a little piece of heaven -OPEN-

[meg]

Tired, hungry, and dirtier than she had ever thought was possible for a girl like her, Megan Cain cried, rather sobbed, in relief when she turned a corner on the streets of East Leeds and was greeted by dozens of different storefronts. Sure, everything was covered in thick layers of grime and the glass from the windows lay scattered like glitter on the ground, but Megan could not honestly give a name to the joy she felt as she read things from the signs like food, supplies, and clothing. Overcome with more emotion in this one moment than any day of the past two years combined, Megan wobbled and soon fell to her knees. Tiny shards of old, worn out glass pressed into her skin and drew fat, red droplets of blood all up and down her knees and shins, but for once the pain only reminded her how great it was to be alive. Just an hour ago, Megan was ready to give up - to lay down and wait until she just withered away. But now, she had come upon the motherland, and a renewed hope swelled inside the young, naive girl.

Megan sunk her hands into the ground, the glass biting at her palms, too, and pushed to raise herself from the sidewalk. She rubbed her legs until the blood mixed and the bleeding stopped, leaving her hands and legs soaked in a coppery color. Dragging one hand along the brick wall beside her for balance, Megan tentatively continued down the sidewalk, her steps erratic and uneven. She halted when the brick wall gave way to a large window, which now of course was just a big, empty frame, filled with a picture of chaos. Gripping tightly to the frame, Megan peeked around it into the abandoned store - dark, grimy, and full of nothing but empty shelves. The sight made her shudder for some reason or another, but she tried to just shrug it off and continue on to the next store.

The next great, empty frame Megan arrived at showed a small, foreign food mart. It look surprisingly clean and orderly, with almost nothing missing or out of place, despite it's large glass window being completely shattered. Not wanting to waste any more time, Megan lifted herself over the bottom of the window frame, cutting up her hands and legs once again, and landed on her feet inside the tiled store. She took one step and was met with a wall of stink so horrible it made her gag, but she had nothing in her stomach to vomit. Megan pulled her dirty, ripped sweater over her mouth and nose as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. There was a small door left ajar behind the store counter, and Meg could see what looked like a small bedroom beyond it - which meant that smell was one of three things, or perhaps all of them. It could simply be the smell of food left out for over two years, or it could also be the smell of backed-up toilets after the sewer system went to waste. Most likely, though, it was probably the smell of a decomposing body, or bodies, back there in that bedroom. Megan wasn't about to pull her sweater down and sniff out the answer, though - it was so strong she would pass out in seconds. Instead, she beelined for the back of the store, where a small emergency light overhead flickered on every once in a while, but mostly stayed off, leaving Meg in a dull darkness.

Megan opened the door to one of the refrigerators that lined the back wall and felt around, looking for any sort of bottle. She already had a bottle of water tucked into the lining of her skirt, but there was only a little ring of water left at the bottom, and it was nearly choked with dirt. Her fingers finally bumped something in the dark refrigerator, and she wrapped her cut, bloodied hand around an all-too-familiar cylinder shape. Megan pulled her hand from the long-broken machine and almost smiled at what came with it...almost. She had grabbed just one bottle out of a six-pack, which had also come along for the ride. The labels were covered in foreign characters and symbols that Megan had no hope of reading, but the liquid inside the bottles was clear, so she assumed it was probably water. As she pulled one of the bottles from the plastic ring choking it, her eyes fell upon some symbols she did recognize - numbers, the universal language. It was a date, an expiration date most likely, and Megan noted that the date had already occurred several months ago.

Megan hesitated, momentarily crushed by this occurrence that seemed so small. She didn't even know water could expire. Fighting back more angry tears, Meg spun the cap off with a feverish stubbornness and plugged her nose as she let her sweater fall back around her shoulders. She tilted the bottle upward and let her head fall back, so a continuous fountain of old water splashed into her open mouth. It tasted absolutely awful and was too warm to be comfortable, but damn, it was satisfying. Even if it made her vomit, at least she would no longer be so dehydrated. Draining half the bottle in that one long sip, Megan eventually stopped. She lifted her head back to its normal position and screwed the cap back onto the bottle very tightly. She plunged her hand into her skirt and pulled out the empty, dirty bottle she had carrying and threw it aside so it clattered to the ground and rolled underneath a shelf. Other bottle in hand, Megan turned and followed the empty bottle to the shelf it now lived under, which held about 50 or 60 cans of different types of food, none of which she had ever heard of. Browsing for a few minutes, Megan finally picked up a can that had a nice picture of something green on it.

Taking in little breaths, she still did not want to breathe the smell of the store in too deeply despite the fact that she was getting used to it, Meg walked back into the dull light of the empty window. Pulling out the kitchen knife that also lined her skirt, Megan stabbed at the can until the lid came to ruin and fell to the floor with a ringing sound. She cleared away the glass on the bottom of the window frame and took a seat so she faced the street, and began to eat the mushy green stuff in the can with her dirty, blood-caked fingers. She watched the still world around her with strangely savage eyes as she stuffed the mush greedily into her dripping mouth. Ahead of her, just across the road, was a young ladies clothing store. She stared at it relentlessly, her eyes locked on their next target. If it wasn't a biological necessity to eat and drink, Megan was one-hundred percent positive she would have gone to that store first and foremost. And that's what scared her so much about herself.

