ZME1

The Starting Point

I put on my favorite music and turned up the volume as soon as we got inside the car. Mike and Nash are probably going deaf by this point, but they appear to be having a good time in the back of the car. I decided to roll down the car window to give them some fresh air and to allow the loud music to be heard outside the vehicle. Maybe it'll help them become less deaf. The streets were pitched black and I turned on the headlights of my car. It was a 30-minute drive from the mansion to the supermarket.

I stomped on the brakes as I parked my car in front of the supermarket. Everyone got their seatbelts off and was ready to get out of the car. I swallowed a numbing gulp of air, then blinked several times to moisten my gritty eyes. I haven't slept since last night. I just couldn't stop thinking of him. My ex, I mean.

My carefully styled hair was ruffled by a strong, dry wind that blew off my bandana. I tried to smooth it back, but the stubborn hair strands wouldn't stay in place. Sighing, I stuffed the bandana into the pocket of my pants and followed Nash and Mike into the supermarket.

While Nash and Mike went to get drinks, chips, candies, and other stuff, I walked down the baking aisle to get baking packs for everyone to bake tomorrow morning.

As I was about to take a box of chocolate mix, the lights started to blink hysterically, making everyone look like they're moving in slow motion. It made me quite dizzy. A few feet away, I noticed a group of friends fighting with other people who appeared to be covered in blood a few feet away. A guy ran towards me, accompanied by what appeared to be two of his other friends, a girl, and a small boy. He handed me a pocket knife and said, "Save yourself." I stood there like an idiot, perplexed by what was going on.

Everyone in the supermarket was in a state of panic. Nobody cared about money any longer. They just took a pushcart and took whatever they could as if it were the end of the world. As I turned around, I heard screeching behind me and my eyes widened, unable to process what I had just witnessed. As it began to run towards me, I could hear the bones of that thing breaking. I stood motionless, unable to move my body. I tripped over one of the counters and fell to the floor. Before I could blink, screaming at the top of my lungs, a man appeared out of nowhere and stabbed that thing in the forehead.

"What are you doing? I gave you a knife for a reason."

"Your–," I stayed silent examining the dead body and back at the guy that saved me. He reached out his hand and helped me stand up.

Nash scratches one of his eyebrows with knifepoint and approaches Mike, putting his other unoccupied arm onto his shoulders.

"We should probably leave," Nash panicked, "Now."

"What the hell is going on?" Mike questioned.

Before I knew it, the mystery man, like everyone else, was shoving anything and everything into the pushcart he'd brought with him. I soon followed, as did everyone else, by taking an unoccupied pushcart from the nearly finished line of pushcarts. For me to bother, my heart was racing too fast, my head was racing, and my hands were shaking, grabbing and tossing whatever I could in the pushcart. There were no cannibals in the area at the time, which was a stroke of luck for us. People were panicked, and they ran as fast as they could out of the supermarket, pushing their pushcarts with them.

I spoke as soon as everyone gathered around with their pushcarts full of unnecessary yet, could be helpful items.

"What now?" I asked

"We get out of here," he paused "and run," the mystery guy sighed with his eyes wide open.

"And then?" Mike stuttered

"And then we look for my van, take whatever we can from the pushcarts and shove them at the back and with us if possible, then I drive–"

"--we have to go back" Nash quickly turned to me with his eyes filled with fear.

"Okay, so that's the plan.."

I took a deep breath and wasn't expecting the confidence that got out of my mouth. "When I say go. We go. In 3... 2... 1"