Once they had lead Carmilla back inside after making nice with the tigers, Zakariyya, Serenity, and Ianessa went back inside to wake up the others for a necessary meeting on Carmilla's newfound abilities and health.
"So let me get this straight; Carmilla is not only alive still, but she can also control plant life?" Atlas asked, slightly confused and stricken with disbelief. "...Yes." Zakariyya answered hesitantly.
Atlas takes a deep breath, needing a moment to soak the information in. "As much as I want to say you've been smoking some shit, the fact that you, Carmilla, and Serenity say this shit altogether brings me to a conclusion... we're all smoking some shit." Atlas concluded.
"Well whatever it is, I don't wanna stop smoking it. What matters is that Carmilla is still alive, and there could be a lot more to the Zombie Virus than I initially thought." Zakariyya mentioned. Atlas and the others looked at him with perplexed eyes.
"Okay, let me explain this as simply as I can. As you all should know, the virus is in fact inside all of us, BUT, It will not be triggered unless somebody either A: dies, or B: gets bitten by someone who was originally deceased. Meanwhile it's come to my attention that overtime, the viruses have been mutating so rapidly, that metaphysical changes are occurring within some of the bodies of the deceased. I call this the Dead over Death principle." Zakariyya explained.
Everyone around him plainly stared as he finished his last words. An awkward silence fell upon the room, occasionally interrupted by the yelps of the tiger cub outside. "And you didn't tell us this BEFORE we got unofficially evicted out of our house?" Serenity asked, both perplexed and annoyed.
"I DID! But you and... Gacha, were too busy playing blackjack to notice that I was talking." Zakariyya rebutted, pausing at the mention of his friend. "Hmm... yeah that checks out. Sorry not sorry." Serenity shrugged.
"Okay, so... what do we do now?" Atlas asked. "We stay here for as long as we can. We have enough resources to last us a few weeks at best. We can clean up the zombies one by one." Ianessa proposed. "That won't work." Zakariyya rebuked.
"Not only will it take long enough to walk on foot, but it's too risky, even with Snow and the Tigers helping us. And let's say that we do take back the house, what then? It's already been totaled and demolished from the outside and inside-" "DO YOU HAVE A F#CKING BETTER IDEA?!" Ianessa snapped.
The room was silent again. An awkward silence filled the room. "Sorry." She apologized. "It's okay. I shouldn't have said anything." Zakariyya said with his head down. "So if that's a no blow, what do we do now?" Serenity asked. "I have an idea." Carmilla said.
Every turned to Carmilla. She left to grab a piece of paper from the cabin's kitchen and walked back to reveal its elements. "It's a map to somewhere. A place that's allegedly untouched by Zombies. And check this, it's made by Gacha!" Carmilla showed Gacha's initials on the bottom of the paper.
Everyone huffed and murmured. "I think this was the place he would always talk about pre-apocalypse." Carmilla wondered. Zakariyya smiled at this with a chuckle. "Gacha, you sly dog." "And look at this, he made up a plan in case things went wrong at the house!" Carmilla showed them the back of the paper.
Ianessa hummed, and took hold of the map's instructions. "Why didn't the dumbass just give it to us before-" "Hey, Ianessa. Please.. just, don't call him a dumbass. Don't disrespect the dead." Zakariyya pleaded. "Oh hush, I've called him worse." Serenity shook her head.
"Alright alright." Zakariyya laid off and sat down on a chair in the dining room. "Maybe, in a way, Gacha trusted Ianessa so much he didn't feel the need to share this. He never liked taking charge as a leader." Carmilla remembered when Gacha didn't even want to be captain of the track team in college.
"Maybe, but I doubt it.. however this might be the best plan we got." Ianessa sighed, defeated. "So that's it? We're going off to some mystery no zombie paradise without a car?" Atlas questioned. "If you have any rebuttals, please say it now." Ianessa shot him a glare.
Silence.
"I thought so. We start moving by tomorrow, East. It's our best shot at finding a ride, and a place to permanently call home. Everybody with me?" Ianessa authorized. "Here!" Everyone shouted.
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.
