It had been four days since Lena had left their small group, and Gale was beginning to worry about how she hadn't returned yet. Everyone in the group were getting antsy, and it seemed like their relationships were beginning to get strained without Lena's guidance.
Gale spotted Amber sitting on her leather brown couch in the living room, and made his way over to lean on the back. He spotted a photograph in her hand, and felt a pang hit his heart. It was the picture they had taken when they first got into high school. It had all of the people here now in it, except for one person. Ryan.
Ryan hadn't been with them when the outbreak started, and he was assumed to be the worst.... Dead.
Amber had always been the closest with him, as the two had attended middle school together. She was always quiet when he was mentioned, and Gale knew that his disappearance would be the same as losing a family member for her. They all avoided thinking about their family, it was too painful to bring up. Gale had also been the close to him, so seeing his smiling form in the picture created anxiety for him.
Amber finally woke from her trance and noticed Gale hovering over her, and smiled apologetically at him as she put away the picture.
"Sorry Gale. I just... miss those times."
"You don't need to be sorry. I miss them too. If only we could go back..."
Amber smiled, pain lacing her hazel eyes as she leaned back on the couch. A few strands of her short black hair fell across her face, but she made no move to shake it off.
"I don't think Lena's coming back." She said, her small voice almost unheard as she whispered softly.
Gale felt his heart shake, as he shook his head fervently. "She's not dead. She can't be." Gale hated how Lena had left them so suddenly. She had disappeared in the middle of the night after they had all heard the radio broadcasting about a paradise. The group had all decided not to go, since it was a big risk. Gale couldn't take it of how she hadn't consulted any of them, and had just decided to leave them. If she really had felt so strongly about it he would have gone, he wouldn't have made her leave on her own like that.
Amber went to reply when a shrill scream echoed through the house, running everyone's blood cold. Amber rushed off the couch while Gale gripped the knife he kept on his belt. The two approached the kitchen, where the scream had originated from, and saw Tyler fighting back a zombie using a kitchen knife. Harper came up behind it and hit the zombie with a metal bat, effectively throwing it to the ground.
Tyler got to his knees above the zombie and used the knife to sever the throat tendons before walking backwards, whipping the sweat and blood from his face. "We need to get upstairs and to the roof! The kitchen windows were busted!"
Gale could see now that the big glass windows had shattered across the floor, and quickly nodded as he followed Amber up the stairs. He could hear a large amount of zombies gather behind them as they all went up stairs, luckily Patrick was already upstairs and met up with them as they traveled down the hallway. They ran to the storage room as it had a pull down ladder that lead to the roof, each of them scrambling up as the now locked storage door was beaten by zombies.
Since they lived in the city Amber's house had been built apartment style with a nice flat roof, making it easily accessible for the group. Gale reached down as everyone finished climbing up and pulled the ladder back in, stranding the zombies below. Everyone took a chance to catch their breaths, heaving as they stood underneath the scorching sun.
They didn't rest for long however, as they all knew the importance of getting somewhere safe before the zombies got onto the opposite building that served as their escape exit. The five of them now used the flat roof to their advantage as they jumped across and reached the other roof, which was also luckily flat. This roof had a fire escape which they all took down, arriving on the ground safely. They took off across the street, not really knowing where they were going, but just trying to get away.
The horde of zombies were still trying to track them, but the gate that they had seen in front of them bode well in Gale's heart, that was until he heard Harper's scream. In front of them a zombie had grabbed Harper, who had been leading the group, and bitten into her shoulder. She screamed out of fear as she struggled against the zombie.
Gale felt dread until he realized that she had shoulder pads on, and felt relieved as Tyler got the zombie off of her in time before it could actually harm her. Their real problem now was getting out of the situation at hand as they now got surrounded from all sides by at least fifteen zombies.
Gale kept a steady hand on his knife as he tried not to let the fear grip his heart, knowing that he would need to help take down the zombies surrounding them. Gale took a deep breath as the zombies charged, going to slash at the first one as it attempted to bite him. He felt Patrick to his right also using a knife to take down a zombie, feeling relieved that it seemed to be going well.
Each of his friends did their parts to keep the zombies away, but it seemed to prove too much as the number of zombies compared to them overwhelmed their small group. Tragedy struck the group as Amber, who had been bashing zombies with a metal bat to Gale's left, was suddenly snatched and dragged into the pile of zombies as Gale screamed after her. He struggled to try and get to her when a gun shot sounded across the air, followed by another one, then another, and soon the large group of zombies dwindled and Gale was able to snatch Amber back and push her behind him. He glanced quickly at her, relieved that she didn't have any wounds, before turning his attention back to the zombies.
He didn't have time to worry about where or who the shots were coming from, and helped his friends take down the last few zombies. His breath came in rushed huffs as he squatted down, trying to gain back his breath. Amber seemed fine as she stood back up, and the group all stood as well and became viligant as they looked for the owner of the gunshots.
A small figure jumped down from a balcony of the house next to them, and approached them silently as their eyes met. Gale felt his breath get snatched away as he looked at the smaller boy in front of him. Brown hair that swayed in the wind, accompanied by soft chocolate brown eyes which almost seemed puffy and red. The sun set behind him and gave him an angelic red hue that matched his hoodie and shoes as he stopped silently in front of the group, a small smile forming on his mouth.
Gale could only mutter one response at the sudden appearance of their lost friend, feeling so many emotions circle in his heart at once.
"Ryan."
YOU ARE READING
Dear Diary, Paradise Awaits
Short Story[BxB] It's been 3 years since the zombie apocalypse began, and Ryan has desperately been fighting for his survival. All of his family have already turned. His mom, dad, and even his sister. And now, he was all alone. Things changed however, when Ry...
