The sun shone brightly down on us, which was a rare occurrence in the desolate area my family had took refuge in. The sky was cloudless, and wind blew cold air across our faces. My nose scrunched when the wind scarried a putrid scent with it: death.
Greg and dad stilled their movements, causing me to stop in my tracks unlike mom who kept her quick stride. "Maura, stop!"
By the time dad shouted the words to his wife, - my mom - a zombie had ambushed her from the tall grass, sinking its rotten jaws into her tender flesh. In seconds, half of her throat was gone, and the zombie lay dead with a bullet wound in its forehead. Mom gasped for air, her skin taking on a green hue. I threw up twice, having to keep my eyes away from my mom's changing body.
Slowly and cautiously, my dad made his way over, carefully crouching down to help her. Greg's arm wrapped around my shoulder in a sidehug, undoubtedly sensing I needed the comfort. We watched in horror as mom bit dad on the wrist, his skin going pasty before morphing into green, decaying flesh. Together, just as any other couple would do, they headed toward us as fast as their rotting legs allowed.
I could barely register the movement of Greg throwing me over his shoulder as we ran away from them - our parents. I wanted to throw up for a third time, but there was nothing left in my stomach. I was dry heaving as Greg guided us out of the field we had been crossing and onto a long stretch of paved road. "North or south?"
"North," I replied. We headed south slowly, keeping watch for the walking corpses of our parents. Groans. Shrieks. Howls. Our parents were not far behind. "Maybe they are good zombies, Greg? Surely they wouldn't hurt their children!"
"The only good zombies are dead zombies." Greg replied to my thoughtless sayings from over his shoulder. I knew he was right, but I was desperately searching for a reason that would deem him wrong. They were our parents! They had to recognize one of their own! "Niall, do you think you can walk now? At the speed I'm going, we aren't much faster than them."
He set me down, giving me a hurried once over to check for injuries. "Why do you refer to our parents as them? They are still mom and dad!" I yelled at him, anguish and denial rooted deep in my heart. Hot tears raced down my cheeks, but I didn't care to wipe them away. Crying was the least of our worries.
"No, they aren't, Niall," Greg forcibly grabbed me before I could run back to our parents - our zombified parents. He forced me to walk away, hand tight on my bicep. I was so small, his whole hand could wrap around the limb. "Those things aren't our parents anymore. Mom and dad. . ." He choked out a sob before he steeled his gaze, grunting before continuing on down the road, heading south to find our next safe spot. "Mom and dad are gone; deader than roadkill. The damned creatures of Hell following us are bloodthirsty, flesh eating monsters, not mom. . . not dad."
The realization hit me harder than the time a baseball clunked me on the side of my head two years ago. We were orphans. All we had left was us; brothers by blood and bond. Greg was all I had, and all I had was Greg. The only thing I could hope for now was that in the end, it would still be just Greg and I. Not just Greg, not just I, but the both of us surviving the zombie apocalypse.
"Do you still have your retainer?" Greg asked me. A pang went through my chest.
"No, it was in mom's bag. . . but it's not like I still need it."
"Niall," Greg sighed. "I'm sorry I scheduled your appointment on Doom's Day."
We both let out laughs. It felt good, too. I felt like if we couldn't laugh anymore, life wouldn't be worth living. It was a hard pill to swallow, but if we died tonight, I wouldn't be angry or sad. Our final moments would be spent as a family - or what's left of it- laughing and enjoying ourselves, even if the world didn't want us to. "It's not like you did it on purpose. How were we supposed to know that January twenty-first was the day Hell would make its home on Earth?"
"Doom's Day couldn't have come at a worse time. But what time would have been better?" We referred to the day that it all started as Doom's Day because, why not? It made sense enough in the sense that the day was doomed from the moment the sun rose.
"Maybe the day after I got my braces taken off, but I suppose I have to put that fantasy away. I have to survive before I can even think about getting these wretched things out of my mouth. I shouldn't even be feeling like this," Greg looked at me as I said it. "I feel wronged not because of the dead walking the Earth, but that it had to happen on the most anticipated day of my teenage life. I just want to enjoy popcorn without having to pick kernals out. I want to take big bites of bread without having to worry about dough sticking in between. At least that way, life would be more bearable."
"Let me give you my best advice, Niall," Greg smiled at me. "I don't want you to give up on your wish, but I don't want you to waste your hope on it. Keep the idea in your mind, but in the very back of it. Someday, it'll happen."
"I love you, Greg. You're the best brother anyone could ask for."
He laughed, head thrown back and everything. "Save the sappy shit for when one of us is on their death bed."
Daytime had turned to night as soon as the silence between us was born. Except for crickets buzzing and the groans of our deceased parents still trailing us, it was quiet and peaceful. "Why do you let them follow us?"
"Because I am just as naïve as you. I still see our parents when I look at them, and I lose all heart to kill them."
"That could very well be our downfall. Sympathy seems to be weakness in a world like this."
"I have a feeling our downfall will be two very separate things."
"How could you be so sure?"
"If you look up," Greg faced the sky, so I did, too. "You'll see it written in the stars."
Stars twinkled like Christmas lights above us, the North Star getting farther away from us as we headed in the opposite direction it depicted. "What if there is a fault in the stars, like that John Greene book."
"I'm sure John is long dead by now, but if what you say is true," Greg looked at me one last time before his eyes locked onto the dark sky. "I believe the day you die will be the worst fault in the stars."
It wasn't a flat out 'I love you,' but it was his own way of saying it. Greg truly was the best brother anyone could ask for. A sharp groan sounded too close for comfort. It seemed as if we stopped walking to stargaze, and the two zombies who were once family had caught up to us. "Greg-"
Greg quickly spun around, the pistol in his hand firing six shots. Three in each of their chests. It was gruesome to say the least as I cried and dry heaved again. "I'm sorry, Niall, but I didn't have a choice."
"It seems like we never do anymore."
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In case you are confused, the chapters in italics are memories of Niall's past starting from Day 1 -"Doom's Day". They will be told in first person POV in Niall's perspective.
Tell me what you thought about this chapter. Do you like this kind of approach or would you prefer the chapters that move the plot along and have the boys in them?