Not Human

Luna

Chapter 5                                           
"Taste like Rat Poison"                               
                                               
                                               
     I had loads of weapons, food, and supplies in the back. I ran over zombies and through people's yards trying to get to Mia's house before it was too late.
Nico lay down next to me wrapped in a blanket. How was an 8-month-year-old baby going to survive with his 13-year old sister and her friends? My whole family was dead, but him. How could I have let this happen?
I came up to Mia's house. I could tell Ellie was already there because there were traps everywhere. Classic old Ellie. Always going for traps first. I grabbed Nico and hopped out of the car. I walked over to one of the traps, but then stepped on one that was covered in leaves and a rope wrapped around my ankle and hung me upside down. Arrows whizzed right past my head and then an ax came heading towards my face and cut off a little bit of my hair off.
Day one into zombie apocalypse: What. Is. Going. On.
"Mia!" I shouted holding Nico tight trying not to drop him. I heard moans from the dead people that roamed the town, the ones that were coming for my brain. I wouldn't mind the zombies taking my brain. I was pretty stupid. I wanted to live though. 13 was too young to die.
"Mia! Ellie! Heather! Penny! Anyone!" I shouted as the zombies drew closer. The door creaked open and I saw Megan. Her eyes widened and I turned to see the zombies coming for me. She better hurry.
"Hurry already I got Nico!" I shouted trying to wiggle out of the trap. I tried to grab my knife but I couldn't without dropping Nico.
Megan quickly began to run towards me and suddenly snipes were coming from the roof shooting the zombies.
I heard Joana's voice, "Ah! It's so gosh darn loud!" and, "How do I use this!"
I heard Penny respond, "I already did everything else just pull the trigger and keep it steady in your shoulder or break it!" yep that was Penny.
There was a gunshot and it hit one of the street lights. I looked at it with disappointment on my face. I now know to never put Joana on sniper duty.
Megan quickly cut the rope and I went crashing down holding Nico tight so he wouldn't fall out of my grasp. Megan quickly pulled me up and we sprinted to the house right before the zombies got us. We ran inside and locked the door with many locks that they must have installed. Megan grabbed a board and some nails and held them up to the door.
"Hammer these in quickly!" She shouted, holding up the board and nails. I grabbed the hammer and quickly hammered them in. No one was getting through that door. At least I hoped...
Nico began to wail, "Oh no." I said, rocking him back and forth in my arms.
"Shut that thing up!" Megan said, looking at Nico.
"I'm trying!" I whisper-yelled.
All the windows in the house were boarded down and the place was trashed. "Is everyone here?" I asked, following Megan into the living room.
She looked at me and sighed, "Well, Ellie got here 10 min ago, her dad died protecting them and her mom died on the way. Sasha still isn't here and it's freaking all of us out. Joana made it here in one piece with her family, then her parents died and her brother fell off the roof right into a zombie."
I stared at her blankly, "That's one way to go."
"I know now let me finish!" Megan complained, "My parents died, and so did Heather's and her brother, Gem lost her sister, and then her parents got ran over by a zombie driving then Penney and Mia lost all their family."
I looked at her "I know how it feels."
Megan's expression changed, "Wait..." she studied me, "Where's Ameal and the twins...Lease...?"
"Nico's the only survivor." I said looking at Nico who stopped wailing and fell asleep in my warming arms.
"Oh, Luna..." Megan began to say but she was interrupted by Ellie.
"LUNA!!!!" She yelled, running up to me and squeezing me to death. Everyone else followed coming down the stairs. We all did a group hug.
"Do you have food? Weapons? Anything?!?" Mia asked.
"Yea, but it's all in the Blazer, those zombies dead?" I asked.
"Long gone." Penny responded.
"Let's go get the stuff." Gem said and we all agreed. We all walked outside with flashlights and plastic bags to put the small stuff in.
It was dangerous to go outside, staying inside was the safest option, but we needed the supplies I brought to survive. We crept to the car and began to unload all the stuff.
It took me half an hour to scavenge the house for all this and load it into the Blazer, unloading only took 10 min.
"Should we wait till morning?" Joana asked, handing me a box full of chip bags, there were trembles in her voice. We had to protect her. She couldn't fight, nor Ellie and Heather. Megan thinks she can, but she's pretty weak. Sasha, Penny, and I were the fighters, But Sasha wasn't even here.
