Gathering

Preciliano stares at the sight before him, stunned

because he can't believe what is happening before him, both of his parents suddenly stop munching on the remains of his younger brother and turn their attention to him, growling like wild animals who have being disturbed from their meal, Preciliano snaps out of it and slams the door shut, he gasps for air, since the overwhelming smell of death, starts to fill the air in the hallway, he then thinks to himself.

"no this is just a nightmare, you will wake up from this."

he shouts.

"wake up!"

he slaps himself.

"come on, wake up!"

but nothing happens, he remains there unable to comprehend what he just witnessed, he bangs the door with his forehead and sobs thinking to himself.

"poor Thomas."

Preciliano slaps himself in the cheek and said to himself.

"alright Percy, you need to get your shit together and find some help."

he quickly climbs downstairs and makes his way to his neighbors house and rings their doorbell.

"I don't know what happened to my parents, but since I can't call the police for help, I can only turn to our neighbors."

he waits outside but nobody answers the door, he tries to stay composed and not let panic take control of him.

"you just need to be patient, they will come and answers their door."

after several minutes he grows impatient and bangs on the door loudly while yelling.

"please help! something is very wrong with my mom and dad!"

and to Preciliano surprise the door swings open, he asks himself.

"did they forget to close their door?"

he steps inside the house cautiously and shouts.

"anybody home?! the door was open!"

he scans the living room and notices that everything is complete mess like, he continues walking through the house and comes to the conclusion that the neighbors left their house since most of their personal belongings are missing, he sighs.

"damn it, I won't be getting any help from here."

I leave the neighbors house and I quickly notice Troy's blue 1998 Honda Civic parked in front of my house, and without thinking I run up to his car and knock on his window, he rolls it down and said with a trembling voice.

"Percy, there is some fuck shit, happening in the city, there are people running around earing each other."

I peek and inside and notice that Tracy is not in the passenger seat, I ask.

"is my sister inside?"

he nods.

"she went in to get you guys."

I shout as I quickly take offinside my house.

"come with me!"

I start yelling from the entrance of the house.

"Tracy where are you!?"

when she doesn't respond he instinctively dashes upstairs towards his parents bedroom where, he sees her on the ground slumped over, crying and hyperventilating, Preciliano kneels down next her and gently hugs her, she clings onto him and buries her face into his chest, he strokes her hair to comfort her like he used to when they were kids, when she would get upset.

"hey we are still here."

Preciliano gains a new sense of urgency as reality finally sets in and he thinks to himself.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure what's going on, but I can't afford to cry and kill my emotions if I'm going to pull me and her through this, I need to gather essential supplies and figure out what we should do next."

Troy sees us and asks.

"what happened?"

still holding her, he replies.

"our mom and dad are in there but it is not good."

he looks at his black eye and asks.

"how is your eye?"

he answers.

"it's okay, the swelling has subsided."

he tells him.

"alright, come and take care of her while I gather supplies."

he responds.

"she'll be fine, let me help you."

he let's go of her, but she is still clinging on to Preciliano, he sighs and said with a stern voice.

"you are her boyfriend, she needs you right now man."

he nods.

"okay, I'll keep her company."

Preciliano guides her towards Troy and then said.

"I'll go around and collect whatever supplies we need and get out of the city if possible."

he agrees.

"yeah, my parents are at home waiting for us, since Tracy insisted that we should come for you guys "

Preciliano springs into action grabs the two duffelbags from his bedroom and starts loading up on all the food in the pantry and fridge.

"can't afford to be picky, we are going to need what we can take."

he then takes all the remaining water bottles and stores them away in the bag.

"if things are as bad as Troy said, then gathering supplies will become increasingly difficult in the future."

Preciliano notices that Troy is sitting on the couch in the living room with Tracy by his side, he then said.

"give me your car keys, so that I can put these bags in the trunk."

Troy tosses him his car keys.

"don't scratch my baby."

after storing the bags in the trunk, Preciliano thinks to himself.

"might need something to defend ourselves and having tools could come in handy."

he runs to the basement, and as he grabs the toolbox he thinks to himself.

"I should also grab my baseball bat."

he takes a moment to think and wonders.

"what about my dad's gun, he's taken me to the shooting range a couple times."

he shakes his when he realizes that his dad hides his gun in their own bedroom.

"I shouldn't risk my life for the gun, at least not until I know for certain how dangerous people who are suffering from whatever this is that they have."

Preciliano leaves the toolbox in the living room with Troy and Tracy, Troy looks at him confused.

"taking is a toolbox seems unnecessary."

He glares at Troy.

"shut up, and just comfort her, she is still shaken up."

he nods and said apologetically.

"sorry, I'm just anxious to get back to my parents."

Preciliano sighs.

"let me get one more thing and then we'll get moving."

after grabbing his wooden baseball bat, he returns to living room to sit down, and he then asks Troy.

"so where are your parents planning on taking us?"

he responds.

