I AM SO SORRY THIS IS REALLY LATE. i kinda got lazy distracted.
“And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain; don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.” I could hear Michael F’s voice singing sweetly. Now, his singing wasn't anywhere near perfect-- also slightly off key--but the familiar sound of the rapsy and not-too-deep voice brought a feeling of calm over me. I found myself gently swaying to his soothing voice. I wanted more than anything in that moment to curl up into a ball and sleep. It would be impossible for me to even catch a wink, though. Not after the horrifying events we had just witnessed; Aidan's death, Jacob's, Mr. M's. I shuddered as images of Aidan's terrified eyes, Jacob's body being feasted on, and Mr. M's own son ripping out flesh from his father's neck flashed through my mind. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes but quickly blinked them away. There had been enough crying from everyone; I'd never thought I'd ever get a glimpse of Shamar crying. He hadn't known I saw him, but it was best for me not to say anything; he wouldn't want me seeing him showing any weakness. I understood how he felt because I thought crying was a sign of weakness as well. I hated that I had shown people my weakness through tears and hated even more when they tried comforting me, it meant that they pitied me. I hated being pitied.
“So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin. You're waiting for someone to perform with. And don’t you just know it's you, hey Jude, you'll do”. My thoughts were broken by the sound of Michael F’s voice and the chatter of Shamar and Robert arguing over something. My ears tuned back to the sounds of reality, shifting from the muffled background noise to the clear voices and sounds around me.
"-but I'm not sure man. It's not that safe if you think about it." Shamar said to Robert with furrowed eyebrows.
"Come on, I got chu cuz'." Robert replied, nonchalantly.
"Robert, this is serious."Shamar tried to stifle his laughter to no avail, "Do we really want to put not only ourselves but our friends at risk?" I guessed that they were talking about the "group" we wanted to form; and it seemed that Shamar was having second thoughts about it. I decided to speak up about what I thought we should do.
"Well, think about it, we're going to need supplies and go on food runs. It wouldn't be safe for just one or two people to go, but it also wouldn't be safe for all of us to go because we'd make too much noise. If we have people willing to risk themselves to help everyone, then we should allow them to join; along with our approval of course." I felt my face flush; I was nervous about what Shamar would say because I looked up to him and didn't want him thinking badly of me.
"That's true," so far so good I thought, "But," but?!, "seriously, these are our very own friends, we've known them for years and would you be able to kill them if you really needed to? Would you be able to live with yourself knowing their death could've been stopped if you had kept them here?" For the first time in my life, I was completely speechless. I had never been absolutely speechless in my life; I didn't like it. I started to panic, the silence is too long, I thought, he thinks I’m stupid, I am. I shouldn't have said anything. But we're going to need supplies and food, how else will we obtain it?
"Shamar, things will be fine." Robert shot me a grin. I left a mental note to myself to thank him for saving me. I swallowed my nervousness and collected my thoughts.
"Yes...I think I could do it if I absolutely needed to. We have to learn to adapt quickly in the world we live in now. Deaths are going to happen, we already lost some of our friends today, but keeping them here and doing nothing will only kill all of us. And we'll make sure whoever joins us will know that they may have to deal with killing one of us if the time comes." I nodded firmly. Shamar stared at me, eyes like stone while his brain was calculating what would be best for the whole group. Finally, after what felt like millennia, he sighed.
"Okay, but we have to make sure whoever joins can handle themselves in unexpected cases."
"Jasss!" Robert exclaimed while fist bumping the air. Shamar and I couldn't help but laugh. Robert's nonchalant attitude hadn't changed at all; he was still his funny, care-free self. I'm laughing in a zombie apocalypse. I don't know why, but the idea made me laugh more. If I were to go insane, I'm glad I could go insane surrounded with insanely incredible people.
"I'll ask around then." I stood up and walked off, searching for who would be good enough to be in our "group". We should probably think of a name to call it. I thought to myself. I already knew that Robert, Shamar, and I would be in our “squad”, so I made a mental list of those I thought would be capable of unexpected situations. So far I had Logan, Joe, and Brandon. Only six people? I thought in my mind, there has to be a couple more to help gather supplies for all of us. But who else…?
“ Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her under your skin, then you'll begin to make it better better better better better better, oh~”
I smiled at hearing my latino friend’s voice singing softy. He would make an excellent addition to the group. He was strong because he had often worked physical labor since he was young. He also probably knew the most about things involved in the medical field which would make him very important since there was no nurse on campus. On top of that, he was smart and caring and would make decisions that benefited the group rather than him. He would definitely be a good member.
