The television was playing in the living rooms in one of the many suburban houses. Almost everyone had their television playing as they watched as this virus had slowly taken a hold of the world. No one knew what was happening. The scientists had no clue and people kept dying and the numbers of whatever came back was increasing rapidly. The government wasn't putting out information as fast as they were getting it, but they were getting nothing as well.
Some of the families were packing their bags and moving somewhere that could be better, maybe going on a camping trip until the government figures it all out, like everyone thinks they are supposed to. The decision between leaving and staying was something that had troubled a lot of couples. This decision was being discussed between the two parents in the MartÍnez household.
Caesar MartÍnez and his wife, Camila MartÍnez were in the kitchen, with the soft murmur of whatever was pulled up on the television in the living room. Caesar was washing the dishes as his wife was making dinner. "Listen, it is not going to get any safer cariño (honey)," Caesar said, rinsing off the last dish and setting it in their drying rack. He moved so that his lower back was pressed against the counter and then spread his feet wider apart, so that he was using the counter to stand. "Look I know it is safe here, for now, but you hear it, they cannot get it contained, it is getting deadlier day by day and it would be so much easier to pack up our gear and get out, I can keep you all safe, but I can't guarantee that for much longer." (I hope this makes since - Author)
"No me estás escuchando (You aren't listening to me), maybe we can just ride it out for a couple of days, see if they get it contained, wait for papá to get here with mamá, it would be easier for us. Not packing up the kids right now, and just leaving nuestra familia behind, I am not ready for that," Camila said stirring the soup she was making for supper. The stirring of the wooden spoon in the pot was what was heard for a couple of seconds, before she spoke up again. "Mira (Look), let's ride it out, we have three kids, and they need to be safe, but right now it would be easier to stay, especially when the roads are flooded with people either getting out or going to Disney World."
"I love my papa and mamá, but you all are more important to me, you're mi familia, you all are the number one priority. Papá would tell us to go if he were here, he would understand," Caesar said drying his hands off with the towel. He held it with both of his hands and looked at her. "Te estoy escuchando (I am listening to you), I get you are scared. I understand that, but it is safer for the kids, rather than being held up in this house trying to scavenge for food, when we can go in the woods, hunt for our food. It would be easier like that, the only one who doesn't know how to hunt is you cariño (honey). We can make it out there, but not here."
"¡Niños bajen! La cena está lista (Kids come down, dinner is ready), we'll discuss this later tonight querido (dear)," Camila said, heading over to the cabinet and grabbing some bowls. She put soup in 5 of the bowls and placed them on the counter for the kids to grab.
"Mamá ¿Qué es esto?" Daniela, the youngest, asked, glancing at the bowl. She grabbed the bowl and sniffed it immediately, responding with a disgusted face. "Smells like mierda."
"Maní (Peanut), no cursing, it's soup, go eat, it tastes better than it smells, I promise," Caesar said gently patting her back before pointing to the table. "Go eat, then go upstairs and play with your brother. Juanito ¡bajar aquí! (Juan, get down here!)."
Juan came into the kitchen and looked at the food that was on the counter. "Soup, gracias mamá, Let's go eat Dani," Juan said after grabbing the bowl. He gently placed his hand on her back and nudged her forward a bit. Daniela walked to the table in the dining room that was connected to the kitchen. She sat down in her usual spot, which faced the kitchen with her back to the living room, and then she began eating her soup. Her face had turned into one of disgust again, though she continued to eat it.
"Is Josefina coming tonight?" Daniela asked, looking at Caesar and Camila. "She said she was, didn't she?" Then there was a knock on the door and Daniela sprung from her seat and started toward the front door. The knocking had sounded kind of weird, almost like a constant light thumping on the door, but Daniela didn't think anything of it as she continued to head toward the door. She was happy to have her sister back after she was with her friends for about four days.
Daniela put her hand on the doorknob and started to turn the knob of the door. "Maní (Peanut), wait, let me open the door," Caesar called from the kitchen, sitting down his bowl and starting to jog to the door, at that point, the door had been pushed open by something.
