Dean's POV
Shit has gone down.
I dont know what the hell is going on to be completely honest.
My mother is dead, and I am assuming my dad is as well. Charlie's family is gone too except for baby Leland. We are in her car, driving around with no direction in mind whatsoever, in pure silence. The ride was unpleasant.
"Want to listen to some music?" Out of nowhere, she asked.
I nodded. I watched as she pulled out a CD. It read 'Mix' on the upper part. Charlie began tapping her fingers on the steering wheel as Panic! At the Disco's 'House of Memories' played. I watched as she began humming slightly. It was making me wonder how she was being so calm right now. That was until I saw the stains of make up on her shirt. The way her lips formed an automatic frown even though her favorite band was playing. Or the way her face seemed to have gotten 50x lighter than the rest of her body.
She was broken.
Never in my years of knowing this girl have I seen her like this. Hell, she was the poster child of big smiles since elementary school. Charlie was known as the girl who always smiled. On the ugliest days, you could count on her having a cheerful toothy grin on her face.
I lowered the music and looked at her. Her light brown eyes looked into mine for merely a second before looking at the road.
"What?" She said.
"You don't have to pretend to be okay." I said. The words came out hoarse due to the lump of sadness in my throat. I felt the car come to a stop and the engine shut off. She looked out the window and remained like that for a minute or two before I pulled her into my arms. Her body shook as she cried. And it honestly made me feel angry. Angry at the world. Angry at God. Angry at everything.
I felt myself begin to cry along with her. Salty tears sliding down my cheek.
***
It doesnt really dawn on you what is happening once you actually sit down and talk about it. People always joked about what they would do when the zombie apocalypse came. But something they never put much thought about was the things that they would lose.
No one ever took it seriously; it was just a fantasy created by the morbid human mind. But that fantasy was now quickly becoming reality. And it honestly sucked major balls.
You would think:
I'll just raid some random gun store and I'm set.
Bullshit. There isnt any time for that. It's either run, or be eaten. There is no maybes. No 'I should' or 'we should '. There is just 'survive or die trying' in this world. Its not a game were you can just pause and start over.
It sucks. It really, really, really, fucking sucks. My mind was completely dumbfounded about this thing that was happening.
I was driving now. Charlie rested next to me; her gentle intakes and exhales of air keeping me from having a panic attack. Right now knowing she was here with me is what keeps my from going absolutely insane. Seeing Leland in the back seat, kept me from giving up. It was just us for now. Why has everything come down to this? Is this how everything is going to end? No goodbyes? This is painful.
My hands tightly grip the steering wheel as I try to stop myself from falling asleep. I began to drive slower, just in case. Soon enough, I spotted a building.
"Hobb's Inn. Seems kind of sketchy but whatever."
Now, I know this is a bad idea. But driving while tired with a child in the backseat is also a bad idea. I looked back at the rearview mirror and saw Leland looking out the window; his round eyes reflecting the dark sky and the stars. If only he knew what was going on, I thought.Without a second thought, as I reached the entrance, I made a turn and went into the empty parking lot.
"Charlie." I found myself saying. After a small nudge and a smack in the arm (from her), she finally sat up and looked at me. Her eyes looked at me questioningly and then she looked around us.
"Why are we here?" Her voice came out small. She cleared her throat and looked back at Leland. Charlie's eyes warmed as she looked at the child. Love radiating from her to the toddler. I watched as she extended her hand out to him and gently pushed back his hair. The little boy looked at her with eyes glazed with sleepiness, and smiled. "Hi baby."
"We should take a break here, Charlotte." I spoke. " I know it's a bad idea, since we don't know who is there—or what. "But," I paused and looked at the kid. "we all need to rest. "
Charlotte sighed and ran a hand through her long brown hair. Her light hazel eyes looks up at the building and then to me. Charlie gave me a small smile and nodded, mouthing an 'OK'. I reached at her feet and grabbed the gun she had gotten from her dad as well as the scarce ammunition. Another sigh escaped her lips as she grabbed the bat she had been carrying when she came to find me.
Charlie got out of the car and put on a—bare with me I don't know the name— thing to place baby Leland on her chest protectively. She closed the door as quietly as she could in order to not draw attention to us in case any of those infected people were near. Together, we started quietly moving towards the entrance of the hotel, gun and bat tightly held in our hands.
As soon as we got close, I instinctively went first. When I opened the door, a sudden odor hit my nose making me cringe in disgust. Charlie closed the door behind her and locked the entrance. We both looked behind the counter, following the rotten stench and found the body of an older woman. She had a gun shot wound to the head, and a gun in her hand. We could see her leg had been ripped off and a bloody trail leading up the stairs. We assumed she dragged herself down here, pulled out a gun and killed herself in order to not become one of the...erm... zombies.
Clearly, this meant that we had to be cautious as we climbed up the stairs in search of a room. Charlie was behind me, now and then looking behind her just in case we missed something; to also avoid being attacked from behind. I held the gun in front of me, and slowly walked up to the second floor of the building. We were following the trail of blood which, is stupid. But we need to make sure what room to avoid in order to not walk in to a room with the undead inside. Now THAT would be utterly disastrous, and incredibly dumb.