I strode over to Michael F; he had been taking care of Danika’s sprained ankle. Danika and Jada were now both asleep next to each other as Michael F sang softly, “nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah…” He looked up at me and smiled; a nice, genuine, smile with his braces showing. I gladly returned it.
“Looks like you took a good job of her ankle.” I nodded over to Danika’s left foot that was wrapped in a strip of Michael F’s shirt and propped up on a ventilation vent with a sweater underneath her ankle.
“Yeah… she’ll be alright as long as she stays like that for a couple days. Although some ice would help her with the swelling.”
“How bad is it sprained?” I ask.
“Well, judging from how quickly her ankle swelled, she definitely tore her ligament. And since she couldn’t walk on it, it’s a more serious sprain, but she should be walking soon—“Michael F stopped talking when he noticed I was snickering at him, “what?” he questioned.
“You neerrrdd!” I poked his cheek as I laughed. He laughed at himself as well, “It’s okay, and that’s useful nerd information. But I need to ask you something else too.” I stopped giggling and my face grew serious.
“Sure, what is it?” he asked, his expression hardening as well.
“So you know how we can’t really go anywhere since we have no weapons and stuff right?” Michael F nodded his head, signaling me to go on,”so we’re planning on staying here for awhile, but we’ll need supplies and food and stuff. It’s too dangerous for everyone to get stuff and too dangerous for just a couple of people to go. Shamar and some of us were discussing to make some kind of ‘group’ to go on supply runs and things like that. We decided that we would ask people who were athletic and capable of killing in the worst situations, but we also want the people we ask to know that they are putting their lives at risk and would have to be able to kill one of us if we…changed into one of them.” I nodded my head to the side of the building where Mr. M’s son and a couple other zombies were shuffling around. “Do you think you can do this?”
Michael F’s jaw set and he put his hand under his chin, as he often did when thinking. After a moment or two, his eyes looked up at mine.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? You may have to kill one of us, can you imagine killing me? Would you be able to do it if it was for the good of the group?” I stared into his eyes as he did mine.
“I’m sure.” He said with barley any hesitation. After a couple of moments, I smiled.
“Glad we can count on you, man.” I clapped him on the back.
“No problem.” He smiled back, then returned to humming Hey Jude.
I crossed Michael F off of my mental list of names. I was debating whether to ask Logan or Brandon and Joe next when I saw Shamar motioning me over to him. I strode to him casually—or as casual as being on a roof in a zombie apocalypse can be.
“What’s up?” I questioned.
“I saw you talking to Michael F” Shamar started, “is he in?”
“Yeah, I made sure he would know what would happen if things go bad. He was still okay with it, and frankly, I think he is pretty useful for our team.”
Shamar nodded in agreement, “He’s definitely useful. Did you ask Logan, Brandon, or Joe yet?” I shook my head, “alright, I’ll go ask Logan if he’s alright with it. You go ask Joe and Brandon.”
“Alrighty.” He headed off in Logan’s direction while I went to find Brandon and Joe.
I found them in a corner of the roof, both sitting in silence and overlooking the walking corpses below them.
“Hey, how are you guys doing?” I mentally slapped my forehead, how would they be alright, they saw our music teacher die in front of their own eyes!
“I’m okay.” Brandon replied calmly.
I turned to Joe, his eyes were still red from earlier, “Me too.”
“So, you guys know that we have to stay here for awhile. And we need some people who can go on supply runs and stuff. I recommended you both, but we need your approval. Are you guys okay with putting your life at risk?”
“Yes.” Brandon responded quickly. I blinked and hesitated before continuing.
“Would you be able to end one of our friends’ lives if you needed to, could you kill me if you had to?” there was a slightly longer hesitation before he answer with another ‘yes’. I turned to Joe for his answer. His face was pale, probably from thinking of having to kill one of us. I got down on one knee so I was eye level with him.
“You don’t have to say yes, Joe,” I looked into his red-tinged eyes with pale blue irises, “it’s your choice.” He thought about it more for a couple moments, and then he nodded with determination.
“Are you both sure?” I asked them. They both looked to each other, the same silent thought passing between them before they spoke it out loud.
“Yes.” They said in unison.
“All right then. Don’t stay too close to the edge you guys, they might snatch your ankles.” I called to them before I left.
I took long strides to where Shamar and Juan were talking. Shamar paused when I came over.
“Brandon and Joe are in.” Shamar nodded his head knowingly.
“Cool. So is Logan. I was just explaining to Juan that going out on food runs and stuff would be dangerous. Also that he would need to be able to kill in the worst case scenario. And worst-worst case scenario, he would have to be killing one of us.” I looked up to Juan, dead in the eyes.
