Zantanium

Emotional Things

Murphy made me sit in the back after a while, giving captain mystery man a front seat.

I wasn't going to lie, I wasn't happy about this. I began to watch as my brother as he and captain talked.

"So, have you heard anything about the west coast?" Murphy says glancing over to the man

"As of right now they say 50% of the country is infected" captin responds quietly

"What made you end up at a gas station?" I blurted out, poking my head in the middle of the two seats.

"They killed my family....or what was about to be my family. My wife Miranda was pregnant when she got bit by our neighbor" he takes a breath and continues

"We were unaware of what was really happening when the rumors of a cannibal illness started going on. My wife as stubborn as she was wanted to believe that things like that don't happen in places like Indiana, kinda like the shooting didn't happen in columbine" he laughs slightly "Our neighbor Kasey had began to beat on our door at midnight, she was hysterical. Making claims that some man had began to chase her and had bit her arm when she attempted to give him money. Miranda patched her up and took her to the guest room. She had no idea that she had been bitten and that Kasey would begin to attack her in her sleep, I wasn't home and quite frankly it won't never be home"

Silence filled the air as he finished his story, I looked over at Murphy as he glanced at me through the review mirror.

Something inside me didn't buy his story and it wasn't me just not liking him, I just didn't trust someone that seemed so mysterious.

Somewhere along the ride Murphy fiddled with the radio, trying to get a signal. Eventually it tuned in to a emergency alert signal and nobody made a noise while it was going on.

"Reports of the cannibal illness has spread across the country and other neighboring countries, the government once again would like for everyone to remain inside there homes with the doors and windows locked."

Chills ran up my spine as the message played. The silence in the truck only grew more uncomfortable. Murphy pulls over and gets out, grabbing a gun from the back and disappearing into the dark.

I climbed out of the truck and followed my brothers movements. When he finally stopped he brought the gun to his head and just stood there, stood there as if he was waiting for permission from God.

"What are you doing?" I asked gently, Murphy turns to me, tears fell down his face as the gun was still on his temple

"Didn't you hear steph? Half the world is contaminated by this disease. Do you know what happens in zombie movies? Everyone dies, there is no cure and there is no life after this so might as well get a head start"

He began to shake, like he did when grandma died, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him and made hushing noises, I grabbed the gun from his hands and dropped it gently.

After gathering his composure we stood in silence, we began to hear rustling and Murphy grabbed the gun, his tear stained face now looking worried. I backed up towards him slowly.

The rustling began to get more louder as the thing in the bushes got closer. Murphy inched up closer to the bush when a barking noise was made. We both sighed a breath of relief when we seen the Corgi appeared from the bushes

"Awh" I said my voice going higher the more I looked at it. It walked towards me a sniffed my hand before giving it a small lick.

"Stephanie don't get any ideas, we're not taking it with us" Murphy said annoyed "but we can't just leave it here" I protested. "I think we should take him" Captin said walking towards us, making me jump out of my skin.

"Jeez, you scared me" I said dramatically grabbin my chest "well you didn't expect me to sit the car the whole time did you?" He asked looking back at the dog.

"Let's bring him" captin said again, I looked at Murphy with pleading eyes and seen him give in and throw his head back giving a groan of aggregation "Fine, but Steph I swear you better not let it get in the way of our saftey" he says in his assertive dad tone.

I nodded my head a bunch of times and unhooked my belt and gently wrapping it around the dog as a temporary leash.

"Thank you thank you thank you" I squeal wrapping my arms around him. He pulls me off and laughs "don't thank me, thank captin"

I looked over at captin and nodded "thanks, maybe we can make ammends?" He gives me a faint smile and nods in agreement.

We all walked back to the truck, letting the new found pet with me.

"What are you gonna name him Steph?" Murphy asked starting to drive again

I looked at the dog and smiled

"Ringo"