"Dean" Charlie whispered to me. As soon as we reached the first door on the second floor, she pointed a few doors a head, showing were the trail if blood ended. I nodded and decided to stick to the room closest to the stairs in case of emergency. I opened the first door we had reached and pushed myself quietly inside. Thankfully, it was clear. I quickly locked the door and sat on the bed.
"I feel like something bad is bound to happen." Charlie muttered as she unhooked a sleeping Leland from the thing she used to place him on her chest; laying him down on the bed. She then sat next to me at the edge of the bed and sighed. I placed elbows on me legs and placed my face between my hands. After a few minutes of silence, Charlie spoke.
"Dean" she sighed softly. She grabbed my hand and leaned her head onto my shoulder. She looked tired, her usually radiant eyes were dull, showing no emotion and puffy from all the crying. "What are we going to do?"
I gave her a kiss on the head and rubbed my finger on her hand. I wanted to tell her we were going to find somewhere safe. I wanted to tell her not to worry that we were going to be fine. But, that would be lying. I didn't know what we were going to do, nor do I know if there's a safe place. I didn't know if we were really going to be fine.
"We are going to do what we do best" I said to her after a while. "Take things as they come to us. We are going to stick together, and figure it out as we go along. I wish I could tell you exactly, Charlie. But I don't know either."
Charlie looked at me, her eyes watering. I gave her a small smile.
"We are going to stick together and kick everything coming to us in the ass." A memory came into my head, and I spoke again. " Remember as kids when I taught you how to ride a bike?"
Charlie nodded and chuckled.
"Yeah, it took me about two months to finally be able to do it properly without falling over." She said with a light chuckle. I nodded and smiled.
"That's what we are going to do. We are going to keep going, no matter how hard it gets and how close we are to death. It's scary. Just like it was for you to ride that bike and just how I was scared of you getting hurt. But, we are going to keep going until we either succeed, or ultimately fail. We have to succeed, Char. Not just for you, not just for me. But for Leland too. For our families that are now gone."
Charlie patted my cheek softly and smiled.
"When did you get so good at motivational speeches?" She asked me. I chuckled and shrugged.
"I guess the fucking apocalypse had to come for me to get good at it"
***
I sat on the bed looking at Leland as Charlie showered. I had already showered and I was waiting for her to get out so we could sleep. I was already slowly closing my eyes here and there but, I didn't want to go to sleep before she did. My hand gently brushed Lelands hair as he slept, he had his little thumb inside his mouth. I smiled at how much he looked like Charlie and her sister. He was going to be a good looking man on he got older, and I'm going to make sure he gets older. Even if it costs me my own life.
I heard the shower stop and about five minutes later, Charlie came out wearing an oversized shirt and shorts. Her wet hair fell over her shoulder as she brushed it and she had her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Charlie's eyes landed on me and she gave me a small smile.
"Showers always make me feel better." She said. "I contemplated about what the hell is going on. A lot. And, I don't want to cry anymore. Not now at least. Not until we find somewhere safe for Leland." I sat up and looked at her and nodded in agreement."Let's leave the tears for when we are safe." Charlie continued. "Now, where do you think we should go?"
My mind started to wonder thoroughly about where we should head to. There must be a safe place for us SOMEWHERE.
"I'm not too sure honestly." I sighed, rubbing my face with my hands. "We just have to keep going until we find some place with people. If there are people... I mean surely there must be some people who know how to survive out there"
Charlie nodded and grabbed a little bowl that once had been full of cereal to give to Leland which he had quickly started munching on; it was now empty and she placed it in Lelands bag. Charlie began packing everything up. Suddenly, a sound coming from a few doors down could be heard loudly throughout the building. It was the sound of growling, and then pounding against the door.
"Let's get out of here" I told Charlie. With a nod, Charlie quickly grabbed Leland, his bag and her backpack. I grabbed the remaining bags and opened the door. After looking around we quickly made our way out of the inn and jogged towards the car.
After about five minutes of placing Leland in his car seat, the bags in the trunk, and getting settled ourselves; we left.
This was definitely going to be tiresome to do every day from now on.
***
Hello there reader!
I really hope you enjoyed this chapter of Just Another Zombie Story aka, JAZS. I decided that every now and then I would write chapters with Deans point of view. Im trying to make very chapter have a little bit of action but not too much of it because then it gets tiring after a while. Then again, it is a zombie story so, it cant also NOT have any! Haha, I'm going to try my best to balance that out. Please also keep in mind this story is only being written for entertainment purposes. I am not a professional author nor do I think Im the best. I will make mistakes so remember to be kind!
Thank you for reading this story and remember to leave a like and comment. If you spot any mistakes, please point them out! If you have any idea on what you would like to see on this story, please message me privately or write it down in the comments!
Thank you all! Love, Nathalie ♡ (euphoriiaaaa)