We sat in silence as we packed in the elevator and waited for it to reach our destination. I stood with my arms crossed in the large elevator, tapping my foot slightly. Maybe it was just the irony of the moment, or maybe it was the creepy elevator music that seemed sour and out of tune, but I started humming that song 'Die Young' by Ke$ha. Jeffrey had shown it to me a while back because he adored Ke$ha, however, I despised her.
No hate guys, I mean I'm sure under all of her glitter and really awful personality and bad influence on children, I'm sure Ke$ha is a really really bad person.
Just kidding.
Kinda.
Anyways, I was kind of humming lightly and bobbing my head while I was tapping my head. My friends around me didn't really notice. Little did I know, Ross, which I might add was on the other side of the elevator, glanced over and noticed me enjoying my little break away from the craziness. He smiled softly at my musical escape and tilted his head like a puppy that was interested. His smile faded into a strange feeling that started in his gut. He scrunched his brow in a confused manor. He grabbed his stomach with his hands and then returned his gaze to me. He couldn't shake the feeling that grew stronger as he watched me under the flickering elevator light.
Time itself seemed to slow down as he watched my long, brown locks bounce against my shoulders. Suddenly, I turned and froze, realizing he had been watching.
Did Ross just see me? Oh crap! Now he thinks I'm even more of a loser than before! I looked down and then looked back up at his beautiful brown eyes. Have you ever just stared at Ross's eyes? I mean, not to fan girl while there are zombies ripping people limb from limb about, but I mean, look at them! They were.... beautiful. I mean I always liked blue eyes, but when you look at those puppy dog brown eyes with that golden blonde hair.. I mean you just don't find good quality brown eyes like Ross's. To me, they were the most perfect eyeballs on this planet. Not to fan girl or anything. And that dreamy little smirk he has. My eyes trailed down to his lips. I mean gosh I've never wanted to kiss someone's lips so bad. My eyes widened as I realized that I was staring. Of course, I stare at Ross all the time on photos, posters, and Youtube videos, but this was real! Ross can see me!
What a dork! I thought. We both turned away fast and fixed our hair before trying to catch a peek to see if the other was looking.
Just then Roxanne scooted closer to Ross, "Hey Ross!" She whispered seductively. She backed him up into the corner and trailed her fingers up his chest.
"Uh, hey Roxy!" His voice cracked and he became very nervous.
I scrunched my lips like I do when I'm mad and pulled together my dark brown eyebrows. Ross had suddenly lost his dreaminess as I remembered that he wasn't what I thought. I kept trying to find my beat again, but I gave up.
I lost the music.
Caleb was carrying Ashleigh in his arms, because her leg was still in a lot of pain and we didn't exactly have an abundant amount of resources available.
BUMP! The elevator bumped once, shaking violently. And the lights went off temporarily, but returned to normal in a second. Ashleigh's feet slapped Ratliff in the face, "I'm so sorry!" She apologized.
He rubbed his face and smiled at her, "It's cool."
Rydel fell backwards and bumped into a body. She turned close to the unknown person. Her eyes glided up the chiseled chest of Zack. He had his arms around hers, holding her in place, "Don't worry. I gotcha!" He winked at her.
She blushed, unable to speak, completely forgetting about Ratliff.
Kariann placed her hands on Caleb's muscular arm to balance herself. He gazed down at her and gave a weak smile. She smiled back awkwardly.
"Oh hey!" Ryland, who was standing behind her began chatting it up with Kariann.
Caleb kept a neutral face, but kept glancing over at them curiously. It was obvious that Ryland was flirting with her.
It wasn't obvious that Caleb was unexpectedly jealous.
"Megan! This is an excuse for our lips to 'run into each other'!" Rocky grabbed Megan, dipped her, and kissed her for a long time.
"How can they go that long without breathing?!" Lynn questioned.
"I know right!?" Riker agreed, standing by the short brown haired girl. He smiled down at her, "Hi! I'm Riker!" He held out his hand.
"I'm Lynn!" She grinned and shook his hand.
"Ah!" Roxy shrieked as the elevator shook. She wrapped her arms around Ross and pressed her body against his as if she were scared.
Ross put his arms on her back, "It's ok. I'm here."
I fumed as I fell back into Jeffrey.
"Oh Jordan!" Jeffrey raised his eyebrows at me.
"What? I just bumped into you sorry!" I responded.
"Well it's obvious that everyone is falling into their love interest!" Jeffrey winked.
I stood there with my jaw hanging open and a creeped out expression. I slowly backed away from him.
DING! The doors opened to a parking garage. Zack checked outside and then went outside for a moment. He came back in a few moments later.
