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[Willow Adams]

Willow wandered up the street, shuffling her feet as she walked. Her eyes were wide and cautious as she made her way to who knows where, just trying to get out of the stiffling house where she had been for the past week as her family dropped like flies. Now the house reminded her of memories, bittersweet and strong. She couldn't live in a house of memories, surrounded by vague ghosts of her past.

She had strapped on a pair of tennis shoes, tying the laces as quickly as her nimble fingers would allow, and set out of the house. She locked the door behind her, knowing full well that it was a silly thing to do since it wasn't like anyone was actually going to break in. But it was her house, and she didn't want anyone else to invade it and ruffle through the shadows and memories. It was as though they were prying into a private diary which she never wanted anyone else to look into.

She found herself in front of the elementary school, a building she had never been into except on a few occasions to see her brothers' school plays or basketball games. She herself was homeschooled because her parents disliked the public school system and couldn't afford to send all of them to private schools. She was glad they didn't. She may be only nine years old, but she now understood the importance of family and the fact that nothing lasts forever.

For the past week, she had not seen another soul in the entire town. She had heard the wolves howling, something a little eerie, especially because she was alone. Usually the wolves didn't travel this far into the suburbs, but they must have been enjoying the great feasts spread out on the roads before them, danging out of cars and strewn across the streets. It sickened Willow whenever she came across a corpse of someone who had just up and died while walking home from the grocery store or driving to the bank. But she would ignore it and walk on, wiping the tears from her large green eyes, glad that no one was there to notice.

There were other things that people wouldn't notice, too. Like the fact that Willow didn't know how to dress herself. Oh, she knew how to put on clothes, but her older siblings always picked out the outfits for her, dressing her up like a doll. She had let them because she loved them, but that meant that she never had to worry about what she was going to wear next. Today she wore a white sundress with green and yellow and brown sunflowers, a pair of jeans, sneakers and a sweater pulled around her shoulders. A cross dangled on a chain around her neck; it had been her mother's before she had succumbed to the sickness, and had taken it only because her dear mom insisted that she have it.

And here was the school. Something about it always struck Willow as strange and foreign, but now that she was here, she could feel its presence looming over her. It was kind of scary, she admitted to herself with a shiver. She wondered if it was always this scary during the day when Gem and Sean went to school, or if it was a lot friendlier when the halls were inhabited by hundreds of noisy students.

[Iseabail Mackenna]

Iseabail climbed through the gaping and jagged hole the rock heaved through the recent pane of glass had left and surveyed the inside. A dairy. Not a great or exciting place to be, but it had food, and she'd already been to the clothing store down the road and rummaged her way through there. As always, she blocked her mind to the thoughts of the owners of these stores as she 'worked', not wanting to be sick again. Her bright green Chucks reflected the sunlight filtering through the window. The top of them came up to her knees, covering her bright red skinny jeans. Her top was a long, baggy t-shirt saying 'Save the Planet', which Iseabail had put on because it was the only comfortable one. Over it she wore a woollen jersey - a guy's one.

After some deliberation she slipped a loaf of bread, some bottled water and a couple of chocolate bars into the backpack she wore and stepped back out onto the sun-soaked pavement. It was threatening to be late afternoon and the sun was in that lazy, soft but rich time a little after its zenith. Issy squinted at the sun for a second before moving down the road, pulling out one of the chocolate bars. She looked at the wrapper. A Snickers. What am I gonna do now? The streets were deserted. There were very few people left and most weren't in this area at the moment. It wasn't anywhere near where Issy had lived, but after her mother had died she'd legged it, running with her long legs as far away from her house as she could. She'd slept in a store selling beds, not wanting to sleep in anyone's house. Since then she'd just been wandering around, occasionally joining up with other people to loot, but mostly just walking around by herself.

Movement at the end of the street distracted her from her thinking and she looked more closely, catching the flash of some white clothing as someone disappeared around the corner. Issy picked up her speed and began walking briskly. She didn't want to get too close to the person but she was bored and even observing them would provide some much needed distraction for her.

Reaching the corner, she looked around and then went around carefully. The person she had seen was not very far up the road, being a slow walker and a child. Issy felt herself gasp as she saw how small the girl was. She then took in her strange attire and shrugged. She wore strange things too. She began following her, taking care not to make much noise. She didn't want to creep along, in case the girl turned and saw her acting like that, but she didn't want to be seen either.

