The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Eighteen - KC

I got the Google working. It was awesome. Jared handed me stuff while I built a computer out of materials we found in the Costco. He was humming all the while. Michael Jackson's "Thriller," I found out. I said, "Thriller? Seems fitting for the ZA. If you meet another horde of zombies with or without me, you try the dance from the music video. They might get distracted. Or they might eat you. It's a 50-50 shot, really."

Jared laughed. "You are the meanest person ever, you know that, right? You really are."

"Screwdriver. And not the flathead one this time!"

A long while later, it was done. I emailed all my family members and former classmates (from all the schools, not just my most recent one.) After five minutes that felt like five hours, I got an email back. Nathan, my favorite cousin, was still alive. Oh, and his brother Luka. He was alive too. Never liked him very much, but I was so glad that SOMEONE survived.

Jared and I ran outside to get Lilith and Benji and tell them the good news. Lilith had obviously been crying, and I didn't want to know. I'd been there; depression does a number on you. But I'm over it now. She wasn't. But this was exactly what she needed to hear to lift her spirits, if only for a little while.

Inside, I read the email to the gang. Benji scoffed at my Gmail background, but I bet that he didn't know anybody or any band on my collage. He probably didn't know Gerard from Pete from Brendon, but I would work on him later. We had an email to read.

Everybody was really happy that someone one of us knew was alive. I sent Nathan an email back, telling him that I was sorry about Aunt Cass and Uncle Dean, and that it was ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE to come down here from up north. After sending a reply to Nathan, I went away to the bathroom to take off- oops, I meant replace- my bandages. Lilith had the great idea to log into her email and send some to everyone. I'm assuming that Benji and Jared did, too.

I closed and locked the large door to the women's restroom. Unwinding the Ace bandages that Jared and Lilith insisted I keep on my head took FOREVER. Wincing, I finally pulled the last layer off. I stared into the mirror and nearly screamed. "Oh, il est terrible!!"

My face was a hot mess, emphasis on both "hot" and "mess." There were four red, parallel scars going down the left side of my face, nearly on top of my eye. They were puffy and scabby and disgusting. (Sorry for the image, but Lilly tells me that I need to elaborate when telling stories.) My eyeliner was streaked in not a flattering emo way, more like an "I've been hurt really badly and I cried about it" kind of way. I still looked as fabulous as ever, though. The scars just added to my awesomeness. They would fade, but always be there. I'm just glad that Jared, Lilith, and Benji all helped fix me up. I had a feeling that I would owe them a lot more than that after this all ended. Assuming it did end... dun dun DUNNNNN!