"Wow... holy crap, this can't be real," cursed Serenity. "Maybe Snowball accidentally bit you when we weren't paying attention," Atlas tried to explain, clearly in denial. "No, I saw it happen myself; it's true," Zakariyya admitted solemnly.
"You knew... and you didn't say anything," Atlas tried to push him, but Zakariyya firmly held his wrist. "Hold on, Atlas. I know you're upset, but please calm down and keep your hands off me," warned Zakariyya.
"He's right. We can't fight now. There's too much risk of attracting zombies," Ianessa tried to diffuse the situation. Zakariyya released Atlas, hoping he wouldn't do anything impulsive.
Atlas took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I just..." Atlas struggled to speak. "It's okay. I understand," Zakariyya patted Atlas on the shoulder. Snowball, sensing the group's distress, whimpered in sympathy.
"First Rain, then Gacha, and now... darn it," Serenity swore again. Carmilla didn't know how to face the group with this new information. She felt guilty for being bitten but showed no symptoms at the moment.
"Hey, maybe this is a good thing. We can—" Carmilla tried to express her thoughts, but Magenta snatched Zakariyya's Glock 9 from his pocket. He pointed it directly at Carmilla's head.
In response to this course of action, Serenity unsheathed her knife, Snowball growled, and Ianessa aimed her shotgun at Magenta. "Woah woah woah..!" Zakariyya uttered in woe. "What the actual fuck?!" Atlas spat in disbelief.
"Magenta... put the gun down now." Ianessa was asking nicely. "You won't shoot me. This pistol has a silencer installed on it, and that shotgun's got enough firepower to alert the whole area for miles. You won't risk it." Magenta said, testing her intentionally.
Ianessa took a moment to think about it, not separating eye contact from Magenta. Slowly, she took her aim off of him. "Babe, you can't be serious.-" Atlas attempted to get through to her, but Ianessa raised her left hand in his face to silence him.
"Please, put the gun down-" "Fat fucking chance." Magenta rebuked. "I-I don't wanna die..." tears accumulated behind Carmilla's mask. "You won't die, Carmilla, not like this." Zakariyya promised to her. "Bullshit. Don't lie to her." Magenta rolled his eyes.
"Why the fuck are you talking?" Atlas snapped. "I'm just doing what's best for the group," Magenta responded. "You don't get to make that call kid," Ianessa uttered. "Oh word? So you and your folks were allowed to make a call that cost my Dad his fucking LIFE?!" Magenta tightened his grip on the firearm.
"Last time I checked, he's the one who got us in this mess in the first place." Serenity retorted. "Actually, it's because of that bitch for holding out on him when we asked to leave with our car!" "You were fucking stealing from us!" Atlas retorted.
"STOP!!" Carmilla yelled. Silence filled the air, as opposed to the incessant undead groans that now filled the inside of the house. "I... I can take notes on how the virus works. Before I die, at least..." Carmilla coughed after finishing her sentence.
"Look at her. She barely has the strength to even hold back a cough. This is who you wanna save, really?" Magenta mocked as he kept his aim up. "Maybe... maybe this isn't right, Magenta. What if-" "Shut the fuck up." Illumin tried to speak, but Magenta gave him a mean side-eye.
"This is why you won't survive in this world. To survive, you have to be strong. And if you let people kill or take what's yours all the time, you'll never be great. It's why you're such a pussy now, you don't have the guts to get your hands dirty like the rest of us. Nothing but a fucking burden-" amid Magenta's banter to Illumin, Serenity quickly grabbed the firearm to put it on safety mode, and slit his left wrist.
"Augh, FUCK!!" Magenta cursed, holding onto his wrist. Atlas clicked his tongue twice, signaling for Snowball to attack him. Snowball pounced onto Magenta and began to tear at his throat. Ianessa tried to stop her, but Atlas put his arm in her way.
For a minute, Magenta struggled to breathe as the dog released her wrath onto purple purple-hair-dyed teenager. It was so gruesome and bloody that Carmilla looked away from it all. Tears soaked her mask. Everyone else just continued to look at the horrid sight before Atlas called Snowball back. Illumin had no words.
Zakariyya looked at Magenta's now lifeless body, then back at Atlas. "You didn't have to kill him, you know. He was unarmed." Zakariyya stared with disdain. Atlas kneeled to pet Snowball, whose muzzle was now red with blood.
After giving her some affection, he stood back up and walked towards Magenta's corpse. "True, but he was right about one thing;" Atlas kneeled next to his head. He laid his hands over Magenta's cold and still silver eyes and closed them. This admittedly had a few others surprised.
Atlas looked back at Serenity with a simple nod. Serenity sighed and walked over to the corpse, stabbing it in the head. This startled Illumin for a short second, but the others knew exactly what they were doing. Albeit Carmilla still didn't look, she could still hear everything.
Atlas looked at the others with indifference as Serenity began to clean the blood off of her knife. "What? I'm a jackass, not a monster." Atlas assured. "Please tell us the difference. I would love to know." Zakariyya said blankly.
Atlas flipped him off, rolling his eyes. "So, where to now?" Atlas asked Ianessa. "Northeast of here, past the den of the Tigers. If my memory serves correctly, you saw an old wooden shack there while hunting a little while ago." Ianessa recalled.
Atlas nodded. "Then it's settled. We leave for the shack immediately. Carmilla will take notes on herself before she turns... and let's pray that she doesn't turn before we make it there." Ianessa clenched her fist before taking the first step.
By that time, everybody was walking behind her. Carmilla saw Illumin through the mask, sensing his defeated rally of emotions by a mile. She walked closer to him and delicately extended her right hand. Her smile was weak, but she still gave a genuine smile of hope for him. Seeing through her kindness with a skeptical heart, Illumin held her hand.
Heading deep into the forest, they come across a cave with bones laid out on the ground. Atlas stopped and clapped his hands. The rest of the group also stopped, wanting to witness what came next. Nothing was heard at first.
But under the moonlight, a family of tigers exited the cave; and it was Storm, Tank, and Zolt. They groaned and nuzzled pleasantly against Atlas for his return. He gladly returned the favor. After sharing nuzzles and cuddles with the beasts, Atlas spoke.
"I'm glad to see you too. Now, back to us..." Atlas uttered, looking down at Zolt and his parents. "You guys wanna join us for a road trip?" Atlas invited.
YOU ARE READING
Zombie Life
Short StoryA group of childhood friends finally leave college together as a success! They are about to have the summer of their lives... until a new pandemic arises... and the dead start eating the living.
