Craig of the Dead

34. Karen's Fast. Very Fast.

"Karen, I'm not in the fucking mood for this! Get your ass back here!" I shouted, adding an extra boost in my step so I could get to her before she turned the corner.

"NO!" She cried, her little legs running as fast as they could take her. I had to hold her back after Kenny left, and I thought she had cooled down after a few minutes had passed, but apparently I was wrong. She had just been playing that game that little kids play, where they pretend to be good so you'll let your guard down. Then, the second you turn around, they go and fuck up whatever you told them not to. So here I am, sprinting after this eight year old girl who is way faster than I thought. I was getting super close, though, and was ready to pounce.

"I don't wanna listen to you!" She said before getting tackled, "He promised!"

"Yeah, well, tough luck! Karen, what did I say on day one." She continued to squirm, throwing punches and kicks this way and that. She landed a couple, but I didn't loosen my grip. I was done playing this fucking game. She was just waiting for the next chance to take off and run after the cars, which had disappeared down the road a while ago.

"Look, I'm getting real sick of this bullshit."

"He promised!"

"I told you! People break promises! He probably was planning it all along and just wanted to save you some heartbreak. I know I'd do the same if I were in his shoes. I was actually going to do the same, up until I realized that it would leave Wendy in charge."

"Craig, let me go! I know I can catch up to th—"

"No, you can't. If I have to physically pick you up, I will."

"Stop it!"

"Great." I muttered, heaving the tiny girl over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Now I'm pissed." She spit and thrashed and hurled insults at me as I trudged along, trying to move as fast as I could. I was pretty surprised that a zombie hadn't attacked us yet, and I had left my bat with the others. We were like sitting ducks. If a walker decided to spring a sneak attack on us, we'd be dead.

As I walked along, I could make out a second pair of footsteps coming towards me. They didn't drag like a zombie's step would, so they must belong to someone from the school. Great, now I was gonna have to deal with another person in my face.

"I'm pretty sure I told you to just wait till I got back!" I shouted to the person. Why didn't people just listen? Well, at least I didn't have to talk over Karen anymore. I guess she'd finally figured out that I wasn't letting up anytime soon.

"Oh, fuck you!" The voice spat back. The statement made my attention snap into focus. Okay, who was that? I know a lot of people from school. I mean, I'm one of the more popular boys in my grade. I know this. But this kid's voice rang no bells. I really had no clue who he was.

Now that I was focusing on the kid, I could kinda make out his figure running down the street towards us. He was all in black, his pale skin contradicting his dark wardrobe, a silver chain bouncing up and down on his chest....Wait a second...

"D...Damien? What the hell?"

"Where'd that kid go?" He panted, coming to a slow stop as he reached us. "I asked those others but they told me to go after you."

"Whoa dude, what's with the voice?" It was really off putting. I guess we all had just gotten used to Damien's helium voice. You know, his real voice. Now it didn't seem to fit him at all. The voice itself wasn't weird, in fact, it was pretty average, just hearing normally pitched words coming from Damien's mouth was a little odd.

"It's just my voice can we move on." He growled. "Now, you've got McCormick, right? I don't remember the name exactly, but I know it starts with a K, that's for sure."