Free The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen by Erica Stevens

approached with the bag of supplies. "How much of a
problem is Peter going to be?" Al inquired.
    John shrugged and shifted the bag in his
hand. "Not much of one. Josh got him to agree that finding shelter
was more important than food right now."
    "Well that's a relief," Riley said.
    Riley turned and followed Xander and Donald
into the floral store. Al waited for Nancy to gather Spooky from
the car before following behind them.

CHAPTER 6
    Xander,
    Xander took hold of Riley's hand as she
stepped into the shadowed interior of the store. The heady scent of
the flowers caused his nose to wrinkle as he took in the dead and
wilted bouquets still gathered on the counter, the walk-in coolers,
and hanging in the front windows. Stalks drooped, brown petals
littered the floor, and in the other room he could see large plants
that had fallen over and were lying on the ground.
    Beneath the counter was a single flashlight
that was pointing up at the underside of the shelf. Its dim beam
barely illuminated the woman, and a boy about Rochelle's age, that
were standing behind the counter. A rifle sat on the counter, the
woman's hand rested upon the barrel but she made no move to lift
it. The woman had a rounded figure with ample breasts. Her graying
dark brown hair had been pulled into a loose bun at the nape of her
neck. Her hazel eyes were troubled as she watched them filter into
the room. She kept her arm locked around the slender boy's chest.
The boy's hazel eyes were nearly the same color as the woman's, his
brown hair was a shaggy mop that curled at the nape of his
neck.
    The large man remained in the doorway until
Mary Ellen stepped inside with Rochelle. He quietly closed and
locked the door behind them. The man's gaze ran over all of them
before settling on the bag in John's hand. John held the bag out to
him and the man snatched it away. He opened the bag to peer peered
inside before giving it to the woman.
    "I'm Jim," he introduced. "That's my wife,
Claire and our son, Freddie."
    Carl extended his hand to the man and shook
it before introducing all of them. Xander watched Freddie as the
boy tore into a granola bar from the bag. Claire and Jim had to be
hungry too, but neither of them touched the food, they simply
watched their son eat. "Do you own this store?" Al inquired.
    Jim shook his head as he glanced around the
florist shop. "No. Our home was about a mile down the road but it
went up in flames during the quakes. We came to this area in search
of help, or some answers. In the beginning there was rescue
personnel that helped to keep everyone organized and under control.
We were staying in the motel with a bunch of other survivors, but
then the sickness began to spread and all control was lost."
    "When the ones with the sickness started to
turn on us, we fled, but this was as far as we got. There were so
many of them and just the three of us. We hid in the first place we
could find. In the beginning we had some supplies, but we ran out
yesterday. Jim was going to go out tomorrow to try and find
something but…" Claire's words trailed off as her gaze went past
them to the backdoor.
    "We hear them out there," Jim said. "Moving
around at night, hunting."
    "Killing," Freddie whispered.
    Claire took hold of the bag. She removed a
couple more granola bars and two bottles of water before placing
the bag under the counter. "We don't know what's going on out there
anymore." Jim's voice was hushed as his gaze turned to the glass
front windows with the curtains pulled over them. "We haven't seen
anyone that wasn't sick in a couple of weeks. I'd begun to think
that maybe we were the last ones left."
    Riley shuddered beside him; wrapping her
hand around his arm, she took a step closer to him. Xander couldn't
imagine the loneliness and confusion these three people had to have
been going through while hiding in here. "What is it like out there
now?" Claire asked.
    "Better than the area that we came from,"
John answered. "But those sick ones,