To Stay Alive [Mido]

Mido was an artist, prone to wild flights of fantasy where his imagination would take him down strange paths and make him wonder about strange things. The what if of a zombie apocalypse was one that had come to mind before, what would they do? How would the world react? How would it spread? When he'd begun to hear the news reports and word of mouth from Jessica, he'd half believed that this was his imagination running wild again, but as it spread closer and closer to home, the reality of the situation started to sink in hard.

The first time he caught any hint that this was real, was when he was at the supermarket, it felt surreal thinking about it now, he'd been in the checkout when a woman rushed in missing her entire face, guts spilling out onto the floor, he'd abandoned his groceries and drove home as fast as he could, utterly traumatized, and he still was in shock, because it just got worse and worse. And the part that had hit him the hardest was the realization that he didn't know if his mother was still alive. They'd been unable to make calls anywhere, but she'd been on base, she had to be safe, the base had to be safe.

He glanced over at Jessica, who seemed to be barely hanging on, same as him. They'd been sitting in silence now for what seemed like hours, and he couldn't take this waiting anymore, "Jess..." He stood from where he was sitting and moved closer to her, taking her hand, "we can't stay here..." He gave a soft sigh and chewed his lip, "my mom...She's...On base..." He was trying to speak through his shaking voice, "it's a longshot...But we'd be safer there than we will be here." He glanced at the door, "it's only a matter of time until looters find us and..." He trailed off, sighing softly, "I say we get in our car...And go." He looked down, "because right now all we can do is die here or maybe die out there..." He gave her a fearful expression, "a-and I'd much rather place my bets on a maybe...Than a certainly."

Lost in her own thoughts, Jess started a little when Mido finally spoke and broke the silence. She looked up to him as he spoke, wrapping her fingers through his. She took in a slow, shaking breath, then let it out again. He was right, he was, he'd all but picked the thoughts out of her head. They couldn't stay here, not like this. And she hadn't considered it before, but now that he mentioned it...a military base had to be better equipped to deal with something like this. Everything was probably on all manner of lockdown right now...but if his mom could get them in...

She gave a little bit of a jerky nod of her head. "Yeah. I...I think you're right. I...no. We can't stay here...and if your mom can help us..."

She stood up, hand still in his. "So...gather everything good we have here? We'll take your car, it's better than mine, it might actually make the trip...we can leave once there's actually decent light, so we can see what's happening, see how far we can get..." Already her mind was kicking into everything that needed to be done, if they hoped to survive this.

Mido couldn't bring himself to admit it out loud, but his suggestion to find his mother's base came just as much from his worry and desire to make sure she was okay as it did his need to keep them both safe, they hadn't heard from her in the weeks before the epidemic hit, and it was unusual from a woman who made a habit to call frequently. He squeezed her hand and looked relieved when she seemed to agree with his words, "this is our best shot..." It was their only shot, eventually someone would realize they were here, "I'm more afraid of other survivors finding us here than those...Things at this point." Zombies couldn't open doors, but desperate looters could.

When she stood, he did as well, nodding his agreement, "yeah, I know we have camping gear...Kinda glad mom talked me into the Hummer now, heh..." He'd objected to that car at first, figuring it was bad for the environment, but now, "it's got a few full gas cans in the back too...Might not get us the whole way but...Far enough." They could probably make brief stops if they needed to, but the less the better. Before they split to prepare he took her hands and squeezed them, looking her in the eyes, "we'll get through this, Jess. We'll be okay..." He hoped his words sounded more confident than he actually felt.

She almost laughed at the comment about the Hummer, she'd poked fun at him for the oversized car in the past but now? Now she was glad to have it...it would serve them better on such a trip than her little beat up Toyota, that was for sure.

"I'll grab all the food we have, any medicine, anything that might be useful..." Her mind was trying to pick out exactly what those things might be, but it was hard to think past all the worries and fears. But she'd better start thinking clearly, otherwise it could cost them both their lives.

As he reassured her she looked him in the eyes and nodded. "We'll be okay." She echoed, although the concerns and doubt showed in both of their voices. At least they still had each other. They could look out for each other, watch each other's backs...that had to count for something. Better than going at it alone. She couldn't even imagine what she'd do in a world like this if she was completely alone. Probably go crazy and just let one of those things take her, if that's all she felt was left in the world.

She quickly shook off the dark thoughts before they could settle too far in, leaning over she gave him a quick hug, squeezing tightly for a moment, before hurrying off to start rummaging through the accumulation of their lives here together, and sort out what might be important.

Mido gave a nod at her words, trying to steady his breathing enough that he could reply without the awful shaking in his voice, "that...Yes. That sounds good. I'll go sort through the other rooms and see what I can find." The larger vehicle meant they could easily carry more supplies, they were parked in the garage on the bottom floor, it was maybe five minutes from where they were now, if they were smart, and quiet, they could probably make the walk without much hassle or worry. He returned her hug with a tight, lingering grip, he knew that they could end up at the end of their destination with either one of them alone, neither were adept at survival. Breath, everything will be okay.

