You Can't Cuddle With A Zombie (Old Verison)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"She's gonna kill you."

I heard distant voices in my sleep. Who was talking?

"She's not. Unless she wants us to all die, we have to go this way."

I knew that voice...it was Dominic's.

"Shouldn't we wake her up and ask her? She's a part of this group, you know? Right Jeremy?" I heard Alyssa say.

Before Jeremy could answer, I spoke up.

"Tell me what?" I asked. The sudden sound of my voice shut everyone up. I sat up.

"Tell me what?" I asked again.

I noticed that Dominic was the one driving, while Jeremy was in the passenger seat. They must have switched places while I'd been asleep.

"Well, while you see were sleeping, I was fixing the radio," Jeremy explained, and I noticed there were a whole bunch of wires on his lap.

"And did you?" I asked, not in the mood for waiting.

"Yeah," he said, looking up, smiling. "The problem is what we heard in the radio."

"Just say it," I demanded, glaring at him.

"The whole middle East of the country is off limits," Dominic said, looking at him through the rear view mirror.

Wait, that means...

"We have to around the borders, drive as far away from civilization as possible. This turned into a months-long trip," Dominic finished.

I swore under my breath.

"We have to?" I asked, biting my lips.

Dominic nodded.

"The area has been fenced off. They're trying to get as much of the Zombie population there as possible. There's no way around it," Dominic explained.

I sighed, looking at the window. The clouds were turning dark shades of grey.

"If we have to," I finally said, crossing my arms. There was a silence as I stared at the window.

"It's almost Winter." I said, turning back to him.

Dominic was watching me intensely from the mirror.

"What are you saying?" Alyssa asked.

"We can't drive in the snow," I said slowly.

There was a silence as the realization dawned on everyone.

"We're gonna have to find shelter, aren't we?" Alyssa said quietly.

I leaned on the driver's seat, while Alyssa leaned on the passenger seat, so that way we were closer to each other.

"There could be survivors," Jeremy suggested, just as quietly as Alyssa.

"And there could be Zombies," Dominic and I said at the same time.

We glanced at each other for a second then turned away, laughing softly at the fact we'd both been thinking the same thing.

"Do we really want to risk getting attacked?" I asked them, looking all of them in the eye.

Dominic kept his eyes on the road, while Alyssa played with her hair.

"It's that, or risk crashing," Jeremy said.

"So it's settled. We stop in the next town," I said, laying back on the seat.

*******************************************************

I fixed the rear view mirror. I could see Dominic and Jeremy sleeping in the back seats. It was my turn to drive, and the sun was starting to set. We were still miles away from any town.

Alyssa was in the passenger seat, leaning against the car window.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the road.

We had not talked much at all since Eric had died. But that was my fault. I was the one who'd wanted to completely isolate myself from the world.

She looked at me before looking back at the road.

"Everything before this freaking apocalypse."

Hmm, funny... I was thinking about that too. She turned to face me before I got a chance to respond.

"Can you believe that just a few weeks ago our only worry in the world was whether or not to wear pink to prom?"

I laughed softly as a tear threatened to fall suddenly.

"That feels like a dream now," I responded, trying to ignore the fact that my voice cracked.

"I know," she whispered.

I knew that look. She was thinking of her parents - of everyone who'd died.

"Hey," I said, getting her attention, "at least we're alive."

I smiled a little. But Alyssa didn't smile back.

"But for how long?"

There was a silence.

"Don't think like that," I responded in a low voice. I was really being a hypocrite. That was all I was thinking about too. I decided to change the subject. "Can I ask you something?"

She nodded.

"What's going on between you and Dominic?" I asked, smiling.

She laughed.

"What? There's nothing - no there's nothing going on between me - a-and him. No," she said, laughing nervously.

But I saw the blush.

"You're blushing!" I squeaked, while trying to keep my eyes on the road.

"Forget me and Dominic. How about you and Jeremy?" she said.

I laughed.

"Me and your cousin? What - no," I said, shaking my head and focusing on the road.

"I see you blushing," Alyssa taunted, sounding like a little five-year-old.

"Hey, look!" I said, leaning in.

"Sure change the subject-"

"No, Alyssa, look!" I repeated, pointing to the sign I could see.

"There's a town in the next exit," she read, then turned to me. "You sure we should do this?"

"There's no other choice," I said, and headed to the direction of the town.