I wake up to the sound of glass being broken. I look over to the front door. Three people stand outside. One is holding a large rock. They don't see me yet. I wake up Sarah and Sam. I quickly grab my sleeping bag and stuff it into my backpack.
I hear shoes crunching on glass shards. We need to clean up anything that shows people were here recently. I sling my backpack over my shoulder.
"Let's go!" I whisper.
"Where?" Sam asks.
I look around. There's got to be another exit. The footsteps grow louder as the people come closer. I guide Sarah and Sam down the aisles.
"I know you're in here," a male voice says. "I saw you look at us when we were outside."
"What do you want?" I ask.
"I want to talk with you." Why?
"I have nothing to say to you," I reply.
"I want to trade with you," he says.
"I'm listening..."
"We found a bag full of food. It's more then we can carry. I'll give it to you in exchange for a gun," I walk over to them.
It's a man, woman, and young boy. The woman has a duffel bag. It's the ones the cannibals took.
"That's actually mine. I lost it," I say. The man obviously doesn't believe me.
"Hand a gun over and it's yours," the woman says.
I check all their eyes. I don't think their zombies. We really need that bag, but is it worth a gun? We only have the three.
"I can't do that," I say.
"Jade, let's talk about this," Sam says.
She takes her backpack off. She pulls a small revolver out of the side pocket.
"Give it to them. I haven't used it in three years. We need that bag back," she says.
I offer the family the gun. They take it. The bag is ours once again.
We leave the store. I pull out a map. We still have six days until we reach this group. I hear a car engine. We hide. It's got skulls painted on it like the one yesterday. It pulls to the side of the road.
A man gets out. He's got a black mask on. Sarah sneaks into the gas station behind us. She calls us over quietly. We walk over.
"What is it?' I whisper.
"You don't want those people anywhere near you. They have a base hundreds of miles from here. I have no idea why they travelled all the way out here," Sarah says.
The man approaches the door. Sarah leads us to the roof.
"What are we going to do? We're cornered up here," I say.
Sarah stands at the edge of the building looking down. A raging river is what she is looking at. Across the river is a road. Sam pulls out a map.
"We are going to jump," Sarah says.
"Are you insane?" I yell.
"Jumping wouldn't be such a bad idea...I mean we need to get to the road on the other side of the river anyways. This might shave a whole day off our trip," Sam says.
I understand what they are saying, but this seems too dangerous. The man makes it up to the roof. Sarah jumps, then Sam. With no other options I hold my breath and dive in. I land in the water. The water is so cold, I worry about contracting hypothermia. I see Sam having difficulty keeping her head above the water. I swim over. I help her up to the surface, grabbing her hand. Sarah is sitting on a large boulder that is just above the surface of the river.
"I'm freezing! We're going to die in this damn river," I yell.
"We just need to make it over to the road," Sarah says like it's so easy.
Fighting the current, we all swim over. Now we have to climb up.
Sarah goes first. Sam then starts the climb. Sarah reaches the road. She pulls Sam up. They both pull me up. There is a house close by.
"Let's rest inside there for a bit," Sam says.
"No, we've wasted enough time already. We're
going to push forward," I say.
"I'm tired, cold, and soaking wet! I just need five minutes, is that so much to ask?" Sam says.
"Fine, but then we're moving on," I say.
Sam sits on a bench. We don't have time to waste. Who knows what else we'll encounter today. Finally, Sam starts walking again.
"What happened to that bag you were carrying?" Sarah asks.
I'm missing the bag with all of our supplies. I must have lost it in the river.
"Are you kidding me? We gave up a gun for that bag and you lost it?" Sam yells.
"The only reason I lost it is because Sarah made us jump into a river!" I yell.
"Will you both just shut up! We'll find more supplies. You both should be grateful that we're alive. Most people don't have that luxury," Sarah says.
"Well, since we don't have anything, we should search that house." I say.
I open the front door. There is dried blood leading from the door all the way into the kitchen. On the fireplace are pictures. The two kids in one of them look eerily familiar. Once I get closer I realize who they are. It's a younger Jake and Alex.
"Is that those kids?" Sam asks.
"Yeah," I say.
Jake and Alex mentioned that their parents house had gotten overrun by zombies and that's why they left.
"I'll check the kitchen, Sam will check the living room and bathroom, and Sarah will check upstairs," I direct.
I walk in the kitchen. There's a knife on the counter. I take it. I notice there is a note hung up on the fridge. It says "To Jake and Alex. If your reading this, that means we're gone. You two are probably never going to see this. We hope you find someone who can protect and care for the both of you. We love more than the world. Mom and Dad."
I put the note in my bag. The kids will want to see this. I search the cabinets. I find two cans of fruit and a box of protein bars. I'm surprised I found anything. I hear a scream in the living room.
I run to the sound. A zombie is on top of Sam. I pull the knife I found in the kitchen out. I stab the zombie in the head. The zombie is still moving.
"Don't move," I hear behind me. "Now slowly pull the knife out and drop it."
"But it's a zombie," I say.
"And so am I."
YOU ARE READING
The Dead Walk Among Us
Science FictionIt's been ten years since the fall of humanity. I was only ten years old when the zombies took over. The military told us to flee underground, explaining that it was safer. The zombies are smart, too smart. They can learn to hide themselves. Some of...
