Never Safe...

Chapter 3

"I'm sorry guys that you had deal with this. Being consumed from within isn't a pleasent experience for anyone involved. As im taking my last breaths, I just want to say thank you.  My last few months were better than anyone's could be during the apocalypse. If this ever ends and my family is alive....please, please just tell them what happened. Tell them I love them. And I love you guys too! Survive without me. Don't be sad."

This note is heartbreaking. The last line is really smudged and hard to read, but I squint and just barely make it out.

"My uncle has a gun shed not too far from here: 123 Clark Street. Live on with-"

The sentence suddenly stops right there. That is the last word she wrote before she died.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a while since Braylee's death. We don't really talk about it anymore. Luke has been really quiet since then and I hadn't really seen much of him. He slips away at day and comes back at night. I looked over at the calender and see that today is August 1st. It's been 6 months since this outbreak started.

"If I could have anything in the world right now, I would want a t.v. to watch spongebob and make sure he wasn't eaten by zombies"

They chuckled at my response.

"No offense, but how'd you survive this long on your own. It must've been hard."

Ashton said.

"It's a long story."

"We've got time." I just smiled

"Well, the first day it happened, I woke up to screaming from downstairs. I rushed out of my bed and stood at the top of the stairs. The door was wide open and these creatures were getting in the house. Blood dripping down their mouths, skin flaking and falling off their face, the rotting stench that they had grown accustomed to....I didn't know what they were at first, but they went after my mom, brother, and sister before I could process what was happening and do something about it. I ran to my parents bedroom and grabbed ny dad's pistol that he always keeps under the bed in a shoe box. I ran to my room and locked myself in there. Something tried getting in and I just climbed out the window and ran.....I didn't know where  I was running to, no destination whatsoever. I just wanted to find somewhere I could be safe. I hid at a friend's house for a couple of days and learned what happened from his radio. Then I just.....left, I guess. Moving place to place I eventually ended up back here. I collected things from other houses and made a shelter down here. I didn't want to stay with anyone. Too many loose ties, you know? So I've been here, by myself, for 4 months. That's when I saw you guys and Braylee being a corpse almost, and now....here you two are."

Ash looked at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes, Luke looked pretty much the same.

"We've been at the junior high the whole time, and we blew our safest bet. Literally."

"What happened"

"There was a horde coming after us. About 3 dozen zombies. There were 5 of us but the zombies got to them. Calum...one of my best friends....threw a homade grenade...he uhm...h-he was standing too close when it blew up. He d-died instantly. The grenade killed most of them, but we had to kill the rest. That's when we heard crying and a painful shreik coming from a little down the hall. We found zombies chewing Braylee's leg. She was my girlfriend. The love of my life. A-and I didn't even get a chance to tell her that.....T-the fire the grenade made burned most of the school down before we could get out. So we picked up Braylee and tried finding some more survivors. You were the first one we've seen for days. And that's how we ended up here."

I gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry."

He shurgs and looks away. I could see Luke was close to tears so I tried my best to comfort him. I got up from the matress and sat on the couch next to him. I leaned over and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed tight. Sobbing into my shoulder, I rubbed his back trying to calm him down. After a while, his sobs turned into soft hiccups.

"We're running out of clothes. Wanna go loot some places and try to get some that don't smell like rotten zombie skin?"

They both nodded. I grabbed my axe and we made our way up the basement steps.