What had fallen from the door and on top of Daniela was a grotesque looking dead alive creature, and what you heard in that moment was a high-pitched scream. This awful smell filled the room immediately. It was like everything was slowed down as all of their senses were triggered at once. There was an overwhelming feeling of panic that was struck into the Martínez household.
The thing that was in their house had bite marks and lacerations all down its arms. When Daniela had caught it in front of her she was trying to push it away but the more she fought the more skin that tore from the bone. Leaking a deep red color onto her fingers and onto the floor. She kept trying to push it away but her hands kept slipping on its paper thin skin as she pulled it away as she tried to push it away. As soon as the skin had tore officially Caesar came to the rescue.
Caesar finally moved and lunged at the creature pushing it back and trying to get it knocked down but no matter what nothing was working. He could hear bones break but it did not stop just kept snapping at him. He looked down at the thing that was underneath him. "Juan, cover maní's eyes," He spoke softly and as soon as he saw a hand go over her eyes, he stomped on the thing's head, which was when it stopped moving. He quickly dragged it outside and then came back inside and shut the door.
"We are going right now, we need to leave, this is our last chance, and we should have left yesterday," Caesar said looking towards his familia. He sighed and bit his lip looking towards them. "I love you all and I want us to survive and to do that we need to go. Juanito, go upstairs with Dani, she doesn't leave your sight, and help her pack. Cariño, I want you to go pack up food, I am going to pack our clothes in bags. I can handle that, but you need to pack as much food as you can and get as many of our meats as we have in with ice in a bag or something, just something."
Juan and Daniela were headed up the stairs and almost there as Caesar finished talking to Camila. Juan and Daniela had entered the room whenever Camila had headed towards the hall closet. Camila grabbed a bag and headed straight for the kitchen.
Caesar stood there for a second taking a deep breath before he went upstairs towards Juan's room. He entered the room about a foot into Juan packing clothes. "Juanito, pack your gun," Caesar said to him before heading towards his room. He went into his closet and pulled out two huge duffel bags and started to fill all of his and his wife's clothes in one bag along with some family pictures, for his wife. The second bag was getting filled with all of his three guns with all his ammunition, anything extra they needed like first aid kits, bandages, some medicine, and etc...
Caesar headed downstairs and into the small hall before the front door. "Cariño, I am gonna go outside and start the car. The bags will go in the trunk, we are heading out now, call mamá and papá, tell them we are going to the old campsite," He called to her. He had then grabbed his car keys and went outside to the car.
"Juan, what was that? Olía a mierda (He smelled like shit), why was he trying to bite me, is that what they were talking about on the news? The rabid people who were biting everybody? I didn't get bit, but it was scary, why did it look like that?" Daniela asked, looking at Juan as he packed the last of his things. Juan put his bag on his shoulder and waved for her to follow.
Daniela got off of the bed and followed him to her room. Juan placed the huge duffel bag on her bed and started grabbing things that she would need. Daniela grabbed some of her stuff and put it in the bag. "Changuito (Little monkey), come here let me put this on you," Juan said as he gently grabbed her wrist and put on a silver chain bracelet with a small peanut pendant hanging from it. Once he latched the bracelet onto her wrist, he zipped up her bag and grabbed it. "Changuito (Little monkey), go help mamá with the food. Papá! ¿Quieres que ponga las bolsas en el coche? (Do you want me to put the bags in the car?)."
"He's outside hijo (son)," Camila said from the kitchen. Juan and Daniela, both went downstairs, and Juan made his way to the front door. He waved to Daniela to go toward the kitchen, which she obeyed and went into the kitchen to help her mamá put more food in the bags.
It was probably about three more minutes of just packing the food that everything was out and in the bag. As soon as they finished the two males entered the house and shut the door. They immediately made their way to the two females that were heading towards them.
"We have a full tank and some gas I took from the mowers, we are going now, let's go get in the car, cariño did you call mamá and papá?" Caesar asked, putting on his brown jacket and finally grabbing the last two bags.
"Yeah, they said they might meet us there, they also wanted to stay home," Camila said gently, placing her hand on Daniela's back and lightly pushing her towards the door. "Juan, you and Dani get in the car first."
