75 Days of a Zombie Apocalypse (Complete )

Chapter 11 - Carry On

I looked around and saw everyone's bags still on the ground. The canned line that Zedd always hung up at night as still in its place. I turned around and still saw my father's bad, along with Dave's. I looked back at the can line and stared at it.

I got a sudden urge of anger as I picked up my bag and swung it over my shoulder, walking away from the scene, but something stopped me. I couldn't even get over the line without thinking of dispear. I sighed and looked down, why was it so hard for me to leave when they left me first?  I forced myself to pick up my right foot, but it just hung there, not moving outward to cross the line. The anger slowly faded away as my foot made it's way back to the ground, and I walking back to Ross' bag, for the reason I don't know. I threw my own bag on the ground and kneeled next to Ross', unzipping the bag and going through it. Nothing really useful, just comic books and Rosey's toys. I was about to give up when I saw a small decent sized notebook. I slowly pulled it out, seeing pencil smeared on the first page, the cover was torn off. I stopped pulling it out when I saw part of the drawing that had a thigh of a person, next to it, spelling my name. Jess in the finest cursive writing you could ever see. I pulled the notebook out completely, revealing a drawing of me, the most professional, realistic drawing I have ever seen. I have never seen a drawing of me before, not in this way. It didn't make me angry or scared when I saw it, but it gave me a heartwarming feeling to know that I was on Ross' mind too. 

My hair was down and I was giving a small smile, I was sitting on a wooden platform, I had both my hands on each side of me on the platform and the drawing cut off right before he could get to my lower legs and feet. I smiled and began going through the pages, but nothing else was on them except for drawings of eyes and mouths, but one stuck out to me. There was a pair of lips, the upper lip bitting the lower lip, a finger being run over the lips, from how it looked, it looked like the person in front was running their finger across the person's lips in front of them. I couldn't stop staring, for it reminded me of something, but not something that I had, but something I wanted. 

I got up and grabbed my bag, putting the notebook safely inside and closed my bag. I stood up and put the bag on my shoulder, walking back into the forest, following the hooded man's footsteps, as well as my group too. As I started off on my journey, I began to wonder to thoughts that could kill me if I had let them; 

Did they catch the hooded man? 

Why didn't they come back?

Did they get captured by other people? 

Did they lose their way back?

Why wasn't Louis there when the hooded man showed up? 

Then, it all hit me. Louis wasn't there when my father, Dave, and Zedd came back to the group, he wasn't even there when the man showed up behind Ross. It also hit me that Cher knocked me out, leaving me alone and taking Rosey with her. I know she hates new people, but would she actually hurt the ones she hated? I kept walking with everything in my body that was fighting against me to just quit and stop, to just give up. But the simple fact that my friends and family could actually be in danger by this women gave me hope to find them and protect them. If only there was a way to talk to them, you know? To warn them to get away, or to even let them know that I'm still here. 

But why would you want to go to the people who literally abandoned you? 

Because even though they abandoned me, I won't abandon them to worse. 

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Ross's POV: 

"Are you sure she's dead?" John asked, 

"I swear, I tried to come back but she was already swarmed by zombies," Cher said

"But you didn't put her out of her misery?" John said, raising his voice.

"John," Zedd said, putting his hand on John's shoulder. 

All I wanted to do was put my knees to my chest and hideaway. This can't be happening. It's my fault, if I didn't scream, the zombies wouldn't have gotten after us. Jess wouldn't have run into them and she wouldn't be gone. 

John put his hand over his eyes and then moved it away, placing both his hands on his hips, trying his best to hold back tears, "You sure?"

 "I promise John," Cher said, "I'm sorry..." 

John then looked down and then nodded. The hooded man last night gave up and let me do, placing me on the ground roughly, running away still as Zedd soon found me, bringing me back to John, Dave, and my mom, a place they had stopped at. Zedd thought it might be a good idea to stop and rest for the night but John was too eager to go back and get Jess, but even a person who looked at him could tell he was tried. We then tried to make our way back but we got lost in the trees and the sounds of footsteps were coming from every angle. It was like we were lost in a maze, the darkness fooling us every step we took, making us think we saw something that wasn't really there. We gave up within thirty minutes of trying. They began to make out a plan but my mind couldn't focus on them or the plan. My mind only focused on Jess. All I ever wanted was to keep someone safe, and now that I found someone, I couldn't even do that. My mom over and over again had to tell me that it wasn't my fault, but I feel that Jess's blood is on my hands. 

"I want to see her," John said, tears now rolling down his face, "I want to say goodbye and...Whatever else needs to be done to let her pass on." 

Tears than slowly went down my face as Dave sat down next to me. I looked up to him, seeing him looking back, his eyes red too from the crying he has been doing.

"You don't really think she's gone, do you?" I asked him

He shrugged and sniffled, looking away quickly, cleaning the tears off his face by using a piece of his collar from his flannel. I just nodded and looked up at Cher and John. 

Cher soon found us when John, Zedd, Dave, and my mom were making the plan. She had Rosey in her arms, carrying her as she ran up to us. My mom took Rosey and hugged her tight like she had done to me once my mom saw me come back with Zedd. John looked behind Cher and asked her where Jess was. That's when Cher's emotionless face actually showed emotion, shaking her head, telling us already that Jess was gone. And now we lead up to now. Zedd and John talking about him heading back to Jess, Cher just sitting down on a tree log, listening to the two men, my mother behind me hugging Rosey with one arm and the other arm hugging me, and Dave sitting at my feet, trying his hardest not to full on sob. I don't blame him, for I want to do the same, even though I never knew her that long like he did. Jess actually made me feel something that I haven't experienced before, and now it's just gone, it's just another gran of dirt.