THREE YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

Aaron, Jonah, and Natalya were kicking the football around the yard while Nika waited in the shade of the tree for them to finish up and rejoin her. As usual, she was not a fan of action and sports, but preferred the more laid-back activities. Unlike the rest of the kids at the children's home, she wasn't a hyperactive child. She was obedient and calm, very mature for her age.

The main thing that proved she was still a child was her little crush on Aaron. She didn't understand what this warm feeling she felt around him was, but all she knew was that she loved it. And she loved him. And she was curious if he felt the same strange yet wonderful feeling around her.

But it was a little hard to tell since he was too busy getting hit in the head with a football.

"Shit!" Jonah exclaimed, immediately covering his mouth as soon as the word left his lips. He was one of the youngest kids in the children's home to already know a few swear words. "Sorry, bruv! I was aiming for the goal."

"Mrs. Hecox says that's a bad word," Aaron groaned as he rubbed the side of his head.

"You got clonked in the head, and you're worried about Jonah's potty mouth?" Natalya asked.

Mr. Hecox walked onto the field to help Aaron to his feet, lifting him by his arms. "Are you alright, Aaron?"

"Kinda," Aaron replied. "I'm not sure if it was the ball or something, but now I'm hungry."

Mr. Hecox chuckled. "Mrs. Hecox bought some crumpets earlier just in case. There should be some waiting in the kitchen."

"Thanks, sir," Aaron replied, shaking Mr. Hecox's hand. Handshakes become an unofficial yet admittedly adorable tradition the two of them shared.

"Can I come, too?" Nika asked.

"I guess," Aaron shrugged.

The two of them ran back into the house and made their way through the hall. While Aaron was focused on finding those crumpets, Nika was still dying to find out if Aaron felt the same way she did. They were both only nine years old, but they felt like they would be living together forever, despite Mr. Hecox's constant encouraging comments that someone would eventually adopt them.

Both of them froze once they passed by the infamous door. The only room in the entire children's home they've never entered. The funny thing was the fact that Mr. Hecox didn't forbid them from going in. He just nonchalantly discouraged them by saying there was nothing interesting beyond those doors, and that was all it took.

Or at least it used to work. "Should we try it out now?" Aaron asked Nika. "None of the Hecoxes are here to stop us."

"No thanks," Nika replied. "Mr. Hecox said there was nothing interesting in there anyway. Probably just a closet. Besides, there was something I wanted to ask—"

The lock on the door clicked, and Aaron pushed it open. A set of stairs descended into the darkness and a single unlit lightbulb hung from the ceiling. As far as either of them could tell, there was only one window down there, and the sunlight passing through only revealed the wooden planks of the floor.

"Pretty big for a closet," Aaron smirked. He made his way down the steps, not even caring that he left the door wide open.

"Wait, Aaron!" Nika called out as she followed him down. But before going any further, she pulled on the string hanging from the lightbulb, shining some light on the path leading down to this mysterious new room.

Aaron and Nika stood in the middle of the basement. Cobwebs littered the ceiling and dust was layered on every surface. Stacks of boxes as tall as the two kids were scattered throughout the room like pillars, each stack consisting of three to four boxes. Aaron glanced around the room to look for another source of light, whether a lamp or flashlight or anything else that would vanquish the rest of the shadows haunting the room.

"What do you think is in these boxes?" Aaron asked, smoothing his hand against the top of a box. His hand found the edge of the box's lid and he prepared to slide it off.

"Wait, Aaron," Nika ordered once again. "You didn't let me ask my question."

"Oops," Aaron replied with an awkward grin. "You can ask now if you want."

"First, could you please take your hand off the box? I don't want to get in trouble. Or at least not yet."

Aaron quickly swiped his arm off the box and placed it down by his side. "Go crazy," he said.

"How do you feel around me?" she asked, nervously placing her hands behind her back.

"Like normal, I guess," Aaron shrugged.

Nika raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean?"

"Y'know that warm feeling Mr. Hecox says he feels around Mrs. Hecox?"

"Oh yeah! The older kids call them boners."

Nika's face immediately contorted into a look of disgust. "What the—NO! That's not what I'm talking about out!"

"Oh," Aaron nervously chuckled.

"What I'm trying to say," Nika continued, slightly miffed, "is that I think I feel the same way around you. Warm and happy."

Aaron grimaced. "You have a boner when you're around me?"

Nika face-palmed herself. "NO! And quit saying that! That's disgusting!"

"Listen, Nika, I like you," Aaron continued, pretty much translating what Nika failed to say. "But this is a little weird." 

"It's not supposed to be weird! I was trying to tell you that I like you, too!" Nika let out a sigh to calm herself down, and she was able to speak softly the rest of the time. "And I was hoping you felt the same way about me."

Once again, Aaron shrugged off her response. "Yeah, you're pretty fun to be around. Now if you excuse me I'm gonna open up this box."

Aaron returned his view to the stack of boxes behind him and hoisted the top one off. He placed it down beside the other boxes and brushed the dust off. Meanwhile, Nika stood stupefied since she couldn't tell if Aaron was either oblivious toward her feelings or secretly understood them but didn't know or care how to express them. How was it so easy for him to just say it? Did he even mean it? Did he even know what the definition of like was?

"I can't believe this," Nika whispered to herself, slowly and sullenly walking over toward Aaron and the boxes. "Everything just blew up in my face. Like a..."

"Grenade," Aaron said, placing the lid of the box on the floor.

"Thanks, but I didn't need help finishing my sentence," Nika replied.

"No, look! Grenades!"

Nika approached the box Aaron stood above. Several rows of round hand grenades lined the inside of the box, all with their pins ready to be pulled. Next to them was a handgun and two small boxes of ammunition.

