Free Surrounds (Bonds) by S.L. Simps

horrible.
    As soon as daylight hit the covered windows, Lacey was searching through the hallway closet until she found a book bag filled with old school supplies. Dumping out the contents, Lacey swings her new bag onto her shoulder, grabs Henderson's machete and leaves him his gun on a nearby coffee table, carefully. Just in case.
    Then with one final look at Henderson, Lacey leaves in search of supplies and food.
    Quiet, its painful. Lacey never was very fond of silence. That's why she was one to babble and why she was often times annoyed with Henderson aka 'King' of silence. It was annoying, silence could be heavy, empty, and loud. It unnerved her.
    Like now, the end of the world was a mute bitch and silence always seemed foreboding now, like any moment now the clouds would bleed red and screeching monsters would appear. If not, then huge men-creatures who would drag her into a house before torturing.
    Her footsteps seemed loud and her breathing louder. Henderson's machete clinked against her belt at times, scaring her into almost crapping on herself.
    The nearest house was about half a mile away, but it was missing half of it. The next house was a mile away, snuggled at the top of a driveway on top of a hill. She began up with after kicking at a few rocks in annoyance. This was for Henderson...
    The two-story home's doors are locked because everything is hard for Lacey. A sigh leaves her as she frowns into the home, forehead against the glass of the backdoor's glass, She glances around her, settling her gaze on a stack of what was obviously patio stones, for what was obviously an unfinished deck.
    Her back screaming in protest, the girl picks up one of the heavy stones, nearly dropping it. With a burst of energy, brought to her by pure annoyance, the girl puts it through the window.
    It's loud, insanely loud. Lacey freezes, staring at the hole, ears listening to movement around her. Now she notes her plan wasn't a very good one.
    "Way to go, Lace..." The girl whispers approaching the glass, "What if one of those things heard you? Stupid..."
    Deciding whining about her own stupidity isn't going to solve anything, she carefully slides into the broken door and into the home. Its dusty and dark and she ends up inside a very spacious kitchen.
    Adjusting the bandage wrapped around her neck, ignoring the blood seeping along her neck from her wound, she bolts for a cabinet.
    The cabinets were filled with canned foods, beans, noodles, tomato sauce, corn, soups, even a canned ham. Lacey smiles as she finds herself struggling to close her backpack. If her back wasn't hurting, she would have burst into a giggling, happy dance, especially when she found a few jars of apple banana sauce.
    They should have never went into that grocery store, the girl admits, homes are much safer. Placing her backpack by the broken door, she finds another in a bedroom on the first floor in a closet. Then she finds her way to the bathroom next to the bedroom, grabbing anything she can find.
    When she's finishes, she has one bag filled with food and another with a first-aid kit inside. The girl also grabs Henderson another shirt because his was in shreds now.
    (O)
    When she finally returns five hours later, Henderson hasn't even moved an inch. She warms up both of them soup on the gas stove and shakes Henderson awake.
    The girl can smell his sickness. He only moans, weakly trying to open his lids.
    "L - ace..." His voice is weak and dry.
    Henderson isn't weak, she's never seen him sick before. He's not ever suppose to be like this. "Here...eat this." She whispers.
    Henderson manages a few spoon fills before throwing them up right after. It wasn't a good sign, but the girl had no choice but to no give up.
    She tries for hours, force feeding her friend soup and other liquids, hoping he would be able to keep it all down. It wasn't until it was dark outside again does Henderson keeps his soup down and finally sleeps peacefully after she had wrapped his wounds