Surviving the Undead

Chapter 12

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to FeastOfNoise for making me three lovely banners (including the one at the side of this chapter), and supporting me this entire time! :)

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to ALL of you who have read my story, commented, put it in your library, fanned, or voted. It means a lot to me. So, THANK YOU ALL TIMES INFINITY!

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"Come on Nessa, wake up," said Luke softly, stroking the side of her face. "Wake up."

A small groan escaped Vanessa's lips. Her eyelids twitched open. "Luke?" she asked, a dazed look in her eyes.

Luke smiled down at her. "Welcome back."

"What happened?" she asked, a bewildered look on her face. Luke helped her rise into a sitting position.

"You fainted," he said.

"You're lucky that boy caught you," rasped Perdita.

Vanessa's head whipped around to look for the unfamiliar voice. When she laid eyes on Perdita, she emitted a strangled cry and tried to scramble backwards.

"It's alright," soothed Luke. "She's not going to hurt you."

"B-but Luke... S-She's a... Z-z-zombie," stammered Vanessa, her grey eyes wide with fear.

"Technically, I'm not a zombie. I'm just sort of  a zombie," mused Perdita.

"Come on honey, she'll explain everything," said Luke, clasping Vanessa's tiny, delicate hand in his own.

"This better be a good explanation," said Aidan, eyes narrowed. His entire body was tensed and ready to attack.

I was about to tell him to calm down, when Perdita spoke again. "I would recommend all of you sit down. The story might be kind of... shocking."

"No thanks," shot Aidan. "Just get on with it."

Perdita's hand gripped mine more tightly as I tensed, about to march over and rip Aidan's head off. He was such a jerk sometimes. More like most of the time, actually.

"Alright," sighed Perdita. "It's not a pleasant story." She paused.

I nodded at her, urging her to continue.

She took in a deep, rattling breath and launched into her story.

"This all started just about a month and a half ago. My sister, Ren, and I had been staying with our grandparents. They... well, they didn't make it," she said, squeezing my hand tightly.

I felt tears burning the back of my eyes. We hadn't been close, but it still stung to lose them. I squeezed her hand back to tell her to keep going.

"Ren and I were doing alright. We waited until things calmed down a bit to go out supply hunting. It was scary, though. There were still zombies and humans all over the place. We tried to avoid as many people as we could by taking back alleys. In hindsight, maybe that wasn't such a great idea," she admitted.

Perdita closed her eyes in preparation for what she was about to say. My eyes were riveted to her face.

"They ambushed us," she managed, starting to choke up. I moved my thumb in circles over the coarse flesh of her hand.

"Who ambushed you?" I prompted.

"The ones like me," she said in a hushed tone. "They acted almost like regular humans, but they still looked like... Well, like this," she said, using her free hand to gesture at herself.