[jordan jacob skipp]

This place held nothing of interest to him. It was like everywhere he looked his hazel-brown eyes met destruction and dirt. That bugged him the most. Everything was filthy and a lot of things were rotten. His face scrunched up in disgust. He wasn’t exactly excited about the way thing’s were nowadays. It wasn’t like anyone could blame him, not only that but most anyone would answer that this place was pretty disgusting. He walked slowly, his black cargo pants faded and dirty. Thankfully when he had gotten these he hadn’t gotten the cheap ones. If he had gotten those, then he would be in quite a predicament. His boxers peeked up just above it, but those were pretty concealed by the black shirt. However the black shirt had a torn pocket that hung down by a thread.

He looked at his appearance with distaste. The sleeves to his shirt stopped about halfway down to his elbow and the ends of them were frayed and looked like they had been through hell. He needed new clothes, at least a new shirt anyway. He pulled his jacket up on his shoulders. It was far too hot for a jacket but he knew that he needed to keep it for winter. It hung down over his cargo pants. It’s black and dark green exterior was also faded. His shoes remained the best part of his appearance. They were black with some minor dust but they didn’t hold many nicks and things. He had kept to staying on the calmer, safer side of things. He knew better than to wear things down.

His pace quickened as he came up onto what looked like a chain of stores in a close proximity. This caused him to pull his gun out. He knew when things would get dangerous. He moved up closer onto the raggedy wooden fence that lined the sidewalk. It didn’t give him a whole lot of cover as there were spots in the actual wood where holes were and then in the entire fence itself there were boards missing. Jordan slipped inside the fence before it ended, taking cover behind the far store. He peered around the corner checking to make sure there were no raiders there. Then he moved up alongside the store’s wall. Leaving a centimeter or two between his body and the wall. He walked alongside the wall til he got to the edge, then he turned and peered down the street where stores lined it.

Jordan was hesitant about going this way, he was slightly worried about raiders. This looked like a place that begged to be raided. The supplies that the stores must hold would last a while, meaning there were many people who could stay for elongated periods of time before not having enough supplies. It also looked like a good place for a base somewhere. He checked his gun for bullets and made sure the safety was off then he crouched down beside the wall moving quickly to out into the open beside the store. The first one he peered into was empty. He paused, staring, this was a sign that someone had been here before. His eyes wary and precautious he peered around, studying his surroundings. Then once he was sure that no one was coming he stepped into the store, knowing the chances were that no one was here he still wanted to go run through and check through it. He moved around to the back, checking down each aisle.

Once he finished his looking through the store he made his way back up front and stepped out of the window cautiously and back into the open. When he peered around he didn’t see anyone on first glance, but then he saw a girl, someone who looked fairly harmless. He however knew that looks could be deceiving. Rather than standing here studying he jumped into action, he stood up to where he assumed she could see him and held the gun where it was visible, but not aimed. He didn’t want to freak her out. “Hey!” He called to her hesitantly. His hand lifted up to push his hair out of his eyes and he focused on her solely. Watching her closely to ensure that she didn’t do anything that could be threatening to her.

[meg]

One of the many things that disturbed Megan about this new world they had all been forced into was the silence. A complete, utter silence seemed to blanket the streets and the fields, as if even the animals had all perished, or moved on to something better as many survivors had - there was really nothing of worth left in Leeds. If you were alone, this silence followed behind you, close, breathing down your neck and suffocating you. When Megan had made the trek from her country estate to the city, she often sang herself hoarse, just so she wouldn't get caught up in the silence, a fate almost as worse as the disease that had ravaged their lives and their world. Megan was always surrounded by noise in her home - music, conversations, anything - and the new still, quiet world reminded her too much of how she had been left all alone.

It certainly felt strange, hanging out of a window on a city street, eating green mush from a can with her fingers, and to hear absolutely nothing. Where the traffic was supposed to be, now just lay strewn with trash and wreckage. The normally overcrowded sidewalks suffered the same fate, with some spots several feet deep in garbage. Megan wondered how it had felt when Leeds reached that moment when it finally came undone, when everyone panicked and the city was tossed about in chaos as people fell where they stood, dying. She never used to like to think about anything that wasn't pretty or shiny, but with the recent lack thereof of pretty and shiny objects, and an increased supply of rot and destruction, she had these kinds of thoughts and daydreams of the virus quite often.