"No, we can't wait till morning! this would all be rotten or the zombies would eat it!" Gem yelled at her jokingly. Nico was in danger too, a mom had to care for a baby, not some 12 and 13-year-old girls. But my mom's dead and so is everyone else's, and their siblings. We're on our own. If Sasha was here with the rest of her family, we would be ok. Her older siblings and parents knew how to care for a baby.
Sasha would be heartbroken when she finds out Ameal is dead, they were best friends. That's how I met Sasha in the first place. She would be sad about the rest of my siblings too, we were all like one big family.
We all cried quietly as we unloaded the supplies. Once we were finished we quickly ran back inside and laid all we had on the living room floor. It took up the dining room too, and the kitchen. We had a lot. 30 knives, 10 swords, 5 axes, 50 guns, 5 grenades, a box of dynamite, 200 boxes of ammo, blankets, pillows, and so much food we had to pile some in the hall closet, and it's spilling out of the pantry. That food would last us a couple of months. But who knows how long this zombie apocalypse would last. We might need more.
"Well," Ellie said, "I can make poison bombs, smoke bombs, stink bombs, traps, and some other stuff to help us survive," she explained, "Maybe the cure."
We all gazed at her, "The cure?" I said, trying to rock Nico to sleep.
Ellie nodded, "But we'll need to find the science lab and steal some stuff."
"Stealing is my middle name." Megan said and we all laughed a bit. Humor couldn't even save us now, not even old inside jokes we would say all the time.
"We need to stay inside, only go out if we need to." Heather explained.
"The store is a couple of miles from this house, we can dig underground tunnels there, and tunnels out of here just in case..." Mia explained.
"Yea, it's our best way." I responded.
"Guys..." Joana said quietly, "Is Sasha dead?"
"No." I quickly said. I was probably wrong, but I didn't like to think of my BFF dying, any of them.
Sasha was on the outskirts of Las Vegas, the whole world was already infected. Like Covid back in 2020, but this is worse.
"Well," Megan said, "Should we get some sleep?"
We all agreed and I looked at the clock, it was already 11:00 p.m. Where was Sasha? We gathered up all the blankets, pillows, and mattresses and headed up the stairs. We went into the biggest room of the house and laid all the comfy stuff onto the floor, and made one giant bed. By the time we laid down and got some rest, it was 11:45. Next time we should take the bottom room instead of dragging mattresses upstairs.
. . .
That morning Sasha arrived, and she accidentally set off the same trap I did. Luckily it didn't cut off any of her hair, because she would be MAD.
"Sasha!" I shouted and hugged her.
"I'm still alive!" Sasha shouted.
"Where are your parents, your siblings?" I asked a bit worried.
"They're in the bunkers back home," Sasha responded, "They'll be okay, I promise."
I smiled at her and we went into the kitchen to get some breakfast.
"Morning." I said to everyone.
"Morning." They said back.
"Where's Joana?" I asked, then we heard her from the bathroom. "Mia, why won't your shower work!" She shouted. That was Joana all right.
"It's the zombie apocalypse! Nothing works!" Mia responded. We heard Joana moan and she came back out.
"Okay, we need to talk!" Penny yelled coming in with a cup of coffee.
"Why are you drinking coffee?" Gem asked.
"Cause it's the zombie apocalypse." Penny responded, taking a sip. She automatically spit it out, "God how could people drink that! Ug! It tastes like rat poison!" She yelled, rubbing her tongue.
We all laughed, "Make me a cup would ya?!" Megan joked.
"How do you know what rat poison tastes like...?" I laughed.
"Do not question my methods." She took another sip, which was a  mistake.
Heather gave us plates of food. It was mostly chips and stuff like that. The oven or stove didn't work, so we were stuck building a campfire. We ate our food and Penny explained what she had to say with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"We need to get this together, like jobs," She explained, "Luna, Sasha, and I will be the fighters, the protectors, Heather you'll be the cook and Sasha will also be the doctor, Ellie your the smarts, Joana you'll take care of the crops we grow, Gem you take care of the pets and Nico, and then Megan and Mia just help around."
"Yea I'm fine with helping with the pets, I'm just gonna scare the baby." Megan responded.
We began our long days of work together. Digging tunnels all day, making weapons, Killing zombies, taking care of each other, making an indoor farm, and at the end of the day fell asleep quickly. But I was worried about Nico. He was different, like he was sick.