"we have a vacation home up in the mountains, it should be isolated enough to ride out this craziness."

Preciliano gives him back the car keys and said.

"let's get moving."

Troy whispers to Tracy.

"come on babe, we need to keep moving."

Preciliano grabs the toolbox while holding the baseball bat with his left hand.

"I don't know how bad it is out there, but it wouldn't hurt to have this for protection."

after putting Tracy in the passenger seat, they enter the car and Troy looks back to Preciliano.

"look I know we have unresolved shit, but we need to work past it, if we are to ride this out to the end."

Preciliano nods.

"yeah, there are more important matters now."

as Troy begins to drive, Preciliano notices that Tracy is still in shock about their parents, he scooches forward from the backseat and places his hand on her shoulder.

"I promise, I won't let anything happen to you sis."

she gently caresses his hand.

"I'm glad that you are talking to me now."

he can't help but smile.

"let's forget all the bad things that has happened and try to get along better, like how we used to."

she turns her head to face Preciliano and she responds with a weak smile.

"yeah, I agree."

Troy interrupts their touching moment by clearing his throat.

"alright let's not lose focus here and get ahead of ourselves, we need to stay safe first."

while Troy drives through the empty streets, Preciliano witnesses people chasing down other people and eating them upon catching them, he asks Troy.

"is it like this in the city as well?"

he nods.

"yeah, it looked like a huge riot, and I think the national guard had to show up, since the riot police were overwhelmed."

Preciliano thinks to himself.

"that is unbelievable, the national guard only gets called up for state-level emergencies."

he continues to stare out to window, wondering.

"what the hell caused people to be like this?"

upon arriving at the front of Troy's house, he sees a winnebago motorhome parked in front of the garage, Preciliano asks.

"I'm assuming, we are going to travel in that?"

Troy nods.

"yeah, my parents bought it a while back since they love to camp and be outdoors."

as they get out of the car, Preciliano asks Troy.

"does that mean we are leaving you car behind?"

he answers.

"yeah, my dad told me to siphon the gas from my car, and fill up gas containers, since we are going to need all the fuel we can get."

Troy opens the trunk and grabs a couple of them and them said to Preciliano and Tracy.

"you two go on inside, I'm going to be a little busy here."

Tracy grabs Preciliano's hand and holds on to it like a child holding their parent's hand, as they walk to the front door together, Preciliano thinks to himself.

"I've never seen her like this, I'm going to be there for her from now, she is the only family I have left."

he tings the doorbell, and a beautiful, brunette with long wavy hair, light brown eyes, wearing a white crew t short and light blue tight fitting jeans that accentuates her curves, Tracy then said to her.

"hello Missus Morgan, we're back."

Preciliano shakes her hand.

"hello Missus Morgan, my name is Preciliano Munez and I'm Tracy's brother, but you can call me Percy if you can't pronounce my name."

she replies.

"Kelly Morgan, I wish we could have met under better circumstances, Percy."

she looks around and asks.

"and your parents?"

I shake my head.

"they didn't make it."

Tracy begins to sob once again, Missus Morgan hugs her tightly, whispering.

"it's alright darling, you will be okay with us."

he asks her.

"can I speak to Mister Morgan?"

she leads us inside and sits Tracy on the couch.

"I'll be back sweety."

she signals him to follow her.

"earlier he was attacked by one of the crazy people out there, and right now he is in bed fighting a high fever."

for some reason alarm bells began to ring in his brain, since he remembers what happened with his dad.

"he was also attacked by some crazy person."

Preciliano stops her and said.

"um Missus Morgan, I'm going to grab something really quick and I'll be back."

before she got a chance to respond, he quickly takes off and grabs his bat that he left in Troy's car, and his thoughts swim around in his head and comes up with a theory.

"my dad was attacked by a crazy person, and he became like that, and somehow my mom suffered the same fate which was most likely caused by my dad and it may be all connected to that flu like virus that has been reported in the news."

he tightens the grip of his wooden bat and heads back inside with Missus Morgan who stares at him holding the baseball bat, she asks him.

"is that really necessary Percy?"

he replies.

"I hope not, it's just for the worst case scenario."

she sighs and guides him to front of their bedroom door, where she whispers to him so that Tracy doesn't hear her.

"do you think, my husband will become one of them?"

he shrugs his shoulder unsure of himself.

"I really don't know, but we need to be cautious since we don't know what causes people to go crazy and start eating others."

she sighs and replies with a worried expression.

"let's just wait and see, it could be just nothing."

they enter the bedroom together, and see that he sleeping and coughing, with a cloth on his forehead, Preciliano stares at him and thinks to himself.

"I guess we won't be going anywhere of he is this sick."

Preciliano then said to Kelly.

"don't worry Missus Morgan, I'll let Troy know that we won't go anywhere until your husband gets better."

she replies.

"thank you."

Preciliano leaves the bedroom with a tight grip on the baseball bat and thinks to himself.

"I need to get ready for the worst, if my crazy theory about this flu is true."