"Wha... What's happening?" I slowly lift myself from the ground. I hear gunfire and lurkers growling.
"The lurkers! There's a lot of them heading towards us! You fainted!" Ella informs me, helping me up.
"Where's Amber?" is my first thought.
"She's fine! With Jace!" Ella points at them.
I see them shooting at the lurkers.
"C'mon, let's get you up!"
"We need to get goinnnn'!!!" Jace warns, backing up.
We head towards the city.
❖
"This will do," Jace holds the door open to Moonlight's Diner. "C'mon, quick! Everyone in!" He counts each head as we enter. "1, 2, 3, 4 – hectic! All kids accounted for."
We sit in a booth together. Ella holds out a muesli bar for me with a soft smile but I politely decline. Don't think I can eat after what I saw back there. More silent minutes go by with just chewing and crinkling of wrappers.
"You blacked out," Amber breaks the silence. "You've never blacked out."
"Probs dehydrated," I give her a logical answer to which Brayson passes me a soft drink.
So I was dreaming. This entire time that I was conked out, I was dreaming. So stupid of me. But it just felt so real. Like I was truly there. Wait, does this mean that my mum is gone for real? I hold back the dread and heaviness building behind my eyes.
"Kids, this is the reality now," Jace tells us. "We have to band together – whether we like it or not," he gives Carmen a passive-aggressive glance.
"Gosh," she scoffs. "Cut me some slack, all of yous."
Um, okay, since when did we bother her?
"Look, Dean," Carmen looks at me, "I'm sorry, okay? About giving shit to your sister."
"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," I tell her.
"You're right," she faces Amber with a lil shame. "Sorry for being a bitch to you... I thought it kept me relevant. Jace – sorry for 'cheating' on you. It's seriously not what you think, not that you care anyway."
Jace scoffs and gazes out the window.
"Bray, sorry for giving you shit too. It was just a stupid prank. Anyway, I'm sorry, y'all. Can we just let bygones be bygones now?"
Then,
"Don't ever call me 'Bray' again," Brayson says.
Amber giggles but quickly puts her hand over her mouth. We don't mind, we join in with her.
❖
The lot have dozed off into slumber.
"Can't sleep?" Ella tiptoes her way over to me and sits opposite me in the same booth.
"Nah."
"Hey... Listen. I saw what you saw... back there. And I'm sorry. I bet that's the reason you can't sleep? Trust me, I know the feeling."
"How could you possibly know what that feels like?"
"Sorry," she glances down and picks at her nails, "wasn't tryna offend you."
I sigh, "don't be."
She sits there silently with me.
"It's just that Amber didn't see," I gaze out the window. "How am I supposed to tell her?"
"When the time's right, I guess."
"'Time', lol. I lost track of time since this whole thing started. I don't even know what 'time' is anymore."
She nods supportively.
"Just hope my dad..." I shake my head, can't bring myself to say the words.
"He's fine. He's probably safe somewhere, keeping others safe. Try not to worry too much and get some rest, okay?"
The whole suburb was infected back there. Dead. Gone. They're not our neighbours anymore. Not friends anymore. Not humans anymore. The worst thing about it is that they aren't exactly gone but replaced. It's the replacing that hurts the most because you still get to see their faces and it's not them. I blink tiredly, feeling the throbbing pain of a headache coming.
❖
"Dean, what is the matter with you?" Ms Mills' voice increases in intensity. "I'm trying to teach here and you're raving on about some apocalypse like a lunatic."