I turned my phone on and waited for a while. No new messages. So I sent one.

A week has passed. We are running low on food Uncle Curtis. I still haven't saw another soldier. Do you think they'll come back through? Are you coming?

Sent.

I waited. 10 minutes. 20 minutes.

Buzz. Buzz.

Uncle Curtis

Take money and things you think other people out there may want and go to the store. They might. I'm not so sure. Its been quiet down here too. I'll let you know when I'm coming. I want to be sure it's safe. Be Strong Sweet Girl.

-20 seconds ago-

I walked out of my parents room over to Daytona's. Her stickers sparkled as I moved. I knocked on the stricker that said 'Knock Here'. Chris opened the door after a few minutes. "You didn't have to get prettied up to open the door Chris." I laughed.

"What do you want Claire?" His green eyes were dark. He was mad.

Things had gotten wierd between us when he caught me hugging Luke in the hallway a few days ago. I don't know why. It was only a hug. Luke had blushed and walked off when Christopher locked his green eyes on him. I turned to see Christopher's back as he walked away. I wanted to say something to him but I didn't. That day was awful. He hated me. This proved it.

"I want you to come with me," I said, silently hoping for him to answer with a simple okay.

"Ask Luke." He went to shut the door but I stopped it with my foot. Of course it wasn't going to be a simple okay. Who was I kidding.

"No. I do not want to ask Luke," I yelled.  I pushed the door as hard as I could and walked into my sister's old room. Chris shut the door. It clicked lightly. "What the hell Chris? If I wanted to ask Luke why would I have came to your room? What is wrong with you?"

He shrugged.

"We are low on food. We need to go to the store. I'm not asking Luke. I'm asking you. I trust you. I don't want to go alone." That was the only other option.

His light green eyes found mine. "No."

"What?!"

He jumped at the tone of my voice. "I said no," he replied quietly.

"Why not?"

"We will find another way to get food."

I layed my hand on his shoulder. "Alright you do that. I'm going it alone then. If I'm not back in 5 hours..." I paused. What? Do what? "Tell Sarah I love her."

At that I turned and walked out of Daytona's room. The house was silent. It was too early for anyone to be awake. I opened the front door and walked out. The morning air was cool as it hit my skin. I looked around and crossed the dark, lonely street. Pausing in front of my neighbors house for a moment. Their grass had grow. I knew they wouldn't like it that tall. I hoped they didn't care I was walking through their yard. Of course they didn't. They were dead. Who was I kidding. There was no one out here with me.

A hand landed on my shoulder. I almost jumped out of my skin. My heart was jumping out of my throat. I turned slowly and met those light green eyes that had told me no only 5 minutes ago. He mumbled something but I didn't catch it because suddenly there was movement behind us on the street. I caught it out of the corner of my eyes. A uniform. Soldiers. Shit. Chris threw his hand over my mouth and pulled me down into the shadow of the house. We crept slowly around to the back. The grass tickled my arms. This is bad. 

"Chris," l whispered.

"Shh," he hushed me. 

My phone vibrated.

#3042017695

Soldiers. What do we do?

-15 seconds ago-

Reply

Hide. Tell Luke to grab my 243. And hide. In the bathroom. Move the third tile. There's an attic. Be quiet. You'll be fine.

Send.

'Who', Chris mouthed.

"Ella," I answered.

Suddenly there was an explosion. It made my ears ring. A huge fire rose to the sky. The school. A week ago Ella had said no one was there. Maybe they went back. The fire rose higher. It looked like mid day now from the light of the flames. Man was it hot. I started to sweat. I slid closer to the house. Christopher pulled me closer to him. If I thought it was hot before I was dying now.

"What was that," I asked.

"I don't know." He was staring at the burning flames. They were reaching neighboring homes quickly. We had to move soon.

Buzz Buzz

#3042017695

A bomb. C. Come back. The soldiers are running. They r jumping n vehicles and leaving.

-15 seconds ago-

"To the store," I whispered.

Chris shook his head.

"Come on," I urged.

"No Claire." His eyes looked worried. Almost scared.

A soldier came around the house. I raised the pistol and fired. A shining hole formed in this chest. His eyes were empty already. He hid his knees fast. Then fell on his face. His uniform had a weird pattern. I watched blood spill from his lifeless body. What had I done. I killed a person. I didn't even hesitate. I was a murderer.

"Run." Chris's voice. I snapped out of my daze.

I stood and started running. Christopher was close behind. We reached the edge of our housing development and ducked into the thick woods. Briers grabbed at my jeans. Chris pushed me to keep me moving. We ran until we had no idea where we were. A huge tree was in front of me. I grabbed a branch and pulled myself up. Chris followed. We climbed as high as we could. I sat with my legs on both sides of the branch with my back again the tree. Christopher straddled the tree too. He was sitting in front of me. His eyes found mine. I watched as the fear faded from them.

