I stared wonderingly at the stairs we were about to proceed down and thought about how the hell four people had managed to drag us up this steep stairway. I voiced my thoughts to the boys.
“You underestimate my strength!” Oscar pulled a strong man pose that sent me and Josh into a temporary fit of laughter.
“You wish!” Josh shot back, in mock disbelief. Then turning to me: “There were four of us, Abbie. And to be fair there were only three of you.” I shrugged in recognition of this fact and then thought of something else that had been inwardly gnawing at me and I hadn’t realised until then.
“Why did we even faint in the first place?”
Oscar sighed and grinned.
“Toby geeked out and said that it was some sort of ‘chloroform gas’.”
I remembered something from one of my science classes oh-so-long ago.
“Isn’t that the stuff that they put on pads and shove over your mouth? You know like in movies…” Movies. Where did they go?
“Yeah. But Toby and his scientific mind which hasn’t gone away yet (God help us) has come to the conclusion that the Zombies managed to liquidize it and evaporate it into the air. The only reason that only three of us fainted is that the first three people to step over the ‘dividing line’ would have been taking deeper breaths since they were going over first and would have inhaled more of the chloroform therefore leaving less in the air and not enough to knock several more people out.” Josh said, rolling his eyes as he quoted Toby’s exact words. I started to worry. How could zombies be that clever? I tried to dismiss the thought.
“That… Is complete Bull crap.”
Oscar and Josh laughed but the emotion didn’t reach as far as their eyes. They knew if anything was bull crap it was what I’d just said but were being too nice to point this out. By this time, without realising, we had all involuntarily edged very slowly towards the top of the stairway. And so we proceeded down it, Oscar first, me next and Josh at the back. We moved slowly but steadily and warily as we didn’t know just what lay in front of us. I was trying not to think about that. Josh broke the silence.
“When we get down there” He gestured to the bottom of the stairs by nodding his head “How’s about we light a fire so we can see?” Me and Oscar stopped and turned to stare at him, holding onto the handrail so as not to over balance. Was he crazy or something?
“Josh, hate to break it to you but if we can see them then they can see us.”
“I didn’t say it was about trying to see the zombies outside did I?” I liked how he was so sure that there would be zombies wherever we went. Not.
“Then what is it about?” I heard Oscar behind me “I mean come on Josh, seriously we can’t.”
Josh however was determined to prove us wrong.
“I was only gonna say that if we light it in front of the door then they can’t get in and we can see them.” I finally saw his point.
“But what about the windows? They could smash them inwards.” I worried.
“No they can’t. I noticed on the way in. They’re thoroughly boarded up and aren’t going to be smashing anytime soon.”
“Oh ok! I guess it’s worth a shot then.”
I decided to go with what he was saying and trust that he had looked properly. I turned around to see Oscar staring daggers at me. What did I do?!? I realised I’d agreed with Josh but that was it. Please let Oscar not be annoyed with me. We need him on our side on this one. I realised suddenly how scared I was. I was petrified of death. Not watching death or sensing it but actually experiencing it and I didn’t want to end up dead just because my friend was holding a grudge over me agreeing with something he didn’t. I was scared.
“Oscar? Are you ok?” I asked, trying to keep the worry out of my voice. I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He shrugged my hand off and walked down the stairs at two times the pace he had been walking before. I spun to look worriedly at Josh, who caught my eye and had also sensed what was going on. He gave me an uneasy look as we carried on down the stairs after Oscar, his tightened, tense shoulders illuminated by the little light in the stairway.
When we eventually reached the bottom; no-one in a talking mood. By this time I had completely given up on Oscar ever talking to me again; it came as a surprise that as soon as we got to the floor at the foot of the stairs he willingly- and without saying a word- picked up his step and carefully and quietly began gathering up anything remotely flammable. I turned around to see what Josh’s opinion on this matter was. He just shrugged and gave me a little grin, quickly following in Oscars footsteps.
I rummaged in my pocket, trying to find my flint. My jeans were getting uncomfortably small and I was aware that soon everyone would be able to see my knickers from a mile away. I quickly tugged them upwards, trying to do it decently and without being seen. I didn’t particularly want Oscar and Josh to see me sorting out my underwear. I again began the search for my flint and after a few more seconds, brandished it like a deadly weapon.
It was one of the few things I had thought to pack in my haste to get out of my infected house. I remembered the horrific hours clearly, but wished I didn’t.
YOU ARE READING
Zombie story - Chapter 1 :)
Jugendliteratur"Where can we go!?!" She whispered. Suddenly, shards of wood and metal came splintering over the island counter we were crouched behind. When seven teenagers find themselves ripped out of ordinary life and shoved into a disatarous new world of chaos...
