After the Crash

Chapter 5

Dreams. Dreams were all I could control. I always dreamt about the same thing. I was with Tommy, he hadn't disappeared. The ashes of Dad's cigarettes flying around everywhere, Mom and Dad were alive, Tommy was alive, and me, I was normal, there had been no crash, I was still the same age, but I was in control, I knew it was a  dream, but I wanted it to be real, I needed it to be real, I wanted to be normal. But I couldn't.

I couldn't truly control it, I just knew that I would wake up, I knew that when I did, I wouldn't be me anymore, I wouldn't be able to fight, I wouldn't be able to control anything.

First, it was when the whole dream started slowly melting away, first Mom, then Dad, then Tommy, then the scenery, all melting way, I always felt the fear, sorrow, anger, all of it, flowing through me, knowing that the monster inside of me would burst out, the dreams couldn't stop her, no one could. I would have no control. No control.

Second, it was the waking up. The intense pain of changing into that infected monster. The regret of knowing what I was capable of, but never knowing what I would do.

Third, feeling the seemingly endless hate and rage for Christy, feeling the need to kill her, to get revenge for what she did to Tommy, and for what she did to me.

Fourth, the veins in my arm transforming into a blaze of fiery red from a burning rage, from hate, and anger.

I had woken up, it had been a month since I had espaced that damned prison that Christy trapped me in. I longed to get rid of her, to end my bitter hate for her. I had searched every ruined building, every street, everywhere, any place I could search in, I did, frantically looking in every crook, corner, alley, room, everywhere.

I spent hours searching ever since I woke up, my hands started to tremble. I hadn't found Christy, but I did find someone much worse. Tommy.

"Olivia." he said quietly.

"Tommy." I said, he started to open his mouth. "Tommy. We thought you were dead."

"I'm not dead, obvisously." He replied.

"Twelve years." I said quickly. "Twelve years, and you never came back!" He started to open his mouth again, as I kicked a garbage can on the sidewalk we were on.

"I'm sorry. Olivia, I'm sorry." He responded.

"No you aren't, if you were, then you would have come back for us." I answered. "Christy sacrificed you for her own selfish self. She through you at those infected like dirt. She assumed you could out run them.

"And I did." I stated directly after I finished speaking.

"Then why didn't you come back. You waited 12 years to show your face to either of us!" I exclaimed, I clenched my fist.

"It wasn't safe with me around, I was too short tempered." He tried to explain.

"Well there's something you don't know." I said as I rolled up my sleeves, revealling the fiery red veins of my arm.

"It got to you." He said, as he started to back off a bit.

"A month. A month of this." I said, my body shaking. "It helped me realize what the infection really is." I walked up to him. "The infection isn't an infection. It is a good thing. Those people on the news, we create stereotypes of the infected, because of the news reports. But is the infection a bad thing? The answer is no. It truly isn't. It helps people think. It makes people realize who they can trust, and who they should cut from their life. We can't trust Christy. She tried to kill you and me, she locked me up, no food, no water, she ran. I'm trying to find her."

"Olivia. You are trying to kill her." Tommy said. "You need to calm down."

"It's been too long. I'm not the bad guy, I realize that now. I never was." I explained.

"Olivia! Stop it! This isn't who you are! That isn't what you think!" Tommy yelled.

"You don't know a damn thing about me. You are the one who left for 12 years, so how would you know anything about me?" I asked.

"Because you are my sister." He answered. "Stop trying to find Christy."

"I can't." I responded with intense disdain in my voice.  Even Tommy was against me now.  The one person who I thought would understand. Tommy had become as good as dead to me. "Just because we share the same blood doesn't make us family. Good bye, Tommy. If you come after me don't expect me to be this civil."