stealing

After the confrontation with his father, Ron, Sam, and their mother sat in the living room hugging each other, little by little Sam fell asleep so Jessie picked him up and took him to his room, Ron wanted to help but his mother refused cause he was injured so Ron could only watch as his mother do it.

Once Sam was in his bed, Ron and Jessie walked out into the hallway.

"Mom, has Pete always been like this? Was it normal for… him to hit you?" Ron asked, taking advantage of the fact that they were alone.

Jessie hesitated for a moment before she let out a sigh.

"No, not always. Pete was always temperamental, but since the infection started, the stress…" Jessie shivered sadly.

"he started drinking more and became more aggressive. The fights became more frequent and then… it turned into something worse." Jessie concluded sobbing.

Seeing the fragility of the woman in front of him, Ron wrapped her in a hug.

"Don't worry, mom, I'm not going to let Pete hurt you anymore. I promise you." Ron assured as Jessie sobbed into his shoulder.

After an emotional moment between mother and son, Ron released Jessie from his embrace and she returned to her room. Ron, on the other hand, dragged his sore body and headed downstairs to secure the door in case Pete decided to return, once he did it, he laid on the couch and tried to fall asleep while keeping an eye on the entrance.

The next morning, when the sun was just beginning to peek over the Alexandria horizon, Ron woke up to the sound of birdsong and looked out the window.

The night before had been eventful, and the image of his mother with tears in her eyes still haunted him, making him remember countless comics and movies about a zombie apocalypse, all of them with a common point, no matter how dangerous the undead were, the main enemy of the survivors were always other people, those who, after the fall of society, showed the darkest and cruelest sides of themself. Ron knew that he couldn't let fear and violence involve his family again.

"I guess all those zombie movies and shows had a point after all," he muttered to himself as he put on his boots and headed out into the street to tour the community with a plan forming in his mind.

Despite the apparent tranquility of the place, his eyes cautiously scanned the surroundings and the people who lived in Alexandria. He observed how the survivors carried out their daily tasks, and quickly identified the most important places:

the house of Deanna, the leader of the community and a former politician before the infection happened.

the wall that was being built around the community, curiously, Deanna's husband, Reg was the engineer in charge.

There was also a surveillance tower at one of the walls, and what seemed to be a door for cars to enter and exit.

Ron took note of the solar panels that, although in a limited way, provided electricity to the community, and noticed the numerous empty houses throughout the community, realizing that the number of inhabitants was probably only around 50 people. 

But what really caught his attention was a house in the center of the community that seemed to be the food warehouse.

The surveillance at the warehouse was almost non-existent, an open invitation to any kind of danger in Ron's opinion, there was only one woman at the entrance guarding the place.

As he approached the makeshift warehouse he soon caught the attention of the guard who nodded his head in his direction.

"Hello, good morning." Ron greeted once he got close enough for the woman to hear him without having to raise her voice.

"Hello Ron! How are you feeling today?" She responded with a smile that unnerved Ron.

"I'm fine, I guess…" he answered in a confused tone. "We know each other?" Ron asked.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot that you suffered from amnesia," the woman commented as she panicked. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Olivia, your mother's friend," she explained.

"Oh, I get it, Well, I feel better now, I'm recovering."

"Excellent, I hope you get better soon and recover your memories" Olivia said with a smile to which Ron just nodded grateful for the good wishes.

"By the way, is there anyone else guarding the warehouse?" Ron asked looking around.

"what are you talking about?" Olivia asked confused.

"Well, I just think that since the community's food is stored here, it would be better to have more surveillance," Ron explained. "You know, in case of an attack," he added.

Olivia got speechless for a moment before bursting into amused laughter.

"Relax, Ron, there's no need for that. We are safe here within the walls." Olivia said catching her breath.

Ron, somewhat incredulous at the apparent lack of caution of the inhabitants of Alexandria, remembered how there seemed to be no surveillance in the entire community. He then remembered that along his tour around the walls, there were no guards either and even the observation tower seemed to be empty, the only place with a bit of security seemed to be the entrance to the community where there were a couple of people standing guard to open and close the entrance, however even they were not heavily armed nor were they really paying much attention to their surroundings.

"Shit," Ron murmured when he realized all this.