"Everybody hang on!" Zack pressed a strange button that hadn't been there before on the pad in the elevator.
BUMP! CRASH!
"AH!" We all shrieked as the lights went out and we flew downward.
DING! The lights cut on. Rocky and Megan were still kissing, Kariann was hugging Ryland, Ashleigh was hugging Caleb's neck, and Ratliff was hugging Caleb's legs like a child, Riker and Lynn were holding each other, Zack was holding Rydel in one arm and pressing a button on the elevator with his other hand, and Jeffrey was hugging Roxy's waist with his head pressed against the tall model figured girl's chest.
"Gross!" She shoved him away from her and slapped his face.
"It was worth it!" Jeffrey whispered to Lynn out of the corner of his mouth.
I shook my head and turned my head to see Ross's face really close to mine. My arms were around his neck, and his arms around my waist. I stared into his deep brown eyes as he stared into mine. I glanced for only a half second down at his lips. We stared blankly at each other for a moment and then pulled away abruptly. He cleared his throat. He scratched the back of his head and started whistling as I played with my hair as if it never happened.
And as if we didn't enjoy it.
"We're here!" Zack smiled sinisterly.
"Woah!" We all 'ooh'ed and 'ahhh'ed at the underground lab before our eyes.
"The hotel offered me a free room in the basement, so I used it as a laboratory or my research, but I also unfortunately have many janitorial things in here as well. But who knows, they might come in handy!"
There were mounds of papers and files on desks and tables every where. There were some first aid kits and cleaning supplies everywhere. There was some old exercise equipment, probably from the hotel gym. There was a mini fridge and microwave by a desk where there was a computer in the corner against the wall. There was a water heater in another corner that was kind of large and scary to me for some reason. The room was extremely large, like the size of an Olympic swimming pool. He tossed us some sleeping bags and blankets and pillows and such.
"It's not safe to get anything from your rooms, so you'll all have to sleep here tonight. I'll guard the door just in case."
We all wondered around confused and scared with our temporary beds and searched for a place to sleep on the cold concrete ground.
"Better rest up kiddos." Zack began as we all settled in, "Tomorrow we start your training!" He flipped the light switch and instantly it was dark.
I wish I could have instantly fallen asleep, but I kind of just laid awake staring up into the darkness. All I could think about was those few moments in the elevator where I was in Ross's arms.
No Jordan, he's not what you think. He's just like everyone else! I tried to tell myself.
It wasn't working, though. All I could see in my mind was his face close to mine. I slapped my hands against my face and groaned softly, "Get out of my head!" I whispered softly, "Get out o... my..." My eyes blinked slowly until I drifted off into slumber.
"Ross?" I opened my eyes and stood up, "AHHH!" I shrieked, staring horrified at the dead bodies of my friends and the survivors on the basement floor.
I gasped, "No! NOOOO!" I cried, trembling. I peered up and noticed a moving body hunched over by Zack's dead body.
"Is someone there?" I called out, inching slowly closer. I searched around the dead bodies, noticing tat there was one person missing.
"Ross?" I called out to the body.
He slowly turned around, examining me with wide blue eyes. There was crusty dry blood smeared all over his chin, and guts and flesh were half hanging out of his mouth. He stood up warily and stuck out his arms. He groaned as he started coming towards me, "Jorrrrrr-dannnnn."
"No..." I shook my head, backing away slowly, but I hit the wall behind me.
Ross got close to my face once more and hissed loudly.
"ROSS DON'T! PLEASE NO, ROSS!" I screamed in tears.
He opened his mouth and grabbed my face, about to bite my neck.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Rise and shine!" The lights flickered on.
I sat up abruptly and looked around. Everyone else was slowly stretching or still trying to get up. I was sweating like a pig. I wiped my forehead and wiped my eyes of the tears that were coming down my cheeks. I was panting like a dog, too. I wrapped my arms around my knees and rocked back and forth very slowly and carefully. I tried to calm myself down; I didn't want anyone to notice I was freaking out.
The nightmare had really riled me up.
"Bad dream?" Zack came over and held out his hand to me to help me up.
I gazed over at Ross, "Very."
"I set up some targets to practice shooting. Some of you have never shot a gun in your life." Zack explained.
"How do you know?" Jeffrey questioned him.
"I can tell by looking at you!" Zack laughed, "Isn't that right, Ellington?" Zack had us lined up side by side, one by one, and he stopped in front of Ratliff.
"You've never shot a gun?!" Ross laughed at him.
"You haven't either, Blondie!" Zack glared at him.
