Not Human

Luna

Chapter 3                                           
They're Here                                                                                                                                                       

I gazed at Sasha's text for a while trying to make sense of what she was saying. My heart was racing and I realized how much time I was wasting looking at my phone.
I sprinted down the hallways and found my family sitting on the couch, the twins were still eating dinner.
"There's a zombie apocalypse! We need to get to Mia's house now!" I shrieked.
"What?" My dad said, confused.
"You just need to believe me! Sasha's new guard dog, Venus, did the code bark for zombies!" 
"Okay, let's get packing then...?" Ameal said, but she stayed on the couch. Either not knowing what to do, or taking this whole thing as a joke.
"Let's kick some zombie butt!" Lease yelled.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, enough with your games Luna, there is not a zombie apocalypse." My mom argued.
"Yes, there is! Do you want to die!"
My parents gave me The look.
"Luna is going crazy." Sila uttered, moving around some mashed potatoes on her plate.
"No, I'm not! I just want to protect my family and friends!"
Nico started to wail, "Great, you woke the baby!" My mom yelled. My eyes teared up and I looked at the twins. Their red curls bounced and their blue eyes shone brightly like mine.
I turned to Ameal, there was concern in her hazel eyes. Her flat black hair stood still as she sat still on the couch. She didn't know who to believe, she did not react.
I looked at Lease. His green eyes and nice eyelashes were blank and his crazy brown hair bounced as he jumped up and down on the couch yelling, "Kickin' zombie butt!"
"Enough bouncer." My dad said. My parents just stared at me and Nico's big blue eyes filled with tears.
"We need to get to Mia's house if we want to survive," I said clenching my teeth, "If you don't believe me you can die alone."
"Luna..." My mom began to say, "There is no Zombie apocalypse, we'll be just-" Mom was cut off by a shriek that was horrific and a nightmare. It was the neighbor. It faded away and everyone shot up off the couch.
"Was that Mrs. Sinecley?" Ameal asked. There was worry in her voice.
The lights flickered and then they went out. We all froze and there were more screams from the neighborhood, "The zombies." I whispered. We heard a clicking noise then my dad shone a flashlight on mom. Mom didn't move and neither did we. 
There, on her shoulder, was a cold, boney, bloody, torn-up hand. She held Nico tight and looked at us.
"Sila, Misty, come here." My dad said nervously. The twins slowly crept over and held my hand tightly.
Ameal gripped my other and squeezed it. Her fingernails digging into my rough skin. Lease grabbed Ameal's hand and we all stood there staring at our mother.
"Ameal," She began to say, "Take care of your siblings."
"Wait, mom.." Ameal's voice was off and on the urge of crying. My dad just stared at mom, he loved her, he couldn't let her go. He wouldn't.
"Luna." My mom said, she motioned to me to take little Nico.
I let go of my siblings' hands and took Nico. His big blue eyes wouldn't leave me. I couldn't let this baby die either. I wouldn't let my family die. I wouldn't let anyone die. Whether I know them or not. No one dies on my watch. No one.
Our mom tried not to move. We suddenly saw the bloody face of a zombie breathing down her neck.
"Honey..." dad said then mom shrieked, "Run!" and the zombie pulled her back into the darkness of our house.
We heard her scream and my heart pounded and I thought we wouldn't escape because it was so noisy. Many zombies uncovered themselves from the shadows like they just came out of a dark sheet.
"Kids run! Get out of here!" Dad yelled. We tried to get out of the circle of zombies but we couldn't. I kicked one of the dumb-looking zombies and he fell and we ran through with me clutching Nico trying not to get him touched by the zombies.
If I had to, I would die protecting my family and friends. Die trying to find the cure if I have to.
Ameal suddenly tripped over something "Ameal!" Lease yelled. I turned and we saw what Ameal tripped over. Mom. Our dead mom. There were more moans from the zombies and the twins quickly helped her up and we all ran for the door.
Suddenly a giant zombie blocked us and tried to grab us with his hands that were the size of a wreath. It was blood-curdling. I held Nico tight and he wailed and wailed.
I had to make this kid shut up, he was the one probably attracting the zombies over here. The twins started to cry, Ameal and Lease had a look of fright on their faces and so did I.
"Kids get to the garage! The safe code is 7983! Go!" Our dad yelled. He was talking about the safe with all the weapons. We nodded then ran to the kitchen. There was a zombie there and I took a sharp knife off the cutting board and threw it at the ugly one that I actually think was my old math teacher.
We quickly ran into the garage and Ameal grabbed a box of ammo while I unlocked the safe. I handed Nico to Lease and I grabbed one of the guns and loaded it up. The zombies burst through the door and Ameal and I began shooting, but there were too many. One of them was our dad, he got infected. He was a zombie and so was mom.
"Sila! Misty!" Ameal yelled, "Get the swords!" and the twins ran over, but a zombie got there first, two of them. Sila and Misty froze in place looking up at the two slender zombies.
