I didn't want to ask her what she had done with her family. Her mother was around long enough to take care of her siblings, but when her mother passed, she was the only one here to take care of them. I let my curiosity linger. I knew better than to say anything. As I had always known from the start, being polite and kind was important. Never speak too much about yourself without being asked. Ask about the other person, and don't gossip. Keep a calm tone. Being around someone else had all of my mental rules flowing back into my mind.

  "How often do you clean this place? I feel like I could lick the floor and walk out healthier than I did before I arrived," I laughed. Laughing felt good. She was laughing too from the other room. I got up and started looking around. A new setting made me giddy with excitement. There were candles lit around the room to generate light. That's one thing I didn't understand. Our furnace and AC still ran, but my mom said it had something to do with our generator and the type of power it had. Everywhere else, nobody had electricity, and nobody had running water, especially in town. Our well was still running at least, but we had to take good care of it to prevent the rust stains. Well water was full of hard minerals, especially from the Missouri dirt.

  "I clean it once a week," My heart jumped at the sound of her voice. She had taken a little while to respond. I had almost forgotten I asked her a question. "I like to let it get dirty so I can clean it again. What is that in Spanish, limpia?" I smiled again. I was very, very glad she was still the same person.

  "Something like that," I picked up a picture frame from the counter. It was a family portrait. I sat it down exactly as she had put it before. She put her bag on the dining table. I could tell she repainted the walls recently. She never let anyone in her house, ever. Before and after everything had happened. I had seen glimpses of the wall on FaceTime, though. "You ready?" she looked around, shuffling through her bag one last time.

  "Si, I think so," She drew her gun out of her back pocket. It threw me off a little bit. She took the clip out, reloading the bullets into it to count how many she had, then clipped it back in and put it in her waistband. Her winter coat covered it up as she buttoned it and pulled the furry hood over her head. "Let's go!" I watched her unlock all of her locks again and waited for her outside the door. As she locked them from the outside, I stood at the top of the porch and stared through the trees. She had neighbors, given that she was in the middle of town, but the trees and bushes provided very good coverage. She latched the last lock, and we walked down to the truck. I unlocked both sides, and she tossed her bag on the bed. Seeing her in the seat next to me made me smile again. I was so happy to have her here, even if we didn't exchange any words. I had lost a little bit of my socialism, but I'm sure it would come back to me soon.

  We locked the doors, and she set her gun in the cupholder next to mine.

  "I want to go get Breelyn and Emma. Do you think they will come with?" She sat and pondered for a couple of seconds.

  "Maybe... I walked to Breelyn's, uh, two weeks ago? She said Emma was coming to stay with her, but I haven't seen her since. Lo siento."

  "Two birds and one stone, that would be great. Why would Emma go to live with her? Did something happen?" I hadn't seen Emma for about a month, but she was the one I had seen the most. She lived out of town as well, but the back ends of our properties backed right up onto each other. I would walk through the woods some days to come see her. She had walked to mine a couple of times, too. Last I had known, her father and brother were still halfway across the country. She had chosen to stay with her mom, and her brother chose to stay with her dad. Her mom was a perfect picture of health last time I talked to her, and her boyfriend, Malachi, lived near Phoebe. All of us were close, especially Malachi and Phoebe. They would come and spend the night at my house every night for weeks at a time. Phoebe would stay in the guest bedroom, and Malachi would sleep in the closet of my room. I hadn't seen him at all, though. Not for a year. A pit grew in my stomach. "Phoebe, is Malachi still alive?"

  "He came over two days ago. He's alive," I didn't realize I was holding my breath. I released it, water gathering in my eyes. "They broke up. Malachi left yesterday to go live with his mom in the West."

  "Living in the country makes it a whole lot harder to know everyone's whereabouts," I sighed. I missed seeing and talking to them every day, but I didn't hold on to that feeling. I was with Phoebe right now, and that made me feel great. "I'm glad he's still alive, even if he's not staying in this town. It's good to leave, but his mom's house is in a town just as sketchy, isn't it?"

  "Si... I don't know how I feel about it, but he did write letters to everyone," She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Here." I kept my eyes on the road and laid the letter in my lap. When we turned into Breelyn's neighborhood, I pulled over on the side. Phoebe kept watch as I unfolded it. There weren't many words at all. The whole paper had an old, faded image. It was very wrinkled and slightly ripped. It was a picture we had printed out and glued onto a poster. The same poster he asked Emma to go to homecoming with in Freshman year. He had snuck over to my house to make it in secret, and he put it on the letter.

  Amelita,

  I know I wish I could have come to find you, but you live too far. I knew you would come see Phoebe one day, so I'm giving her this letter. I'm walking across the state with my two sisters. We're the only ones left, and we're going to my mom's if she's still there. Thank you for everything. I'll see you again, but probably not

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  -Malachi

  Tears rolled down my cheeks. It was an inside joke when he said Probably not, so I knew I would see him again. I couldn't help but laugh, but I had only missed him by one day. Seeing him write my nickname down, too, hurt me. I missed my friends, and he was going to go through a lot of danger by walking across the state. There wasn't anything I could do about it, though, so I had to move on. I folded the paper up and put it in the glovebox.

  *******

  I saw people looking outside of their houses through the blinds as we passed through the neighborhood. Some people walked outside with shotguns, but they didn't do anything. We weren't posing a threat, but they knew better. We didn't know who we could and couldn't trust.

