chapter 5: fallen friend

We had begun making a wall in front of the main subway entrance, blocking off anyone from getting in. We had made it completely out of wooden planks and metal sheets that were in the subway.

It wasn't too strong but it would last. We sat around a small fire we had made out of to thin or broken pieces of wood. Why anyone would have given up this bag I don't know. They must have been hoarders or came across a military checkpoint or something. We had some canned beans we found back at Marcus Hook and some soda. We still had three two liters of soda, a pack of water, and some packs of food.

After we finished our food the Sun began to fall, day 3 was finally over. Maybe we could escape Pennsylvania somehow, but for now, the objective is to survive. We all went to sleep except for me. I had a bad feeling about tonight. I didn't kill that one thug, did he have any more friend? Was he going to come back? I began to doze off when I heard the first gunshots.

It woke us all up instantly. A loud bang, then a bored from our wall flew down the steps. We all took up arms and ran to the wall to see outside. There were at least 30 of them. A bunch of armed men and women standing a street away, firing at us. We all took cover behind the wall and began to fire back. We were dwindling them down but not fast enough.

Our wall slowly began to fall apart as the gang fired automatic weapons at us. "We can't fight them off from here!" Mason yelled over the gunshots. "We can flank them if we go from the tunnel entrance!" I looked at him, surprised he was able to come up with a plan like that.

"Me and Josh are the ones with the biggest guns so we'll go out!" He shouted. He looked up at Josh to see if he was all for the plan. Josh looked down for a second and nodded his head.

"As long as everyone is alright I'll do anything." He grabbed his shotgun and cocked it, walking towards the tunnel exit. I looked at Raymir who was already firing back at the gang again. It was a minute or two before Josh and Mason walked out into the street and opened fire.

It was like constant flashes of lightning as Mason fired his LMG at the gang. He was moping the floor with them until he fell to the ground. Josh fought off the rest of the crowd and I ran to Mason.

He was breathing, but it was uneven with no pattern. I picked him up and dragged him to a wall where I sat him against it. Once I saw all his injuries, I knew no medicine we had would save him.  He had been shot almost four times in the stomach and chest. "Mason! Mason, can you speak to me?" I yelled at him.

"What's it look like? I-I'm imagining c-crushed raspberries..." He chuckled a bit, coughing up some blood. This was the first time in bad seen him happy in the three days of this hell, and it was going to be my last.

I began to tear up and begin to hug him close, getting blood all over my shirt. He put his hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back, looking me in the eyes. "D-don't cry. Just r-remember that, to truly appreciate the light, one must spend time in darkness." He began to tear up as well as his hand slowly slipped off my shoulder and his head slumped to the side.

I gripped the collar of his shirt and began to cry more. "He was your best friend, you shouldn't have let him go out, it's your fault." My brain repeated these things in my head which only made me cry more.