THREE; stay

The sound of metal hinges grinding against the chain link woke her. She had managed to drift off while they waited for Daniel.

    "Rosita?" He whispered, standing in the entrance of their cell.

    "I'm here." She shook Michael awake. "Let's go."

    They unzipped their sleeping bags, and crept out of the doorway. Daniel turned the key behind him.

    "Wait." Michael paused. "What about Campbell, and Wendy, do we just leave them here?"

    "Look around. If we take them, then what about the eight thousand others?" His older brother shut him down, quietly.

    She looked past the chain link. Campbell lay flat in one corner, fast asleep and snoring. Wendy crouched in the opposite corner, her blanket wrapped tightly around her. She tilted her head, and Rosita could see that her eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the three of them. I'm sorry.

    The cop supervising the factory had dozed off on a plastic chair, inside the entrance.

    They exited silently, going out into the night sky. Fresh air. She took a deep breath in through her nose, flushing out the foul smells of the warehouse.

    "Over there." Daniel pointed to his car, parked on the side of the road, about a hundred metres from where they stood.

    It was a small, white, red, and blue police car, and it blended in perfectly. The upsides of having a cop for a brother...

    The road was lit up by street lights, but not a single car drove past in the time that they were there. They were in the industrial area of town, where no one really went unless they had to.

___________

    Her eyes hurt from tiredness as they drove away. She didn't want to have to explain their situation to Daniel. But they did anyway.

    "Yolanda and I made the decision, we're leaving LA tomorrow, and I want you two to come with us." He said when they were done talking.

    "What, why? You have police duties here. I have a job. Michael hasn't finished school yet!" Rosita was a little shocked.

    "It's not safe here, you told me what you saw. There are riots in the city everyday. Schools are shutting down because of the virus." He stressed.

    "Where will you go if you leave?"

    "Uncle Julian's farm in Texas. He's letting us stay there until things settle down. The virus hasn't reached any rural areas yet, and its far away from people."

    "What do you expect will happen?" Asked Rosita, doubtingly.

    "I'll take you back to your house so you can pack and get your car, we all drive back to mine and get Yolanda and Joe, and we can leave while it's still dark." He told them.

    If it was anyone else, she would've thought them crazy, but she trusted her brother. He wouldn't make a decision like this unless he knew it was the right one.

    "I'll go." She decided.

    "What?" Michael was confused.

    "He's right. I'm not gonna risk staying. Which means you're coming too, because you're too young to stay." She smirked a little.

___________

    She rushed to her bedroom as soon as they got in the door. When she turned the light on, she realised how bad it looked, and decided she wouldn't want to arrive home from Texas with a messy room.

    She straightened up her bed and neatened her bedside table. Then she started packing her suitcase. Pillow, tops, jacket, pants, underwear, bras, hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, sanitary products.

    Her own phone was still at the warehouse, probably sitting in some draw, in some cop's office. So she packed her neighbour's one instead.

    She squashed her things into the suitcase, a little surprised at how much stuff she had packed. Michael was getting food, but there was still one more thing.

    The room was cold and untouched. What used to be her father's room was now just a spare room in their house.

    There it sat on the small bedside table, with it's shiny silver frame.

    Three year old, Michael stood in the middle, with a big grin on his face. Seven year old Rosita stood next to him, her shiny black fringe covering her forehead. Sixteen year old Daniel was on the other side of Michael, though he already looked like a man, he had his mother's eyes. Their father was behind little Michael and Rosita, while their mother was behind Daniel.

    She grabbed the picture and carefully placed it at the top of her suitcase.

_