The Turning Point

October 24th, 8:53 am

Current Location: Collinsville, MS

Current Outdoor Temperature: 31 degrees Fahrenheit

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It never stops. This was what this cruel world wanted from us. It wanted us to suffer, watch our friends and family die right in front of our eyes. I lost my little brother, and this is how I get rewarded? With more deafening gunshots, horrified screaming, and yet another situation where there's nothing I can do to save this?

Screw this world.

Cheers of joy could be heard from the Raiders in between the shotgun explosions outside. My mind was spinning, trying to find an option, anything that could potentially help us get out of this. I had to do something. Whether it was to run away or fight back, the second option seemed a lot more injury-prone to me.

I took another peek outside. The Raiders seemed to have shot down the rest of the zombies and have now proceeded to search the area, probably for any other action that they craved. I watched the leader intently. He seemed to prefer to be by himself the majority of the time, and he seemed less antsy than his other gang members. My mind began to wander again. Was that bullet that crashed into our window a wild shot? They were insane, after all, so it could be a very possible explanation.

A creak interrupted my train of thought. It sounded like to front door opening, and my heart jumped. Olivia looked at me desperately and mouthed, "What do we do?"

That question has been in my mind for the past five or so minutes. I pursed my lips in thought, then proceeded to turn to Dad, whose eyes were wild with a mix of fear, anger, and determination. He shifted to his knees and motioned us to follow him, which is what we did.

As he led us through the dimmed hallways, tons of footsteps could be heard nearby. I knew that there was only a matter of time before one or multiple Raiders stormed the building in search of whatever they were after. However, we remained silent as we crept towards the front of the house. I gripped the rifle in my hand, constantly making sure that it was ready to shoot at my will.

Footsteps suddenly stopped at the front door, making the six of us instantly freeze. Someone grabbed the back of my shirt, and it ended up being Olivia. She suddenly wrapped her arms around my waist. I didn't mind at all.

The doorknob rattled, softly at first. It was good that we locked the door. Then three slow and steady knocks came at the door. A man's voice called out and said, "I know you're in there. I saw you in the window..."

My breath hitched. So it wasn't a wild shot.

I glanced at Bryan, and he had a surprising terrified look in his eyes with the shotgun close to his chest. It was unusual for him to act this scared. He wasn't even like this at the attack in Memphis. We met eyes, and I gave him a reassuring nod. I could tell that it calmed him down just a bit.

"Come on, open the door," the man called to us again. I could definitely sense the insanity rising in his tone as he became more irritated. "I won't hurt ya. I just want to see what you have in store."

Olivia whimpered. I turned around and took her into my arms in an attempt to make her feel a little safer, which was still a shot in the dark. "It'll be okay. We're here to protect you."

The man rattled the doorknob some more, this time a lot more aggressively. "I just want to see what you guys have! If you cooperate, I won't lay a hand on any of you! You can trust me."

No, we can't. You and your murderous gang of people affected the lives of thousands of families, including Bryan's. So how the hell can we even look you in the eyes without feeling a sense of dread, anger, fear, or sadness? It literally felt impossible not to stand there and feel something.

With no response from us, the Raider proceeded to kick the door. I saw the door bend under pressure with each kick. In a frantic moment, Dad began waving his hands in the opposite direction. "Go! Turn back!"

However, something clicked inside my mind. From experience, I knew that we couldn't afford to get ourselves cornered by a lunatic. Our best bet was to let him inside and take him down unexpectedly; that is if there was really only one out there. Otherwise, we'd be forced to use our guns, and that's not what we needed. We were already short on bullets as it is.

I quickly told Dad the idea that came to mind. He seemed uncertain about it, but the door was fixing to give at any second. Dad looked at me with worried eyes. "Alright, keep your knife ready. Bryan and I will take him down. If there's more," he motioned to Amelia and Evelyn. "Take the kids and hide."

The girls nodded, but I realized something he said.

Kids.

I shook it off and got right behind Dad. The Raider was still cursing and screaming to let him in, and Dad got ready to open the door. He glanced back at me for a second, and I nodded. Bryan did the same from the opposite side of the door.

With his off hand, he slowly counted down from five. As soon as he got to zero. He flung open the door and the Raider came crashing into the living room. In a panic, he pulled the trigger of his pistol and bullets sprayed all over the place. Before he could react, Dad and Bryan lept from their hiding spot and tackled him onto the ground. He hit the ground with a solid thud, which was my cue to act. With my knife drawn, I sprinted over to his body, straddled him, and stabbed him directly in the side of the neck without even hesitating. Blood began to pour from the fresh wound.

Now that I reminisce about this, it still surprised me that I didn't stop or anything. I just did it. Simple as that.

Even without anything to be physically exhausted from, Bryan, Dad, and I were all panting. I looked over at where the girls were hiding, and I caught Evelyn's gaze. She gave me a reassuring smile, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Did anybody get shot?" Dad asked. "It looked like most of them hit the floor."

Nobody spoke up, which was a relief to all of us. However, that was only one of the Raiders that found our hiding spot. We couldn't relax now, unfortunately. Shouts were still being heard across the town, so there was no stopping until every last one of them was killed or out of city limits.

More footsteps got closer to our building. Dad was the first to react to it. "We can sneak out of the back door if we're lucky. Stay close and don't make a single sound."

We followed his command and made our way to the back door. While we were doing so, I heard a loud crash come from where we just were. Amelia yelped and almost fell over. Bryan and I caught her before she hit the deck.

"Come on, we have to keep moving," Dad whispered. Bryan and I helped Amelia up and kept walking.

...

Do you know that feeling that you get when something horrible is about to happen? Yeah, that was the point where I started to get that feeling deep down in my gut. I tried my best to stay calm and focused, though. None of us could afford to slip up and make a brutal mistake that could cost us our lives.

When we reached the back door, Dad glanced behind him to make sure we weren't being followed before he looked out of the door's window. He repeated the process before satisfied with the results. Dad cracked open the door and motioned us out ahead of him.

The air was uncomfortable, cold, and dry. As I exhaled out of my mouth, my breath was visible. I scanned the area, and none of the Raiders could be seen, but my ears told me otherwise.

Inside the house behind me, more crashes were heard. I patted Dad on the back to move him forward, which is what we did.

We made our way back to where Amelia and I searched the pharmacy for Dad's medication. We ducked inside of it to escape being caught out in the open.

That's where things really went downhill for us. In a single instant, before any of us could react, five Raiders started bashing us out nowhere. I managed to shoot one of them down, but it seemed useless. Their insanity seemed no match for our three guns. Screaming and yelling drew them closer to us, and for a split second, I made eye contact with Dad. He was scared out of hit wits.

With a hard hit to the head, that was where everything went dark.
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