The Dead Walk Among Us

Chapter 34: My Last Hope

I wake up in the mall. I feel so much more worse then I did when I passed out. I get out of bed. I walk outside. Sam is digging a grave.

"Who are you digging that for?" I ask.

"It's for you. I can't believe this. How could you act like it's not a big deal? You're turning into a horrible creature that does nothing but eat people," she says.

Karla runs outside.

"You two need to get inside now!" Karla says.

"What is it?" Sam asks.

"You need to hear this for yourself," Karla says.

We follow her inside. She runs into the bookstore. She picks up a radio.

"It was just on," she says.

She messes with it. I hear voices coming from it.

"If you can hear this please keep listening. We have a cure for the virus. We can help you. Our base is in San Diego."

I hear over the radio before the static continues. A cure? This might be my last hope.

"So, you want us to travel five hours for some cure? What if it's fake?" Elizabeth says.

"What if it's real? Jade needs the cure," Karla says.

"Wait, I never told you I was turning!" I say.

"I told the people here. They deserved to know," Sam says.

"We should at least look for it. It might save Jade's life," Sarah says.

"What do you think about this, Jade?" Kyle asks.

"I would want to look for it," I say.

"I just got my family back, I'm not wasting my time on some radio broadcast," Elizabeth says.

"Fine, we're leaving tomorrow," Karla says.

"Tomorrow? I might not have that kind of time," I say.

"It's too late to go today. You'll just have to hope you'll make it until tomorrow," Sarah says.

Gee, thanks. I walk back inside. I guess I'll sleep until tomorrow. I go inside the bookstore. I lock the door so that if I do turn I will be locked up. I lie in bed. I don't think I can even make it another hour. Everything hurts, I have a fever, I'm nauseous. This is awful.

Iris and Jack's last moments play in my head. Jack was afraid there was nothing after death. What if there is nothing? No heaven, no
afterlife?

That thought scares me more than the thought of turning into a monster. I finally get comfortable enough to fall asleep after hours of tossing and turning.

Karla wakes me up two hours later. I can see outside. It's still dark out. It must be early morning.

"Come on. We're going," she says.

It takes all of my strength to just get out of bed. I grab my jacket and bag. Karla doesn't want me to have a gun because of how sick I am. I follow Karla outside. Sam, Jake, Alex, Clarissa, and Sarah are waiting outside for us. Karla pulls out a map and takes the lead.

"Do you know where this place is?" I ask.

"While you were sleeping, the radio came back on. We heard the exact directions to the place," Sarah says.

"How long could it take to get there?" I ask.

"Maybe four days, maybe less," Sam says.

Four days? I don't have four days! I feel like I have minutes left.

Karla opens the door to a house. We walk inside. Blood is all over the place. I hear the door shut behind us. We spin around. Three zombies are standing by the door. I hear running. I look behind us to see four more zombies running down the stairs. Everyone gets ready to fight. I pull out my machete.

I stab the zombie in front of me through the heart. More zombies enter the room. They surround us. I sprint into the kitchen with the hope of drawing some of the zombies away from the others. If I'm going to die, I might as well risk my life for them.

A zombie turns the corner and almost bumps into me. I raise my hand to stab her. She grabs the blade right before I hit her stopping me.
She yanks the machete right out of my hands.
I'm not as strong as I was a few days ago.

The virus has zapped my energy. She grabs my hoodie and throws me across the island. I land in a pool of blood. It's all over my hands and clothes. I pull out my knife. The zombie grabs my hands. She pushes me backwards.

"Help!" I yell.

I'm completely defenseless.

The zombie throws me through the window. Glass shards cut my face, arms, and hands. I get up. I don't have a knife. I'm going to have to try to kill this thing with my hands. How am I going to do this? The only way to kill one of these things is to destroy the heart or head. I punch the zombie right in the face. The virus might have destroyed my strength and speed, but it hasn't destroyed my will to live.

The zombie continues to approach me. I pick up one of the glass shards. I stab the zombie in the chest. It's still moving. The glass must've not been able to go through it's ribs. I back up. I see Sarah behind it. She grabs it's hair and pulls it's head back. I stab it right on the top of the head. It falls over.

"Jade, what happened?" she asks.

"Isn't it obvious? I got beaten and thrown through a window," I say.

We walk inside. Sam, and Karla are in the kitchen.

"Where's the kids?" I ask.

"They're fine. They're searching the upstairs," Karla says.

"Weren't you good at killing zombies?" Sam asks.

"It's the virus. I'm much more weaker now. I thought I could handle the zombie," I say.

"Why would you go off alone like that? Do you even know how dangerous that was?" Sarah asks.

"I didn't know how sick I really am," I say.

The kids come downstairs with nothing. We move into the backyard. Karla climbs the wooden fence. I try climbing it and fail. Sarah boosts me up. I drop down off the fence onto the other side. I feel so helpless. I can't do anything by myself. In addition to the symptoms I currently have, I now have a blinding headache.

As we walk down the road, I see car in the distance. They stop right in front of us. People in military uniforms get out. They point their guns at us. A woman with black hair and blue eyes walks over to us.

"One of them is infected," she says to the other people with her.

"Who are you?" Sarah asks her.

"We're New Hope," The woman says like we know what that is.

"We heard a radio broadcast about a cure. Do you know anything about that?" Karla asks.

"We are the people who have the cure," the woman says.