Zombie Town

Epilogue

"Okay, this gonna hurt. Please don't kill me," Greg said as he ripped the duck tape off of my mouth. It hurt for a second, but I was just glad that I was alive, so I let him live. 

He used a knife to cut through the rope and I rubbed my wrists when I was set free. "Greg! How the hell did you get this stuff?' I asked. "How did you know I was here?"

"I'll explain later, but we need to go now."

I did as he said and followed him to his car. It was dark out, I must've been in there for a long time. He turned the key and began to drive through the forest, far away from the chamber of stairs where many dead people lied. 

When we were far enough away, he popped the trunk. "Here you go."

There was a dead human body in a bag. 

"What the fuck?" I yelled.

"I thought you might be hungry."

"Thank you,"I said and began to eat. Come to think of it, I was awfully hungry. It must've been awkward for Greg, so I stopped and dumped the body. 

He was leaning against his car looking up at the stars.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey."

He turned to look at me. "You have a little," he said, pointing to my mouth. I wiped away the blood. "Any flesh I my teeth?" I asked. Greg rolled his eyes. 

"Question time."

"Shoot."

"How did you know where I was?"

He sighed. "I figured you would come back. Officer Coleman called me but then he hung up in the middle of his sentence. So therefore, I knew I would have to come save your ass. You can thank me now."

I laughed. "Thank you. Next question, where did you get the grenades and the gun?"

"My dad of course," he replied. 

I gulped. "About your dad. Greg, he's dead. Officer Coleman and I went to the coven and there he was-"

"I know. My Aunt is supposed to take of Martha and I now. She's crazy though, so it's convenient to run away."

"Run away?"

"Yeah. With you. It's not safe in Holdenburg anymore. There is actually a mob downtown coming after you. We need to leave."

"No, you're not going anywhere! What about Martha? School? Your future? Are you just going to throw that all away for me? I'm not worth it, Greg. You're staying here." 

"Listen to me. Justine, you're everything I could ever want. You're funny, beautiful; you love gore and rock music. You're one in a million. I'm letting you go that easily."

I couldn't help but smile and I kissed him as hard as I could without breaking his skull. 

Greg looked dazed when I pulled away. "That. Was. Hot. you should kiss me like that more often."

I ignored that. "Where to? Zombies and humans will be after us."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Who cares? Canada? Mexico? Any other state? Let's just have some fun," he said. 

"I'm still not sure about you coming with though."

"Martha will be fine without me. I don't need to go school, it's almost the end of the year and I have all of my credits. And if I do need some extra help, you could teach me. You are over two hundred years after all. The only future I could dream of is with you."

"That sounds doable," I mentioned. 

When I came to Holdenburg, I was made out of stone. I didn’t have feelings, a heart, and humanity was a thousand miles away. Throughout time in this zombie town, all of those negative factors melted away. I fell in love. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, not the pain I remembered I had so long ago. This love was new, reinvented. It was fresh, like the texture of the air in morning after it had rained.

I made friends. Friends who cared and were willing to put their lives on the line, just for me.

Most importantly, I broke through the girl made out of stone and became who I am now. No haunting event in history or person would hold me back. All the psychotic human beings in the world could come after me with shotguns and torches, and I wouldn’t mind at all. I was stronger and braver than before. I was Justine McCaul: the great granddaughter of Owen Patel, a zombie, and a human at heart. Nothing would get in my way, I was unbreakable.

Greg stomped on the pedal and we drove past the town line. In my mind, I said goodbye to the town of Holdenburg, the town where everyone knew everything about everyone.

It came to mind that this was the end.

But then I thought, it may just be a new beginning. 

The End

* Thank you so much to all of you that have been reading this book. You have a special place in my heart. This wouldn't be possible without all of you. This is sadly the end of the book and I have had so much fun writing it for these past months! Writing is my passion and I'm glad I got to share it with all of you. You are my inspiration. You keep me going. Thank you so much.*

                                                                     -Maya Bautista