"In any case, if you are worried about the safety of the place, you can rest assured, we don't just store food here," Olivia continued after recovering from the laughter that Ron had caused her with his comments.

"Do you see that room over there?" Olivia asked, pointing to a closed room at the back of the house. "We keep all the weapons there," she said.

"So even if someone 'attacks' the warehouse we'll be fine," she said, trying to reassure a restless Ron.

Upon hearing this, Ron directed his curious gaze to the closed door while in his mind he reinforced the idea that the people of this place were really... naive, to put it politely.

"Do you want to take a look?" Olivia asked, noticing Ron's curious look, leaving the young man even more speechless. 'Whatever, I guess his lack of care can also work in my favor,' Ron thought about his future plans as he nodded and followed Olivia into the armory.

Upon entering the small room, Ron noticed that there were numerous long weapons such as shotguns and rifles hanging on the walls while numerous pistols and knives were arranged on various shelves; At the back of the room, there were also several containers with what appeared to be bullets of different calibers.

"I'm surprised that the armory is so well equipped," Ron commented while Olivia just looked at him amused, wondering where Ron got the idea that someone would attack the warehouse.

"Now that you saw that the warehouse is safe, you better go back home and stop reading so many comics," Olivia said as she asked Ron to leave the armory.

Seeing all those weapons he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​taking one for himself in case of emergency, unfortunately, seeing the attitude of the inhabitants of Alexandria he very much doubted that Olivia would accept, however he still had to try.

"Wait, Olivia. Could you please teach me how to shoot?" Ron asked, surprising Olivia.

"I'm sorry, Ron, Those are things for adults." Olivia refused, shaking her head.

"Besides, why would a kid like you want to learn how to shoot?" she asked

"I don't know, in case there is an emergency?" Ron responded with a doubtful tone.

"Look, Ron, I already told you that we are safe inside Alexandria, and even if an accident were to happen, if it's something you need to shoot for, you'd better leave it in the hands of the adults," Olivia warned, making Ron hang his head discouraged.

"It's okay, Olivia, I understand," Ron apologized, "but, thank you anyway," he added as he headed to the exit of the armory where Olivia was waiting for him.

"Olivia? Are you there?" Just as Ron was halfway to the exit someone called from outside making Olivia nervous.

"One second," she responded as she motioned for Ron to stop, then she put a finger on her lips, telling Ron to remain silent.

Ron obeyed and stayed in his place while Olivia closed the armory door, leaving him alone while she attended to her unexpected visitor.

Left alone in a place surrounded by weapons, Ron found himself dumbfounded for a moment, then his gaze went to the numerous pistols surrounding him.

'He who does not risk, does not gain' he thought to himself, and without hesitation, he took one of the guns, then his eyes went to the containers with ammunition that were at the back of the room and he silently approached them, seeing the great variety of bullets that there were, Ron didn't know which ones were appropriate for the weapon he had just stolen.

Just when he didn't know what to do, an idea came to his mind, Ron quickly began to figure out how to get the magazine out of the gun in his hands, he easily noticed the small button next to the grip of the gun and, when he pressed it, the magazine was expelled. With the magazine in his hands Ron proceeded to look for a pack of bullets that would fit it and after a few tries Ron found some that looked suitable for his gun.

Once with the gun and ammunition in his hands, Ron proceeded to hide them in his clothes and headed back to where Olivia had left him waiting for the woman to return.

Ron continued looking at the weapons in the warehouse, and then he noticed another weapon identical to the one he had stolen, invaded by curiosity, Ron took the gun and began to examine it, he quickly discovered what seemed to be the gun's safety and removed it, then put it back on and proceeded to remove the magazine to investigate how it worked. .

While Ron was playing with the gun, Olivia finished attending to the person who was looking for her and returned to the armory. When she opened the door, her gaze fell on a nervous Ron who was holding a half-disassembled gun with a guilty look.

Seeing the face of the boy playing with the gun, Olivia could only roll her eyes in exasperation.

"Give me that," she scolded him softly as she snatched the gun from his hands.

"Listen, I understand your curiosity, but for your safety it is better that you stay away from weapons, understand?" she continued before leading Ron out of the warehouse.

With nothing else to do for the moment and with the stolen gun hidden in his pants Ron decided to head back home.