, leaning back as everyone sighed. Everyone likes to stay strong, but the same situation begins to put a lot of weight on your shoulders; a kind of weight you'll just have to carry. To some people, the burden becomes too much to bare; and you can only fight for so long before someone wins.

"Everyone will fight of course," Darren commented, a small smile on his face; his arm wrapping around Charlie in a hug. "And we'll all survive together, I promise all of you," he continued to smile, although no one else seemed to join him. At the rate that this epidemic was going, it wasn't showing a bright future; it was showing the ever dim outlook on a once bright world.

"Alright," Charlie nodded, pulling his arm from her shoulders; crawling over the seat, back to where Oliver sat with a small scowl. Brushing her fingers through his hair, she wrapped a blanket softly around her; making sure that all of the blood had been dried.

"Look our old city's coming up," Oliver whispered, pointing to the sign on the side of the road. It once welcomed visitors, but was now splattered in the foul blood that littered everywhere. Looking out the window, she nodded her head once more; his fingers softly intertwining with hers. "I wonder if anyone's survived," he spoke to himself, and she shrugged her shoulders anyways.

"We should probably make a stop," Alex spoke out loud, moving to stare out the window towards familiar streets; Alex, Oliver, and I were all practically neighbors. The street we were driving on was the one Alex and Charlie used to walk to school on, and the one over is where they used to sneak to go be naughty teenagers; memories like these made fighting a bit unbearable at times.

"Why?" Zakk questioned, turning around from the passenger seat; his eyebrows raised in inquiry.

"I have to piss, got a problem?" Alex snapped, making his eyes open in shock; turning in his seat to ignore her outburst. Charlie sat up when they passed a familiar house, and she immediately crawled over the seats to tap on Jordan's shoulder.

"I'd like to stop here as well," she announced as she took a look around before opening the door; there was no sign of life, or undead life in that case. Slowly opening the van door, she peeked her head outside; jumping out when the coast was clear. "If you have to pee, you might as well follow me," she announced, opening the back of the van to quickly grab her gun.

"Wait, these are all houses," Alex started, bouncing up and down; doing the pee dance, you can say. "Oh, I forgot!" she laughed when Charlie pulled a key from her back pocket; the house in front of them was Charlie's house. Hopefully, all her belongings she had ditched were still there; including the shed full of guns her brother's had. The rest hesitantly followed them, their eyes cast around the neighborhood; Oliver moved to stand behind Charlie, with his hand placed protectively on her shoulder.

"There," she spoke quietly, pulling the key out of its spot; pulling open the door while in the process. So far, nothing had jumped out trying to eat them; seems like a good start. Looking around the room, she glanced around at her seemingly untouched living room; the other rooms she didn't guarantee that they were sterile. Her brother's rooms were down the hall, and the blood leading into them, showed the story that she still remembered well; looking into the backyard she smiled. The shed still sat in the corner, untouched and still locked; hopefully all of the guns were still in place.

"Hey," Zakk tapped Charlie's shoulder, making her jump slightly at his sudden outburst. "There's something making noise in the back room," he whispered, making everyone shut their lips instantly. Indeed he was correct, the sound of shuffling evidently heard from the room that Andrew and Charlie used to share. Pulling the gun off her shoulder, they slowly made their way to the backroom; the sound of the shuffling ceased as they stood outside the door. In a swift motion, she quickly kicked down the door and pulled her gun in front of her; a zombie looking towards the door instantly.

"Oh shit," Alex whispered, they stood face to face with Kevin; one of Charlie's brothers. The once dark brown hair had nearly all fallen out, he lost one of his bright green eyes; his leg was detached, and rotting in the corner. Putting her hand to her mouth, Charlie started to back up; bile rising to her throat as she felt she was going to hurl. Zombie Kevin wasn't fazed, as all were and slowly made its way towards the group; a trail of drool hanging from his mouth.

"Guys?" Jordan inquired, watching as Alex and Charlie fled the scene; running outside towards the backyard. Raising his gun, Zakk instantly shot the seemingly common zombie. Everyone quickly followed the two girls outside, finding one of them sitting with her hands over her eyes. Alex was a regular visitor to Charlie's house, and was nearly a part of the family; Charlie emerged from behind the bushes, wiping her mouth hastily.

"I still have the key," she announced, pulling a key from her back pocket once more; which were attached to her key ring like the one for her house. Slowly she unlocked the shed door, finding everything where they had always been; pulling a few out, she looked back towards her bedroom window. Charlie silently wished she could of done the deed, but she didn't think she'd have it in her to do it; a zombie brother is the closest thing she's got to her real one. It was like she wanted to ask him question, that is if he could reply, about her other brothers; although she's sure of their fate.

"Jesus, what were you guys. A family of terrorists?!" Zakk and Darren asked in amazement, pulling out the jackpot of guns; Oliver laughed to himself, pulling out more guns from the shed. Shrugging her shoulders, Charlie continued to line up the guns on the wall.

"Alright, let's start loading them in the van," Alex announced, placing her hand on Charlie's shoulder; before grabbing a few guns from Jordan. Nodding, Charlie slipped off back into the house, stopping at the hallway before hesitantly standing in the doorway. Stepping over her zombie brother's dead body, she walked over to Andrew's side of the room; pulling a few objects from one of the drawers. Pulling his necklace over her head, letting it lay across her neck; she smiled and sprinted back outside, helping put the guns into the van.