"Come on! It's your birthday. Let's do something fun," Serena says.
Fun? It's the apocalypse, fun should be the last thing on someone's mind.
"Fine, what did you have in mind?" I ask.
"Let's scavenge a millionaire's mansion!" she says.
That actually doesn't sound that bad. We might find some good stuff.
"Wait, don't you think someone else had this idea before you?" I ask.
"This place was surrounded by a working electric fence. We saw the inside of the house. It was untouched,"
"And why didn't you stay there or take things?" I ask.
"We didn't have the time. Look, it's not that far and we will probably find supplies."
"Okay, I'll meet you guys here in a few minutes," I say.
I walk inside. Maybe the kids would like to come along. Mia walks past me.
Tomorrow we are going to attack the base. We are prepared. I will get the others back. I just wish someone knew how Sam was. I can't lose her. I step into the bookstore.
Jake and Alex are sitting on the couch. Clarissa is leaning against the wall in the corner.
"Serena was thinking that we should check out a mansion. Would any of you like to go with us?" I say.
"Sounds fun. I'm in," Clarissa says.
"Sure, we'll go," Jake says.
Everybody is going then. We meet up with Serena and her brothers. It'll be nice to have fun for a change. The last time I did anything like this, was four years ago. We get in a truck. Serena is driving.
"You said this mansion was surrounded by an electric fence, was it on?" I ask.
"Not when we were there," Michael says.
Serena turns the car onto a dirt road. I can see the house. It looks to be at least three floors. It's painted a light blue.
Serena stops at the fence. I get out of the car. Serena gets ready to climb the fence. I put my arm in front of her.
"Before we start climbing this thing are we absolutely sure the fence isn't on?" I ask.
"There is one way to test it," Shawn says.
He is implying one of us risk our life and touch it.
"Okay, test it," I reply.
He sighs.
He reaches a hand toward the fence. Nothing happens. We climb over it with ease. I open the front door. This place is amazing. The floors are black and white marble. There is a large tv to the right of me and a dining area to the left. In front of us, is a staircase with gold colored railings. The staircase has a royal blue carpet draped down the steps. Whoever bought the house must've been billionaire. Serena starts walking up the stairs.
"Don't get too comfortable. We don't know if this place is unoccupied or not," I say.
"I'll be fine," she says.
I walk into the kitchen. The island and countertops are black and white marble, too.
There is a large fridge next to me. I open it. The light inside turns on.
The fridge is empty. Does this place have generators? It'd have to. I open the cabinets. Fully stocked. Someone grabs me from behind. They hold a knife to my throat.
"Why are you here?" they ask. It's a woman's voice.
"We were just looking for supplies," I say.
"We? Who's we?" she asks.
"It's just a few friends and I," I say.
I hear yelling outside the kitchen. The woman pushes me into the living room. Three people, a woman and two men, are holding guns pointed at everyone else. I don't see Alex anywhere. The woman behind me forces me to kneel with the others.
"You people come into our house and try to steal our food!" the woman says.
"We didn't know you were here!" Serena says. I look outside.
Zombies are running towards the house. There is at least fifty.
"Claire, turn on the fence," one of the men says.
"On it," the woman behind me says.
She goes into the basement.
While the others aren't looking I turn to Serena.
"Where's Alex?" I whisper.
"I haven't seen her since we got here," she whispers.
Maybe she's hiding. These people probably haven't found her. I look outside.
A zombie starts to climb the fence. It gets electrocuted and falls off. The other man and woman walk upstairs. The man that's here walks over to the front door. He has his back turned to us.
Have people never learned? You don't turn your back to the people you're holding hostage.
I pull out my machete. I stab him through the chest. He gasps. Blood pools onto the marble floors. I pull the machete out. Blood drips off of it. The man falls over. I pick up his gun. I can hear the others coming down the stairs. They have Alex.
"Put the gun down," The woman says.
"Alex!" Jake yells.
No matter what I do here, someone is going to die. If I don't put the gun down, they'll kill Alex. If I do put the gun down, they will probably kill us all. How am I going to decide this?
The woman they called Claire walks out from the basement. She shoots the two that have Alex.
"We need to go. Follow me," Claire says.
"You just shot them," Serena says.
"I wanted to do that a long time ago. They were going to kill that kid. They left me with no choice," Claire says. "Are we leaving or what?
"Yeah, let's move," Shawn says.
We walk towards the back of the mansion. We walk out of the back door. There is a limo out here. Claire gets in the front seat. I get in the front passenger seat. Claire presses a button on the center console. The gate opens. She drives out.
"Was that your house?" I ask.
"Ha, god no. I wasn't that rich," Claire says. "The person who bought the house hired me and the others to be her bodyguards. After the world ended, we wanted to go home to our families. She didn't like that. She turned on the electric fence and wouldn't let us leave. We were stuck there for weeks. One day the other three...killed her. We went to find our families, but they were all gone. My sister and daughter could be dead for all I know. I...I could've been there to protect them if our boss let us leave. After that, we decided to stay in the mansion. It was paradise for us. There was so much food. We had electricity."
"Why did you save us?" Serena asks.
"The people I was with killed anybody they saw. When they had that girl...I just couldn't let them do it," Claire says.
"I'm glad you saved us," I say.
"Where do you guys want me to take you?" she asks.
"There's a mall. I'll direct you," Serena says.
"Well, this was a great birthday. Who doesn't want to be held up at gun point on their birthday?" I say.
"Jade, how was I supposed to know?" Serena says.
Claire drives us to the mall. Mia is sitting outside.
"Where did you get a limo?" she asks.
"We were at a mansion," Michael asks.
"Find anything good?" Mia asks.
"Well, it was fully stocked with food. Zombies attacked before we could get anything," I say.
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...
