"Riya, are you hurt?" Alan began checking Riya's abdomen for any wounds.
"I'm fine, just give me a second to recover," Riya said as she looked at Alan's blood-covered face. She took a deep breath, finally feeling a bit of relief after all those men had been killed.
"Sir?" Amanda and her brother Cristian entered the barn armed, and were shocked to see all the corpses lying on the ground.
The blood staining the floor had spread across the entire entrance. Clementine, who had also come in, stared at the bodies and took a few steps back in shock.
Alan helped Riya up—she could barely move—and carried her to the house beside the barn. "Kids, grab the weapons off the ground."
There was no time to waste. No matter their age, everyone in a world like this had to take responsibility for their own safety. No one would do everything for them unless they were useful. That's why many families tried to make themselves as useful as possible so their children wouldn't have to go through things like this.
"Leave me here and check if there are any infected inside," Riya told Alan as he set her down at the entrance of the main house. It was made of wood, the door was shut, and nothing could be seen inside.
Alan set Riya down, grabbed his pistol with a flashlight and a knife in his left hand, and made his way into the house. The infected weren't the real problem in this world—it was the people you had to watch out for.
"Don't shoot all the infected in the head—tell the kids to come back," Alan said, remembering that not all the bodies in the barn had head wounds.
"I'll make sure of that."
Looking around the room he had entered, Alan didn't find any signs of human presence, which made it likely that everyone had abandoned the place when the apocalypse began.
Many had chosen to leave their farms for what they thought were safer places. When it all started, no one knew where to run, much less that every place was dangerous.
"I'll light the fire…" Alan walked to the fireplace and, within minutes, had a fire going to light up the house.
He made sure to light some candles and check for electricity, hoping to find a generator he could use. Surprisingly, this house had a basement, and in it was a generator that Alan managed to start, thanks to several gallons of gasoline that had been left behind.
Once the generator was on, electricity flowed to every corner of the house. Alan would make sure the lights were only used at night and only in the dining room.
When he returned, he helped Riya inside and she said, "There's water in the well. We can take a shower later."
Riya nodded, watching the kids carry in the food bags. She pointed and said, "Make sure all the doors are locked, don't forget to secure the windows, and put the curtains up."
"I will. We don't know how many more of those men are out there, so I'll stay watchful until nightfall," Alan said, making sure to store the food and bury the bodies—after making sure to pierce their skulls.
The whole process was done in silence. Alan washed his face and then smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves.
"Today was a damn mess…"
Killing didn't bother him much, but he didn't want to break the image others had of him. Today, he almost lost Riya, which proved he wasn't indestructible. Now he felt vulnerable, and he had allowed someone to hurt Riya.
That was unforgivable…
Alan swore he wouldn't let something like this happen again. He wasn't the kind of man to make the same mistake twice.