World War Zayn • ZM

14 || Just One Yesterday

The sound of dripping water pulled Jasper's from her restless sleep, and in a beat, she woke up breathless-her spine feeling a different kind of numb and chill from her position against the damp ground. Looking around the cramped space where all she could see were walls of dirt, weed, and a dirty pipeline above her head, where the water went drip, drip, drip... She shivered.

Cold. She was so cold. Motionless she blinked, and saw the rays of sunlight shining through where she sat, but the glow didn't get far too deep in the tunnel. To her right was still the dark oblivion that she had just crawled out from this morning.

Days ago, I fell into an open grave, Jasper bitterly mused. Now, I'm stuck in a dirt tunnel like a sewer rat. She didn't know if that was an improvement, or if that was...

Closing her eyes, she felt a soft sob squeeze her throat. She wasn't ready to face this day yet.

It was ironic to think that more than 48 hours ago, this was the last thing she'd imagined herself to be.

* * * * * *

Day 1

They held a small funeral for Perrie.

Zayn dug her a place for her eternal rest-took him a lot quicker than the first man Ben. He knew how to dig faster; perhaps he was getting used to it. To be fair, he was digging to bury the woman he had loved so dearly, and he most likely just wanted to end the torture as swiftly as he can.

Then, he covered her with a white sheet. Zayn's eyes were red, and all the while he had bitten his lower lip, clearly trying to stop himself from bawling. When he had lowered her corpse slowly and gently down the ground, Safaa had clung to Jasper like a little lost girl, and muffled her loud weeping against the woman's side as they threw wild flowers on the fresh grave.

"I'm sorry, Per," Zayn choked on his tears, his hand shaking as he shoveled more dirt over the white sheet. Each lump of soil sullied the seemingly clean canvas, covering it in splatters of filth, and Jasper couldn't help but see the parallelism to what the zombie apocalypse did to Perrie and the rest of humanity. Even the best people... they can be tarnished by the things they would see and do in order to survive. To live another day in this horrible world... was it even worth it? Was losing the good in your heart worth the momentary pleasure, the temporary comfort it presented?

Squeezing her teary eyes shut, Jasper felt heartfelt pain of her own. She wept for Perrie and what happened to her-what she had done just to be free. Hugging the girl in her arms tighter, Jasper also wept for the things Safaa had to see, had to go through. To think Perrie was another sister brutally taken from her...

So they threw more flowers on her grave and wept for Perrie because she deserved to be grieved. She deserved to be remembered for the woman she had been, not the woman she had become.

The rest of the day was spent in silence not only for Perrie, but also for Zayn's mother Trisha Malik, and all they have lost.

And when the sun had hidden behind the dark clouds of night, the three of them huddled on the living room floor with one big blanket wrapped around them. The irrepressible feeling of sadness almost tangible in the air, they knew that this particular night left them vulnerable to attack, and if death was going to catch up to them-they knew being together was what mattered. They were supposed to be afraid, but they began to talk about their childhood; they smiled, laughed, and a small glimmer of hope returned to their fragile hearts.

Dozing asleep, Jasper knew that this was a good sign. Surely, she had thought, the sun will shine a little brighter tomorrow.

* * * * * *