Guinevere/Issue 8

This is Issue 8 of Guinevere, entitled "The End".

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Issue 8; The End
We usually never stay the same place for more than a week. Mostly because of the raiders. If you stay at one place for too long, they are going to find you. Right now we have been in this tower for two weeks. Just Rodney and me. It has been kinda awkward, but I guess that’s how it is. And I guess that’s how it’s gonna be for the rest of our lives. Right now, I am writing in my diary while Rodney is scavening. He has only been gone for two hours; I expect him to be gone for a few hours yet. We removed Alan’s corpse. After six days we buried him. It was kinda sad. But I guess I will be with him again at some point. I hope I will. I wonder what happened to the former owner of this diary? Maybe she died in the early stages of the outbreak, maybe she survived twenty years. Maybe her kids are on the run like Rodney and me. For all I know, the raiders could be her kids. I doubt it, though. I have never seen any of them, the raiders. I just know they’re there. I know they wear hoodies and mostly black clothes. They have guns, and have taken the lives of everyone I’ve loved. True, I was only six when my uncle died, but he was killed by the raiders. Just like Alan was. As I sit here in my thoughts, I hear gunshots. The raiders. I get up, close my diary and run to out bag. I pull up the gun with the two bullets. Just in case. I hear some yelling and a few more gunshots. Then I hear someone running up the stairs. I cock the pistol and aim it at the staircase, only to see Rodney. His face is pale, and he runs right past me. “Rodney? What’s going on?” I ask, lowering the pistol. “We gotta go.” Rodney just says, sounding very nervous. I nod, and then grab our bag. Rodney returns with the bag with food, and he then runs down the stairs. I follow. We stop at the entrance, taking a quick look outside. The raiders are probably somewhere nearby, but if we are fast we can get to the treeline 500 meters away. The metric system was something my father learned me. He wanted me to be wise in case I would have children on day. Seems like it won’t happen now. “We have to run.” I whisper. Rodney swallows hard, not looking at me. “No way. We won’t make it.” “We don’t have any other option, Rodney.” I say, and get up. I get the bag onto by back, and then proceed to run. Rodney grabs my arm and looks me in the eyes. “Skye if we don’t make it...” Rodney begins, but I cut him off. We will make it. I am sure of it. I then run. I see some men on horses a few hundred meters away. They haven’t seen me yet, but they will soon. I manage to get halfway. Then they spot me. I hear some yelling, then some gunshots. I feel a bullet hitting me in the side of my stomach. I fall to the ground, but is quickly helped up by Rodney. We then eventually get to the treeline. The raiders yell, but we are inside the forest now. They won’t find us if we just keep moving.

Rodney helps me walking. The bullet didn’t go through, so it’s still in there somewhere. It hurts very much. We eventually get to a lake with an old wooden building. It looks empty, so we go inside. “Are you okay?” Rodney asks, placing me on the old bed, the matress almost decayed. “I think...” I manage to say, but then can’t say anymore. It simply hurts too much. Rodney places a hand on my shoulder, then gets up. “I’ll make a fire so we can get the bullet out, okay?” I nod. That was something we learned from my father as well; if we ever got shot, we had to warm up a scissor or something sharp. Then it would be safe to remove the bullet. But I don’t think we are going to need that trick. Not now, not never. I take up the pistol from my pocket. There is still two bullets in it. I don’t want to kill Rodney. Whenever he chooses to leave from here, that’s his choice. And this is mine. I want to be with Alan, with my father, my uncle, everyone I loved. I take out my diary, open it and write ‘good luck’. I then take out one of the two bullets, and place it on the diary. Then I take the barrel to my head, and I pull the trigger.