  I parked on the street next to Breelyn's house, but her mom was already outside, a gun in hand. She was aiming it right at us. I turned the key off and took a deep breath. "Stay in the truck, Fi," I whispered. I grabbed Conner's pistol and put it under my coat.

  I very slowly opened the truck door and folded my jacket over my hand. "Sandy, it's Amelia!" I yelled. I stepped out from behind the truck, and she let her weapon drop down by her side. I gave her a forced smile. I saw her eyes squint as she met me with a smile, too. My nerves were immediately released. I waved Phoebe out of the truck and put my pistol in the waistband. "Oh my goodness, how have you been?" I walked up to her, and she pulled me into a hug. I almost lost my footing at the sudden jolt.

  "Gosh, girl, I was about to shoot you," She whispered, squeezing me even tighter. When Phoebe got close enough, she pulled her in, too. "Come inside, girls, please. Breelyn and Emma are going to love seeing you." She made eye contact with me as she spoke. The moment I heard their names, I couldn't hold the tears in. I started to cry, sob even. She led us inside, and they both came walking up the stairs. The four of us stood there, looking at each other. Emma's gasp was the first thing we heard. Breelyn's mom, Sandy, closed and locked all of the locks on the door as we all stood there, staring at each other. It was ten seconds before Breelyn walked closer and fell into my arms. She started to cry, and I had already been. Emma came up too, then Phoebe, and we all stood there. Having this much human contact was so strange, but it made me feel better. I could tell they felt the same way, too.

  Sandy brought us all some peaches as we sat around the living room, telling each other about the updates in our lives. I told them I was still with my mom. I saw my dad around once a month and hadn't seen my brothers for a year. Barrett and his wife, though, come around once every other week. I told them that I was going to visit our cousin, so they were going to stay with our mom while we were gone.

  Emma told us about the Malachi situation. It was a mutual breakup. They did it so they could lose each other by choice. It made sense to me, but it sucked to hear. I was glad they didn't hate each other, though. Her mom was going to find her father and brother, but she didn't want to leave town. She still had her dog, too, who was asleep somewhere downstairs. I was glad her mom was still alive.

  Breelyn's two sisters were living here for a while, but they left a few months ago to go to the coast. "If they were going to survive during the 'apocalypse, '" She bent her fingers. This wasn't an apocalypse, but it was a good word to describe it as. "They wanted to do it wearing bikinis and tanning on the beach. I don't blame them, though, but I couldn't leave Mom forever. I was fine to stay," I was glad all of them had a choice. Hartland was the place we had lived our whole lives. People here either fought to leave as soon as they could or never wanted to leave. Clearly, all of us had the same mindset.

  I told them my and Phoebe's plan and asked them to come with me, but Sandy was against it for a while. She hated the thought of Breelyn being out there, and she also had to look out for Emma, but she knew I could take care of them. I taught everyone everything they knew about survival, and she didn't want us to be alone out there either. There was safety in numbers after all, and staying in this house was almost just as dangerous.

  "My cousin lives in Greenwood. Greenwood has always fended for itself. The town next to them is slightly bigger, nothing like Hartland, though, but they work together. Greenwood and Windland. They grow their own food, manufacture their own clothes, and supplies. There was a military base there, too. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't change at all." When I explained the town of Greenwood to Sandy, she felt a little better about it, too. We didn't want to make any stops at gas stations, so I took it upon myself to tie a bunch of gas cans in the truck bed. We could pull over on the highway instead. It was safer, and we had our own food too. It was much safer to travel at night, and the sun was going down. It was three pm. We didn't have our clocks set right anymore. Nobody knew when to start daylight saving time anymore, so we kept the clocks running the way they were.

  Breelyn and Emma packed what they could. Her stepdad helped us move the bags to the car, then we brought extra ammo for our guns, knives, flashlights, and even some bulletproof vests her stepdad had in the basement. He was ex-army. "That army base probably formed a border somewhere. Wouldn't surprise me at all," He heaved the final bags into the bed. "Tell them my name and show them your IDs. They'll let you through with this if you put it on the inside of your windshield." It was some sort of star. I had seen it on my brother's friend's shoulder one time. He had joined the army right out of high school. It was on his uniform. I reached in through the window and slapped it onto the glass.

  "You girls be good, alright?" Sandy gave each of us a hug. Breelyn hugged her mom one more time, and Emma did the same. It felt surreal to see them both here. They were much shorter than me, and definitely shorter than Phoebe, who was two inches taller than I was, at least. Both with blue eyes, and both with light brown hair that was blonde at the ends. They used to dye their hair blonde, but that wasn't possible to keep up with anymore. Breelyn's hair was shorter than the last time I had seen her, too. It went a little bit below the top of her shoulders. Emma's hair had grown out, though, going a little below her shoulder blades. I could see the remains of the blonde in the last two inches of it. Her hair was very curly, too. She had straightened and brushed it out every day during school. She fought against her natural curl pattern for the longest time, but now she has embraced it. She still had the beauty mark above her lip, too.

  Everyone climbed in, Breelyn's belt jingling as she slid across the back seat to let Emma inside. Breelyn was always one for fashion. Of course, she wouldn't let that go during the end times. She had a saggy gold chain belt on her long, baggy jeans. The bottoms were ripped where the heel of her Converse caught. Emma had the same jeans on, but without the belt. Both of them wore plain jackets, though. Emma's a dark purple, and Breelyn with her old leather one. I turned the radio up, finding a channel that finally worked, and we took off for the highway.