Zombie Story

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve- Theories (Day Four)

My moment of hysteria was cut short. One minute I was laughing so hard that I could barely hold the steering wheel straight and the next minute I felt ice run through my veins. I gripped onto the steering wheel, my palms sweaty with fear. Although I wasn't faced with a mob of zombies, the fear I felt was no different. That blue truck. It was driving right towards the direction I was coming from. The same blue truck that was engraved into my memories. It was no other than Blue Moon Gang. If I had eaten earlier, I certainly would have thrown it up. Thankfully, my stomach was empty.

I was spared once before, given a chance to go to their base, but I knew the sergeant. Or at least I knew him enough to know that he doesn't give second chances. I instinctively reached for my gun, the motion reminded me of Zach. The way he too had reached for his gun, yet it didn't save him. I couldn't allow myself the same fate. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot.

But there was no need for my gun.

The blue truck simply beeped at me as it swerved by. My shock didn't stop me from driving, rather I sped up even more. Still, I was completely and utterly confused. Why didn't they stop me? I was going pretty fast so maybe they didn't see my face. To be fair, I hadn't seen the driver either, but I didn't have to in order to know that the blue truck belonged to the sergeant. But still, they beeped as if they knew me. Like as if I was one of them.

By the time I started to pull up near the alley I came up with a conclusion. From what I knew about Blue Moon Gang, all their cars were iconically blue. Perhaps the Dark Blue BMW I had hotwired, shared some similarities to one of their own cars. It wasn't a solid conclusion, but still, it was something. Or maybe the sergeant thought I was so good looking that he decided to let me live. Or perhaps he just had bigger concerns and the beep was actually a threat.

The many theories and ideas running through my head were left behind once I saw the familiar steel garage door. Who knew that in the span of four days, I would become so attached to this place. This was my home.

I didn't feel like getting out to knock on the door and then getting back in the car to park it. I almost settled on simply beeping the horn until anyone came to open the garage door, but I stopped myself. I almost forgot, I couldn't do that in a zombie apocalypse. It would attract every undead in a mile radius. An exaggeration, but still, my laziness could get me killed.

I sighed, all the energy I had while I was fighting for my life was gone. I was just exhausted now. It would seem that having a mob of zombies chase after you provoked energy you didn’t know you had. I stepped out of the vehicle, the rumble of the car behind me continued to comfort me. I knocked on the garage door, "Hey it's me!".

A few moments passed. Nothing. I was almost worried no one was coming. To my relief, the garage door creaked open revealing a middle aged hispanic woman. Carmen. She was the one married to George. Stubborn. I listed out everything I remembered about her. Keeping track of names wasn't really my thing but in such a small group, it would almost be rude not to.

Carmen's eyes widened when she saw me before her attention turned to something else, "B-behind you."

I whipped around, shooting down at the zombie that was creeping up behind me. I shot its shoulder initially before shooting its head once and then once more. I definitely didn't need to shoot at it so many times, but this was getting tiring. I never wanted to see another zombie again.

I didn't say anything to Carmen and instead got back into the car, parking it next to a cherry red race car. I had to admit, Heather chose a nice car. I pulled apart the wires in the hijacked BMW, turning off the car. A car with actual keys and a working door handle would be much more convenient, we'd have to switch this one out soon.

"We thought you left us..."

Carmen's words caught my attention as I stepped out of the car, "What?"

Her sharp brown eyes bore into mine, "Heather went back to the store to look for you when you didn't come back. But the car was gone. She thought you were kidnapped by David or something. But most of us were sure that you left. We all had our theories."

As much as I wanted to be angry at the accusations, I couldn't blame them. I was still so new to the group. I probably wouldn't have trusted myself either especially with everything that happened. I went around the car to grab the bag I left on the passenger seat, "Why are you telling me this?"

Carmen glanced down at the bag in my hand, she seemed confused, "Well, what happened?"

I slid one strap of the bag onto my arm and headed to the door, I needed to change out of these clothes, "A lot, Carmen."

Her soft answer surprised me, she seemed to realize that I had in fact not abandoned them, "Oh...". She didn't say anything else as I opened the house door. The house was filled with quiet whispers. The group on the couch seemed in a heated discussion.

The tense, quiet atmosphere was broken once they saw me. Instantly, I had a barricade of people circling around me. I couldn't keep track of all the questions they were asking. Geoff was asking about David and where he was. A blonde boy with cinnamon brown eyes I recognized as Colt was questioning me about the car. Heather was embracing me and asking me if I was okay and what had happened yesterday.

"Leave that poor girl alone."

I turned around to see who my defender was. I was surprised to see it was none other than Carmen. The short hispanic woman shooed the people around me away before leading me towards the kitchen, "You poor thing, you must be starving." In a much more strict tone she addressed the group that had only just been questioning me a seconds before, "No one bother her until after she eats. She'll answer all of your questions then. And one of you fools go get my George. Go tell him to take over my lookout shift in the garage."

I was relieved by the silence left once everyone filed out. Carmen preceded to pull out one of the cans from a cabinet. The cabinet was unbelievably bare, only a few cans from the gas station were left. It made sense, the past few days, our runs for food were pretty unsuccessful for the most part.

"You don't have to give me the whole can, there's not much food left. " I directed Carmen, my stomach seemed unhappy with my decision and grumbled a protest. I almost regretted saying what I said in case she actually listened to me.

"Nonsense mija," Carmen disagreed to my relief as she poured out the canned soup into a pot and began to warm it up, "the last time you ate must have been yesterday morning. Or was it an afternoon two days ago?". She wasn't really looking for a response as she continued speaking, " Bill thought you and David ran away together. As lovers. I thought his theory was hilarious."

My expression of disgust was enough answer for her but I rapidly shook my head anyways, "David? Me and David? I can't stand him. After everything that happened, well,

I could kill him."