Outnumbered

[Vic's POV]

I drove for a straight 45 minutes without saying anything to anyone. I felt Allie's hand slip from mine and she started to doze off.

There wasn't anyone on the roads. A couple times I would drive by a pack of zombies. They were out roaming the streets like no other.

I still didn't know what to do about Tony. He seemed chill, but I don't know if I could trust him yet. He seemed to be trust worthy so far, but only time will tell.

I turned into an empty parking lot of a local gas station. I was going to fill up on gas and then go in to gather some food. Even though I had some stuff at my cabin, we need food to last for a while.

I looked over at Allie who had started to wake up a little more. I handed her my knife from my pocket and she looked down at it, blood stained on the tip of the knife.

"I'm going to go in and get some stuff. If I'm not out in 5, come in. Alright?" I said to her.

Allie nodded and I kissed her forehead. "Please, be safe." Her eyes pleaded with mine.

I pecked her on her lips quick and I placed my hand on the side on her face. "Don't worry about me, okay? Tony, keep an eye open for any of those...things..."

Tony nodded his head and I opened the car door. I braced myself when I walked up to the door of the gas station. The glass was broken into. I don't know what could be in there. I put my gun to my chest and I peaked in. The store had dim lighting in the back but the rest was surrounded in darkness.

I took out my flashlight and I flashed it into the store as I walked in. I grabbed a basket and held it firmly in my sweaty palm.

It was extremely quiet. I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I started to breathe heavy, turning my gun at every direction when I would turn. Someone could attack me at any moment if I wasn't aware of my surroundings.

I walked down an isle and put in a couple cans of corn, soup, and beans. I was thinking about making a couple trips back and forth from the store so we could be stored up for a while.

I put my basket down to put in a couple more cans of soup with both hands when I heard footsteps behind me.

I turned around and to my surprise, it wasn't a zombie. It was a human. His gun was pointed directly at my forehead.

I put my gun up to the man that seemed to be in his early twenties. He had long curly light brown hair to his shoulders, a nose ring and his arms were loaded heavily in tattoos.

"Put the fucking gun down and get down on your fucking knees, NOW!" He ordered. I put my gun down on the shelf next to me and I started to get down on my knees.

"Hands where I can fucking see them, I'm not messing around." He snapped.

I put my hands up and I started to sweat. I didn't want him to shoot me. I needed to think of something quick.

I looked up at him and he still had his gun pointed at my head. "Who the fuck are you and who are you to walk into here and take our stuff?"

I looked at him, not knowing if I could speak or not to explain myself.

"Speak up. Fucking talk."

"I was just getting food for my family. I have a 4 year old daughter," I explained to him quietly. "My girlfriend is waiting in the car by pump 5, along with a friend of mine. I was just going to pick up a few things and I was going to leave. I swear."

The man looked over his shoulder to see if I was telling the truth. His gun still pointed at my forehead. "So you mean there's other survivors?"

I nodded my head, my hands still raised. "From the looks of it, I guess."

"Where you from?" He asked me.

"San Diego. We were driving for about 2 hours now." I answered.

"You drivin' pretty far. Get up. NOW. Keep your fucking hands up, don't touch your weapon or I'll fucking kill you and your family out in that fucking car, got it?" He snapped at me again.

My eyes widened and I nodded as I rose from my knees. I felt his hand go to my neck and he lead to the back of store near the soda and he shoved me onto the ground.

He pointed his gun at me again and the look in his eyes were crazy. "You fucking stay here while I go talk to my people. Don't think you can run because I'll shoot you in your damn skull, kay?"

I shot a look at the guy and he walked over to a door and opened it. I heard it shut and a bunch of chattering went on.

I sat in the corner with my hands folded in my lap. I waited for him to come back out. I didn't want Allie to think something happened to me. I was basically being held hostage and no one knew. I needed to leave. I have a family. I didn't want this guy to keep me with his pack, something bad could happen to me. Oh, god.

[Allie's POV]

Hayden started to wake up 10 minutes after Vic left into the store. She sat on my lap and I held her close to my chest.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." Hayden complained, her small hands forming a fist.

I patted her gently on the back and she rested her head down again.

"I know babygirl, daddy's coming back soon with some food and we can have a snack, okay?" I said to her.

Hayden breathed heavily. "I'm hungry now though."

"Be patient. Be a big girl, remember? Big girls don't complain." I reminded her.

Tony shifted in his seat, trying to look over the driver's chair to look into the store. "It's been over 10 minutes. We need to go in there."

"Hayden's going to have to come with us, though Tony. I don't want her to see what's going on. What if Vic is dead?" I asked her seriously, covering Hayden's ear when I spoke.

He unbuckled his seat belt. "Orders are orders. We gotta go and check to see if he's okay."

I unbuckled my seat belt and I wrapped Hayden in her blanket again. I opened the car door, leaving the knife on the seat before picking up again in my hand.

Tony got out of the car with his bag and held the pistol in his hand. He looked both ways and he nodded his head to show it was clear to run across.

I started to walk to the door of the gas station. Tony peaked his head in and gave me a signal that it was safe to go in.

I held my knife in my hand and when I walked in the store was quiet at first. I walked down a little ways to see a basket on the ground with food and a pistol sitting on the shelf. This had to be Vic's stuff.

"Vic was here." I murmured to Tony.

Tony looked over and he looked at me. "Where the fuck could he have went?" He asked me.

I felt tears forming in my eyes. I was hoping to god he wasn't dead or something bad happened to him.

Tony walked further down the store, pointing his gun in every direction. At any moment, a zombie could come out and attack us.

I followed behind him, holding Hayden firmly on my hip and I watched my surroundings. I looked to my right to see something in the corner of my eye.

