Brace For It

Chapter Two

    Crystal called Hunter and told him about the new bubonic plague, excluding the part about her aunt. Hunter didn't know about her parents death. He didn't really know anything about her. To him, she was just Crystal Waters, Hunter Deer's best friend. Hunter said he was on his way over. After about 5 minutes of straight panicking, Crystal realized that she had to do something. 

  She looked around her room. The guitar. She gripped the neck in her hands and held it in front of her. Her knees felt like jelly. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to kill her Aunt? She had to make a decision. She tugged on the door handle, and just as she swung the guitar, her aunt tackled her. 

  Before she had the chance to bite, Crystal kicked her shoulder and broke free. She slowly approached her aunt who was struggling to get off the ground, and swung down. She saw the dent in her head, but it wasn't bleeding.

  In that moment, something weird happened. Carrie turned back into herself. The wrinkles faded away, her hair turned back into black, and the crust on her face just disappeared. Crystal stared at her aunt, dead on the floor. She didn't remember crying, but she felt tears rolling down her face. She aggressively brushed them away, and kissed Carrie's forehead. 

  "I love you." She mumbled. She stuffed the body in the closet and ran outside to see Hunter.

  "You're not safe out here!" She insisted. "Why didn't you come inside?!"

  "I'm not going inside."   

  "Hunter! You'll die out here!" 

   "I don't see any zombies."

   "They're not zombies, they're- would you just come inside?!" Hunter could tell that Crystal was getting annoyed. They could practically read each other's mind.

   "I'm not going inside."

   "Why not?!"

   "Because if I go inside, then I'm going to have to live with braces FOREVER! No way! I'm going to find a living orthodontist. I'm not having braces for the rest of my life. No way!" He grinned after clearly stating his point. Crystal didn't understand how he was so calm, considering he was just informed that the apocalypse is happening.

  "So you're just planning on risking your life, to find an orthodontist? Hunter that's crazy!" 

  "Exactly! And when has anything I've ever done been sane? Anyhow, if we're gonna die anyway, why not go adventurously?" He smiled again, crossed his arms, and raised one eyebrow. 

  "What about your parents?"

  "I snuck out. They'll just figure I'm sleeping or something. Yours?" 

  "Out of town." 

  "Perfect! So, you in?" He asked with a smile, still raising one eyebrow. 

  "Fine. But only if you teach me how to do that." 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

    Crystal shuffled along the cracks in the sidewalk. She hadn't seen any victims yet. It had been silent since they left her house 5 minutes ago. Hunter seemed like he was trying to figure something out. He had his eyes glued to his phone, trying to find a living orthodontist. Crystal was on the lookout for victims, (because Hunter obviously wasn't) but she was thinking about something else. She wondered why she had left. Why didn't she just stay inside? It was safe there. Why did she go with Hunter? She could lose everything. 

  Then it dawned on her; she could die. Everything would be lost. But what is everything? Her parents were dead. Now her aunt was too. She had nothing left. 

  "Do you even know where you're going?" She asked, finally breaking the silence.

    "Not a clue," he said; eyes still glued to his phone. "Got it! Follow me!" He ran off in the opposite direction (back to his house). 

    "Wait!" Crystal ran after him. They ran back to his house. 

    "Stay here." Hunter pointed to a small spot in between his garbage bin and a bush.

    "What?!"

    "I figured I should probably get a bat or something. You know, to fend off the zombies." He explained. Crystal rolled her eyes. 

    "Good point." She crouched in the spot. Hunter climbed on the garbage bin, then jumped onto the ledge leading up to his opened window. He climbed through. He tried to be really quick and quiet. He shuffled across his hallway, trying not to make a sound, and grabbed his dad's car keys off the counter and two of his brothers mini baseball bats. He then ran back to his room and jumped out his window. 

  "Let's go," he said, tossing her a bat. She caught it.

  "Are you crazy?!"

  "Yep." He said, climbing in the front of his father's car. 

  "You're 12!"

  "And the cops are dead. Your point?"

  "Hunter."

  "That's my name. Get in."   

  "Do you even know how to drive?" Crystal climbed into the passenger seat.

   "Eh. I'm pretty good at go-karting. I'll figure it out." He started the car. 

  Crystal held onto her seatbelt, fear took control of her body as Hunter pulled out of the drive way. Crystal figured he was going to be cautious and drive slow, but he had another idea in mind. He slammed the gas petal and swerved the wheel. 

  "I'm doing it!" He laughed in relief.

     "Oh my god! Hunter!" She laughed too. They were okay. They were going to be okay. As they drove out of the community, they started to see more victims attacking innocent people rushing back to their homes. There weren't many cars on the streets, and there were no police officers. Crystal was scared at first but then, she looked over at her best friend, who was having the time of his life.

  The world was literally ending, but he was happy. She was  jealous of him. The way he was always happy. Life went so easy for him. Everything worked out. But she looked at his face. She looked in his eyes. She loved him. Not as a boyfriend, but just as a friend. She realized that he is what she had to lose, and if she was going to die, it was going to be with him. So she too, smiled. And she too was happy. He was her everything. She realized that now.