Time passed slowly. How long had it been? Chris was starting to look very uncomfortable. I stood and told him to switch me spots. He did without hesitation. Standing I looked around. I could see smoke off in the distance. It looked like the fire had gone out. It was starting to rain. I sat and leaned into Chris. His body was warm. I lifted my head and let rain drops fall on my face. They ran down my cheeks and dripped to my shoulders.

"What now," I asked.

"C. This was your idea." He sounded far off. "If you hadn't of asked me to go shopping." He laughed at the word shopping. "I should have known. It had been quiet for too long. Shopping. What a dumb idea."

I huffed. "Then why'd you follow me?"

"I couldn't let you die out here alone." I felt him shift behind me.

I could feel his heartbeat againset my back. "So you decided you'd die out here with me?" After a minute I added, "Even thought you hate me?"

He laughed. "I do not hate you C."

His heartbeat was kind of soothing. "Oh." I sighed. "Are we going to die up here?"

"I surely hope not. Though I wouldn't really mind it. But we have a job to do. We need to get groceries." Why was he suddenly in for going shopping? Just five seconds ago he said it was a dumb idea. I guess maybe he figured that we had almost died so what else could go wrong. We are halfway there so why not finish the trip.

I tried to turn to stare at him and almost fell out of the tree. He wrapped his arms around my body. I would have pulled away any other time but pulling away this time meant falling to my death. I forced a smile. "I'm okay."

"Okay. Lets get down from here," he said while moving me forward. I nodded.

We climbed down. It was harder getting down than it was to get up. My clothes caught on pieces of bark. Finally my feet hit the ground. It was soaking wet. My feet were sinking into it. Water was seeping through my shoes.

                                                                     *                   *                  * 

The store was empty. Lucky us. I threw a bunch of stuff into my backpack. I handed Chris a backpack from the school section when we had first enter the store. Where was he now? We had split up to get more stuff in less time. I looked up after zipping my back. It was full. I met light green eyes. Chris smiled at me. His eyes sparkling. The sun was coming out and it was shining right on him. His light brown hair shined with natural red highlights. Or maybe his hair was red with natural brown highlights. Yeah, it was a little more red. I smiled back. He looked like an angel. He walked over to me and grabbed my hand to help me up from the dirty tile floor.

"Earth to Claire. Why are you staring at me like that? Can you hear me?" After a moment I blinked up at him. "Oh my god, are you drooling?" He laughed.

He was such a girl. I slapped his arm. "Buttface," I murmured.

"Oh, there you are," He laughed again. "Now that you're done daydreaming about how dreamy I am, can we get out of here before our luck runs out?"

I blushed. "You are not dreamy," I agrued.

"Whatever C."

Whatever C. Who did Mr. tall, cute, and kind think he was. Prince chraming. I smiled to myself.

                                                                   *                  *                 *

Our luck didn't run out until we got home. Half a home. The rest was burned to a crisp. Black ash had blown everywhere. Bodies were black lumps. Neighboring houses were gone. Cleared out. I could see where the school had been. I wondered how many more people had died. Sarah. Ella. Eric. Luke. Emily. I dreaded the thought of them being in there. Had they burned? My heart fell to my feet. The door opened. Sarah. I blinked my tear filled eyes.

"Oh my god! You're alive," she screamed. "Both of you!"

I jumped. She was so loud. "Where is everyone," I asked quietly.

She looked around. Her face had black smudges as over. Her golden hair looked almost grey. Matching her eyes. She stared at me. "Well as you can see, we have to find a new home because this one just isn't going to work anymore. Which sucks because it was just starting to feel like home." She frowned. "Anyway, I sent them to one a few houses away and told them I'd wait here for the two of you. So come on, lets go."

She stepped out into the summer sun. Her skin was flawless. Her grey eyes now had a hint of green. She was beautiful. Even through the black smudges. Another angel. Just like.. Don't even think it Claire.

She lead us to a small white house down the street. Most the windows on the bottom floor were broken. The door was barely hanging on. As Sarah opened it I swore it was going to fall off. It didn't. More luck I guess. When we walked in I handed my bag to Ella. Chris handed his to Luke. They were sitting on the floor with Emily and Eric. No one looked scared though. That was good. Their clothes were fithy and they really needed a bath. They must had just walked in and sat right down and waited. What else were they going to do?

"We are tired," I said looking back and forth at them all. "And my feet are still wet from walking through the woods. And I'm sure I look half dead right now. So would you please put these away." I pointed to the bags. "Just lay the supplies out. That'll work."

