Day One (Book 1): Alive by Michael Mcdonald

ignorantly. “You mean kill?”
    The Young Woman, now coming into the dim light of a nearby candle, looked directly into my eyes and nodded her head. “That’s right. So had you gotten there any earlier, you and your daughter would both be dead right now.”
    “Bullshit! That’s our military… they wouldn’t kill their own people, the same people they swore to protect. Besides, we aren’t infected or sick!”
    “Are you so sure about that – better yet, would you be willing to risk your daughter’s life to prove me wrong?” she asked.
    I took another sip of the water and swallowed. I handed the pill bottle back to the Young Woman, who pushed them back at him. “You hang onto those… you need them more than I do.”
    “Where’s my daughter?” I asked from the floor.
    She stood and held out a hand to me. I reluctantly took it, still not sure if she was really there to help or just making me think she was so it would be easier to rob and then kill me. She pulled me to my feet and we moved together out of the large container into a warm sunlit day. I shielded my eyes from the stinging sun; feeling like a vampire turned back into a human, and was helped along until we came to a small tent.
    The Young Woman, now shown in the full glory of daylight was no longer just that. I looked to see her pointing at the tent. She had long dark hair, which was pulled into a pony-tail, big blue eyes that peered back at me from a slender and beautiful face. Her lips formed a slight smile that moved to one side and she turned and walked away. I watched her leave. She had combat boots on, black pants that fit her well with several cargo pockets up each leg and a black zip up hoodie.
    She headed back into the metal container that I could see now was a truck trailer at one time that had been converted into a shed of some sort. She slipped inside and I quickly turned my attention back to the tent and crawled in to see Kember lying on a sleeping bag playing with a few dolls. She saw me and immediately smiled and came to me, hugging me as she jabbered.
    “Da Da.”
    I pulled her into my weak arms and hugged her tightly. Her hair smelt as though it had been washed clean, she had new clothes on and a dozen baby dolls to choose from. Her sippy cup sat next to the pillow and I could see it was full. Two opened trays of crackers and cheese sat next to it. The Woman had taken her time and great care in watching over my Daughter. I was thankful to her for that and would tell her the next time I saw her.
    For several hours, Kember and I played with her toys, helping her to forget about what we had been through so far, yet deep down I realized I wasn’t fooling her at all. She knew nothing of the world outside of our home. Knew nothing of politics or even that the world revolved around a massive yellow sun. Her perception of the world was true and without limitations. There were no failures or screw ups in her daily life, only eating and playing while being surrounded by an extensive and largely unexplored world that she saw from time-to-time.
    No, my words had not been for her… they had been for me.
    When she had had enough and grew tired, lying done on the sleeping bag, I left the tent and stood just outside scanning the area. It was a completely unfamiliar location to me, but very well hidden and roomy. It made the fear of the unknown even worse. I had no idea which way the interstate was, how close it was or what I would do if any of those things showed up. Yet with the setup the Young Woman had, I did feel a little better about our safety compared to living in the Pathfinder. Plus there was more room.
    I made my way to the container and peered in to see the Young Woman bent over working on something. Curiosity pulled at my shirt tail and I moved in closer to find out what she was up to.
    “Did she finally get tired and go to sleep?” The Young Woman asked.
    Her voice startled me and a thrust my eyes up to meet hers. “How did you know