Juan nodded toward her and gently placed his hand onto Daniela's back making her walk with him. He opened the door and went through it first, Daniela following him. They had seen that there were some of those things, around and as they were walking to the car those muertos (Walkers) started walking toward the noise which happened to be Daniela and Juan. Once Juan noticed what was happening, he opened the door and put Daniela in the car and closed the door. "Dani, you stay in there," Juan said looking at her before glancing to the muertos that were heading his way. "Papá, get out here."
Caesar opened the door and ran to the car placing the bags in the trunk and pushed Juan to the door. "Juanito, in the car, Camila come on," Caesar said, opening the door and pushing him to the door. He started the car and looked to Camila who was standing at the front of the house looking at the muertos. "Camila."
Caesar had gone over to her and Juan did the same thing. They tried to pull her from her spot, but she wasn't budging, from inside the house. Caesar wasted no time in picking her up but as he picked her up she had broken from his grip. "Cariño, I can't, let me stay here, I can't live, I won't survive," Camila said, shaking her head and standing there looking at the muertos that were walking to her.
"Juanito, in the car with Dani, now," Caesar yelled while Juanito followed his direction and hopped in the passenger seat. Caesar got his pistol out and shot one of the muertos in the chest, but once it wasn't affected, he shot another round into its head, then it dropped. The sight of something so human-like but so not at the same time, was enough to creep someone else but the sight that was in front of them was probably about a dozen of them that were heading towards the two fo them. "Camila, cariño, you need to come with me. Please, I don't know what I am doing with Dani, I need your help, you can't leave us." He kept on shooting but it attracted more of them over to their location.
The smell was not something someone could get used to, it is easily the most disgusting thing they had ever smelled before. The sewage reek that came off of them along with the grotesque gray skin, nasty teeth, and the eyes that held no light in them. It was something so un-human while also being human.
The consistent shots were slowly diminishing as he ran out of ammo. "I can't, I can't Caesar, I can't live in this world, you have to leave me and protect our hijos, you have to, it is your duty," She said, shaking her head and just staring at the scene in front of her.
"I can't let you go, not out here, not like this, not in this condition, your kids are in that car, waiting for you to get in, you can't abandon them, you can't," Caesar said looking towards the muertos and glancing back to her.
"I won't survive, so if you won't let me go, I won't give you an option," Camila said then started sprinting towards them. The first bite was taken out of her and her scream filled the air.
Caesar ran to the car and got in shutting the door. He slammed his fist on the steering wheel and then put the car in drive. He pulled out of the driveway and started to drive away from their house.
Daniela sat up to look at the gruesome scene in their front yard, but her eyes were covered before she could get a look. "No maní, you don't need to see things like that, not yet," Caesar said, making her look forward. "Look forward maní, to the road."
"Papá, those things don't die to a shot through the chest, how is that possible?" Juan asked, looking behind them before looking forward at the road. He did not know what to think, I mean what is there to think. There are these rabid humans that are biting and attacking people with no remorse, and only stop when hit in the brain. "Papá, could we have helped mamá?"
"Juanito don't think about it, we will get to the campsite and see what we can learn about them, so we know how to attack them," Caesar said, looking forward to the road. "We will figure this out, we always do. Maní you are gonna have to practice your shooting, with everything."
"My shooting? Papá I know how to shoot, but are we sure they aren't just sick? What is gonna happen to mamá, why would you save us over her?" Daniela asked overwhelming Caesar with questions. Her eyes were faced forward as she looked at the road or at her father's face in the rear view mirror. "The way she screamed papá, I-i can't forget that, she just screamed like she was dying, which she was, how could we leave her like that?"
"Maní, listen it was a last-minute decision, your mamá would have wanted me to choose you over her. Maní, I love you and Juan, so very much. There is a different type of love between me and your mamá than me and mi niños. You all are my babies and I have to protect you overall," Caesar explained to Daniela who looked towards his eyes in the mirror. "You all are my everything, and although your mom is also my everything, I have to put my kids first. And she would do the same."
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Author's Note
This is kind of the rough version, but I wanted to get it out, so I guess it is what it is, I will work on it more, work on the details, but I need some kind of motivation to do that so here it is.