Chris looked at me. Luke smiled, "Nah Claire. You look good, as always. And will do." Chris shot him a death glare. It faded fast though. I walked away. I was not wanting to deal with anything else for the day. I wondered where the soldiers had went, but only for a second. Soon I found a room. It had yellow walls. Flowers all over the place. Sky blue curtains. A peace sign bed spread. Hippie. Whatever. I sat on the edge of the bouncy mattress and began to take of my still soaking shoes. The task made me just that much more tired. Chris walked in. I was still fighting with my first shoe. I probably looked like I was high. I started laughing and held out my feet. He smiled sheepishly and walked over to help me remove my shoes.

"What an adventure," he said. After pulling off my secobd shoe and sitting it down beside the other.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Lets never do it again." I giggled a little.

His eyes meet mine. "Why not?"

"I don't know Christopher. I'm just too damn tired to even think right now."

"Goodnight," he laughed. "It's like only 4 in the afternoon but okay."

And that was it. I passed out.

                                                            *                     *                    * 

"RUN!"

A soldier was holding Chris as he screamed for me to run. I didn't move. After a what felt like ages I pulled up my dad's pistol and shot the soldier.

LUKE.

Luke was the soldier. Only he wasn't a soldier. He wasn't wearing a uniform now. He was dead. A hole through his chest.

Chris gasped for air. I ran to him. A soldier came around the corner. Running fast. A real soldier this time. He fired a shot. Hitting my shoulder. I screamed. I aimed. Pow. Right between the eyes.

I grabbed Chris up from the ground. He was so small. He could have fit in my pocket. How did this happen? I put him in my sweat pocket and ran. Ran as fast as I could. We reached the woods. Once safe inside he jumped out of my pocket. He grew to normal size. How did he do that?

He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me hard. When he pulled away Luke was standing behind him. The hole in his chest was not bleeding. It was empty. Nothing. Sun was shining straight through. I gasped. He raised my 243 and shot. Chris fell to his knees. Blood pooling at the back of his shirt. Another shot. More blood.

I screamed. I reached out for Chris. Only a dream. I was sweating and crying. My whole body was shaking like there was an earthquake. Chris came running into the room. I knew it was him because I could feel his warmth before he had even reached me. He brushed my hair out of my face. His eyes full of worry. 

"Claire," he said gently.

I just stared at him. He was alive. No one was dead. It was just a dream. I was still shaking terribly.

"Hey. Breathe," he whispered. He grabbed my hands. "Come on C. Calm down. It was just a dream. Everything's okay. Whatever happened wasn't real." He shook his head. "Go back to sleep alright."

"No." I stood from the bed. "I'm hungry."

"Oh." He watched me leave the room. Later he met me in the kitchen. I was eating a bowl of rice crispys. "Want to tell me about it," he asked.

"No," I answered. Never.

"Okay," he looked at the floor.

"I'll be alright. After all you're safe." I threw my hand over my mouth.

"Well yeah C. Of course I am. Nothing is going to happen to me." He looked up then added, "or any of us. Okay?"

"Yeah." I said while finishing my bowl. The cold milk felt good as it ran down my throat. I placed the bowl in the sink and walked out of the kitchen.

Chris followed me back up to the room I had been sleeping in. "You going to be alright," he asked.

"I guess so Chris. It was just a dream." I played with my fingers.

He smiled a small kind smile. "Alrighty then. I'll be right down.."

I cut him off. "No. Please stay." It came out too fast. I couldn't stop it. My face burned red. Stay. Why did I just say that?

"I.." He seemed as shoked as I was. "Okay," he said as walked over and sat beside me on the bed. He looked around for a second like he was uncomfortable being here with me. Was he nervous? I watched his eyes for awhile. Then his hands. They were lovely. He twisted them in his lap. I didn't know what to say but this was getting awkward so I just started talking. We talked for awhile. Not about much. Something about the stars. Something about finding a car. Or a truck. About teaching the girls, Ella and Sarah, how to shoot a gun. Just stuff like that. Somewhere in the conversation I started to fall asleep. My eyes were just too heavy to continue. I felt him lay me down on the fluffy pillows. Then I felt him try to leave. I grabbed his hand with what little strength I had left. "No. Please stay," I whispered. And he did.

**************************************************************

Oh Hey :D. I like Chris. He's such a sweetie. <3

Anyways, leave me comments. (:

That would help out alotttt.

CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!

Or just tell me if you like it or not..

For motivation :D LOL. I have none at all.

VOTE- only if you like it tho.

HAVE A GOOD DAY (:

- Smile because you don't know who could be falling in love with it._