Ross stopped laughing and coughed once, "I'm a pacifist!" He shrugged.
"Well, you're gonna have to get over that!" Zack shook his head. He went over and grabbed a box of guns and started handing them out in a peculiar manor, "I got these from the security room." He handed specific guns to specific people.
"You all need to know how to shoot to protect yourselves. but I'll assign you to another job later."
"Job?" Megan scoffed.
"Yes." Zack gave her a mean glance.
"Who died and made you the boss of us?" Jeffrey protested.
Zack stopped with his back turned to us. He tilted his head to the side slightly, "How about those thousands of innocent citizens? How about your friends and peers and people you grew up with?!" Zack got in Jeffrey's face and was yelling now, "Do you know what it's like to see someone you love be ripped apart limb from limb, and you can't do anything about it but watch and wonder why you didn't do anything?!"
As he yelled, the images of Michelle came back to me. A tear ran down my cheek. I stood there, hoping no one noticed. I wanted to run out of the room, but there was really no where for me to make my escape. I tried to stop crying, but the whole rush of the moment and everything that had happened was hitting me.... hard!
Ross peered over at me, seeing the tears falling down my face. His heart sank; he wanted to reach out and wipe the tears away, but he-
"I had to watch the most important thing in the world to me die and fade away! And I-!" Zack continued yelling and spitting in Jeffrey's face, which looked very scared at the moment.
"Your boss?" Lynn said aloud.
"What?" Zack turned towards her, leaving Jeffrey relieved to wipe the spit off his face.
"You said you lost the most important thing in the world. Were you talking about your boss? The one that got attacked?" Lynn continued.
Zack paused, "Y-yes!" He stuttered.
"Anyways, let's get to it!"
We were all lined up facing the wall with targets drawn in marker on the wall for us to practice on. Ashleigh was at the end in a chair because her leg was still recovering.
I had never even held a real gun before. I didn't like what they stood for. Death, I mean. I know some people keep guns in their homes for protection and all, but I wouldn't. My parents don't, and I can see why. I mean, if a robber came in, I'd rather die than live knowing I took someone's life away, even if it was for "protection". A life is a serious thing. I guess that's why this whole "zombie thing" is going to be so hard for me. I don't think I can look someone in the eyes and pull the trigger. Zombie or not! I mean, they were a person at some point or another. They could have been a mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend.
I just can't do it. It'll hurt me more than it would hurt them.
"Zombie's are not people." Zack came up behind me and yelled in my ear as I aimed the gun at the wall without shooting, as if he were reading my mind.
"They don't have feelings. I don't care if it's your mother or boyfriend or wife or fiance or brother or cousin!"
Ashleigh, Caleb, and I exchanged worried glances.
"They don't remember you. The disease affects the brain. They aren't human anymore." Zack continued, "So shoot, Jordan." He commanded me, "Shoot the gun!"
I closed my eyes and let my finger pull back on the trigger.
POW!
"Good." Zack continued pacing around behind us.
Jeffrey noticed my pale face, "Are you ok?" He asked me.
I smiled weakly, "I don't know."
"Need any help?" Ryland flirtatiously asked Kariann.
"Nope, she's fine, thank you!" Caleb answered for her.
She gave Caleb a strange glance and turned back to Ryland, "Sure!" He came and helped her, putting his hands on her shoulders to help her aim.
POW! Caleb shot angrily at Kariann's target, "Sorry." He apologized. Ryland smiled above Kariann's head, winking at a fuming Caleb.
"Aw, jealous much?" Ashleigh laughed at her older brother from her chair.
"I'm not jealous!" Caleb shot again angrily.
"Ok...." Ashleigh laughed.
"It's all in the hips, Megan!" Rocky put his hands on her hips. She giggled.
Roxy looked over at them and then back at Ross who was watching Jeffrey try to explain to me how to reload.
"Ross, do you think you could help me?" She bat her eyelashes at him.
He smiled, "Oh yeah!" He came over and wrapped his arms around her and helped her aim.
POW!
"Thanks!" She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
"This is not an excuse for you guys to unleash your teenage hormones!" Zack growled, "This is serious!"
"Hey Zack, could you help me a second?" Rydel called him.
"Coming!" He ran over to her.
"So Jordan, how's your shooting coming along?" Ross asked casually.
"Um... Ross?" I asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" He got a little excited.
"You have lipstick on your cheek..."
He tried to wipe it off awkwardly as I stormed away.
"Ross!" Roxanne called him! She waved at him and winked.
He looked over and saw me talking to Ashleigh, "Coming..." He replied to Roxanne.