Jack In The Box

1

"The boy banged on the walls of the building, his shirt covering his mouth as the brain-dead zombies cough and hack"

I swallow

"His voice was muffled as he cried for help, the infected gaining on him at their slow speed. It was no use. He turned around to face his fate, and all of a sudden..."

I hold my breath

"BOOM!"

Everyone gasps

"A bullet goes through his head, and he falls to the ground."

"W-What happened to him?" Angela quivers, raising her hand timidly

"He was shot. Duh." Micheal rolls his eyes at his twin sister

Jasper laughs, his head tilted back from the force of the action

"Well, Angie, you tell me." He smiles at the young girl

"Uhm... did the zombie shoot him? Maybe they were scared?" She pipes up

"No, they're too dumb to do that. An officer must've. I bet they thought he was gonna break in and eat our brains!" Micheal growls, his sister yelling in response, resulting in a game of tag

I giggle, brushing a lock of purple hair from my face

Not many people in The Community have colored hair anymore. It reminds them too much of "before" or whatever. I know some kids from school who've done it too, but it's not as common as it used to be, I assume.

"They're so cute, I can't believe they're already 10!" I say to Jasper, who nods in agreement

"I know. I remember when they were born. All the kids went up to see them. I haven't seen many babies in my lifetime, now that I think about it." He furrows his brows in thought, digging through his brain for any trace of a memory of tiny hands and feet or the purity and giggle of an infant

"Me either. I think people are waiting for the virus to slow down. At this rate, might be a while." I huff, continuing to watch the kids run around

"How you doing on that paper by the way?" He asks, for the sake of making small-talk

"Uhm, pretty good, I guess. Not very interesting. I mean, yay! We were born in the worst time in history! Let's celebrate!" I fake-cheer

He laughs, looking at the ground before looking back at me

"Ya know, Jack, we never hang out anymore."

"Heh, I guess not. I mean, no time for friends with all the work they give us in school. And then I have tutoring and church on the weekends. So I guess I'm pretty busy, aren't I?" I laugh

He nods awkwardly.

That came out wrong

"Well, I guess you are. See you around? Coming to the campfire again tomorrow night? Maybe we can go for smoothies?" He offers

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out

"I, I'm.."

Come on, say yes!"

"Sure, why not?"

"Awesome! See ya around, Jackie!" He smiles and jogs away