THE NEW WORLD: CHAPTER X

Stashed Away

They started to dig down into the ground and seems to be deeper than expected. As the 3 continued to dig into the ground Craig switch position with Amanda and Dylan followed them as they as their prayer time appraoches. Randall and Corey are left with the task to dig the ground up. Craig hopped down and started to help but without an earful from his father.

"Where are they going?" Corey asked.

"To pray"

"Muslims?" He quickly deduced. Randall nodded as most of his energy are directed towards digging up the stash.

"How about you? Will you pray?"

"After this... after this" The 3 continued to dig and the trench that they have made is worringly deep. Just as they were about to start doubting Corey hits something hard, he immediately jolts down and dug the dirt away using his hands.

"Stash, look" He pointed. Using what little water he had he poured it on the dirt in order to see its contents, and for them it was a great of sigh of relief. Amanda and Dylan was just returning from their prayer as they see Corey pulling himself out and the 3 are covered in muck.

"What happened?" Dylan asked. In the small amount of time that they prayed, they dig so much of the ground than he anticipated.

"We found the stash" Corey helps Craig get out of the hole and eventually the stash he was talking about. Duct tape is wrapped around it in order to secure its content within. 3 more followed up and each varrying in size. The 3 are exhausted and hugged each other over their find.

"Good, we'll drag it inside the school" Amanda said. "Is it safe?" Randall asked and his wife assured him that it is. They carried each of the stash carefully as they go towards the school.

"This looks promising" The school is emptied clean without any blood at all. It seems everyone managed to leave with their body intact. Only items were left behind but most of them are completely useless. They explored the hallways properly this time and looked around for anything that Dylan or Amanda has missed but there was nothing. They see through the doors of each classroom and see how neat the chairs and tables are.

Craig enters one of them and looks up to his dad. "When do you think school will return?" once more, his innocence pours through. "Some time in the future" The only real answer Randall can say to his son. The kid loved school, he got to meet some of his bestest friends and learned so many things from it, though sometimes he might feel lazy and would like to leave immediately it was more about being able to hang out with his friends rather than studying; the youthgul innocence that everyone is well aware of. Times where Craig can run around and feed his curiosity was taken away from him, what little youth he had he forgotten and was forced to mature.

"Over here" Corey called on the father-son as they lagged behind them and finally sees the room where the 2 prayed, right in front of the locker rooms.

"You guys can take a bath there and just leave those here" Dylan said.

"Thank you"

After a refreshing bath and a fresh change of clothes Corey, who is the last one to take a bath, finally enters the room and overhears Craig and Randall praying. Randall leads the prayer and speaks in fluent Arabic which he does not understand but he founds soothing. He sees Dylan and Amanda looking through the window with a great view of the open filed.

"Can I talk to you for a bit?" Dylan asked Corey with a worrisome look. "Do you think they'll return?" He asked as he kept looking through the window.

"Not for a while"

"How do you know that?"

"Its been a while since I saw anyone in here, and most of the corpses that we saw are days old"

"You think this is abandoned?"

"Yeah, maybe they store things behind and then, when they come by herem they pick it up"

The way Corey spoke about Aptissimum was odd, it was enough he knew them. This thought made him worried and had to confront him about it.

"Did you... were you part of them?"

"I... was one of their captives...." Corey replied as he choked on everyword. It appears that sharing his experience with the group made him emotional and this caught everyone's attention, even Craig and Randall who is at the last part of their prayer. He tries to recall what he experienced from the group but his mind does not allow it.

"Sorry, I am so sorry"

"Its okay, I should've been more upfront"

"If its hard for you to open, just take your time okay?" Amanda soothes Corey who was about to cry but he had to hold his tears back. "Time to open the presents!" Craig said. The 2 men drag the boxes inside of the room, now wet as they sprayed it down with water. They have to open the big ones first and using a pair of scissors that they found they cut away the duct tape that covers it. They all remained quiet as Randall carved into the tape.

"Wow, rifles" They all dully reacted.

"MREs too, are all of the stashes like these?"

"This are the stashes, I don't if there is still more"

"Well, we're lucky" They carved open the other boxes and laid out its contents, that job was left to Dylan and Corey, and the remaining 3 fixed up the room for them to sleep in. They gathered curtains form other rooms in order to block the windows and created makeshift mattresses for them to sleep. Afterwards, Dylan drives up the truck from the otherside of the town to where they are setted up. They then put the stashes, mostly the important ones, in the biggest box and put in the back of the truck. Using the curtains, they covered the back of the truck as well.

"Is that tight?" Randall asked Amanda for the assurance.

"It is, I think that's all"

"I think that's all" The 2 shared a lovely kiss as it has been a while for the both of them and then it transitioned into a warm hug. "Let's go" They entered the school and back to their classroom. They can hear Dylan and Corey's loud cackle echo around the halls, Dylan gladly talked about his experience whilst in the army despite what he experienced. The 2 'younglings' as he described him as can only look at him in awe.

Amanda and Randall enters the room and sees them laying down comfortable around the lamp. Laughing and enjoying the company. Randall and Amanda finally takes their shoes off and finally feels the comfortable feeling that their sore feet has not felt in a long time. Everyone had contribution in order to make sure that they are safe and comfortable. They pulled their mattresses around the light and lay down comfortably, Randall was quick to sleep and so was his wife. Finally, peace and quiet.

They all tell stories from whence the days were normal and their biggest worries weren't solvable without that of a bullet or literally running away. The night went about as they enjoyed each other's stories, Amanda and Randall eventually joined is as they wish to enjoy the little things. After their long chats everyone's fatigue finally caught up with them and they all feel drowsy. Craig turns the lamp off and everyone has a peaceful sleep, except for Craig. He continued to stay awake and listen to everyone else's snoring, it just shows how drained they all are. Mentally and Physically. He gets out of bed and decided to walk around the huge room and look through the different papers posted on the bulletin board on the back of the classroom.

He then hears the curtain slowly rustling in the window and he cannot help himself and looked out the window. "I wanted to be an astronaut" He said with his hands touching the glass and reaching for the sky. For him, at a young age the world seems and felt so small and big at the same time. Big because of how far they have travelled from home, and for him as a boy the world appears to be uncharted, and small as the zombies wake from their sleep and takeover everything else. It blocks their sight and forces them into a corner, to act and move ferally for surivival. They enjoy what little time that is given to them, such as this one, and time flies when one is enjoying the moment. They run away but now everything path seems to be blocked by the walking dead.

"Craig?" Corey whispered upon noticing the empty bedding.

"Corey?" The boy turns around and was startled.

"What's up with you, you can't sleep?"

"I ca- I woke up"

"Sure.. oh yeah.. I ah, got you something" Corey stands up off his mattress and stretched. He grabs his backpack and surfs through it and grabbing several booklets, he continued to look under his comforter and in his sleeping bag. He then shows a bundle of paper tied by a string and slowly hands it to the boy.

"A present?"

"Yeah, comics.. uhm I found those in the lockers, I think its pretty interesting"

"Have you read all of these?"

"Well, the sci-fi one" He pointed. "I'm on issue 13, and that's where it pretty much ended... but yeah go ahead and read it"

"Its mine?"

"Of course, take a read, your eyes might get tired and then you sleep"

Corey gives all the comics that he could find and gave it to Corey who tries to fit all of it in his bag. He waves at the kid and eventually goes back to sleep. Craig then lays back down on his mattress and stares at the ceiling and started to count sheeps. His mind exploded in a flurrt of imagination filled with different colours, and when he realized it, drowsiness has taken over his head.

"CRAIG!" A voice erupted waking him up.