Fridays Are Fun

Faith

"No but seriously guys, what if they're real? That would be so fucked," Faith exclaims, "like there's people disappearing and shit everywhere we go, it doesn't make sense. It's crak yo," she imitates Cameron, staring hard into her smoothie.

When the group had come up to the top level of the parking lot it was quickly apparent that all the lights had been turned off. After quickly scouting the area of any danger, they doubled back to their usual spot in a secluded corner near the stairs to the lower levels, lighting the area with their phones flashlights. Faith only then learned to appreciate the flashlight feature on her phone, however she only then began to detest the way faces lit up by flashlights corresponded to horror, especially that of the uneasy feeling of sitting in a circle in the woods telling ghost stories with no knowledge of what's in the darkness behind you. Her neck tingled and she was glad to have her back against the outside fence of the parking lot, however unsettling it may be to have to look into the absolute darkness just meters behind her friends' backs across from her.

"You know what else doesn't make sense- zombies being able to teleport people." Sean chaffs, his forehead just sitting there, like a forehead.

"Yo, honestly, I'd take zombies teleporting me away over having to do my physics, chemistry and math finals." Faith fantasizes.

"Shit, how the fuck," Sean goggles, amazed.

Sonam snorts, "Ha, good thing I dropped out." Though it's a joke, everyone's faces remain blank. Sonam huffs and sits back up against the wall.

"But still, Sean, have you ever thought about how it might not be zombies!" Faith retorts, looking back up dubiously. "And honestly, even if it is, there are so many different kinds of zombies, probably, like what would have even started it," Faith brainstorms the types she's seen in movies or read about. In The Walking Dead there are Romero zombies which are just the normal kind, but everyone already has the virus because it's passed through air or water or something. The thought makes Faith feel queasy. She plants her smoothie upon the blacktop and hugs her knees up against her chest. She closes her eyes and relaxes in the lingering taste of strawberries and mangoes.

"They're not real, Faith. And even if they were, which they're not, I don't think it really matters what started it so long as we find out how to kill them," interrupts Jimmy, glancing at Faith with an inquiring look. Jimmy then leans over with a sly smile. In a hushed tone he says, "Besides, you've got all these strong boys here to protect you," reclining, he throws his head back and falls into a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, I kind of agree. But it might help to know what created them to know how to kill them," Alex says aloud, more to himself than anyone, looking out into the starry sky."The stars here look so bad, they're so much nicer in-"

"Hundred mile. We know." Sonam finishes, her eyes open extremely wide to demonstrate her annoyance, "I mean, in pop culture they're usually killed with headshots, right? Don't know where to get a gun though."

"I have two at my house," Alex supplies, now analyzing the cigarette butts littering the ground.

"Why, what the fuck." Faith jests, contorting her face, "Why do you have GUNS,"

Alex pushes around a cigarette butt with his worn out shoe, "Look, Faith, just cause I'm short doesn't mean I can't be swole as fuck, okay?" Alex clowns, flexing, "Oh, and my family goes hunting every year up in-"Alex then catches Sonam pressing her lips together, staring hard at the ground and decides not to finish his sentence. "Well, anyway, if you're close enough, a water gun filled with oil and some matches should do the trick. Well, that is if you don't fuck up, in which case," Alex leisurely slides his thumb across his neck.

A dismal quiet falls among the group.

After a minute or so someone cuts the silence, much to Faith's appreciation.

"Well, since we all are gamers, huh?" Akshay says in mirth, speaking for the first time since coming up to the parking lot.

"What are you even trying to say?" Sean ridicules, beaming.

"Call of Duty!" Akshay clarifies, as though stating the obvious. "I mean, think about it," Akshay proceeds to wipe on an invisible whiteboard in the air and begins gesturing around to explain his thoughts. "We've all probably played it, so what we'd have to do is get some guns, board up our windows, have a fuck ton of ammo on us, knives on us at all times, and of course, aim for the head." He concludes, posing in an Egyptian-shrug like pose with his eyes closed and head tilted sideways, his scruffy hair drooping down.

"If it were that easy," Cameron scoffs around his iced capp's red straw, "don't you think the entirety of Canada to the east would have had this all sorted out by now?"

"I'm not saying it's easy-"Akshay begins to argue, but Faith's attention turns to Abroop, sitting alone and counting off his fingers looking dissatisfied.

"What're you doing?" Faith implores, attempting to raise one eyebrow.

"Are you dying?" Abroop blurts out. Faith immediately looks quizzical. "You're eyebrow," he trails off, "you know what, never mind. I'm trying to remember the types of undead from the show you were talking about earlier."

"The Walking Dead?"

"Yeah, that one. I've got walkers, which are basically all the zombies, roamers are the ones that look for food and are encountered the most often, I think, lurkers which essentially wait to strike by playing dead until someone goes up to them," he pauses to think, looking even more aggravated than before, "fuck what else. Okay, um, and herds I think are just groups of zombies doing things by mob mentality. You know, like every buffoon in our school! Anyway, if we're going out of just The Walking Dead, I think there are runners, self-explanatory, stalkers which move on all fours and move faster than the normies, and the last one I can think of is crawlers whose lower body is fucked so they have to drag themselves with their arms."

"You really know your zombies," Faith chuckles, looking impressed, "but it also makes it seem like a zombie can be anything. Wouldn't be surprised to see zombies on steroids, or like, knight zombies, or even fucking fish zombies, dude! Wait, I guess this goes without saying but all zombies decay, right? So do those classify into like- different zombie groups? Or just like, all the same but some are just at different levels of decaying?"

"I honestly don't know, but I'd rather not see one. It's disgusting, I'd projectile vomit everywhere."

"Well if that's going to happen, I'd rather have you not see one, as well."

"I'd still rather see a decayed zombie than have another second of looking at your face, you ugly bitch."

"Okay." Faith turns around, but hears Abroop calling out behind her that he was just joking. Faith already knows this so she simply laughs in reply.

Faith's focus averts back to everyone else. She watches Jimmy with one hand each on both Akshay and Cameron's shoulders trying to make peace between their clashing opinions. Gradually, Faith's mind succumbs to thoughts but she's promptly brought back to reality by the alarm in Makaylah's voice.

"Uh, guys?"

"What happened?" Faith replies at once, duplicating the alarm in her own voice. Surely something bad must have happened, for that's to be expected. Everything today has just been weird.

  "I don't have any cell reception, and neither does Jade or Lyka."

"Fuck," Jason breathes, "there's just no end to this bullshit." The teenagers all pick their phones up off the ground, and sure enough, there's no signal for anyone.

"Well, since none of us can call for a ride home," Jason muses, "I want coke life and you all may as well come with me."