Me vs. Zombies

Me vs. Zombies : 二

“Hey Mandip how’s the wife search party going?”

I’d been struggling to pick between a Twix or a Galaxy cookie crumble when a big ruff looking man in about his forties entered the shop, picking up two crates of Strongbow Cider. I watched him red-faced walk to the counter, slam them on the desk and greet Mandip with one of those nods all men of any age seem to do when recognizing a friend.

“Not very well my friend, I’ve had my eyes on Miss Mackay for ages but she doesn’t seem to be interested,” Mandip frowned as he started to scan the two crates of drink.

All of Mandip’s family was Indian, though it wasn’t obvious. It was hard to tell as his accent had gone where as his brother and sister, Mandeep and Lakdeep had strong tones to their voice.

“Yea, I know what you mean; she’s got unrealistic standards she has. Like I mean, you’re the perfect man for her, owning a shop and all, what does she do?”

“Hairdressing,” Mandip smiled. No doubt she’d offered him a free haircut before and Mandip was recalling the event. I tore my eyes away from the men, returning my attention back to the chocolate section. I was stood from about another minute or so until I heard my name.

“Hey Rose, can’t decide what you want this week?” Lakdeep had come out form the back of the shop, smiling at me. She was so beautiful, like a Goddess on earth. Personally, I think all Indian women are naturally stunning, their complexion and features looked as if they were moulded by Aphrodite herself. Every time I was mistaken as Indian I’d smile, when really my mum’s dad was Jamaican and I was lucky inherit a permanent tan.

Lakdeep looked even more beautiful than normal as she was pregnant, due to give birth in about three weeks.

“Hey Lakdeep, how’s the baby?”

“Aw, my little baby is doing great, you’re invited to the christening and your parents are welcome to join the celebration of my new child,” Lakdeep smiled sweetly then bent forward to lean against the counter where the cubby man and his cider had long gone from.

“That’s great I’ll tell my mum and dad when I get home,” I returned her smile, questioning her religion in my head secretly. I’d always thought they were Seek; they must be Christians or Catholics. Or maybe Seek’s have christenings for their children. But then again, the word christening looks like christen...

“Did you hear about that  plane crash?” she asked. Mandip cleared his throat, a sign showing he was listening and if he could, contribute to the conversation.

“Er, yea my dad was watching it, I wasn’t really paying much attention, I thought they’d figure out everything by today and I’d check the news today,” I picked up a galaxy caramel just to be different for once, and headed to the counter.

“Aye I know, but it seems that they have no leads to what happened. The officials were trying to contact the Chinese airline but there’s no leads,” Mandip raised his brows, shaking his head slowly, “A lot of people are worrying you know.”

I looked at him and raised my brows, placing the chocolate on the counter.

“How come? It’s not that scary, China always closed themselves off from the world any, it normally takes ages to get a hold of them anyway,” I’d remembered Chinas policy rules when study it for Geography. Lakdeep rummaged under the counter, pulling out a cookie crumble, a twix and a chocolate milkshake. You can tell I like chocolate.

“Well people are wondering why it came here, and you would have thought it would have gone to London airport instead of little Teesside if it was an emergency,” Mandip nodded to his theory as if was correct. I shrugged.

“Well, I’m only 15 years old I shouldn’t be worrying about this kind of stuff, I have boys on my mind,” I smiled jokingly and smiled at Mandip then Lakdeep, “Thanks Lakdeep, I’ll pay you back.”

“No! No, no, it’s fine, you’re practically family here. To me anyway, I’ll see you later,” she handed me the bag she’d just packed all my food into. I took it, smiling and thanking her again.

I turned on my heal and left the shop, shoving my hand into my pockets to keep them warm, letting the bang hand from my wrist. As I reached the edged of the road, I pressed the traffic light buttons and waited. Normally I was capable of dashing across roads like a cat with all nine lives in tact, but winter was different; the road could have black ice on, but my main reason was so I didn’t have to move my head out of my coat and replace warm air with freezing.

I stared at the little red man, waiting for him to turn green.

“Oh hurry up, it’s freezing,” I muttered to myself.

The man switched colours, from angry red to earthly green. I put my right foot in front of me and heard the horn of a car beeping continually. Sweat broke out all over my body and my head twirled to the side, my death already framed in my mind. A black four by four shot past me, just inches from my feet. I screamed my heart racing. I slipped on some ice and froze on the floor with it, my eyes following the black car as it smashed into another, sending it flying onto its side, and even then it didn’t slow down.

“Oh my God are you okay, Rose! Rose...,” I could hear Lakdeep and Mandip calling my name along with some other people I didn’t know. I started to shake with shock, and then the whole world collapsed around me.