What Used to Be Human

Chapter 2

     It felt good to actually sit down and drive in a car for once. Right now, we were in a gas station. Vera had to use the bathroom and it didn't hurt to stop for some gas and snacks. We can carry much more things now since we have a car. This was living the good life..well as close to it as possible in a life full of idiot zombies. I had to admit, even though they were idiots, they put up a hard fight.

Vera ran out of the gas station screaming. This couldn't be good.

"Dude, Vera, what the frick is that all about?" I asked as I casually walked up to her. She was breathing hard and looked more scared than a newborn animal.

She gulped hard and yelled, "WHAT THE FRICK WAS THAT ABOUT!?! THERE WAS A DAMN ZOMBIE IN THERE! I HAD TO PUNCH THE STUPID THING AND STAB IT WITH MY RIFLE!!"

She held up her bloodied gun and hand. I couldn't help but think it was hilarious. Mean of me, but typical. I cracked up at how feisty and scared she seemed. I was pretty proud of her too for actually fighting the thing. 

"Imma go check out how you did," I said as I walked in the gas station.

She didn't bother following, or else I would have heard the clacks of her boots. When I arrived to the scene right outside the bathroom, I laughed.

     Leave it to Vera to kill the most stupid kind of zombie. There are three kind of zombies. The Fairoys, the Raldors, and the Danlers. The Fairoys are the young zombies. Young zombies are the smartest and most dangerous since they still don't take the worst of the virus yet. The next stage of zombies are the Raldors. The Raldors are your average zombie and the most common. Not stupid, not smart, but good fighters. The Danlers are your idiot zombies. Vera killed a Danler. They don't put up much with a fight since they're so weak. These are also your common zombies. What do all of them share? They're all ugly as crap.

     I shook my head as i walked away when suddenly i felt something latch on to my ankle. The grip was hard and i struggled to kick at what was holding me. I turned my body at an angle and saw the thing holding on to my ankle was the zombie. It was still alive. I yelled some profanities. Vera hadn't killed the damned thing. I stood my ground and used my right foot to kick the thing in it's face. It screeched and used it's hands to cover it's face. 

     I heard several more screams to my left and right as I saw more zombies. Raldors and Danlers were closing in on me. Behind me the zombie was still screeching and clawing at it's face, as if it would fix anything. Time was ticking and each second the zombies were getting closer. I had no choice but to run through those things. I could smell them with each step too. I took a deep breath and held it. Then I ran. I ran like my life depended on it, which it did. I could see other side getting closer. 

     OOF! I felt something hit my stomach. Hard. I fell back on the dirty floor, my head missing it by only an inch or two. What the freak? Someone was on top of me, shielding me from a zombie trying to jump me. 

"What the frick Ara?!" Cage shouted. Cage. I should have known. 

"DUDE GET OFF!" I wheezed out. Instead he hunched down lower. 

"Crawl!" He commanded me. 

I did as he asked without a second thought, towards the door. He crawled next to me, his arm around me, shielding me from something I had no knowledge of. When we got to the door i got up, took Cage's hand, and ran. I ran like mess. I ran as if hell was following me, which in a way, it was. I ran to the car with Cage without looking back.

     Cameron, Lexii, and Vera were already waiting in the car for us. I got in the car, turned on the ignition and backed out of that jungle. Seconds later I saw and heard a giant explosion coming from the gas station. Bits of zombie blood and flesh fell on the windshield. I looked in the back rear mirror and saw both Cameron and Vera flinch at the sight. I just  flicked on the wipers and continued driving away from the flaming building. 

     "Alright Cage, what did you do?" I asked. He chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. 

"I worked my magic and blew up all those fugly things" He chuckled some more and looked at me. He stared at me for a while which made me uncomfortable. I shuffled in my seat a little and pressed on the accelerator. When i glanced back at Cage, he was grinning. Huge. 

"Uhh.." I started saying. "Care to explain why you're giving me that creepy look?" 

He cocked his head and said "I just saved your life! That means you owe me!" He said triumphantly. 

"Might i explain you also put me in danger cause of that explosion" 

Cameron spoke up against me and backfired my statement. "You were already in danger" he said. "The zombies were attacking you already. So technically, Cage saved you" 

I glared at him using the back rear mirror. In return he gave me a sheepish smile. 

"Just saying" he mumbled. 

    We were all quiet in the car for a while when Vera just exploded.

"IM SICK OF THIS!" she screamed. 

"Sick of what?" Cage sighed. 

"Sick of running for my life all the time!!" She yelled. "I'm sick of always being scared!! I'm sick of LIFE" Vera hissed. 

My eyes practically bulged out of my head. I glanced at both Cameron and Cage and saw they both had the same shocked face as I did. 

"Stop the car" She hissed.

"What?" I said, still shocked. 

"STOP THE STUPID CAR!!!" She screamed. I didn't know what to do except stop. I scrunched my face up in worry. What was she going at? Once again I looked at Cameron and Cage and saw they mirrored my expression. I could tell even though Cameron had only known us for a short time he had grown attached to us. He reached out to touch Vera's arm, but she just pulled herself away and opened the door. She unbuckled her seatbelt and stalked out. Cameron looked hurt and worried. I would deal with him later, but right now I had Vera to take care of. 

     I turned off the car and turned to Cage. 

"Switch sides" I said. He did as I told him without question. 

"Vera" I called out as I left the car to follow her. 

"What!?" she hissed at me. Ouch. That hurt. I honestly had no idea why she was acting this way and she acted like it was MY fault 85% of the population was either dead or turned into a zombie. 

"Why are you acting like this? Where are you going?" I feverishly strained to catch up with her. Suddenly she stopped and turned to me. 

"Why am I acting like this?" She asked with an angry tone to her voice. "I'm acting like this because that attack back there made me realize everywhere I go, I'm not safe! It doesn't matter where we are. There's always going to be zombies wherever we go!" I had to admit, that was a good argument. 

I sighed. "Then where are you going?" 

"I'm going home" She said. She turned back around and continued to walk. I almost fainted right there. Was she kidding me? She lived in California, which meant her home was hundreds of miles away. 

"Vera" I started. "I understand your point but you can't just go home. It'll take you forever to take there. You'll either starve to death, get eaten by a zombie, or turn into one. I know you feel alone and scared, cause I do too, but you're not" This got her to stop. "Vera, we can't do this without you. We can't leave you alone. You're like a sister I never had and I can't let my sister die out here! You're my family now and I'm getting you to that Safe House. I swear I'm not letting you down. Not after what happened to your friend" Tears started to swell up in her eyes and she ran to hug me. 

"I'm sorry" She whispered. "I'm just scared" She said. 

I held her and whispered back. "I know. I know"

And with that, we walked back to our car, where our new life would continue.