The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Twenty-Six - KC

Well, I've fought lots of people and things in my lifetime, but hand-to-hand combat with a zombie was a first. I saw that she was carrying a notebook. Lilith needed a notebook. I lunged at the zombie, kicked her in a pressure point, and grabbed the notebook. Apparently I broke the zombie's neck or something, because her head was at a funny angle from her body after I was done with her.

I handed the leather notebook to Lilith. "Here, I think it's a medical journal," I said.

"Thanks." She took the notebook nervously. "I hope."

After a while, Lilith looked up. "What does it say?" I asked cautiously. Lilith explained that the journal wasn't a medical journal, but the diary of a woman who had to deal with one of the very first zombies. "People, this is a breakthrough." She sounded excited and a little scared.

We loaded up the Zombie-Mobile with all our stuff. Jared let me drive this time. I tried my best not to cut corners or fishtail or ANYTHING fun. I plugged my iPod into the radio and blasted my music, much to Benji's delight and Lilith and Jared's chagrin.

When we got back, Lilith and Jared didn't help much to unpack. They, like the nerds they are, wanted to go inside ASAP and read the diary. Lydia made herself a nest in the back corner of the Costco and passed out. Poor kid. The monster kid (some like to call him Benji) and I did all the heavy lifting and set the computer outside. I told him, "Stay here."

I rushed inside and grabbed two plug-in controllers from my school backpack. "Alright, kid. While the nerd squad works on their nerd stuff, let's do something productive."

"Huh?" Benji looked kinda bewildered.

I took the controllers out from behind my back. "Video games, of course. What do you want to play?"

We spent the afternoon gaming. It was a great bonding experience. I mean, we got to hear each other's losing and winning war cries (mostly his losing and my winning). We only stopped at about 6:00 to check on the nerd squad and make dinner. Soup and sandwiches, all found in the freezer section. 

We turned in for the night when I beat Benji for the twenty-fifth time. When we walked into the camp, Jared was asleep at the computer and Lilith was reading the diary again. "Come on, Lilith," Benji said soothingly. "Time for bed."

"No. Don' wanna. This is interesting." Lilith muttered vaguely.

I shook Jared. "Wake up, nerd. Get in your bunk."

He stirred. Once he was awake enough to hold himself up, I led him to his bunk and put him to bed. Benji had gotten Lilith to bed and wrestled the book from her grip once she was asleep.

They had worked hard from about noon to, like, almost midnight (I'm pretty sure I'm exaggerating, but it was pretty dark outside when we made them stop). I felt really grateful to both of them, because Benji and I really didn't do anything. The nerd squad had worked for hours with only a half hour break for dinner. It was time for them to have some hard-earned rest, so Benji went to his side of the tent and I went to my chair and we all fell asleep almost immediately.