➳ Emily and Daryl ➳

Dead and Gone

It's been almost two weeks without electricity and no one, including my parents, know what's exactly going on. I hate having a question unanswered, and it's eating away at me.

Every time we attempt to leave the house, in a vehicle or on foot, military men would stop us and force us to turn around.

My sister, Chloe, and I are becoming tired of sitting around, playing some board games or tidying up our home. It was old, and boring.

As Chloe picks up a green card out of the stack, I hear the front door to the house slam closed and then silence. It was strange, because usually someone would've welcomed them in or a simple 'hello'.

"Who went out?" I question in a whisper as I pick up my card and move my character three spots on the small, cardboard format.

"No one, I don't think." She answers me as she stands up and peeks her head outside my cracked bedroom door. She stands there, but doesn't open her mouth.

My blond hair falls in front of my face as I lean forward, attempting to catch a glimpse of whatever is happening out there.

"I don't-" She gets interrupted by a scream from the living room, followed by another scream, which sounded like my father's.

I quickly scramble to my feet and catch up to Chloe. After arriving in the living room, we both spot our parents and a... zombie?

"Emily! Watch out! Behind you!" Chloe shouts as someone grabs my shoulder and squeezes it tightly, feeling their nails dig into my skin.

I scream as I come face to face with a flesh eating monster with white eyes and dirty green skin. A huge bite mark was visible on its' neck, still gushing blood.

The zombie snaps its' mouth at me as it slowly moves closer. I push it backwards with the palms of my hands and sprint to the nearest door.

I slam it shut and squat down, inhaling deep, heavy breaths as my heart races and my hands shake. What was that?

"You're okay, thank God!" I almost jump out of my skin as I see Chloe appear in front of me from the darkness.

She pulls me into a tight hug and sobs quietly on my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm okay. I- I think I'm okay. Are you?"

"Yeah, I believe I am, too. What do we do now?" Chloe asks me as she pulls away and wipes her cheek.

"We leave; it's not safe here no more. Pack up what we need; clothes, blankets, food, weapons."

"So we just leave mom and dad, Emily?" Chloe's eyes looked hurt as a single tear rolls down her face.

"Hey, there's just nothing I can do about it. They're gone. It's already too late. I'm really, terribly sorry,"

"When we leave, where do we go? The military men will stop us like they usually do and send us back."

"We'll go through the woods. So, when we get out there, keep your eyes peeled and be aware of your surroundings."

I quietly open the door and peek out, glancing at a few zombies in the opposite corner of the living room.

"Stay near me." I mouth demandingly as I tiptoe out with Chloe behind me.

As we enter to my room, I shut the door and lock it, making sure that no zombies could get through.

Chloe grabs my camouflage book bag and unzips all the zippers, preparing to leave already. I hear the ripples of the bag as its slung all over the bed nervously, already piling things in.

"What about my clothes?" She asks me as she points to herself.

"Chloe, I'm only five years older than you. You can just wear mine." I state quickly as I search through drawers. I am twenty-five and Chloe is twenty. She surly can fit my clothes.

My white t-shirt, leggings, and black boots that I have on should do for now, and Chloe's purple shirt and skinny jeans should do fine.

I grab five long sleeve shirts, three short sleeves, five shorts, and seven leggings out of my closet and shove it in the bag.

"That should be enough for now. If we need more, we can go to a store and get some. I highly doubt, though, any will be open."

"What about the food? How are we going to get past those zombies?" She asks.

I slouch down on my bed and think. "You will stay here and grab what you can while I go. If I don't come back in ten minutes, leave without me."

She nods and looks down, away from me as her lip quivers. I didn't have the heart to say anything else.

"I'll get flashlights, lanterns, and maybe the batteries out of the remotes." She says, catching me before I walk out the door.

I gulp as I open and shut the door to my bedroom quietly. I silently walk behind the zombies and luckily make it to the kitchen unharmed.

I grab a plastic bag and shove chips, bottle water, bananas, apples, and oranges in the bag.
As I grab the full bag and turn around, I could see my parent's dead bodies starting to move.

"Mom? Dad?" I ask as I round the corner to the living room.

Mom stands up, not facing me and moans. "Mom, are you okay?" I ask as I move closer to her.

She turns around and her eyes looked like the other zombies, her skin green and she wanted to take a bite out of me.

I back up, running into another zombie. I scream as I run into my bedroom, where I found Chloe climbing out of the window.

"Chloe, I'm here. Wait," I mention breathlessly as she turns around and her jaw drops. She races to me and gives me a hug as she throws the book bag onto the bed.

"You took longer than ten minutes. I thought you were dead." She cried as she lets go of me.

"I- I saw mom and dad." I whisper. Chloe looks at me with hope in her dark brown eyes. "They were a zombie."

She shakes her head and sits on the end of the bed and sobs into her hands.

"We need to go, Chloe."

I shove the food into the book bag, grab all my dad's weapons and ammo, and climb out the window, with Chloe behind me.