Days later, they had gotten used to each other  and the others' daily schedules. To her it felt like raising a child or a puppy. Even though they were about the same age, he was extra ordinary clumsy. And loud!
Multiple times a day she feared that someone would hear them , that's how loud he was. Thanks to him, the basement seemed even filthier. Clumsy, loud, messy, that was the best way to summarize him. His whole behaviour reminded her of this of a little brother. She grew used to him.

The only thing that really, really annoyed her about him, was the amount of food he ate. She'd be fine with two packaging of biscuits a day but he almost twice as much. Daily, she saw their saving grow smaller. So one day, she decided to take action. She occupied him with cleaning his room and changing the sheets, while she went out. Outside it was raining. To her disadvantage was her jacket not waterproof at all, rather water absorbing. Her shoes were soaked up until the limit barely one minute after she stepped out of the house. But this weather brought one big advantage: No one with a good working brain would be outside on his free will. She surged up her hood and went her way.
Her first stop was the supermarket. It still frightened her a bit but it was probably the best place to find food. Indeed, she did not leave it behind empty-handed. It would maybe last for a few more days. If they were lucky.
She kept going.
For a long time she found nothing more. She went old and new paths. Then finally, she arrived at a surprisingly well-built house. It didn't seem like it had been damaged. That's what made her sceptical. It just seemed as if someone was living there. Carefully, she sneaked up at the corner and spied into one of the windows. But she could not see clearly as the windows were too dirty, so she completely trusted her sense of hearing. When over a span of a few minutes nothing was to be heard, she entered the house. Spiderwebs were hanging in every corner inside the house looked way worse than from outside: the wooden floor was groaning with every step and litter filled up the house. She looked directly for the kitchen. On her way she passed by the living room. What she saw made her tear up. A couple, dried to leather but still holding hands. She thought to herself that this is probably what was called 'love conquers everything'.
She didn't knew that. Fighting back the tears, he searched the different cupboards. Some plates, of which she wondered how they hadn't broken, cups and dried out fruits and vegetables. But so far nothing useful. Then the big treasure: Instant noodles. As she checked the expiration date she was happy to find that it had not expired yet. Immediately she put them in her bag. Already now it started to get hard to close.
She found nothing furthermore. A bit assured but also disappointed, she left the house. She did not plan on returning.

When she opened the door, Jonathan came running up to her with big eyes. He indeed reminded her of a puppy. Now more than ever. He dragged her along to his room and proudly presented it to her. The bed was made, the floor clean. Expecting, he looked up to her. As an answer she smiled at him. Then she went back to the kitchen to put her new treasures into the cupboard to the others. Jonathan silently watched her. Raising an eyebrow, she waited for him to ask. She had noticed his longing towards the upper-world. Finally, he burst out. If she could let him go with her outside tomorrow. For a moment she thought about it but when she could find nothing that spoke against it, she agreed.
His face lit up whereas she only prayed not to have made a bad decision.

Morning came too fast and she awoke with a bad feeling in her guts. The red blinking light made her feel dizzy, so dizzy that she had to stop and hold her head to not fall or faint. But he was so excited about going out that she couldn't bear to tell him that. Jonathan was already up in the kitchen, dressed up and prepared to leave. This view put a smile on her lips. She banished her sickness from her mind and concentrated on the day ahead.
After a brief breakfast they put on their masks and left left the house.
She showed him places to hide in case he got in danger and places he should rather avoid. All in all it was a rather relaxing day. Both of them enjoyed it, forgetting about the seriousness of the world. But their mood changed when they arrived at their home.
The front door was left wide open and she was pretty sure that she had closed it. Inside her head, an alarm went off and as she looked at Jonathan she knew that in his head one had too.
She reached for the hidden knife she wore. Every time she thought she had the need to use it, she was enraged about what in a bad condition it was. But when she was home again, she completely forgot about it.
Poor Jonathan was left alone with no weapon of his own, only his bare hands. Still, he did not even think about running away but rather prepared for a fight. With her foot, she opened the door a bit more. Silently, they turned towards the basement.
The fact that they knew this place by heart was to their advantage.
They sneaked up at the basement door. From downstairs were loud chatters audible. They had turned off the blinking red light and turned on the normal light instead. What a waste of electricity!
They peaked into the first room. No one was inside.
She heard 'em laughing from the room next to them.
How many were there? Five? Ten? More?
With their laughter a chill ran down her spine. She looked at Jonathan. There was a glimpse in his eyes, something cold and it scared her a bit. If she had wondered how he survived before, she now knew the answer.
They stormed into the room. The strange men had carelessly put their weapons on the counter whereas they themselves were standing by the sink and ate her biscuits.
Oh, how enraged she was by that.
Their laughter stopped when they entered the room. For the first few seconds they were like frozen before they ran over to their weapons. But these moments were enough for her and Jonathan to attack them. Without blinking, her knife went through the throat of the first. The skin around the flesh was ripped to pieces, that's how old and rusty the knife was.
Jonathan meanwhile had rushed over to where the weapons were laying. He was fighting with one over an old pistol when she attacked the remaining one.
He saw her coming.
And he was good.
She had had some martial arts classes but that was long before all of this had happened.
But that was long before the fire, the heat, the rains full of ash.
Before she lost everything that was dear to her.
Her attacker used the time of her flash backs and landed a blow against her stomach. It knocked the air out of her.
She tried to remember easy spots to weaken him and attack there.
Just when she was about to hit him, a shot rang.
In the silent room it was surprisingly loud and echoed from the thick walls.
Her head spun around.
Jonathan, a hand on the shoulder of the man in front of him, the look on his face confused, his eyes were searching for hers.
Everyone in the room was confused and shocked.
Jonathan pressed a hand on his stomach. When she looked at his hands, they were red.
It all connected in her head: The bullet had hit him. The truth was bitter.
She cried out loud and pushed the man away from her.
Jonathan looked her directly in the eyes and she saw the light in his die.
Then, he stared into the air without any life left in his eyes.
She felt her heart being ripped apart and couldn't hold back the tears.
But at the same time, she was enraged to the limit.
She glared up angrily at the man who immediately backed up. Her brain turned off completely, there was only rage and bloodlust in her heart.
She grabbed the bloody knife harder and screamed out all her hearts pain before pouncing on them.
The blood in her veins went cold.