BETTER SAFE THAN ZOMBIE

13| Maverick

Okay, I hadn't expected that.

"A cure?" I repeated, trying to absorb the information. "Are you telling me there's a cure for the zombies so that they'll be reverted back to their former selves?"

He nodded.

My knees went weak at the thought of all the endless possibilities the cure has to offer. I quickly sat down on the bed, before my legs gave up and I crash to the floor. Ethan was looking at me warily.

"How did you know?" I said softly, looking at him. "How did you know there was--there might be a cure?"

He sat beside me, avoiding my eyes and looking at the adjacent wall. "My father was a scientist," he told me, voice quiet. So quiet, in fact, that I have to strain my ears to hear them. "His name was Maverick Blake."

I started, remembering a night before the plague when Dad came home late, and I was petting Az, watching television. The look on his face had said that something was on his mind, and as someone who was a daughter of a scientist, I inquired, "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head and squatting beside me to scratch Az under the chin, he said, "Its nothing. Just something that happened at work."

And of course, I demanded, "Tell me."

Dad sighed, but relented. "My co-scientist, Maverick, predicted that the whole world was ending, starting from a virus."

I couldn't help it--I guffawed. Dad smiled, but it was weak.

"Yeah, that's what I had thought," he had said. We said our goodnights to each other, and we went to sleep.

I never once thought that maybe Ethan's father was right. Dad hadn't either, and now it came back to bite us in the ass.

"No one would believe him when he said the world was ending. I didn't either."

Ethan's voice was filled with regret.

"Sometimes he comes down in his laboratory at the basement and work there for hours. Then one day, he just started staying there longer, coming up only for meals. Sometimes he doesn't eat altogether. Then, when he did came back up, he was pale and haggard looking that Mom and I started to worry.

And just as suddenly, while we were eating dinner one day, he stood up and told us to pack. I protested, of course. Besides thinking that Dad had gone bonkers, someone I liked had invited me to a party the next week, and I was too pissed off at Dad not caring for me anymore and just devoting all his time at his work. But Dad didn't hear any of it. By the next day, we were all packed and ready to go."

I wanted to ask Ethan what was the name of the girl he liked, and if she was prettier than me, but that could wait.

"But I was desperate to go to the party. While he and Mom were busy filling the car at a gasoline station, I jumped off, grabbed my things, and made a ran for it. I had called my bestfriend last night to stay at his place, and he agreed. I was reckless, and I didn't think the situation was that alarming. My Mom and Dad called for me, but I didn't look back.

I didn't know where they went, but the night zombies started appearing and attacking, I went again to Dad's basement and found random pieces of writing written on Post-it notes stuck on his desk. I noticed one with words written hastily, as if Dad was hurrying for something, or he was giddy. The note said, 'Number 875 has been showing some improvement. The cure?' and beside it, the words 'Go north' were highlighted in red ink. After I got Dad's shotgun and grabbed some knives from the kitchen and some other supplies, I proceeded towards north on foot."

Ethan paused and looked at me.

"I hope my parents are somewhere out there. They're the only reason I keep on going."