Vic was sitting in the corner, putting his finger to his lips telling me to be quiet.

I handed Hayden to Vic and I ran over to him putting my hands on the sides of his face. I crawled between his legs and I kissed him hard and the tears started to fall down. He wrapped his arms around me and he hugged me tightly.

"I thought someone got you, why are you sitting here?" I whispered to him loudly.

Vic's eyes alerted mine to keep calm. "There's others here. Some guy told me to stay here. He doesn't want me leaving, I don't know why."

Tony walked over, holding Hayden in his arms. "So they're holding you here hostage? Trusting that you won't run off?"

Vic kind of laughed. "I guess, but he told me if I move he'd hurt you guys, and I didn't want to take that chance."

I looked over at Tony. "We need to get out of here now."

Vic stood up and I stood up with him, lacing my fingers with his and when we started to walk off quietly the door opened.

I turned around to see a man with curly brown hair and a nose ring coming out with his gun pointed directly to me.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" He said with disgust in his voice. I saw another guy come out and he was walking over to me. I dropped my knife when I was with Vic in the corner and I ran over to crab it but the man with the gun grabbed me.

I started to scream and he covered my mouth. He had me picked up and I started kicking, hot tears streaming down my face. He put the head of the gun directly on the side of my temple. "Shut the fuck up or I'll kill you and your homeboy, got it?"

I saw Vic look at me and he put his hands up. "Don't shoot her, please." He begged softly.

His eyes were forming tears.

"Make one more step and she fucking dies."

"Come on man, she has a kid." I heard Tony speak, his voice shaking. Tony held Hayden tightly, fixing the blanket over her face. He shushed her and I looked at Vic who had his hands up still.

I heard a couple foot steps behind me and the man turned me around to see a girl and a strong muscular man coming out from the back room.

"Levi, don't do that...stop..." The girl spoke. She had long black hair and a nose ring too, her forearms covered in tattoos.

"We can't trust them, Lights. We can't." The man murmured between his teeth.

"We're good people, I swear. I just need to feed my daughter, okay...please..." Vic was begging by now.

"Levi, for the love of God put the poor girl down." Lights spoke, freeing his hand from my mouth and his grip and I collapsed to the ground.

I crawled over to Vic and Vic got down on his knees and brought me into his arms. I started to sob. My heart was pounding and I couldn't breathe properly.

"Beau, go get this girl a bottle of water." Lights ordered and the man who's name was Beau nodded, walking down the isle and got a bottle of water for me.

"What brings you guys here?" She asked us.

I looked up at her and then Levi shot a look at her. "Stealing our stuff, that's what brings them here."

"Will you knock it off? They didn't know. Here, drink some water. You need it." Beau handed me the water and I took it.

I sipped the bottle of water and I looked up at the group of people standing in front of me.

"Does your little girl need some food? We have some gold fish, I can get her some." Lights asked me, walking down the isle and grabbing a box on crackers.

I nodded. "Yeah, she was hungry."

Lights smiled and she walked over to Tony. Tony put Hayden down on the ground and Lights got down on one knee and opened the box of crackers.

"Well hey cutie, what's your name?" She asked.

Hayden looked over at me and I faked a smile. "Tell her your name. You can do it."

"I'm Hayden. I'm 4." Hayden held up 4 fingers and Lights giggled.

"You're 4 years old!? Wow! You're a big girl, huh? Do you want some fishy crackers?" Lights asked her.

Hayden nodded and she smiled, showing her teeth as she did so. Lights handed the box of crackers to Hayden and she smiled. "Do you want some juice too? We have everything here."

Hayden's mouth dropped and she nodded again. "Can I have apple juice?" She asked with excitement in her voice.

Lights stood up, reaching for Hayden's hand. "Of course, Princess! Follow me."

I watched Lights bring Hayden over to the area where they had juice and then my eyes trailed back to Levi.

"This was a big misunderstanding. All we're asking is for some food and we'll be on our way." Vic said.

Levi crossed his arms. "I don't know if we can do that..."

Beau nudged Levi in the arm. "Come on man, they don't seem like bad people. Give them some food and they'll be on their way."

Levi looked at Beau. "I don't know...this is our supplies...we don't know when we'll need some stuff."

"They have a kid, Levi. You need to do that right thing. I've known you for 5 years, you're not this bitter. Come on." Lights said, walking Hayden over to me and Lights walked over to Beau, Beau wrapping his muscular arm around her.

"I guess. Take what you need for the girl. But that's it. Then be on your way." Levi said firmly.

Vic stood up and shook Levi's hand. Levi smirked. "Thanks man, we appreciate it."

"Sorry for being a dick, I have to come off like that. We got robbed the other day." Levi said.

I raised a brow. "By who?"

"This guy...he had black hair. Kind of chubby. Tattoos. He wore eyeliner too which I thought was a little out there, but you know. He held us at gun point. Killed two of our people. Took one of our cars and some of our supplies. Haven't seen him since." Lights spoke with sorrow in her voice.

I frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that, Lights. That must be hard."

"It is. It was my sister. But I guess that's just how things go." Beau held Lights close in his arms and I looked up at Vic.

"Well, let's get to gathering some stuff and we'll leave." Vic said to me.

We both stood up and I walked over to the cereal isle to gather some little boxes of cereal that Hayden likes. She loves cereal.

"Where are you guys heading?" Levi asked us.

Before any of us could answer I saw Tony hold his gun up and a shot was fired. I heard a loud thud and I clung to Vic. I saw Lights grab a hold of Hayden and we looked at each other.

"Oh my god, there's so many of them." Tony said quietly.

I heard a roar of groans coming from the front of the store. I grabbed my knife in the corner to see a pile of zombies walking into the store.

This wasn't going to be pretty.