I noticed right as one of them bit little Sila's head and her horrific scream faded away. "Sila!" I shouted and I shot the zombie.
Misty screamed and I shot the other zombie. She smiled in relief then I saw a zombie creep up behind her. "Misty look out!" I shouted and she turned around and saw the green, dead, ugly, disgusting zombie.
She ducked beside Sila's dead body and I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I was out of ammo.
"Ameal! Ammo!" I shouted then Ameal turned to me.
"I'm out." she said horrified. We turned towards our father's stash but the zombies were blocking it. I turned back to Misty who was about to die and I sprinted up, grabbed a sword, and stabbed the zombie.
By then Sila was a zombie and she sat up, grabbed Misty's hand, and bit her. I screamed as I saw her skin start to bruise and she was puking up yellow and green chunky liquid. I ran over to Ameal and Lease who was holding Nico. Tears in our eyes. Our sisters were dead, our parents were dead, who's next?
Lease clicked the button to the garage and the door was opening. Ameal took our dad's keys and we started to run towards the Blazer. Those big wheels would kill the zombies. The corpses were catching up to us and Ameal noticed. She stopped both of us.
"You two run! Take care of each other!" Lease and I looked at each other and then he handed me Nico who fell asleep in my arms. Ameal nodded and tears rolled down all of our cheeks, then she ran in the other direction making noise. She was leading the zombies away from us. Ameal saved us.
We ran to the car and I started the engine. I was of course too young to drive, but it's the zombie apocalypse who cares if a 13-year-old girl drives an 80's monster truck. My anger rushed over me about my family and tears rolled down my face so hard.
I stomped the pedal and we went bursting forward right into the zombies. Lease screamed as I did donuts and nearly destroyed our whole house.
"Mia's house!" Lease yelled and I did a sharp turn and began to head there. Then we heard a snarl, from inside. I stopped the truck and Lease and I turned around slowly. It was our dad. The zombie of our dad. He opened his mouth and there was blood all over his disgusting yellow teeth. That infection sure does get to you quickly.
We screamed and Nico sobbed very loudly. The zombie began to crawl over the back seat towards us.
"Unlock the doors!" Lease screamed.
I quickly unlocked the doors and we spilled out. I held Nico tight and in my other hand, I held dad's ax. I ran over to the other side where Lease was. We heard the rumble in the car of our long-gone dad crawling over the seats.
The sky slowly began to blacken, it was around 8 or 9-ish. That was scary. Zombies and you're running for your life in the dark, like a shadow wrapped around Earth. Not to mention it was Winter.
We heard a growl and we backed up. There, in the car, were two red eyes peering at us. We heard thumps, our heartbeats.
"Luna..." Lease said, "We're gonna die, and if you survive, you keep fighting on."
I looked at him crying, "We ain't gonna die yet Lease, we ain't gonna die."
I cried and we backed up from the Blazer slowly as the red eyes drew closer. I clutched the ax and Nico went silent, finally. Everyone else was dead, I'm not gonna let my two younger brothers die, not this time. Not them.
"I'm not gonna let anyone else die, I promised, I promise." I gushed quietly.
"Find the cure Luna, find the cure." Lease said and the red eyes ran at us and we saw the silhouette of a bloodthirsty zombie.
I swung the ax and I heard a disgusting crunch. The zombie lay there cut in half, then the upper body of it began to crawl towards us. We screamed and backed up in disgust. It grabbed my foot and I shrieked in fear. I swung the ax and cut the arm off then wiggled free. But then he grabbed Lease and bit his tiny elf foot.
"No!" I screamed and chopped the head clean off the zombie. I soon realized, I killed my dad. That was the zombie of my dad. It hit me so hard what I just did. I looked down at Lease on the floor.
"Luna," He wheezed with his skin rotting away. It was a disgusting process, "Kill me now, kill me now so I won't hurt you, please." He pleaded in pain. He struggled to get the words out.
"No!" I yelled.
"You have to! You have to..."
"I won't your my baby brother!" 
"I'm not a baby," He had a warm small smile on his face, "I love you." He wheezed out in pain.
"I love you too." I said with tears rolling down my cheeks. I took a deep breath, and after a moment swung the ax down. I fell to my knees and gently closed his now rotting eyes. I looked at Nico trying to comfort him in my arms. He was my only family left. I held him close to my heart.
"It's just us," I said crying, "Against the world." I looked at our garage. The safe was still open. The weapons. I had to get to Mia's house. All my friends were there with their families, hopefully. Mia's parents would have to believe her. If only mine did.
I ran over and began to pile everything that I could into the blazer. All the weapons that were in my house, my whole pantry and some food that would not rot, blankets, and other things to survive.
I found a cracked picture of my family on the living room floor. Nico put his chubby hand on it and he even cried quietly. I held it to my heart then put it into my bag. I got into the Blazer with Nico then rode off towards Mia's house. This was it, the zombie apocalypse.