I'll admit it: at first, I wanted nothing to do with anyone but Daisy, even though she was a dog, and Reggie, even though he was still a comatose zombie. I wanted to be alone, strangely enough.
A month had passed, and the stress of my newfound situation was starting to get to me. KC kept asking more and more frequently when a meeting to discuss ending the zombie apocalypse would be held, and I knew I couldn't put her off forever.
I could tell that there was a lot of pain within KC, but she pretended there wasn't. Or maybe she had hardened the agony to purpose. Self-righteousness. Perhaps ending the apocalypse was her way of striking out at the zombies for taking her family and whoever else she had lost.
Myself, on the other hand - I was just here to survive. Eventually, KC would have to learn that a few teenagers could never end the zombie apocalypse alone. Until then, I would humor her. After all, I wasn't about to be the cruel jerk who crushed her dreams.
I was working through all of these thoughts as I checked on Reggie. He was fine, other than the fact that he was still comatose. I had parked my car in the entrance area of the Costco, where the carts and display cars once resided.
I readjusted the blankets propping up my little brother's head and kissed his forehead, moving his limbs around a little in case blood circulation mattered with Bedridden zombies.
Someday, I would get KC to let him inside.
I jogged back into the Costco and pulled Jared aside. "Listen, you guys can go ahead with that meeting KC's been wanting to do forever. I need to take a walk."
"You want to take a walk." His eyebrows raised. "In the middle of zombie apocalypse."
"I'll take a gun."
"Please don't."
I sighed in frustration. I had barely been outside in the month that I had been staying with KC and Jared, and I certainly hadn't gone on a walk. But right now, it was just too much, and hopefully Jared could let KC down easy with the whole "ending the apocalypse" thing while I was gone.
"Let her go." We turned at KC's voice. She stood a few feet away, arms crossed. "She's not that young and I showed her how to shoot a gun. She can handle herself. We can have the meeting when she gets back."
"And if I don't?" I asked. It was a precaution they had to prepare for.
KC scowled. "Don't think that way. That's how they get you. But we'd still have the meeting."
I smiled slightly at her warped sense of humor, not even entirely sure she was joking. "Well, then. See you."
I grabbed one of several guns from the rack of them KC was keeping in the Costco. According to her, she had raided an outdoors store in her first week here. "Watch Daisy," I told Jared. I had been keeping her in the store and only trusted Jared, who adored her, to be a sufficient caretaker. Then, I walked briskly into the entrance area and wriggled past our blockades.
What the hell am I doing? I asked myself as I had to duck into the shadows to avoid a roaming zombie. Luckily, it ignored me. I shouldn't be out here. Why did KC even let me go? I've never actually fired a gun before and I'm inept at self defense...
I kept walking.
The silence felt good. The constant headache and bone-aching weariness I always seemed to have finally faded into the background slightly.
As I passed an alleyway, I noticed a huge horde of zombies rounding the street corner in front of me, only about one hundred feet away. I was about to duck into the alleyway for cover when a large hand circled around my mouth, an arm snaked around my waist, and I was pulled into the shadows.
I screamed, the noise muffled against my attacker's palm. He wrenched my gun from my hands and placed it carefully on the ground, too far away from us for me to attempt to lunge for it. I tried to bite him, fear clogging my throat.
"Calm down! And shut up, for God's sake!" the attacker - a boy, judging from his pitch - hissed angrily.
This just made me struggle harder. I am the biggest idiot on Earth. I shouldn't have gone outside at all, let alone gone on a walk more than a couple hundred feet from the Costco!
"I'm Benji," the boy said hesitantly. "Um, I would ask who you are, but you'll scream if I take my hand away from your mouth."
I tried screaming again, hating proving him right but doing it all the same, and struggled against his surprisingly strong grip. It did nothing.
"I'm fourteen, nearly fifteen and would appreciate not dying today," he continued in a friendly tone that only angered me more. "You are an idiot."
"Shut up!" I tried to snap back, but it came out as, "Mmmm mm!"
"If I take my hand away from your mouth, do you promise not to scream and get us both killed?" he asked.
I nodded vigorously. He did as he had promised and I flew across the alley, flattening myself against the wall. I was breathing heavily, and tears sprang to my eyes, prompted by my extreme fear and anger.
"No, no, don't cry!" the boy begged, holding out his hands. I finally got a good look at him.
He had long, tangled, brownish-blond hair that was just long enough to be pulled into a small ponytail. It was obvious it hadn't been cut or otherwise taken care of in a while. His eyes, dark green, were caged and concerned. He was wearing a simple blue tee, black sports shorts, and Reeboks, stereotypical teenage boy clothing. Around his waist was a sheath, in which was obviously a wicked knife, judging by the shape of the sheath.
"I will freaking kill you with my bare hands," I snarled. Only I didn't say freaking.
