Life After Zombie

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖

After Brooke and Jenny were finished eating we headed in line to wash up, waiting just like everyone else. The line wasn't too bad; we were just behind a few. The individual showers weren't your traditional in-house ones like we had long ago. There were manmade structures with rusted pipes that trailed along the top of the ceiling. Water from outside the walls gushed in through punched holes and would fall onto our heads as we stood in our small private shower curtain. Nothing fancy about it; I was just glad we had somewhere to bathe. The only problem though was in the winter time when the pipes would freeze and we would be stuck with no shower for about a month. That's a lot of dirty asses to endure.

Looking up front I saw Eve exit out one of the curtains and head back to the room. This was my chance to ask her about this person she supposedly knew that went over to the Luckies side.

"I'll be right back, I forgot something." I looked at Jenny, making sure she was okay, and then headed out to go meet with Eve.

Entering the room, I saw her standing by her bed with a towel hugging around her body combing out the tangles with her brush. Her back was facing me. "Hey, you have a minute?" I asked, walking up to her.

As soon as I was close enough, I could see the mark that turned her along with a small dark purplish indent crater on her shoulder that looked like a bullet wound. The Luckies usually have us switching up groups during checkups, but I haven't been a part of hers yet, not even in the ZA therapy sessions. They almost always have us spilling our guts out with our past. Good for the soul they say. I'm not sure if she was human or zombie when she got shot.

She turned around and arched her thin brow. "What's up?" she said, continuing to brush the knots from her short hair. Water dripped from her hair ends.

"I heard that you know someone..." I looked around making sure no one was near and stepped a bit closer. She leaned back as if I was popping her invisible bubble, but I continued anyways. "Someone that's been on the other side... the Luckies side," I whispered.

She froze for a moment with brooded eyes. "I don't know."

"Please don't say that you don't know what I'm talking about because I know you do." If I couldn't get it out of her nicely, my next tactic would be a 'fake it till you make it' attitude. "She told me all about it," I said, crossing my arms. There was no way I was going to give her Brooke's name and I prayed to God it was a girl who told Eve and not one of the boys.

"Who did?" Now she was leaning forward with her hand on her hips.

She towered over my small five-foot three size, but I knew her stamina was shot because I've outrun her before during one of our checkups at Center Hall. If she tried anything I could flee from her without much trouble.

"You know who; don't make me spell it out for you." I was determined to not break from the act as my palms began to sweat.

We stood there like statues staring at each other for what felt like a century. "Stacy has a damn big ass mouth!" She rolled her eyes away from me.

I took a deep breath, not realizing I was holding it in this whole time. A minute more of this and I probably would have cracked or fainted.

I held my tongue waiting for her to spill the beans. She ran the brush through her hair and fluffed it a bit as beads of water splattered on the floor like rain.

She gave a huge sigh as her eyes darted around the room. Fortunately, we were still pretty much the only ones here. "His name is Morgan. He was one of the first to get the Zcure."

"The first?" I questioned.

"Like... before all of us; before there was even a divide in here."

My eyes widened at the thought of everything being equal, with no lines drawn between the Luckies and the Stiffs. It was hard for my brain to comprehend because all I've known since changing back and living in this hell is that the Luckies live the good life and we Stiffs are swimming at the bottom of the barrel.

I shook my head in response to her delirious accusations. "There's no way."

She crossed her arms as her brows lowered. "There's no way, what?"

"We were never equal to them! The Luckies have no heart. They are monsters, all of them," I spat.

I looked up at the windows where I could see small clouds drift by. Light from the sun bounced on the clouds, giving them almost a purplish tone. That was the only thing we shared in here. That was one thing they couldn't take away from me.

"You've got to hear it from the horse's mouth for you to understand. There are two sides to the story." I looked back at her as she bit her upper lip. "I'm not saying they are wonderful people. This place we live has been corrupted for a while now." She stepped closer to me and placed her cold hand onto my shoulder as if to calm the built-up adrenaline I had deep inside that so wanted to explode out. "But it was a different time before us. There was peace once."

I searched her eyes to try to find any clue of deception knowing full well, deep down inside, that she was telling the truth. She had no reason to lie to me; I just didn't want to believe that we Stiffs were allies with the others at one time. I couldn't accept that this place was kind and generous, with gifts of prosperity and a clear path for our future. What had happened to us? Why were we having to live the aftermath of their decisions? Why make us suffer for the actions of those before us? No matter what, we Stiffs are always going to be judged. In the Luckies' eyes we were killers; we destroyed the world and its population. We deserve nothing more than to be six feet below the ground.

"Where can I find him?" I asked.

"I'll take you to him, but they don't really like strangers much," she said as she tucked her towel tight to her chest so it wouldn't come undone.

"They? There's more?"

"It's a long story. You better have your ears ready because they like to talk a lot." She grabbed a pair of her underpants and slid them on underneath her towel. "They don't go outside much so they don't really see anyone besides me." She twirled her fingers at me, giving me the signal to turn around so she could put the rest of her clothes on.

"How did you meet them?" I could hear the rustling from behind me as she finished dressing.

"I found an underground entrance by the edge near the wall. You can turn around now." she said as I looked at a now fully dressed Eve. "They've been in hiding."

"You mean..."

"Yep, no Luckies or Rankers know of them."

I tried to wrap my head around the fact that these Stiffs were able to go undetected by anyone, especially the Rankers. They were basically the soldiers for the Luckies who kept all of us in line in case we did anything stupid, which was another worry on my list from getting caught. I mean... I've never seen them shoot or beat any of the Stiffs down before. Then again, we haven't given them a reason to, yet. They weren't fully armored—just a metal breastplate, a few arm and knee patches, with a gun at their side.

"We should head out. We don't want to be late for the checkups when we get back." she said, heading to the door.

My feet followed behind hers as if we were playing follow the leader, only this time it wasn't a game I would enjoy at the end of it because I knew where it would take me. More questions than answers swarmed around inside my head like a bunch of bees inside their hive. Passing by the line for the showers, I locked eyes on Brooke who was holding hands with a happy Jenny at the front of the line, excited to wash off the heavy coated burdens we all carry every day.

As if Brooke knew where I was heading, she gave an approving nod while trying to hold her composure. I nodded and looked down at the joy of my life heading inside the shower room. Her rings of fire twirls bounced on her shoulders as she disappeared from my sight.