My Heart Died With This World

What I Miss the Most

"You know what I miss?" I looked at my friend Justin. We were sitting out at the balcony looking out over the walls that surround our home. "I miss television."

"Called it!" Jesse high fives Jack and I rolled my eyes. We played the same game everyday. It was the only thing we had left. It had been two years since a deadly virus turned pretty much everyone into zombies. No one likes to call them that though. They're always given weird names. Geeks, biters, flesh eaters, Zs, lurkers, skin puppets. The list continues, most of the time in different languages. I remember meeting a nice Hispanic couple and their son who called them 'muerto'.

"I miss school." Jack pulled his knees to his chest. The others booed. "Hey you guys might not like it but I miss it. All the people around me with not a care in the world besides partying and having sex."

"What about video games? Or theme parks? That's what I miss." Jesse glanced over at Gabe. He had a gun in his hand, surveying the walls.

"I miss just walking out the door. Having the freedom to go where I please without the fear of being bitten." He looked through the scope. "What about you Kellin? You never join in on this conversation." I looked out over the wasteland. Even from here I could see the dead stumbling over their own feet or bumping into one another. I didn't miss school. My parents being the people who found this safe zone thought it was smart to keep up my education. We had television too. I just thought it was unfair to watch it when no one else did. I didn't miss theme park either. I had never been to one.

"I don't know."

"You have to miss something. A girl......a boy." Jesse nudged my side. I looked at my hands.

"I've only been allowed to hang out with you guys." I glanced at each of them, making a disgusted face. "I don't find any of you guys attractive. Sorry." They laughed.

"It's fine." Jack smiled at me.

"You're our best bud." Jesse slapped his hand across my back. We looked out over the wall again. I would give anything to have my parents let me go out on a mission. It didn't have to be much. I just wanted to know what it was like. I wanted to see those things up close. I looked at the abandon cars lining the highway where geeks were bumping into them. A car alarm went off and I heard a baby start crying down below the balcony.

Our wall was a twenty feet high and made of scrap metal. It was thick. So far we are safe but we've been waiting for a breach. Everyone had to be quarantined. If you were someone new, quarantine was two days to a week. If you stayed here, it was about thirty minutes to three days. We had to keep the one thousand and four people inside our safe zone healthy. Everyone relied on each other.

"I miss noise." My friends gave me a funny look.

"What do you mean? We always have noise. The bitters, the kids." Gabe explained. I sighed.

"Have you heard a bird in the past two years?" Jesse opened his mouth to reply. "Besides a crow or a vulture." Everyone looked at their laps. I was right. Birds stayed in the woods. "I want to hear a car again. And not a car alarm. I. Miss. Noise."

"Your parents have been training you right?" Justin started poking Gabe's shoulder to annoy him.

"Yeah. They have." Gabe smacked his hand.

"You'll be able to go out on a job soon."

"Maybe with us." Jack added to Jesse's sentence hopefully. I smiled.

"Yeah. That would be, er, fun."

"Have you ever killed a geek?" Jack whispered. He was always nervous about going out there. Ever since his sister turned, he's hated killing those things. He claimed they had to be some sort of human.

"Kellin?" My father walked into the balcony, raising his eyebrows at my friends. I shot up and straightened out my clothing.

"D-dad. What are you-" He put his hand for me to stop.

"I overheard your desire to go on a job."

"Yes, but-"

"Kellin." He gave me a stern look. I looked down at my shoes. "I believe that I can speak to your mother and maybe, just maybe if you pick up on some of your studies, you can go on a supply run tomorrow."

"What? Really?" My dad nodded. I ran forward, hugging him tightly. "You won't regret this."

"I better not. We'll talk more about this later. I trust you boys will be signing up for the run tomorrow." He stated it. My friends nodded except Jack. He hadn't been on a run since he had to kill his sister. "Jack?" My friend looked up from where he was playing with the hem of his shirt.

"I don't know Mr. Bostwick. I just don't feel up to killing them anymore."

"But you want to protect Kellin, right?"

"Dad!" I glared at him. "Don't you dare play that card." My dad just nodding before walking back inside the house. Our house. It was on the edge of our little town. And of course it had the balcony we are currently sitting on. It was a spiral stair case that led up to the area. I went over to where Jack was sitting and lightly rubbed my hand up and down his back. "Don't listen to him. You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"I-I want t-to." I felt his whole body shake. The sirens went on above, letting the sound travel as the crowd to to the sky. I saw biters turn towards the wall. The siren sound like a tornado warning but that wasn't the case. This meant that everyone under the age of eighteen had to go home. Others had two hours until the sun went down.

"I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." I gave them an awkward smile and a little wave. Right now I should be heading down to eat dinner with my parents, maybe listen to them fight. I looked out over the wall. I always wondered if there was more people. A lot of people have joined our group and said they lost contacts with loved ones. I see them everyday at the main gates. They look out the small barred windows and hope to see the ones they lost.

I thought about the Hispanic couple and their son who was about my age. They had came in when the walls first started going up. They always talked about their eldest son and how they hoped to god he was still alive. Still to this day, they talk about how one day he's going to walk up to the doors and greet them as if nothing happened. Like he wasn't ever lost. If I lost someone, I don't think I would be as hopeful as the Fuentes'.