The Life and Times in the Zombie Apocalypse: Part 3: Homecoming

A Walk, A Cat, and A Drunk

"Hey, we're going on a walk!" Julie shouted upstairs.

Tommy ran to the top of the staircase and stood looking over Julie and Emily. "Can I come too?" He asked happily.

"Yeah, c'mon Tommy. Get your shoes on." Julie told him as she waved him downstairs.

Mikayla hadn't responded to Julie. Nobody had heard from her since that morning. Emily and Tommy stepped out onto the front porch.

"Jim, talk to your daughter. Please?" Julie asked him.

"I will while you three are out of the house." Jim told her.

Julie waited for him to look at her and away from the book that he was reading. Jim looked at her. "I promise."

"Okay, good." Julie smiled as she left the house.

"Bye, I'm gonna go hang out with Chester and Ross." Corey said as Brett walked in the front door.

"Hey, hey wait." Brett said to his younger brother.

Corey stopped at the doorway, "What?"

"Be back by dark." Brett told him.

"Okay, fine." Corey said as he left the house in a rush.

Brett shut the door behind Corey, Richmond ran down the stairs towards Brett.

"Did Corey just leave?" Richmond asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, he went to go play with his new friends." Brett said as he walked toward the kitchen. "Why are you acting so weird about where he's going?"

"I just don't want him to get hurt!" Richmond shouted.

"Rich, nobody is gonna get hurt. Corey's fine." Brett reassured his little brother. "Trust me, in a few years you'll understand why he wants to hang out with other people than his family."

"No I won't." Said Richmond as he huffed and puffed his way out of the room.

Corey walked down the road passing people on his walk, he turned down a street that not many people lived on. He walked past Julie, Emily, and Tommy who all waved and said hello to him. Then he made his way to a big oak tree in the front yard of a small white house. Under the tree two boys were sitting. Chester was sixteen years old with long blonde hair, blue eyes with big bags under them, and was strumming an acoustic guitar lightly.

His younger brother, Ross was fourteen years old with a blonde buzz cut head and dark blue eyes. He was trying to learn how to play an old battery powered Solitaire hand held game and was beginning to get frustrated over it all. As Corey got there, Ross threw the device over his shoulder.

"Hey guys." Corey said as he joined them on the grass underneath the big oak tree.

"Sup?" Asked Chester.

"Hi." Ross said with a smile.

"Not much, I'm bored, how about you?" Corey answered Chester.

"I'm parched is how I'm doing." Chester td Corey. "Say, how's about you go get me drink, eh Ross?"

"What?" Ross turned his attention to his older brother. "No way! Go get your own drink."

"C'mon?" Chester asked again.

"Get outta here. Get it yourself." Ross told him again.

"Fine, God!" Chester frustratingly shouted as he jumped to his feet and walked inside leaving his guitar leaned against the tree.

"Mikayla?" Jim asked as he knocked on her bedroom door. There was no answer. "Please open the door, Mikayla?" Still no answer. "Dammit Mikayla, let me in!" He shouted. This time something sounded like it had fallen in her room. Jim kicked open the door and saw Mikayla lying in bed asleep. He looked over at Mikayla's desk to see a broken lamp on the floor. "Mikayla, what the hell is going on here?" Jim asked as he shook Mikayla's arm to wake her up.