“Would you be able to kill me or Shamar if you really had to; without hesitation and would you be able to leave us behind?” Juan kept his gaze with mine. He lifted up his glasses so they weren’t slipping off his nose, and nodded solemnly.
“Thanks man.” Shamar clapped the taller boy on the back, “We need some muscle and glad you can provide.” I nodded, grateful that we had more strength to our team—or group, whatever it was. The people in our group were definitely strong, Michael F, Shamar, and Robert were all very athletic; but Juan was bigger and could carry more than the others’ could. He would definitely be useful. Shamar and I turned around only to run into Tristan. Tristan was a short asian kid with slick, deep black hair draping past his shoulders. It had specks of dried blood in it, crimson stars in a midnight black sky.
“Heard you guys are forming some kind of group.” He noted.
“Yeah we are, we were actually about to tell everyone about it right now. So could you help and gather everyone together for us?”
“Sure.” Tristan smiled, seeming happy to do something else then just mope around.
Shamar turned over to me, “So in all we have you, me, Robert, Michael F, Joe, Brandon, Logan, and Juan. This is a pretty good amount of people, but do you really think they’ll be able to handle themselves and make quick decisions?”
I was taken aback that Shamar was asking me for my opinions. Shamar, natural born leader and super smart, cool guy, was asking me, a less-smart, childish but still kinda cool girl for my opinion. The corners of my mouth went up in a smile, “Well, I’m sure Michael F, Brandon, Logan and Juan can handle quick thinking, but Joe may hesitate and freeze up; so it would be a good idea for me to partner up with him. And for Robert, well, he’d make decisions a little too quickly.”
Shamar nodded in agreement, knowing that Robert was hyperactive and didn’t often think when he did his actions. “I was thinking the same thing. Except that are you sure Brandon can make quick decisions on his own?”
“Trust me; he would let himself die instead of someone else. Not because he wants to sacrifice himself, just because he wants to die.” I told the fact sadly. It wasn’t exactly a secret, so I knew it was okay to tell Shamar.
“Yeah, I guess. Thanks for telling me what you think though.” He ruffled my hair, making sure not to muss it up too much.
“No problem!” I chirped, glad to have praise from my older brother-friend figure, “we should head over to everyone now, I have a plan that I think will help us all.”
He cocked an eyebrow towards me, “A plan?” he questioned. I only held my finger to my lips, and began walking to where everyone was gathered.
We quickly ran through about the group we had formed, how we would go out on food runs and other tasks that involved more risk. We announced all our members and asked if anyone else would like to join. Josie's shy hand reached up. I glanced to Shamar, whose eyebrow was arched questioningly. We gave her the same spiel about how dangerous it was and if she would be able to kill us, et cetera. She agreed with a solemn nod. Shamar and I gazed at each other, having a silent agreement. We both knew that Josie was smart enough to handle herself. She was also a soccer playing girl and could run without fail for a longer period of time than others. He nodded in approval.
“Okay. You can join. Glad we can have another girl.” I smiled.
“Oh yeah” Shamar stated as if he just remembered something, “we also need a name for our group thingy. Any ideas?”
I scanned the crowd for anyone to speak up. When my gaze landed on Tristan, I noticed the huge grin on his face.
“I have a name.” he spoke up, “Team Kill Squad. Boom!” he exclaimed the ‘boom’ in an ecstatic manor.
It had been an inside joke with our friends; Tristan would always have their team names for P.E. ‘Team Kill Squad’ and it seemed perfect for our group or team. That got a couple of laughs from our friends. I smiled more at the laughing. Tristan had always been good at making people laugh, he was lucky with having such a gift; it would be especially helpful in our situation.
The loud ring of the bell caused me to jump (along with a few others as well). It seemed to be the end of fourth period. Strange what had all changed in only an hour. That meant that it was time for lunch. I sighed as I felt my stomach grumble. We would need to go into the cafeteria soon to get food for everyone; we had to eat as much as already prepared possible before it would spoil. That also meant we would have to plan how to get into the cafeteria (or café for short) without causing too much commotion. It also meant we would have to figure out what the zombies weaknesses were; we would obviously have to try killing one, but we also would need to know if they had excessive hearing or sight like in movies. I took off my glasses and scrubbed hand down my face. This would take awhile. Well, I thought to myself, better start planning.
I headed over to Shamar, who I guess was our leader, to see what we should do first.
not much was very interesting in this chapter, sorry! im trying to put enough detail for understanding of what is going on. also i dont like it when stories go really fast, which is why things are so slow right now. anyways, hope you had/have a nice day! vote, comment and whatevs. peace--D