"What the..." Aaron said.

"Is all of this Mr. Hecox's?" Nika asked, seemingly forgetting everything that happened seconds ago.

"Could be Mrs. Hecox's. You know how scary she gets when she's pissed off."

Nika stared at Aaron with a lack of amusement. "It can't be hers, silly. She's way too nice."

"But does this mean Mr. Hecox is a terrorist or something? I mean why else does he have so many weapons?"

Nika scratched her head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but should we check the other boxes?"

Aaron hesitated. As curious as he was, he couldn't tell if digging deeper would be the right thing to do. He already put himself and the others in danger just by discovering the first box, especially since he was no longer the youngest child in the children's home. There were a few four and five-year-olds who showed up over the years, and he knew from personal experience that they wanted to place their hands on everything. One of the kids would've lost a few fingers to Mr. Hecox's lawnmower if it weren't for the fact Natalya stepped in.

However, there was also the chance he could warn Mrs. Hecox of her husband. He could even cut out the middle man and report this to the fuzz before anyone else could get hurt.

"Let's check it out," Aaron declared. "We can use it as evidence to bust Mr. Hecox or whoever this belongs to." He snapped his fingers. "How much do you wanna bet this belongs to Jonah?"

Nika couldn't help but smirk. "If this was Jonah's, he would've blown us up a long time ago."

Aaron's eyes lit up. "So we're cool?"

Nika shrugged, the smirk still plastered on her face. "I don't know. Are we?"

Aaron's grin disappeared. "I'm scared now, especially because that recovery was conveniently fast."

Nika rolled her eyes, still showcasing her adorable grin, and helped Aaron lift the next box off the stack. The two of them placed it on the floor beside the first box and prepared to uncover whatever dark secrets hid inside them.

Aaron took off the lid of the next box, revealing the same thing they found in the first box. Grenades, a handgun, and several loads of ammo. The only new item was a hunting knife buried at the bottom.

"Do you think Mr. Hecox is trying to protect us from something?" Aaron asked, shuffling his hands inside the box

"What if he's protecting us from himself?" Nika replied.

"I doubt it. He could never hurt us. It's not like he has any reason to."

Nika felt two hands on her shoulders, and she was yanked into the darkness, screaming for help. Aaron couldn't even see her anymore. The rest of the cellar hidden in shadow was pitch black, like if she was thrown into a dark, infinite hole.

"Aaron!" she screamed. "Help! Something's got me!"

Aaron followed her voice. All he could see at the source of the screams were two silhouettes, one significantly smaller than the other. The smallest one, obviously Nika, was lifted in the air, and she was flailing her arms as if she would be dropped at any moment.

"Let her go!" Aaron shouted. He reached back into the box and pulled out a grenade. However, he accidentally bumped his hand on the side of the box as it emerged and clumsily dropped the grenade to the floor.

He stood above the explosive frozen with fear. He wasn't sure if the pin was still in.

And neither did their unwanted visitor, as the person who grabbed Nika quickly placed her on  the stairs and ran back to retrieve Aaron.

"TAKE COVER!" the person shouted.

He hoisted Aaron off the floor by his shoulders and ran back to the stairs. He freed his left arm and lifted Nika back up, and the three of them rushed up the stairs to avoid the incoming explosion. His fearful gasps for air sounded through the basement as he did everything he could to get the kids to safety, and a flash of sunlight through the room's lone window revealed their savior to be none other than Mr. Hecox.

The door at the top of the stairs was still wide open, and Mr. Hecox placed Aaron and Nika back on the floor once they made it back out. Much to their horror, Mrs. Hecox and the rest of the children surrounded the doorway, as if they came to watch the whole thing play out like a TV show.

"What the hell are all of you doing here?!" Mr. Hecox shouted.

Mrs. Hecox gave him a cold stare, completely devoid of her usual cheerful attitude. Her arms were crossed and a scowl stretched across her face.

"Darling, watch the kids," Mr. Hecox said, still panting from his dash up the stairs. "I need to make sure that grenade isn't gonna go off."

"Why?" Mrs. Hecox replied, her voice so full of vexation that it was almost painful to hear her. "So you can pull the pin and never explain to these children why you have a weapons stash in your damn basement?!"

"Mrs. Hecox never swears," Jonah whispered to Natalya, but all he got was a nudge in the ribs from her.

"Shut up," Natalya whispered back.

"I can't believe the others were right, though. He really does have bombs."

Natalya punched him harder in the ribs, silencing him for good.

"I..." Mr. Hecox tried to explain before trailing off. Even though all he did was run up the stairs, he looked like he just ran an entire race only to end up dead last. He looked utterly defeated. He fell to his knees and hid his face from the kids so they couldn't see the tears forming around his eyes.

"Mr. Hecox?" Nika asked, trying to sound as comforting as possible.

Mr. Hecox didn't respond. All he did was plop down to the floor and bury his face between his knees. His whimpers were hard to listen to, as they reminded Mrs. Hecox of their children when they were fearful or aware that they were in trouble. Tears ran down his cheeks and dripped down to the floor. 

"Mr. Hecox, I'm..." Aaron tried to explain. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have gone looking through..."

"It's alright, Aaron," Mrs. Hecox replied. "We should all give Mr. Hecox some space. Give him some time to regain his comfort. He will have to do some explaining later."

"Is he okay?" Nika asked.

Mrs. Hecox paused. "I hope so, dear. I can only hope so."

All of the children slowly made their way down the hallway. Aaron and Nika silently followed the rest of the kids back to the foyer. Aaron looked back one more time to see Mrs. Hecox embracing a seemingly terrified Mr. Hecox, now bawling like a child in her arms.

Yet Aaron walked away with his emotions in control and guilt consuming his thoughts.