Contagious (ON HOLD)

Chapter 4

"I can't believe we're doing this," I say, turning to my friends. We're in the furniture store, settled into a huge couch in front of a tv, looking through a pile of DVDs.

"Hey, we've been through a lot of trauma with this apocalypse, we deserve a movie marathon day," Jesabelle says, laughing and smiling.

"Yeah, we deserve it!" Crimson chimes in, grinning and stuffing her mouth with popcorn from that was previously popped.

"Ah... I love the scent of fresh popcorn..." I sigh dreamily, inhaling the heavenly scent.

"Don't we all..." Jade sighs, imitating me and taking a deep sniff.

"You guys are so weird... but you have a point." Kate laughs.

"Of course we do, we always do." Jade says, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"Okay, now what movie are we gonna watch?" Hope asks, looking through the endless titles of endless movies.

"Hmm... How about a good zombie flick? Maybe we can learn something from it, like how to survive and stuff." Jesabelle says thoughtfully, looking through the pile.

"Yeah, we should watch something like... Dawn of the Dead?" I suggest, sifting through the pile, looking for it.

"Okay, I'm fine with that." Jesabelle says, helping me look. The rest of my friends murmur in agreement, joining the search. With the efforts of all six of us, we find it and Jesabelle stands up and inserts it into the tv. I settle into the couch, getting comfortable with my friends, as the opening credits start.

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About halfway through the movie, Jade speaks. "I have to go the the bathroom..." She complains, standing up.

"Okay, do you know where it is?" I ask, looking over at her.

"Yeah, I do. Mkay, I'll be right back," She says, walking off. The rest of us get back to watching the movie, stuffing our faces with popcorn. After about five minutes, I speak up.

"Hey guys... It's been like five minutes... Should we go check on her?" I ask, unsure of myself.

"Hmm... You're right... Let's go." Kate says, standing up. Crimson pauses the movie and we all stand up to go check on Jade. Kate leads the way, pushing the door to the bathroom halfway open.

"Jade? Are you alright?" Kate calls. "Jade?" She pushes the door open all the way, and none of us are prepared for what we see next. Jade is sprawled out over the floor, covered in bites and her own blood, as a zombie eats away at her flesh. My eyes widen with terror, and I suck in a breath, taken aback by the sight of one of my best friends being eaten. I can tell from the way her body lays still and limp that she's already on the other side, or nearly there.

"You stupid zombie!" I screech, lunging for the zombie eating my friend when kate puts out an arm to stop me.

"No, don't do that! You don't even have a weapon!" She scolds me.

"B-b-but... It's Jade!" I shriek.

"Hey... guys?" Jesabelle speaks up.

"I know, but it's too late for her. We can't lose you too." Kate says, looking at me. Though she says it's too late for Jade, I can see in her eyes that she hopes she's wrong and that Jade will somehow magically revive herself and come back to us.

"Guys, run!" Crimson yells.

"Huh?" Kate and I both say in unison. I turn to look at the zombie, and it's growling, and stumbling towards us slowly, with a look of hunger in it's eyes. It's face is halfway off, revealing the muscles, blood and a bit of skeleton. To make matters worse, one of it's ankles are bent in a scary angle. I stand there with my mouth hanging open, too scared to move.