I wake up. It's eight in the morning. I go into the kitchen. I open one of the cabinets. We didn't check them last night. The cabinet is fully stocked. I check the next. It's full, too. Nothing in the house has a spec of dust on it.
Someone grabs me from behind. I reach for a knife by the sink. The person pulls me back before I can grab it. I bite the hand of the person. Blood is on my teeth and dripping onto the carpet. The person let's go. I grab the knife on the counter. I turn around. A man stands there.
"What the hell are you doing in my house? You bit me!" he yells.
I look at the coffee table. My gun is gone.
"Give me my gun!" I say.
"I don't have it," he says.
Muddy bootprints lead up the stairs.
"Is anyone else with you?" I ask.
"Yeah, my brother Steven," he says.
I run up the stairs. I open the bedroom door. Another man stands over the bed with my gun. He notices me. I stab him the shoulder with the knife. He drops the gun. He reaches for it. I kick it away. The gun slides to the door out of our reach.
"Stop now!" I hear.
I see Jake holding my gun. The man backs off. Everyone in the house is awake now.
"Shoot him," Henry says.
"Don't do it," I say.
"Jake, shoot him now!" Henry yells.
"Shut up!" I yell to Henry.
I take the gun back. I hit the man over the head with it.
"Tie him and his brother up," I say.
We head downstairs. Henry ties them both up in the basement.
"Why did you not want me to shoot him?" Jake asks.
"Because I didn't want you to have to kill someone," I say.
"I've killed zombies before," he says.
"It's different. Zombies are dead. When you kill someone, that stays with you for the rest of your life," I say.
"Well, what do we do about them?" Sam asks.
"We were the ones who came in here and slept in their house. Technically, we're in the wrong. We untie them and leave," I say.
"So, we just let them off the hook for trying to kill us?" she asks.
"Would you react differently if you saw the people who broke into your house?" I ask.
I hear yelling in the basement. I run to the sounds. I open the door. One of them has turned and is trying to bite the other. I pull out my knife. I stab the zombie in the eye.
"That bite wasn't on his arm when we came here," Steven says. Henry unties him.
"I bit him when he grabbed me, but he wouldn't have turned because of that," I say.
He looks at my arm. He's staring at the scar on my wrist. It's from when that zombie, Kim, bit me. His staring is making me feel uncomfortable.
"She's been bitten before!" he says.
Everyone here knows that. Did I infect him? Clarissa grabs my arm. She pulls me to the side.
"You infected him. You carry a part of the virus in your saliva. So do Sarah and I," she says.
I infected someone? I ruined someone's life. I killed them.
"We need to kick them out. They are a danger to us," Steven says.
"No, I'm not a danger to anyone here," I say.
The others back away from Sarah, Clarissa, and I.
"How long until these monsters decide to sink their teeth into someone else? Like those little girls you two have," Steven says to Henry and Susan.
"We're not monsters. They are," I say pointing to Steven's brother.
Steven grabs Henry's gun from the holster. He points it at me. He is going to shoot me.
"We need to kill them, before they kill us," he says. Jake and Alex get in front of me.
"She would never hurt us," Alex says.
"They stay with us...for now," Henry says.
Steven decides to stay at the house when Susan offers for him to join us. If anyone is a monster, it's Steven.
He was willing to kill anyone that he deemed a threat. I understand wanting to be safe, although Steven didn't have all the facts about what I really am.
We get ready to leave. We're going to drive through town and try to find a grocery store. We arrive at the store. There is a already dug grave by the store. It's empty. The doors are blocked by shelves. There is a window high up.
"Alex, if I help you up there could you try to open the window?" I ask.
"Okay," she says. I lift her as high as I can. She opens the window. I put her down.
"Would you mind giving me a boost?" I ask Henry.
"Look, it's nothing personal, but I don't want to after finding out what you are," he says.
"This is personal. I am what I am and I can't change that," I say.
"I'll help you. Unlike these cowards, I know you'd never hurt someone unless it was self defense," Sam says.
Sarah and Sam struggle trying to help me up. I finally pull myself through the window. I push the shelves out of the way. Sarah opens the door all the way.
I hear something being knocked over. I pull my gun from its holster.
"Keep everyone up here. Wait until I say that it's all clear," I whisper to Sarah.
I walk down each aisle. My flashlight starts to dim. I really need to change the batteries. It dims slowly until it completely turns off, leaving me in the darkness. I don't like not being able to see what's right in front of me. I feel vulnerable and exposed. I hit the light with my hand a few times. The flashlight turns on. A young child is in front of me. It's a girl.
"I need help," she says. Her eyes are normal.
"Whats wrong?" I ask.
"Follow me!" she says before taking off.
I follow her. She leads me to a door. It's a break room.
"You need to tell me why you need help," I say.
"It's my friend. She's hurt," she says.
She opens the door. We walk in. She stops. She begins to shake. I reach my hand towards her. I lightly touch her shoulder. She jumps on me. She's growling. Her pupils are enlarged. I push her back. She snaps at me.
I yell to the others. I throw the zombie off. She charges at me. I slide a chair in her way. She jumps over it. I grab her wrists. I push her back. She is stronger then me.
Sarah walks in. She stabs the zombie in the head. She picks the dead zombie up.
"I want to bury her outside. She was just a kid. She deserves a burial. It shouldn't take long,"
Sarah says. I find the others.
"Did you find anything yet?" I ask.
"Enough for maybe a week," Sam says.
A week isn't bad. I go outside. Sarah might need some help. Sarah stands over a grave. She sticks a shovel in the ground.
"Jade, there is a house on the beach. It's untouched," Sarah says.
"Are you sure?" I ask.
"Yeah, I looked through the windows," she says.
Everyone exits the store. I tell the others about the house Sarah found. We walk towards it. As we walk along the beach it starts to rain. Maybe we can stay at the house at least for tonight. Jake screams. I turn around. Three zombies are headed towards us.
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...
