Guns and Doves - E.S. (phonics reader txt) 📗

I got up with darkness flooding my room, I sleep in the basement, no windows, no light, all I have is my bed. Or at least that’s what most people think. The basement is a small room, and next to my bed there is stairs, my dad yells down to me, “get me some breakfast!”, and I walk upstairs and do so. I made pancakes, the kitchen smelled like smokes, like usual, me dad was in bed still, he won’t get out until 12. Once I baked the pancakes I placed them beside my fathers bed and went back down to my room.

Beside my bed, there was a picture of my mom, she had died went I was eight, it was taped flat down on the side table, it was some times slide off the table when it wasn’t taped, because my dad would slam the door after he went out. I walked over to the wall facing my bed, traced it with my fingers with a careful hand until I felt a dent, when I did I pulled the dent with all my might.
The door opened.

Light shined into my eyes, the room was all white, with clothes, weapons and words on the walls.
I put on a pair of shorts and a shirt with the sleeves ripped off. I am thirteen , and discovered this room when I was five, my mother showed it to me, never telling dad, it was our secret. At this time, you might and should be wondering, why does a thirteen year old girl have a secret room with guns in it? well, it’s a confusing story, but I could try to explain.

When I was five a sickness broke out, it made people go crazy, killing, eating, and attacking people, or sometimes they just stand around and do nothing, it’s like all the sane parts of their brain were erased and replaced with something horrible, sometimes the people who caught this flu would just die, right then and there, that’s what happened to my mom. Adults had a better chance of catching the flu then children. I don’t know how my dad had lasted this long, may be all the smokes and beer.

The streets weren’t safe anymore, no one would go on them with out a weapon, also less food, since most farmers died, so this caused fighting among people, killing, the children stayed away from this, but that’s how most people died too. We lived in the city, it wasn’t that hard to find food, but it was hard to keep it. I was skinny, so I could fit into small spaces and hide if any one were it come near, also when I was young, my father was a cop, he took me to the shooting range and I had found out I had pretty good aim. When ever I saw a adult with a gun, I would hide, when I saw a adult with the sickness, I would kill. I have been living like this for around six years.

I wasn’t planning on living in this house for any longer than I have to, and since now I have my guns, clothes, and bullets, I am ready to move out. I got my favourite guns, a knife and a sling shot, my clothes I’m wearing will last, but I added my favourite shirt, it was my favourite band, AC/DC, it was a black tank top with the High Voltage album cover on it, also some demin shorts with cartoon unicorns on them, they were ripped and were short shorts. I played along, like nothing was gonna happen all day, went to sleep early, and set my mind alarm clock to five o’clock in the morning.

I woke up, grabbed my bag with food and clothes in it, took my shot gun and pulled it over my shoulder (it had a strap) and my Smith and Wesson (model 3) and put it in my belt. My knife was already in my bag, I took off out the back door. The sun was down and it was quiet, my backyard had tall grass and you could hardly see my face, I climbed through it as stealthy as I could. This was going to be a great adventure.

My plan was to get out of the city, see the world, I was hidden in that old rust house for to long, I needed to see the world. No matter what. I hopped over a fence, and crawled in the backyard, a few bird flew above me, making a beautiful sight, I actually got a tattoo of birds, on my wrist, two doves, but instead of white, they were black, hey, it’s the end of the world, I can do what I want.

My loose curls were flying in my face, and my tan skin was almost burning under the sun, but my green eyes blended in with the surprisingly green grass, I jumped over another fence, behind my a heard a loud crack, I ran. I ran and found my self no longer on the ground, I was flying, right in to a pool.

Lovely, now I’m soaking wet, but I was smart enough to throw my gun and bag away before impact. I searched the perimeter before getting out of the pool, the crack was from a cat. I got up and got my guns and bag. I needed to find somewhere safe and were I can dry off. I walked out of the back yards, and onto the main street, I ran again, but this wasn’t from being chased, this was from freedom. I was always the fastest in my class, before the sickness struck, I took my shoes off too, so I could go faster and feel the cool ground on my feet.

I was heating up, it must be six now, and the sun was rising, I should go to the back yards soon, I was getting closer to the main part of the city, then there was the giant forests, where I wanted to go. I heard foot steps behind me, I kept my pace, jogging, but I was ready to sprint if the foot steps got any faster, I had it all planned out what I would do, but right now, I didn’t want to show a sign that I knew my follower was there. The foot steps did get faster and soon I could hear breathing, they got faster and faster, and the breathing got louder and louder. Soon the followed was so close, to close, I broke out into a sprint. Running as fast as I could, but the follower was gaining on me, I wanted to look back, to try to take my shot, but the follower was to fast and I had no time, I had to lose it. I ran down the allies, and took turns I didn’t know where to, I was sliding and climbing on bins and fences, but the follower was still there, behind me. We were in an ally, there was a big building beside me, I couldn’t find a door, I searched ans searched. Now I was sure, I would lose this fight, it was right behind me, I let out a kick, but I missed, I could take the chance of turning back to shoot, but I could miss and be even more behind. I knew I wasn’t gonna make it, but I still ran. There was a loud bang. following after, a another, but not as loud and near me, it was a drop, a drop of a body, hitting the ground.

I looked back, and there it was, the dead body of the follower. It’s eyes wide and full of craze, it shook a couple time, no wanting to die. I took out my knife and stabbed it, but still it moved. There was a rustle behind a garbage bin, I got my gun ready to shoot, but no crazy sick person came out, it was a small little girl. She was about five or fix. She wore a pink tutu and a red shirt the stopped higher than her belly button because it got cut, half her head was shaved and the other have she had long straight black hair, her dark brown skin blended in with the background, and her big brown eyes shined more than anything should in this horrible messed up world. This little girl had a stuffed pink rabbit in one hand, she was holding on to it by the foot, and in the other hand she had an axe, larger than her body, she came up to the shaking body and chopped it’s head right off with one swift movement. “Dead.” she said and walked about two feet away and sat down. She didn’t look at me, acting like I wasn’t even there.

The door I couldn’t find swung open, an older boy, about 18 walked out, he too had big brown eyes and dark skin, like the little girl, but he didn’t look happy, and his eyes didn’t shine. He looked at me, his face didn’t have emotion, “what are you doing around here?”, he asked, and pulled his gun up. The little girl looked at him, then to me, she stood in front of me and wrapped around my legs, she looked up at me and smiled, one of her bottom teeth were gone, I smiled back. How could this girl be so happy? “I wanted to see the world”, was all I could say to the boy, that’s why I was here, right? Out in the world, and not in my house, stuck there making my father breakfast like the good girl I should be. He made a weird noise “what is there to see, people killing and eating others? Little children starved and dying on the streets? Yes that’s an amazing world to see”, he said, I don’t know why, but I got angry, very angry, what he said was true, but I wouldn’t stand for it. “Oh, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to be trapped in a house for the rest of my life, ans what’s it to you?”, I said, the boy didn’t look happy, “nothing, I don’t care, just don’t come back again”.
“I won’t”.
I went to walk away, but the little girl held my hand, “don’t leave”, she said,
“I don’t want to leave you, but I have to”, I told her,
“no.” The little girl looked the boy dead in the eye, “she stay”. The boy looked at her, with sorrow in his eyes, “we can’t keep her”, he tried to explain, the girl gave him a dirty look, “she stay!”, she yelled, the boy