"Y-you were bit? When? We haven't even seen a zombie out here."
"Two days ago....I couldn't sleep so I decided to go for a walk. It was still dark and I couldn't see anything really, so I didn't see it was coming after me. It bit me before I could do anything....So I stabbed it in the head and ran back to our shelter. " Luke explained.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!?"
"Ashton calm down! Luke you're going to get better. I know you're in great pain but it will heal. You will heal, and everything's going to be okay."
"I could die! I could get infected and become one of those....things. I could slowly die like Braylee did! I don't want that!"
"This isn't like Braylee."
"HOW IS IT NOT?" I flinched. His eyes hold pure rage.
"I just want to die already and stop dealing with all of this!"
He shows me his arm and I cringe. It's not too deep, so maybe it's not infected. It's just the top layer of skin,and you could see the teeth marks.
"I'm....I'm so sorry."
I whisper and lower my head in shame.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We all stayed silent for a few more hours. We ended up coming to a road. I looked at Ashton then Luke then back to the road.
"Which way do we go?" Ashton asks.
"I don't know." I respond.
"How about we go left first and if there isn't anywhere safe, we turn back around and keep going straight."
We nod in agreement and start heading left. I was lost in thought when a loud reving of a vehicle grabs my attention. I look behind me to see a truck speeding towards us. Luckily we move out of the way in time before it hits us. But unfortunatly, the loud truck brought a horde of zombies with it. They were attracted to the sound. We are suddenly being surrounded by zombies. Me and Ashton are back to back while he's holding Luke up. We only had small hunting knives and my axe. Not good enough to kill them all. I close my eyes to await death as zombies get closer. I closed my eyes tighter not wanting to see my friends get eaten. My brain accepting the thought of death. I think of all the others who died on my account, Luke and Ashton might die too. All I have done was hurt people, kill people, wiping out the small amount of humanity we had left on this planet. We were going to die. Now was my time. Someone roughly grabs my arm. Thinking it was a zombie, terror fills me and my eyes flicker open. A pick up truck is idling beside us. It's a boy who had red hair and green eyes. I'm a deer in headlights because im so shocked.
"Hurry up! Get in!"
He yells over the commotion. Coming to my senses, I pull open the passenger side door and climb in. He lazily holds onto the wheel and floors it. I'm pushed back into the worn down seat and rock in the truck as we run over multiple zombies. Im still speechless over what was happening because everything was happening. The overpowering stench of the horde flows through the vents making me gag. I turn around to see Luke laying on the backseat covered in blood...lots of it. Ashton is on the back knocking off a few of the stragglers away from the truck.
"I'm Michael."
"Kylie."
He nods his head. Ashton then comes to the front next to me and just looks at our savior.
"M-michael?"
He looks over at Ashton at the sound of his name.
"H-how did you....how did you escape?"
Ashton asks looking likes he's going to cry. Michael looks about the same.
"I'm not just some stupid teenager Ash. I survived this far from watching those dumb zombie movies with you. I put my skills to the test and thought it was time to get out of the cities. The country is probably safer."
"We thought of that too." I responded.
"I thought you were dead."
Michael just gives Ashton a small smile. He then turned his attention back to the road completely shutting us out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After about an hour of random small trails, the truck starts jerking forward violently and slows down. It skids to a stop and just gives out.
"Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap."
Michael exclaims angrily and slams his hands on the dashboard. I glance over and see the needle is on E.
"Goddamit!" He screams and unbuckles his seatbelt then throws the door open. I flinch and Ashton wraps his arm around my shoulder. Luke sits up and runs a hand through his hair and takes a deep breath. Damn! We've run out of gas and Luke needs medical attention. We are stuck in the middle of nowhere, have absolutely no idea where we are, and could be eaten by zombies at any moment. We just walk through the woods with the occasional moan of pain from Luke. Maybe we could find some place safe. Who am I kidding...in this world, safe doesn't exist.
