Survival

Evan

Evan sat there on the bus, watching as people went up and down the sidewalk enjoying the nice spring breeze. He watched as they walked, talked, laughed and just went about their days. He wondered when the bus would start moving. It was a really nice day and he wanted to get to the pool as early as possible. He saw a group of kids crowd around an ice cream truck one of the kids parents watching from the sidewalk with a stroller, the kids obviously glad that it has returned from where it had been dormant for the winter. Evan smiled to himself as he took on the scene. Almost as soon as he saw all of this, the beautiful day, people enjoying themselves, the scene changed, he was still on the bus, but rain lashed at the windows and the stroller lay abandoned just like the ice cream truck. There was no one walking down the sidewalk, a tree that was planted along it's edge now had a car crashed into it. Evan now remembered that he was imagining. The world he had thought he was in was no longer there. It had vanished in what he thinks was a few months; now, as far as he was aware, it was just him.....and them. If you would have asked Evan before any of this happened he would have said 'oh yeah, I'd love for the apocalypse to happen' he thought he wouldn't be scared. He hadn't expected to be hit by a car while he was sitting in the backseat of his mom and dad's car and wake up in the hospital with no one there except bodies and the god awful smell of decay. Then Evan found out that not all of the bodies just layed there like they were supposed to; some of them got up and stumbled after him, but Evan wasn't like the people in the movies who stood there and screamed as their death stumbled towards them. He got away as fast as his body would let him after waking up from what he is sure was a coma. Now he had a bat, a pocket knife and a bag filled with three cans of peaches and a canteen of water that was a quarter of the way full. Evan sighed and stood, making his way up to the front of the bus to make sure the door was closed. He had been doing this every five minutes and knew it was secure, but he used it as an excuse to do something; anything to keep himself busy and not think of the past, of the friends whose fates he did not know, or of his parents who might be out there somewhere. He had gotten to the row of seats just before the driver seat when he saw it, standing at the door, it's back to him. From behind it looked like a normal person with ripped clothes and was in need of a shower; then you notice the grey tinge of their skin, the way they stand as if their body doesn't properly remember how to walk, and the dead animal stare they give you when they finally find you and then they try to eat you, not caring about the protests that escape your mouth, because they are no longer human. They are the undead. Evan held his breath as it stood there, hoping that it wouldn't turn around and look at him and start pounding on the door with it's hands. He learned early on that noise attracts more of them and did his best to stay as quiet as possible, meaning he hasn't talked out loud in over a month and had no idea if his voice still worked or not. He watched as the zombie started stumbling away, noticing how one of it's arms swings along limply, as if the bone was broken in several places. Evan slowly went back to his seat, being as quiet as possible, sitting when he returned to his spot with his back against the window, slowly falling asleep.