Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (top reads .txt) 📕

his cheek, squinting his eyes at Grant. “My family will starve soon without supplies. Do you expect me to keep them here where there's nothing? They need food and…” His voice changed volume. “... they’ll die without it. Do you expect me-?”

“Then take your family and go to the hotpot of monster food. There’s no way you’re dragging me there. I somehow managed to escape the hotel, another hot pot of monster food, so I’m not going to let myself die in a different hotpot!” Grant raised his voice, taking a step towards Edgar. Edgar reciprocated his actions, both men getting close to a fistfight. 

Maisey shook her head, staring at both men. Tensions between them grew as their supplies diminished. Two weeks of building resentment without a way to release it wasn’t good for their health or the others in the house caught in the middle of the battlefield. 

Maisey, seeing that the two were dangerously close to a fistfight, stepped in between them. “Both of you, stop it!” She exclaimed. “There’s no point in fighting about our situation. Let’s focus on restocking our food supply.”

Edgar and Grant turned away from each other, mumbling to themselves. Maisey shook her head disapprovingly. “We’re going with the scavenging plan. The only question is who wants to go? Edgar, call the others here.”

Edgar grumbled as he was sent away to find Bryce, Ivy, and Amelia. His eyes skimmed through each of the rooms until he stumbled into the last room, Amelia’s room. There he, angrily, found Bryce and Ivy in his daughter’s room. Bryce and Amelia shared a laugh while Ivy tried to force her way into the joke.

Amelia noticed him first, picking her head up to stare at him. “Do you need us for something?” Her innocent-sounding voice dissipated the anger within him. He smiled, his anger leaving his body for the moment. 

“You’ve been all called to the kitchen. It’s something serious.” He said.

They nodded, standing up, Bryce reached the door first with Amelia and Ivy following tightly behind him. Amelia stared at Bryce’s back lovingly while Ivy glared at Amelia for her interest in Bryce. Edgar noticed this but kept his lips zipped shut. 

Bryce led them to the kitchen where Maisey and Grant waited for them. Grant motioned for them to sit down before he started talking. Once everybody, including Maisey, sat down, Grant began. “We have a day of supplies. After that, we’re out of food and water. We need to get more. We need to leave the house and scavenge for food, water, and other supplies by today or tomorrow. I need volunteers to go with me.” He told them.

“I’ll go, I can’t leave up my family’s future on you.” Edgar put a large emphasis on his words as a direct attack on Grant, who ignored the obvious taunt. 

“Anybody else, I would prefer at least three people to go.” He didn’t want to go alone with Edgar, looking around the room for anybody else. His eyes snapping to Bryce - who sheepishly looked away. After staring hard at his head, he looked down and let out a sigh.

“I’ll go.” He said with a defeated tone. Grant smiled, waving him over.

“Nice that you volunteered to go with us.” He said with a fake smile. He turned to face Maisey and the others. “We’re going, don’t let anybody in unless they knock seven times in a row.” He instructed Maisey.

Maisey nodded, glancing at Edgar. Edgar stared at her, his eyebrows furrowed. “Will you be okay without us?” He asked.

She nodded. “Go and bring home food.” She coldly remarked. Their relationship was on the fence, but it didn’t start during the apocalypse.

He nodded, turning away from her. He was handed a kitchen knife by Grant. “Will we use this?” He asked.

Grant shrugged his shoulders. “Hopefully not, but… if we have to, then we will.” 

Bryce refused the kitchen knife, brandishing his hunting knife. “It’s smaller, but I rather use this. I’m not sure why I want to use it, but…” 

Grant nodded. “It’s okay. Grab a bag and let’s go before nightfall.” He instructed. Bryce nodded, being handed a bag by Amelia. She smiled at him as she gave the bag away. Grant noticed this but kept silent. He decided to tease Bryce about it later, once they were in a no-stress situation.

Grant headed to the front door with Edgar and Bryce in tow. Edgar grabbed a black duffel bag while Bryce used Amelia’s pink backpack. They were both armed with a knife.

They reached the front door, Grant peering outside before opening it. He walked outside, looking around his surroundings. The horde of monsters had thinned compared to the first day of the apocalypse. It was safer to move on the roads, but one question perplexed Grant. Where did the hordes go? They wouldn’t have left voluntarily, right? There wouldn’t be… some kind of predator they’re afraid of? No, I’m probably overthinking things.

Bryce tapped his right shoulder, signaling him to calm down. Bryce could tell whenever he was stressed out. 

Grant glanced over his shoulder at Bryce, nodding his head as a silent “thank you”. Bryce nodded back.

They pushed forward, Grant peeking around corners before signaling them to move. They planned to move through the alleyway and scavenge the nearby buildings. It was a safer plan as the main roads had small clumps of zombies and other threats like car build-ups and bandits. Grant devised the plan.

With Grant’s reassurance, Bryce moved alongside the wall of the house - which was at the end of the street. He crept close towards the alleyway before pushing off the wall. He peered down the alleyway, not seeing any zombies for the entirety of it. He turned his head to face Grant and Edgar, waving them over. They approached the alleyway, entering it and heading down it. 