When the girl stopped in front of Grant Elementary School, Issy stopped a little way off and stood watching her. The girl looked so small and alone. She wondered if any of her family was alive. She didn't know if Calum was still alive. She prayed it was so (the first time she'd had contact with God for about a week) and continued watching the girl. She wasn't doing anything, so she decided to approach her. An adult she wouldn't have wanted to, but a child was a different manner. Even after her...drop in ethics after the pandemic had hit the city, she still couldn't bear to see this girl on her own.

She walked up to her quietly, but she made sure to make some noise so that her arrival wouldn't startle the girl. She squatted down next to her and turned her light blue eyes on the little brunette. "Hello," she said softly, "did you go to this school?"

[Willow Adams]

Willow had been enveloped in her thoughts and didn't hear the strange lady approach. But then she was right there, standing next to Willow, asking if she went to the school. The little girl jumped and cringed, her bright green-grey eyes wide with fright. She hadn't seen anyone in a week save for her own family (now deceased), and she didn't know if she wanted to see this lady.

Willow wasn't a coward, but this lady scared her. Adults in general scared her. How many times had she been told not to talk to strangers. What was she supposed to do now. Her eyes glanced quickly up and down the street looking for the best escape route. That's it, she would run away and go tell the police. Then reality hit her hard, a giant gate which swung shut in front of her innocent face. There were no police. If this lady was a bad lady, Willow stood no chance.

And yet her desire to see other human beings overwhelmed the fear inside of her. Despite the fact that she was scared, loneliness prevailed in her heart and her fear turned to curiousity. But she stood still, not saying anything at all, and looked up at the lady in front of her. She looked . . . different, realized Willow. She didn't look mean, just . . . not like other adults.

[Iseabail Mackenna]

The little girl didn't answer her, and Iseabail could understand why when she saw her eyes go wide with fright. She noticed how pretty the young girl was, and in the next moment noticed how strangely the girl was dressed. Her dress sense seemed to be rather...not there. She wondered if her parents had dressed her before...it had happened.

Even though the girl looked very frightened and her eyes were darting around, she made no move to run away. Iseabail wondered what the reason for this was. Was she too scared to move? Perhaps she was scared but was making herself stay put. Or she could have realised that there was no one around to run to. But Issy had no intention of hurting or scaring her anyway.

"I'm Issy," she said softly, still squatting in front of the girl. "What's your name?" After a pause she added: "Do you want some help in getting somewhere?" Her legs were starting to go numb, but she ignored them. She could straighten up when she got a reply, but for now she was going to stay at the girl's level. She didn't want to frighten her by being 'big'. She only looked about seven or eight.

[Willow Adams]

Willow stood still, looking up with her large eyes at this lady. She twisted the ends of her sweater in between her fingers, knotting the decorative ribbons around them. It was her favorite sweater; her mom had given it to her for her last birthday, and she always wore it at every opportunity she had.

"Willow," she replied in a quiet voice.

[Iseabail Mackenna]

Issy smiled at Willow and glanced up and down the street. Deserted, of course. She then realised she had something in her hand. She looked down and saw it was the Snickers bar. Offering it to Willow, she said: "Do you want this chocolate bar, Willow?" The girl didn't look like the practical sort of girl who would've been feeding herself properly. A Snickers wasn't any improvement, but if she could get the girl to accept that from her, she could feed her better later on.

Wait.

Why was she thinking about 'later on'? She hadn't any plans to look after Willow. She supposed it was just because she couldn't bear the thought of leaving this young girl out alone, with no one to look after her. Especially since she'd seen wolves in the city. It was unimaginable, but they were here. Even thinking about them made her shiver and she looked around her, almost expecting a wolf to jump at her, snarling viciously.

No, that was it. There was no way she was leaving Willow out here to be eaten by wolves, left to starve or to be mistreated and possibly molested by any other survivors. With a wince as her knees complained at the long stretch of immobility in an uncomfortable position she straightened up and looked down at Willow. Should she tell the truth?

"Willow, it can be dangerous out here. Do you want to come with me and try to find somewhere safer?"

[Willow Adams]

Willow looked at the offeren candybar and then looked back at the lady. She felt even more nervous than before. What did her mother always tell her? "Don't accept candy from strangers." Surely this was an exception . . . but Willow didn't say anything about the candy, for now Issy was offering to take her to a safe place.

Willow shook her head. "I have to get home," she said in a small, uncertain voice. "My mommy and daddy are looking for me."

