Claustrophobic | Skephalo

Normality

Zak

There's no way I can get out of this, is there?

The only sound audible was the crunching of leaves beneath Zak and Vincent's feet. Autumn was coming quicker than Zak had expected, and the summer heat was already simmering out. He isn't completely sure, but Zak thinks it's late September to early October. He's always found it easy to keep track of days of the week, but hard to keep track of months, since each one has a different amount of days.

When the infection first started to spread, Zak was obsessed with trying to keep things normal. He remembered his family's concerns they expressed— down to the very word.

"The disease is spreading quickly, Zak." His mother sat next to him on the couch. "I know keeping touch with the way the world used to be is important to you, but you're going to need to learn how to adapt. We all are." She placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"I don't want everything to change," Zak replied, looking away from her. "I want to go back to living my life normally."

"This is the new normal. Listen Zak, I know things seem bad now, but I promise they'll get better, even if it takes a long time. The infection is spreading... It won't be long until it gets to us. Your father and I are trying our best to keep you and your sister safe, but it's going to be hard. Who knows though, maybe it'll skip over our house." Her smile is weak, and Zak knew she was only trying to make him feel better.

"But if the world rights itself, won't it be better to have everything still in order? It will be complete chaos if people throw normality into the wind."

"Maybe." His sister chimes in from the kitchen. "But at this point, there's no telling how the world can possibly be fixed. Zak, I admire your positivity, but your hope is going to be what kills you. People are turning into monsters out there, haven't you seen? Keeping things the way they were is what led to this to begin with." She takes a bite of a sandwich. "You're an idiot for thinking otherwise."

"I don't agree with the tone she used," Zak's mother shoots his sister a glare. "But your sister is right. And until a cure is discovered, we need to live only to survive. I'm not sure there's room for much hope right now."

Zak is snapped back into reality when Vincent elbows him in the ribs.

"You haven't said anything in a while."

"Okay?"

"I'm just saying. It's weird, that's all."

"Whatever, dude."

They're quiet for a minute before Vincent speaks again. "How do you think Darryl is going to react when he sees me?"

Zak considers this. "He's gonna flip his sh—"

"—I just hope he doesn't attack me... Fair warning, I might have to use you as a human shield."

"Whatever he does, you know you can't attack him back, right?"

"I'm not an idiot, Zak."

"You hit me over the head with a crossbow when you saw that I had a dog nearby."

"Okay, that wasn't my fault."

"It definitely was, but whatever." Zak rolls his eyes.

"I'm just worried, I guess. You telling him that I saved your life will definitely make me look a little better, but will it be enough?"

"I have a headache, Vincent. Respectfully, shut up, please."

"Darryl has been my friend ever since I moved to this awful country. I kind of just wish things were back to normal, before the Skeletons were around, or before the zombies came."

"Normal?"

"Yeah, you know? I had just graduated high school and moved in with Darryl. My life was finally on track, which was something I had been aiming for ever since I moved here."

"Do you think that Darryl will make you feel like things are normal again? Is that the only reason you've hunted us down?"

Vincent hesitates. "I never thought about it like that."

"Well he's not your object, Vincent."

"Relax! Jesus, and I thought Darryl was protective." Vincent rubs his forehead. "I'm just doing what I feel is right by trying to fix things between Darryl and I."

Zak sighs, shaking his head. "How far are we?"

"A few more minutes, maybe. We're almost there."

•••

Darryl

"Come on, Rocco. I know you're tired, I am too. But we have to keep searching. Zak could be out here somewhere, all alone."

Walking through the woods as the sun was setting put Darryl on edge, but he figured he had looked for Zak all day, a few hours into the night as well wouldn't hurt. Rocco trailed behind him, panting loudly.

The sky was painted a bright orange that Darryl could only partially see from beneath the treetops, and each ray worked its way through the brush to guide his path. He was grateful for the light, but tense, because he knew it would be gone soon.

Darryl hadn't slept at all in the time Zak was gone. He was up worried sick, his eyes physically unable to shut knowing his best friend was unsafe. Darryl usually spent nights mapping out routes to search with Rocco, and it was very time consuming, he rarely noticed the sun coming up until the moonlight ceased to shine through the blinds. His tired brain never helped— once or twice Darryl even claimed to see people lurking out in the woods, but they would be gone after a blink or two. He passed it off as a hallucination, but Rocco barked at them too, so Darryl decided to ignore it so he wouldn't end up going crazy.

Stocking up on food was easy too, when there was only one person living in a house filled with nonperishables. Darryl had gone through and sorted everything by label, throwing out anything that had been expired and even going as far as to bury the trash bag so it wouldn't attract any wild animals. The house was ready for Darryl and Zak to live in, but Zak wasn't there. And Darryl knew he wouldn't want to let himself live there without Zak, so that's why he kept searching.

It was only when the sun was completely set and a stick cracked in front of him, Darryl started to panic.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Rocco leaned against Darryl's leg in a rather comforting way, so Darryl drew his sword, and walked in the direction the noise came from. If it was a zombie, he would be ready.