Just as she grew accustomed to the silence and the tiny sound of her slurping down the green stuff, another sound finally reached her ears. Megan immediately perked up, dropping the nearly empty can to the ground, where it made a noise that was almost too loud. When it's ringing faded away, Megan warily raised up from the window and clutched her knife tightly in her hand with a white-knuckled grip. She was well aware that her knife would not hold up against raiders, she had already met a couple of packs along the way to the city, but they let her go because she literally had nothing of value. The knife was all she had though, and the least it could do was to at least make her look intimidating - maybe. Turning her head up both ways of the street, Megan listened intently. Occasionally, the empty buildings around her creaked, but what she had heard earlier had been different, louder - perhaps the crunching of glass beneath heavy feet? Megan had not met a friendly counterpart on her journey thus far, only the raiders, who had no want for her. This person, if Megan was really hearing anything at all, was very quiet, though, so that probably meant they were alone.

Bending down slightly, Megan shuffled out into the street to make herself seen. Another bad idea on her part, but she was a very lost, confused little girl, who hadn't been very smart to begin with. She turned all around, dragging her feet against the trash and glass in the street, which poked through her flimsy cloth flats and caused further bleeding - if she didn't die of starvation, all this bleeding was going to do her in. She finally spotted movement at a store diagonal for her, and squinted her eyes against the dull sun. A human, alright, and they looked pretty alone. Megan squinted her eyes tighter to see the object in their hand, and just as she realized what it was, the person shouted at her - both things startled her and caused her jump and almost ran away, back into the store behind her. Whimpering, Megan dragged her feet and grew closer to the figure - she figured they would probably shoot her if she tried to run. Her knife was still in her hand, but her arm was stuck to her side in fear.

When she was about ten feet away from the other human, Megan stopped. Her whimpering subdued but she was still afraid - the person didn't look incredibly threatening, and they were only holding out the gun, not aiming it directly at her. From far away, Megan had thought this other survivor was a beastly woman, but it was really just a boy with long hair. She was a little relieved at this fact - if this boy took kindly to her, she'd finally have someone to protect her in the scary new world - a strong man at that.

"Please, don't hurt me. I don't have anything, and I won't take anything if this is yours," Megan said quietly, biting her lip and waving her empty hand around her to indicate the territory. She had used that line far too often in the past couple of days, the only difference in her audience being there was more than one. Still, Megan doubted she could put up any sort of fight against even one person.

[jordan jacob skipp]

The word new brings to mind clean and shiny objects, things that are wrapped in packages, untouched and untainted by dirt. However, this new world, this dirty world, was far from the average new. Thing’s in stores that are considered new weren’t even really all that new, by definition at least. Seeing a sign that said, “NEW!”, and then an explanation of what it was seemed ironic now, especially since none of this stuff was new. Year’s old more like it. It was thing’s like that, that seemed to stand out to him now more than ever. In times before, when he had everything he needed, he took it for granted. However, the time he had everything he needed was far to long ago. After finding out he had a little sister had changed it all.

He needed a family and the one he thought he had wasn’t really what he thought it was, it had ended up being like all the other sad families you read about in fairy tales. The only difference was his life was no fairy tale and it never would be. In this world of desolate silence he doubted there was any sign’s of love and laughter. At least in his personal opinion. If there was, then the source of it was an optimist to the extreme. In order to make any good out of this you had to have a really huge imagination. Just a glance around all you saw was old, crumbling buildings and something that resembled what once had been happiness.

His train of thoughts ended abruptly when the girl moved, seeing him. She jumped and ran away, but then dragged herself back out to him. She was closer and he could see her more clearly. The obvious terror and then the blood that scattered in spots on her knees. Her pitiful shape made him cringe inside. He hadn’t meant to frighten her, he seemed to have caused her more pain. Jordan realized she was no threat to him so he ensured the safety on his gun was on and then slid it back into his pocket. “Please, don't hurt me. I don't have anything, and I won't take anything if this is yours,” She said with a wave of her hand.

She was pretty and she seemed young and innocent. Like she was someone who needed protecting. He thought about the sister he had never met. Jordan wondered if she was like this or if she was strong and independent. He forced himself to focus on the pretty blonde in front of him, he swallowed the feelings of regret of having scared her. He wouldn’t let his emotions show. “No its not mine.” He answered her in a rough scratch voice, he coughed and cleared his throat. “Im not going to hurt you, it was just for precautions.” He added, his voice clearer.

He didn’t know what else to say, he was socially challenged and had been that way since the relationship between him and his parents had gotten rocky. Unfortunately, he had never learned the lessons other kids learned by interacting with family members. The only one’s he had been introduced to were his parents and grandparents. Again his train of thought wandered to his sister, wondering if things had been different if he had met her. Then his eyes locked onto the bloody knees. He paused, an instinct telling him to help her with that. He knew without proper cleaning it could get infected.

“I can help you with that…” He said motioning to his knees, but looking at hers. “I mean if you want, I have a small med kit.” He added, clearing his throat. He didn’t know if he particularly wanted to make a friend, but he figured this girl needed one. She looked lost, a bit like a puppy that had strayed too far away from home and didn’t know the way home. Jordan didn’t particularly like company, nor did he want it, but he knew it wouldn’t be right to leave her standing here like this. Not only that, but he wanted a clean conscience, leaving her was not the way to achieve that.