He'd gone to the bedroom first picking through the closet and drawers to pull out anything that could be useful, old clothes that might make in-a-pinch bandages, things from the medicine cabinet and bathroom that might serve them well, stuffing it all in a hefty duffel bag. He sighed as he picked up a photo of the two of them together, it had been shortly after they'd moved in together and really settled on starting their lives together, it wasn't a necessity, but he slipped it into the bag and zipped it up anyway.

After he was content that the bag was packed with all he could find, he knelt down to check under the bed, pulling out a strong, black case and snapping it open, "thank you mom." He laughed softly, the handguns had been a gift when they'd first moved in, at the time he'd been fairly against the idea, but now...

He glanced up at Jessica as he returned to the living room with the duffel in one hand and the case in the other, "we're not totally defenseless, Jess." He chuckled nervously, he only had the basic knowledge of how to shoot, growing up in a military family afforded one such things, but it would to. It would have to.

She looked at the case and smiled for a moment, she remembered the day they'd gotten those. Her and his mother had started out a bit rough, but over time had gotten closer and she remembered when the older soldier had given them the weapons, as well as some lessons in how to use them for the both of them. 'It's all well and good to own a gun, but it does you no good if you don't know how to use it, and in the moment freeze...or just shoot yourself in the foot' she'd told them. Hopefully now, in this moment, Jess would remember how to use them if needed...and she was pretty sure before this was all done it would be needed.

"Maybe I wasn't sure before...but...I'm glad your mom was looking out for us."

She gestured to a bag and a few other things stacked on the table. "I got together bedding, the camping gear, all the food in the house that won't go bad sitting in the car...um....filled up some containers with water too. I think...we're probably as ready for this as we're ever going to be." She gave him a bit of a weak smile.

"At least probably nothing got in the garage, right? We should be able to get that far and load up without too much problem." She moved to gather up some things. "Ready to do this?" She knew the answer, neither of them were. But they couldn't admit that. They just needed to go and do it, before they changed their mind and lost their nerve.

Mido nodded and looked over the case with an expression that was just as much fond as it was worried, "god I hope she's okay..." He had to swallow down the tight lump in his throat before looking back over at her, "Mama always did seem to know..." She always seemed to know just when to call to check on them, or exactly what they needed for the apartment at any given time, she seemed to be the human embodiment of 'moms always know' and he was appreciating that now more than he ever had before.

He took a deep breath and then got a determined, focused look on his face, it wasn't often that that normally dreamy young man looked so serious, so much like a soldier, but it was needed now, and even if he didn't have as much training as his mother and much of her company, he did have some things he'd been taught growing up like that, "There wasn't a lot in the bedroom, but it sounds like you got us covered!" He gave her a weak smile in return before setting the case down a moment, long enough to take one of the two guns out and load it up, passing it to her, "I can carry most of this, if you'll watch our backs with this."

At her question he gave a nervous laugh, gathering up the supplies in his arms and on his back, "not even a little bit...But it's now or never," He took a last look at the apartment before sighing softly and pushing the front door open, lowering his voice so only she could hear, "we'll take the utility stairs, damn janitor always left that door unlocked, it'll lead right out into the parking garage." He nodded, gesturing with his head for her to follow as they made their way to the stairs.

She took the gun gingerly, not having handled them much lately. She nodded though, mostly looking at it instead of up at him. She set it carefully on the table top in order to sling on a backpack and a couple of the smaller items she could carry over her shoulders leaving her hands free, before picking up the gun again.

"Okay." She took a breath, "Let's do this."

THey had often complained about that doorway being left open, they'd even written a couple official letters about how it was a safety risk to everyone in the building and how it really, really needed to be kept locked. Today, she was grateful it was so often forgotten. It was strange how many things that she'd been angry about, or poked fun at were suddenly things she was grateful for. How many thigns that had seemed like such big deals...weren't anymore. She wondered how many other ways her perspective would drastically change over the upcoming weeks.

She followed him out of the apartment, letting the door close behind them, probably for the last time she realized with a sudden very real pull of heartache. They'd had a lot of good times in that apartment. She tried not to think about it, as she followed after him, watching behind and on all sides of them as they made their way to the stairs and started down them, creeping quietly to make as little noise as possible in case of anything waiting for them below.

Mido was trying to turn his brain off, at least for the most part, to not think about what they were doing or what might happen to them out there, thinking about it would only serve to make him lose his nerve, and neither of them could afford that. He realized they were leaving a lot behind, their whole lives up until this point, but he also realized that he had the only important thing with him as he glanced back to make sure she was still there, trying to ignore the small creaks and clatters he heard, or at the very least write them off as just building noises.

He glanced up as their vehicle came into view, shouldering the bags more as he dug out his keys, popping the trunk before they got there. The trunk had space and then some for the minimal supplies they'd gathered, plenty left for any sleeping or storing they wanted to do back there, his voice was soft as he spoke, "Looks like we'll have room back here to both sleep." The vehicle would be a safe enough place to bed down, given the tank-like quality they tended to have anyway, "home sweet home..." He gave a soft chuckle, shutting the trunk once they'd both loaded their bags, waiting for her to be safely in the car before climbing in himself, "Listen...We can't defend ourselves with just these handguns...We need something with more bite." He started up the vehicle and looked back as they pulled out, "I think if we get a chance we ought to find...I dunno a gun shop...We should see what we can find." It was risky, but might save them in the long run.