This Is Not A Joke

Chapter Twenty Six

I woke up in Sal's bed with the worst hangover ever. I pushed myself up and was glad to find myself wearing one of Sal's tee shirts and a pair of shorts. My dress from yesterday was hung neatly in the closet.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the wall and couldn't help but giggle. My curly hair was half up and half down and my makeup was smudged all over my face.

I stood up and listened for any noise but there was nothing. I opened the door and stifled my laughter. Bailey, Murr, and Joe must've gone to their rooms but the rest were all in the living room. Sal, Q, and Jeremy were cuddled on the floor together. Dave was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table and I saw Jen's legs poking out from underneath.

The camera that Jeremy was using was sitting on the arm of the couch. I couldn't help but take pictures of the scene.

I slowly inched my way around the boys on the floor, trying not to wake them up. I peeked out of the door of the bus at the mess we had made last night. Bottles and cups littered the ground.

I sighed as I pulled on my boots and grabbed a garbage bag. I put all of the cups in the bag and lined up the bottles on the table for Q to grab the ones he wanted. They were pretty much all empty.

I put the bag under the table and started to take down Q's speaker system. A growl snapped me out of my work and I instantly turned toward the noise. I pat my body and realized I didn't have anything on me. No knife no axe no gun.

I watched as bodies started breaking through the tree line. They slowly made their way towards me and I was thankful for that. It gave me time to react. Until I heard a screech.

The familiar noise filled my ears and I shuddered. The shriek happened again and I was able to locate the source of the noise. The decaying body was at the edge of the woods, staring in my direction.

The creature threw itself forward and started running at me at an inhuman speed. My heart felt like it stopped beating and I turned towards the bus, running as fast as I could. I ran up the steps of the bus and slammed the door shut just in time. There was a screech and a thump at the door.

"What's going on?" Sal sat up and sleepily rubbed at his eyes.

I was breathing heavily. "There's another one of those things out there."

Q yawned and sat up, his fluffy hair sticking out in every direction. "There's lots of things everywhere."

There was another thump at the door and I pushed on the door with all of my might. I was scared if I let go the creature would break the door down.

The noise seemed to snap Q out of his dream land. He got up from the floor and picked his mallet up from the couch. Sal grabbed a baseball bat.

"When I tell you to, open the door." Q swung the mallet over his shoulder and Sal did the same with his baseball bat.

My eyes widened in shock and fear. I shook my head back and forth. "No way. If that thing gets on here we're screwed."

"Trust me." His brown eyes softened and he gave me a lopsided smile.

My heart was beating out of my chest but I nodded anyway. Him and Sal inched their way closer to the door and sweat beaded on his furrowed brow. He gave me a reassuring nod before screaming the word "NOW."

I pulled the door open and hid myself behind it, pulling it as close to me as possible. The thing entered the bus and immediately made his target Q.

"Come on big boy." Q said to the creature. It's response was to growl and Q just smirked back at it. The creature lunged at him and Q swung the mallet, knocking the thing back down the stairs. He swung the mallet again pushing her further and further down the stairs and out of the door until only its head was in the doorway. I took that as my cue and slammed the door shut using all of my body weight. There was a satisfying crunching noise and I knew there would be a mess for one of us to clean up eventually.

I glanced out of the window of the door and saw that the other, much slower zombies were starting to close in on us. "We should get going." I called over my shoulder.

I heard the jingling of keys and the bus started. I was thrown back and heard multiple thumping noises as Q peeled out of the field.

I glared at the man as I pulled myself up and brushed myself off.

He glanced in the rear view mirror mumbling under his breath. "My speakers. My beautiful speakers. And the bottles. My god, the bottles."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure we'll find plenty more bottles, Q. Especially with the way you are. I'll keep an eye out for speakers." I smiled down at him.

A door opened and a sleepy Murr and Bailey were standing in front of us. "Why? Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Q smiled at them innocently.

Another door opened and Joe came out clutching his head. "Was it necessary to drive like a maniac?"

"What was that? Q's an amazing driver? Why thank you!" He laughed and swerved the bus purposely.

Jen sat up and i heard a loud thump. "Fuckin table." She muttered under he breath as she clutched her head. She crawled out and made her way to the bathroom.

Dave and Jeremy were still snoring loudly. I shook my head at them as I sat on the couch.

"Uh what happened over there?" Bailey pointed towards the door of the bus.

"Another one of those crazy things chased us. We had to kill it." Sal spoke up and sat down on the couch next to me.

Jeremy yawned and started to stir in the floor. He sat up and blinked a couple times, looking back and forth between all of us. "Uh why is the bus moving?" His eyes got wide.

"We had to leave. The field was being overrun by zombies and I was almost eaten." I explained to him.

"But...our car." He glanced back in the direction of the field.

"It's fine. We have plenty of space, plenty of food, plenty of weapons. We should be good." I told him.

He nodded and I heard a scream come from the back of the bus. Jen came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Shampoo bubbles covered her head. "I think we're out of water." Her face was red and I could tell she was mad.

I rolled my eyes, feeling slightly irritated. "Looks like we have to make another pit stop."