The Other Survivors

After Keanu let me go, I felt like there was something different between us. We were strangers, yes, but we now had a different sort of understanding. It's the solemnity of sharing a tragedy together that brings out the best in people. I was not ready to open my heart and soul to him, but I felt better.

We both seemed to have respect for each other, which is something the new world would most likely lack. He flashed a smile at me and gave me a thumbs up with his good hand.

He put his hand on my shoulder protectively as we went out the door.

"There are only a few people here that I know of. Most people fled the city, and a slim few stayed. Last I checked, there were five others here," Keanu explained. "I could be wrong, though."

We went back to the staircase and climbed up a level. He pushed the door open forcefully and took me to apartment 205 A. He knocked on the door. I heard shuffling on the inside, and the door cracked open. A gun slid through the little crack and pointed at Keanu.

"What?" a male voice growled from inside.

"Please, River, put your gun down. We both know you're not going to shoot anyone with it," Keanu sighed.

"Keanu, jeez, why didn't you tell me that it was you?"

"Who else would it be?" Keanu raised his eyebrow incredulously.

"You never know in end of the world situations. Please, you never even know who it might be before the world ended. Come in,"

"Do you even have any bullets in your gun?" Keanu asked. River didn't respond, so we both assumed that it was a no.

I heard a chain slide and click open, and the wooden door opened up into another apartment, alarmingly similar to Keanu's, but with peeling wallpaper and blue carpeted floors.

River was young, maybe around Keanu's age, with sandy brown hair that hung in sheets down the sides of his face. He had a red bandana tied around the lower half of of his head, keeping his nose and mouth covered.

His clothes needed to be washed, badly, and there was a swollen bruise around his left eye.

"Who's this?" He asked, nodding to me.

"This is Charlie. I found her in the woods on a supply run. She stitched up my hand," Keanu answered for me.

"I'm River," he said, switching the gun into his other hand so he could shake with me. He pulled the bandana down off of his face so I could see him. He had a strong jaw, and, while demanding, his lips seemed to quirk up in a smile.

"Charlie Cohen," I answered nervously. He wasn't scary in essence, but the fact that he opened the door with a gun to our heads --albeit, it was empty-- threw me off.

River nodded and motioned for the two of us to come in.

He shut and locked the door behind us.

"What do you guys need?" He pulled the hair out of his face as though he was going to tie it back, but had nothing to hold it with. It fell back to where it was.

"We wanted to talk business," Keanu explained, a small smile on his face. "Charlie wants to know the others. She says it's better to have allies. We want you on our side."

"Well, who else's side would I be on? The dead's? Okay, I accept, as long as I'm not the scapegoat."

"What do you mean by 'scapegoat?'" I prodded, shifting my bag.

"Scapegoat. Like I'm not gonna be the one you trip to make a swift getaway," he said seriously, slipping a finger between his collar and his neck to get some air.

"No way. It's about living, not contributing to the population of the dead," I stated formally.

"Alright then, I'll bite. Where would we be going?"

"We're safe here," Keanu said, eyebrows furrowing, "Why would we leave?"

"Safe havens don't last in these days. Mark my words. If this thing really is gonna last, then I'd bet that this apartment complex won't," River nodded.

"Until something happens, we should stay here, though," Keanu bargained.

"Yeah, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I'm just saying, the Law of Averages is gonna strike someday," River muttered, "Anyway, I'll get the others and bring them here. We're gonna have to pool all our supplies if we're teaming up."

He seemed trustworthy and brave, but I was a bit skeptical. Rightfully so, of course, and I was still slightly skeptical over Keanu. These were strangers I'd be trusting with my life, after all.

He stood up and pulled the bandana over his mouth, then left Keanu and I alone on the couch in his apartment.

Part of me expected Keanu to make a move on me since we were unsupervised on a couch for who knows how long. It's what I'd expect from a guy his age. I tensed slightly when we were alone. Instead, he surprised me by picking up my bag and setting it between us.

"What do you have in here?"

"Some essentials. Clothes, a water filter...,"

"Good idea. We should also go through the abandoned apartments and take anything we can use that might have been left behind. There are some locked doors throughout the building that we just didn't touch yet."

