One second I'm leaping through the air, and the next I'm lying flat on the ground.

"Oof!" I blink up at the ceiling, disoriented. I probably look like the meme, 'Where am I? Who am I?'. My whole back is drumming in pain from taking the brunt of that fall. "What—?"

I hear a surprised gasp. Maddie blinks down at me, her eyes widening. "Delia?!"

I forget she used to attend Judo classes. I forget she was the one who recommended my mother to have me attend the boxing classes at a gym that she frequented. Hence, when I wrapped my arms around her earlier, she threw me over her back as if I'm a mere backpack.

Concern flickers across Maddie's face. "Sorry about that! Are you alright?"

I groan like an old woman. "Of course not. You just tried to kill me."

"Can't blame my instincts after getting chased by monsters for days, baby cousin." She holds out a hand towards me and I grab it, letting her pull me in for a crushing hug. She buries her face in my shoulder and rasps out with a tiny, relieved sigh.

Her voice trembles with emotions. "Thank God you're alive, Delia. I was so afraid. I couldn't bear to think what would happen if everyone was dead."

Maddie has always been a calm and collected person, even in stressful situations. In a classroom full of boisterous, playful students, she never lost her cool. She always puts on a strong front. Even when her ex-boyfriend cheated on her last time and they broke up, she cried once and moved on quickly.

But this is the first time I see her absolutely terrified.

And I want to be here for her. I should have gone to look for her earlier.

"Have you checked out your home? And Gramps?" I croak.

"Not yet, but I will." Her embrace tightens and I can barely breathe. "Where's Aunt Roxie?"

My heart constricts painfully. "We got separated. I'm looking for her too."

Her face falls at my words, clearly crestfallen. "Then let's go together," she promises. "We'll find our family."

"Of course, but first—" I wheeze and smack her arm. "I. Can't. Breathe. Gorilla."

"Sorry." Chuckling, she releases me, letting her gaze roam across me to check for injuries. Her voice turns small and quiet. "Where were you? I tried looking for you in school once the storm stopped. I thought you were dead, and it was hard to locate you among the bodies."

"I did! I texted you, but there were no replies."

"Oh." Realization dawns on her. She pinches the crevices between her forehead and lets out a small groan. "It's because I left my phone in the office to grab a sandwich from the cafeteria when everything went down. We hid there for days. Sorry."

Maddie's gaze travels from my face to Zarius's, finally noticing him for the first time. Her head tips upwards as she appraises him from head to toe. "Who is he? A friend you met along the way? He's really tall."

Smiling, I gesture towards him. "This is Zarius," I introduce nervously, hoping that she doesn't notice that he isn't human. "We met on the run and stuck together ever since then."

However, Zarius doesn't seem impressed by Maddie's move earlier. He barely acknowledges her, simply giving her an impassive frown with his lips pressed together in a firm line.

To our surprise, Maddie pats his arm once and I notice the way his eyes widen in a tiny fraction. "Thanks for sticking close to my baby cousin. I guess you both have been through a lot," she tells him. "Let's catch up on the rest of the story later. Right now, we've got work to do. Can you both grab a shopping cart and fill it with food or items that we will need? The school's cafeteria has run out of supplies."

She returns to grabbing first aid kits from the shelves. I tap Zarius's arm and beckon him over to the rows of shopping carts. I wince as we sidestep a couple of dead bodies on the floor, but this doesn't disrupt our task at hand.

"You push one of these carts and I'll grab the items we need," I instruct. I glance around to make sure that nobody is looking before lowering my voice and offering him a small word of advice. "By the way, try not to exhibit any non-human strengths of yours... Like breaking down a door or lifting a car. I don't think these people need another heart attack."

The tip of his lips curl slightly. "I will try my best not to frighten these fragile humans."

"Good. Just follow my lead and you'll be fine."

He raises a brow, looking at me in pure disbelief. "I just witnessed someone throwing you over their back. Do you wish for me to replicate that example?"

I let out a snort and nudge his arm. "Shut up," I say, but I'm unable to hide my grin. He certainly knows how to push my buttons to get laughter out of me.

We gather all the non-perishable food we can find; canned food, peanut butter, crackers, bottled water. A boy, who looks around two grades younger than I am, pushes past us a shopping cart full of toilet paper rolls. I stare at him in astonishment, then shrug before moving on to the other aisles. I recognize Elaine and Wyatt from English class, who are busy grabbing sleeping bags and flashlights. There are a couple more students whom I don't know, but they are taking whatever they can; clothes, baseball bats, axes and more food.

If there's something common about them, none of them seems to be in any better shape than I am. Their faces are careworn, looking devastated and exhausted. Afraid.

Clearly, they want this to end. Badly.

I do too.

But those monsters aren't going away soon.

A loud banging sound comes from the back of the supermarket, coming from the storage room, and everybody freezes in fear. We jump when we hear a muffled crash and something falls inside.

Zarius tilts his head to listen hard before nodding once. "There is a mutant inside," he confirms in a low voice.

I whisper back. "Is it hiding in there because it's daytime?"

"Yes. And it has heard us now. It is getting hungry."

At the same moment, Maddie pushes her shopping cart and waves over every person who she sees. "Let's go. Now. There's a creature back there," she warns. "Stay alert, you guys."

Everybody listens to her instruction; filing out of the supermarket quickly and staying right under the sun. Maddie and Mr. Daniels are exchanging words, and when she finally notices the RV that I've brought here, she yells at me and gestures towards it.

"Cordelia Walters! Have you been driving without a license?!"

I feign innocence. "Erm...no?" I jab a thumb towards the guy next to me. "Zarius was driving it."

She narrows her eyes at me, obviously catching onto my lie. "Well, I just heard from Mr. Daniels that you were behind the wheels. What were you thinking? Driving yourself to your death?"

I snort out loud in amusement. To others, we may look like we're arguing, but I've known her long enough to know that she enjoys taking care of me, including being overprotective. "No, Mom. I don't know if you're aware of this, but society's rules are basically non-existent in an apocalypse world."

Maddie shakes her head in disapproval, but drops the matter. She wags a finger at me. "Later."

***

After grabbing my backpack and dagger, Mr. Daniels ends up driving our RV back to school with half of the group. Since not all of us can fit in there with our loots, the rest of us push the shopping carts back to school. It's not that far away from our current location, probably just a fifteen minutes walk.

We regroup with the rest of the survivors who have remained in the cafeteria, and it turns out there are at least twenty of us. There's a buzz of commotion happening among them, but we don't have a single clue what is going on.

They look awfully excited. Hopeful.

Mr. Daniels frowns and hushes the crowd. "What's going on, kiddos?"

A skinny boy with collar-length mousy hair steps forward to answer him, waving something in his hand. Rey. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his eyes brightening with optimism. "We found the walkie talkie at my house."

"And?"

"We finally contacted my dad. He's going to speak to his Lieutenant Colonel and gather a team to rescue us."