[Iseabail Mackenna]

Iseabail withdrew the candybar, looked at it, shrugged and began unwrapping it. "I have another one, if you change your mind," she told Willow before she bit into it. She watched how Willow reacted to her. She looked very nervous. Like she didn't want to be around Issy. Which was pretty understandable.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" She thought it was pretty extraordinary that both Willow's parents had survived, considering she'd heard on the news that only about 1 in every 10,000 people survived. But she didn't want to grill the girl.

[Willow Adams]

Willow's eyes grew wide as she saw her eat the candy bar. How she had loved candy until a few days ago! But now she had been eating whatever she could, nutritious or not, and candybars and twinkies had lost their sugary appeal. Nothing seemed that interesting to her anymore, not with her family gone and the world in chaos.

"No thank you," she said in a small voice, absentmindedly twisting her finger around the delicate chain around her neck. She wanted to say yes, that this lady could keep her safe, but what if the lady didn't want to keep her safe? What if she hurt Willow?

[Iseabail Mackenna]

Pretty. The chain Willow had around her neck was pretty. As was the rest of the girl. Had she been dressed in a pale pink dress (not frilly), Issy thought she would've been divine. Issy wondered what she would look like when she was older. Probably very pretty. It was a pity that there weren't going to be many boys for her to choose from. If she survived that long.

"No thank you."

Iseabail frowned. She did not want to let this young girl go off by herself. She knew that she'd probably been wandering around for at least a few days on her own, but now that she knew about her she couldn't leave her to be on her own. She bit her lip and bounced on her toes for a moment while she thought about the problem. Then she pursed her lips and began to whistle quietly, as she did when she was thinking.

Stopping abruptly, she stepped away from Willow with a nod. "Okay, Willow, I'll let you get home, then." She waved at the young girl and began to walk off down the street. She planned to walk down another road and pretend to leave, while figuring out a way to follow Willow. She whistled the tune she always did when she was preoccupied - Ode to Joy.

[Willow Adams]

Willow felt a rush of relief when the lady said that she could leave, but she also experienced and unexpected gnawing of fear and resentment. She ought to have said yes, something told her, but another part said 'don't go with stranger.' She smiled politely at the lady and said goodbye, then parted.

She wandered down the street for awhile before she came across a small shop. She looked inside the window and saw that it sold hats and scarves and mittens. Willow smiled; they were such pretty things! She walked up to the door and pushed it open, the bell above announcing her arrival. The air was putrid with a sickly-sweet odor, and she almost gagged. But she continued into the store and wandered along, looking at all of the hats and the gloves and scarves. She tried on several different hats, giggling to herself in the mirrors the store provided. For a few minutes, she forgot that she was alone in the world as she imagined herself a princess in a grandeous castle in Europe.

[Iseabail Mackenna]

Once around the corner she hid and stopped whistling. Soon Willow walked past and Issy slipped out from the doorway she was hiding in a followed her, being as silent as she could. She was a fair way behind the girl, so she doubted she could hear her.

She followed her as Willow walked down the street slowly and rather aimlessly, as a child does. Still she wondered if it was the right thing to be doing - or if it was even worth it. Still, she didn't have anything better to do and she didn't want Willow to get hurt.

Iseabail stopped when Willow turned into the shop and positioned herself across the street, where she was hidden but could still see some way into the store. She was still nervously looking for wolves. Other people she was pretty confident she could handle, but wolves creeped her out. She didn't want to come across any of them.

[Willow Adams]

She really liked that hat she was wearing. It was big and had a wide brim and light blue lace running around it. She found some gloves which came up to her elbows. They were light blue, too. Not the same exact shade, but they were pretty close. Willow slipped them on her hands and looked at herself in the mirror. She smiled and did the princess wave.

Maybe . . . maybe she could take it. She stood on her tiptoes to look at the cash register, but the shelves were too high. She creeped around and peered past the display of the Red Hat Society objects and saw a body slumped across the counter. She gasped and jumped back into the privacy of the shelves, wishing that her heart wouldn't pound so much. Finally when she had gathered her nerves together, she tiptoed to the door. On her way out, she saw a pretty little patent leather purse. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the person splayed out across the counter, snatched the purse up, and scuttled out of the store as fast as her legs would take her.

It wasn't stealing, right?

Right?

They were dead and would never use it again. Her parents always told her not to steal but . . . but they never told her what to do in the times of the plague.

Well. Now she was the adult and she could very well make her own decisions. And since she was an adult, she was going to have to buy her own groceries. She smiled at that thought--she got to play house in real life now. She was a big girl. She adjusted the purse on her shoulder and tilted her hat on her head just so. It was time to go shopping.

*to Walmart*