I could hear sirens, screams and crashes coming from everywhere as we ran down the streets. We took a short cut through the town and round a corner to a massive play centre. It looked safe, so we entered. It seemed to still be open with the odd child running around, a few kids in the arcade, a few kids in the large soft play area. Our group looked dirty and scared, so the staff immediately pulled us aside.
"What are you guys doing here?" One of them said in the cheeriest way possible.
Sketch stepped forward.
"Ma'am, we have a slight problem. You hear all the sirens outside?" The worker nodded nervously. "You got kids with late parents?" She nodded again. "Think about it. This town is in some really deep shit at the moment, believed to be a zombie apocalypse." The man behind the woman came forward.
"Sir, it would be best if you and the rest of your party left. You're scaring the children." He looked annoyed. I pushed through everyone to come face to face with the man.
"But I'm a child, I need to be supervised, don't I mommy?" I said, grabbing my mom's hand and giving her a little cuddle. Gemma came forward and went to hold my hand.
"Yeah, me too." She smiled. I flinched.
"Fuck off Gemma, you pain in the ass."
The man looked confused. He didn't know what to do.
A girl came up behind us all and pushed through, coming between me and my mom. We both frowned.
The girl had curly blonde hair and looked about my age. She turned and looked at us.
"Louisa Smith," she said. She pointed at me and my mom. "Wood's? You're Emma and you're her daughter Wren? I swear I've seen you before." I looked at my mom and then back at the girl.
"Haha yes, why?" I said. The girl glared at us all.
"It is the apocalypse, and I'm willing to help. I need more help than you guys do by the looks of it. My mom is over 3 hours late to pick me and Devin; my brother; up." She looked really upset. Sketch was staring at her with a loving look in his eyes.
Ooo, Apocalypse Romance.
"Course you can stay with us." I said, holding my hand out. She took it and pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you so much."
My mom smiled. "Come on, let's go get your brother."
There was a loud crashing noise. All of the clowns in the entertainment department didn't look happy anymore. Kids were screaming, the very few parents were panicking looking for their children, the staff were flapping around. A bunch of zombies had just come through the doors. My mom grabbed my hand and ducked under a bar at the start of the soft play area. We entered a tunnel, climbing up and round corners, going down slides and ripping open the net to hide in unreachable areas.
I could just about see Louisa grab her little brother and run into a different tunnel. Gemma had begun to run out of the building, but she was stopped by a hoard of zombies. I kept my mom occupied while it happened so she didn't have to panic. I grabbed hold the sides of her head and pulled her head to mine. The whole soft play area seemed to be shaking. She held my head too, stroking my hair with one hand.
"I'm scared, mom." I said. She tilted her head up and gave me a kiss.
"Everything's gonna be fine, just make sure we stay together and nothing bad will happen, I promise." We both started to cry.
Just then, a little zombie boy crawled up to us. My mom panicked, screaming and hiding her head in my hoodie. I fiddled with my back pocket trying to grab hold of the pistol. I got it and shot him twice in the head.
Poor little angel.
My mom sobbed heavily.
"Shhhh," I pulled her in closer and hugged her, rubbing her back. "See, like you said, we're together and we're both ok. Everything's gonna be fine." I hugged her tighter.
I really didn't want to let go, but I had to. I heard squeaking and honking.
No fucking way is that a clown.
I saw white gloves with long, sharp, dirty grey nails clawing their way up the net that we'd ripped down. It gave up and sat down, squeezing it's comedic flower. But it wasn't water that came out, it was blood. We shuffled back, letting the blood trail out and drip down the netting in front of us. I pulled out the pistol again, aiming for it's head. Someone screamed, making me jog and miss, which agitated the zombie. It charged at the net. Somehow all my ammo was out and I had no way of protecting myself or my mom.
This is it, I thought. This is how I die.
There was a loud gunshot from behind. It was Louisa, pointing a pistol up at us and the zombie. The zombie was dead, sprawled out in the net. Me and my mom got up and rushed out of the net cage, standing on the clown and heading for a slide that lead out. Of course, the clown got back up.
I grabbed my mom, pulling her down the slide just before the clown grabbed her. We slid to the bottom, blood trailing after my mom.
Was it hers?!
Louisa had dropped the gun at the bottom of the slide. My mom picked it up and shot the clown again, killing it completely this time. The whole area was silent, all the zombies dead. My mom sat up against the slide and looked at her arm.
Fuck, it was hers.
It was soaked in blood, dripping. Nick grabbed the back pack and yanked out the bandages as fast as possible.
"Shit, must've caught my arm with those claws of his." She said. She looked as if she was in a lot of pain.
"I'm so sorry mom. I should have grabbed you sooner, I should have warned you about it, I should-" I was panicking and started to cry.
"Baby, baby, shhh, calm down." She interrupted, stroking my hair with her good arm. "None of this is your fault, ok?"
I cried heavily on her shoulder.
"Be careful, yeah?! I need you!"