After resting over night in a slightly damp treehouse, we continued north for no reason. Luke's arm was severely swollen and any movement tore through him with great agony. My thoughts have been a jumbled mess since the apocalypse happened. Now, they're like blended alphabet soup. Nothing made since to me anymore. I couldn't think of a reason to keep searching and searching for safety that will never come. What does life even mean anymore? All I could think about is what would've happened if we did something, anything differently. What if I never met Ashton or Luke. What if we never left my basement? What if we never left the city? What if we walked in a different direction? What if Michael never saved us? My brain surging with hundreds of 'what ifs.'
"Civilization!"
Michael whisper-shouted. Ahead of us was an old summer camp. A few zombie moans are heard far away. It's been a long time since this happened. Most of the undead have probably wandered away already. Of course there will be some here, but if we are quiet enough, it shouldn't be a problem.
"The cabin at my 10 o'clock seems quiet, and the door is still attached."
We hide behind some bushes and see some of the children zombies, which are the worst ones of all to see. We open the door and slip inside.
"Move the bookcase in front of the door guys." I whispered and helped Luke to one of the bunk beds. He lays down with his bad arm hanging off the side to the floor. Suddenly, I hear a high pitched moan and I gasped. I frantically look around for the child I know is in here. There's a tiny wardrobe in the corner of the room with scratching noises coming from it. I can feel everyone's eyes on me as I tip toe over to the wooden cabinet. It's like a horror movie where you're yelling at the girl not to open the door.
"Kylie, wait." Ashton whispers just as im about to touch the handle. I turn around and meet everyone's scared eyes.
"You don't exactly have a weapon....."
He says confused and hands me my axe that was next to the bags. I nod a thank you and he holds his knife up. We both grab a door handle and he mouths..
"Three, two, one."
And at that moment we whip the wardrobe open and step back. Two little bodies flop onto the floor and angrily crawl towards us. A blonde boy not more than 10 yeas old bares his teeth and crawls towards me, the other one going after Ashton. I raise my axe up shakily. Tears fill my eyes and I let the axe plumment from my grasp and clutter to the ground. I'm stuck in place not moving and sobbing. The little monster grabs onto me and I don't fight it.
"WHAT THE HELL KYLIE?!?"
Ashton screams and rips the zombie off me and against the wall. He plunges his knife into it's skull and sighs. I slump to the ground and hug my knees to my chest, burying my head into them and sob violently. My shaky emotional breakdown taking over. I'm crying over losing my mom and dad. I'm crying over losing my friends. I'm crying for all the deaths that I caused. And I'm crying over that zombie that looks like my little brother.
I can feel someone hesitantly put their hand on my shoulder and I ignore them. None of us are okay, we're all crumbling apart. Eventually ignoring them, ignoring my own life and brain, puts me into a deep sleep right there on the floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up about an hour later on one of the beds. I wonder who put me here. I look over and see Luke who still lies on the bed in pain, but his eyes are open now. His arm looks so much worse. I get up and look in the wardrobe. There's little kids clothes, boots, paper, crayons, towels, and a first aid kit. Perfect. I grab the towels and first aid and head over to where Luke is.
"Okay Luke...just uhm...grit your teeth or something."
I say awkwardly. I look inside the kit and see some tweezers, stiches things, gauze, disinfectant, and an arm wrap. I have another thought as I realize how immensly painful this will be.
"Ash? Can you uhm....can you hold him down? And cover his mouth...he's probably going to scream."
Luke's eyes grow scared and he violently shakes his head no.
"Please....please don't do this! I've already felt enough pain!"
"I'm sorry Luke, but I have to do this. It's for your own good. It wont be too bad."
Ashton climbs onto the bed and holds Luke down with the towels tightly over his mouth so his screams wont attract any zombies.
"I'll do this as quick as I can."
I whisper and thread the needle beforehand. I'm about to pour the disinfectant on his arm when something quite disterbing catches my eye. I take a closer look and see what it was more clearly. Embeded just under the skin of Luke's arm......was a zombie's tooth