They tried every alleyway door, checking if they were unlocked or not. Edgar found the first unlocked entrance, opening it and revealing to them their spoils. The back door was unlocked and wide open. 

“Be careful, the door’s open for a reason,” Grant warned. Edgar and Bryce nodded, shuffling into the house. They quietly and quickly scanned through the house but found it empty. It was as if the owner never existed or, simply, walked out and never returned. 

They scavenged through the cabinets, fridge, and rooms for anything of use. They snatched kitchen knives, hammers, canned food, instant ramen, bottled waters, and other supplies. They threw everything they found into their bags before leaving the house.

Once outside, they left the property and moved forward. Edgar checked the alleyway doors on the right while Grant checked the left. Bryce stayed in the middle, keeping guard. There was nothing behind them, but he could hear faint whispers from in front of them. He pressed forward to check out the sounds.

At the end of the hallway, he peered around the corner. His eyes widened as he realized what was happening some distance away from him. Bandits in modified pick-ups and trucks were positioned at the intersection. The cars were left somewhat unguarded as most of the bandits were spread around a few blocks. 

Bryce watched as a bandit came out of a house, across the street from him, with a television in his hand. He grinned as he raised the television over his head. “Hey, boss! Look what I found! A 50-inch flatscreen, perfect to watch whatever we want on.” 

The boss, a man with a bulky physique, glared at the bandit. “Shut your mouth, you’ll attract the deadeyes.”

Deadeyes, Bryce questioned. What are deadeyes? Are they talking about the zombies? He felt something brush against his shoulder, turning to see who or what did it. Grant and Edgar stood behind him. 

“What’s happening?” Grant questioned.

“Bandits, I think,” Bryce whispered before turning back to face the bandits.

“Come on, we’re not afraid of them. Those goblin scum are the fearsome ones, though.” The bandit remarked, smiling.

The boss approached the bandit, scaring the smaller-built man. He grabbed the man by his collar, raising him into the air. He dropped the television, smashing against the concrete. Fortunately, however, the back of the television hit the ground and not the front side.

“We lose people if we face the deadeyes. They’ll come charging in hordes. Shut your mouth or I’ll throw you in their direction when they get here. Want to die?” He asked.

The bandit shook his head violently. 

“Good-” He threw the bandit to the ground, watching as he landed on his back. The bandit stared up at the boss with frightful eyes. “Now get to work. We need enough to fill all of the Ravagers’ bellies. We have a lot of elderly and children to take care of. Hurry it up!” He barked. The bandit scurried off, leaving the boss by himself. All of his other men looked away, none wanting to share eye contact for more than a millisecond. 

“Get to work, the lot of you! We have people to save! Keep scavenging, we-” He was interrupted by the scream of one of his men. The man who screamed was running in his direction, waving his arms around. 

“Goblins! We got goblins!” The man shouted.

All eyes, including those of Bryce, Edgar, and Grant, snapped to the boss. The boss turned to face the goblins chasing after the man. He brandished a shotgun from his back, pointing it at the goblins. “I am Ricardo, the Ravagers leader. I will protect your retreat. Grab the necessities and leave!” He ordered. His men fell back while Ricardo lingered behind, waiting for the screaming man to escape. He faced the horde of goblins, small runt-sized zombies that were quick on their feet.

“They’re flanking us! They got four of our men!” Another man shouted.

Richardo glanced at the goblins appearing behind them. “Get in the trucks and let’s go. Drop the non-important items!” He ordered. Men began throwing pieces of jewelry, televisions, and more from the trucks to decrease the weight load. 

The modified trucks began leaving in a direction that was devoid of goblins and deadeyes. Ricardo jumped into a pickup truck before it roared its engine and lunged forward, picking up momentum and following after the rest of the caravan. They vacated the area quickly, leaving televisions, jewelry, metal scraps, and four corpses in their wake.

Bryce turned to Grant. “What just happened?”

“Shh!” He whisper-shouted. He glanced at Edgar, who was disgusted by the sights of death. “We don’t mention what we saw to anybody else.” He turned to stare at one of the corpses. “We keep this to ourselves.” The others nodded. 

“Then what now?” Edgar asked.

“Let’s stay as far away as we can from them. Don’t let them find us.” Grant whispered. 

Bryce and Edgar nodded, following Grant away from the end of the alleyway. They backtracked their steps, going through another unlocked entrance. They were out of sight of the goblins, but none of them noticed a little girl approaching the undead beings. The little girl got closer and closer to the goblins without realizing it, now only several tens of steps away from them. She brushed against an outside wall of a house, moving away from it.

“Mommy?” She muttered. “Where are you?

***

Bryce crept into the living room of the house that they were in, peering out of a window. The window was covered by drapes, forcing him to pull them to the side. He peered outside, not able to see much aside from the goblins chewing on the four corpses. They devoured the corpses like a dog to a piece of meat. It was a gruesome scene, but, for some reason, Bryce couldn’t look away. He focused his gaze on the sight.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, turning to find Grant behind him. “We’re moving, we have enough for a week. Maybe two if we stretch it.”

Bryce nodded, glancing out of the window one more time before turning away. However, something caught his attention. He noticed a little girl, no older than ten, roaming around on her own. She was dressed in a pink sweater with matching joggers and