I nodded. River pushed his door open again, and was followed by 3 guys and a young girl.

"Got 'em," he said easily.

There was a young guy, maybe around 16, who furrowed his eyebrows when he saw me. He looked familiar and it was killing me. After a good look at him, I realized where I'd seen him before. We had used to go to school together. He wasn't in my grade, but he was one of those faces I recognized.

"Corey Haim?"

"Yeah... how did you know that?" He asked skeptically.

"Charlie Cohen. We had study hall together. You got in trouble sometimes,"

His eyes widened in realization, "Ohhh, oh yeah. Sorry, I didn't recognize you."

"No, it's okay, I didn't expect you to,"

Honestly, that was about all I knew about Corey, but at least I recognized someone in all this chaos.

There was a young girl, 14 at the most. She kept tucking her hair behind her ear and looking around nervously. She had come in with Corey, so I assumed that they were either related or knew each other.

"I'm Jade," she said quietly. Corey looked at her and smiled encouragingly, "Jade Thompson."

There was another guy with messy brown hair in dark pants and a jean jacket leaning against the doorframe, halfway in the hall. There was a cut on his left cheek that had scabbed over, and it wasn't very noticeable unless you were actively looking for it. There were also bloodstains all over his white shirt.

"Michael," he nodded, arms folded. He looked the most casual out of everyone, a bit of a smile on his face, like there was something funny he knew that we didn't. "Michael J. Fox," He leaned over with a bit of a casual charm to shake my hand.

"I'm Daniel Beech," said a taller man with blond hair, cutting in and getting to business. He was probably the oldest, looking to be around 30. "River says you want to work together."

I went to shake his hand, but he didn't move or react. He stopped me.

"How many walkers have you killed?" He asked me.

I squinted at him, and tried to think back.

"Three, maybe four," I replied. He looked to Keanu.

"Thirty or so," he shrugged.

"None," River said. Daniel raised an eyebrow.

Jade just shook her head.

Corey pondered the question, "Do you mean the dead? Then like... fifteen."

Michael pushed off the doorframe, "Thirty-seven."

"How many people have you killed?" Daniel asked me. My eyes widened.

"None," I said hastily, shocked he would accuse me of murder.

"None," Keanu responded, shaking his head. Everyone else did the same.

And then River raised his hand.

"One," he said quietly, "my sister."

Daniel walked right over to River and looked him right in the eye.

"Why?"

River stared right back, seemingly unafraid of the man trying to intimidate him.

"She was dying, and she asked me to," he answered firmly.

Daniel walked over to me and looked into my bag, which was open for the others to inspect. The room was full of tense silence.

Keanu broke the quiet, "Charlie stitched my hand up today. She didn't have to, but she did."

I could tell he was vouching for me, for us, to try and convince the others to team up. I appreciated it, but I really didn't want to sign up as the doctor of the group. I didn't know what I was doing, I just did it because I had to.

"Reeves," I tugged on his sleeve to try and get his attention, to tell him discreetly to stop, and that I wasn't good with medical procedures, but he instead held my hand.

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment that he had thought that was what I was trying to do.

"And on top of that, I've got medicine. Surely the lot of us could do better as a team. I was against it at first, but I see it clearer now," he continued.

I tried to pry my hand from his, but then it occurred to me, maybe he did it for him, not for me. I stilled again and left him to hold my hand.

"I'm game for teaming up," he said finally, and everyone seemed to breathe at the same time, "We should gather all our supplies. We don't have to stay in the same apartment, but we shouldn't go far."

"We can raid the locked apartments for supplies," Corey offered. "I noticed a few wouldn't budge, so chances are, there's still probably some supplies people didn't ransack."

"That's a good idea," River said, taking his control back from Daniel.

"Okay, then we should split the team in two, take it floor by floor--" Keanu began.

"Guys, there's someone outside," Jade suddenly cut us off. She was at the end of the hall, looking out the window, pointing to the street.

There was someone with a person over their shoulder, shouting for help, and a person limping quickly behind them.

Thanks to jxdeeee and ThranduilsWarMoose for the characters. Please note, the characters that are not included in this chapter are still going to show up, just in different ways and different times. This is the apocalypse after all 😉