"Woah, woah! I saved you from the zombie horde and further stupidity!" Benji protested, his eyes wide.
"I was fine!"
"Oh, sure."
We glared across the alley, him turning angry and myself already fuming.
"Can I at least get you back to your house?" Benji requested.
"Fine." I walked cautiously forward and retrieved my gun from the ground, never taking my eyes off of him. I flipped off the safety but still kept my finger away from the trigger. KC's gun lessons 101: Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're going to shoot
Benji unsheathed his knife - it was indeed a wickedly sharp weapon, a hunting knife in fact - and we left the alley side by side.
As we were walking, I suddenly sensed something behind us. "Zombie!" I cried, whirling around.
Benji did the same and, without a second thought, drove the knife into the creature's stomach. It fell to its knees, clutching its stomach and moaning. I wasn't sure if it was just moaning because it was a zombie or if it was actually in pain.
"Shoot it!" Benji shouted.
I did as he told me.
The gunshot rang in my ears, deafeningly loud for a split second and making me flinch. I couldn't stop staring into the face of the man with the knife wound in his stomach and the bullet hole in his chest.
I couldn't forget the wedding band around his finger.
This time, the tears flowed immediately.
"It's okay, he's gone!" Benji said comfortingly.
This just made me sob harder. "That's why I'm crying," I blubbered. KC would be disappointed in my weakness, I chided myself. I wiped my eyes and stood straighter, attempting to calm down.
"I did what I had to do," I said firmly, voice still shaking. Then, Kenzie's face flashed through my head and I crumpled against the wall, washed in misery. Would I have shot this man if I had known him? Of course not.
Benji hesitantly wrapped an arm around me, obviously remembering what had happened the last time he had touched me, and half dragged me down the road. I was too shaken to walk properly"Where are we even going?" he asked.
"Costco," I said between sniffles, realizing too late that I didn't know if I could trust Benji. I wrenched myself away from him. "I don't need your help!"
"Okay, jeez. Just trying to help." He held up his hands and raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not some damsel in distress," I muttered angrily, wiping my nose. The stress was seriously getting to me. I was telling off this boy that I had barely met after revealing the location of my home without hesitation. What was wrong with me?
"If I was a girl, I would do the exact same thing, and I'd hope you do the same for me. I'm not sexist, and I'm sure not a knight." Something flashed across his face and his expression darkened. He looked away. "I couldn't even save the ones who mattered," he muttered, as if to himself.
Finally, we arrived at the Costco. KC and Jared were in the area of the store that we had furnished to look like a living room, obviously just finished with a slow dance. I was certain that was what was happening, but they tried to convince me they were simply practicing karate. Benji stood silently off to one side as we argued well-meaningly.
"Woah. Who - " started Jared when he caught sight of him, but KC cut in.
"My God! You people just keep coming!" she exclaimed irritably. "He wants to stay too, I suppose?"
I laughed. "Calm down."
"I have my own place, thanks. I was just walking Lilith home." Benji turned to leave, obviously incredibly uncomfortable.
"Wait," I called. "You're going to leave, just like that?"
"I'll visit soon again in the future. Survivors should stay connected, after all." He flashed me a smile and left, just like that.
"Who was he?" demanded KC, raising her eyebrows as she took in my tear-stained face. I cried often, but even I could see that this situation was rather unusual.
"He's...okay, so he kind of yanked me into an alleyway and forcibly took my gun from me." At Jared and KC's shocked expressions, I hurriedly added, "But he did it to save me from zombies! And he was really nice!"
KC smiled knowingly and I laughed, embarrassed, shoving her. Turning thoughtful, I looked in the direction we had come from and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, smiling distantly.
"So, um...that meeting we were going to have, or...?" asked Jared hesitantly, watching me.
"Right!" I snapped out of my reverie and followed them further into the store.
*
"Okay," KC exclaimed, "we need to kick some zombie butt and end this apocalypse once and for all!"
We were all reclining on plush sofas that had once been for sale in the Costco. Tell the truth, the huge warehouse-like store, completely quiet and empty, was creeping me out, not for the first time.
I sighed. "Okay, but keep in mind, KC, we're not heroes. We're just kids."
KC rolled her eyes. "Well, someone's got to do it, honey."
I hadn't thought about it that way. "Oh. Yeah, I guess."
"Okay, we'll need to study a zombie. We need to get close to one. And not a Bedridden, either - they're not the active problem. And to do that..."
Jared laughed incredulously after a moment of silence. "You're insane! You want us to capture a zombie without hurting it so you can study it? These things are; one, stronger than us by a long shot, two, very angry, and three...FLESH-EATING!"
KC grinned. "That's why we're all going to capture one, stupid."
I smiled tentatively. Maybe this crazy idea would work after all.
"I'm in."