Black Out

2 "Let's Go to the Zoo."

It started about two years ago. The black outs became a regular thing, everyone expected them. No one really knows for sure when the black outs began, but they lasted for a couple of months before the power everywhere went out. By this time a lot of people had their own generators, and weren't too worried about it. Of course this time was different the power never came back, and generators wouldn’t last forever. It was about two weeks and still no power, people started to panic, there were mobs in the streets. Jac was only fifteen at the time and it scared her.

Fifteen and she was still scared of the dark. She didn’t let anyone know though; she still keeps it to herself. But this was only the tip of the iceberg. Two weeks is all it took for neighbors to turn on each other. This was the time that they needed to come together and join forces for what came next. It was unexpected and totally bizarre but that’s when they showed up. With the worst timing every zombies started crawling the streets. Everyone ran in all directions. Jac went with her parents to a shelter, but that’s where she lost them.

Anyway she’d been living a couple weeks on her own before the Serge found her; he was a friend of the family. Together they formed a small band of misfits. But that was only after the shelter became unsafe. So they left and have been traveling ever since. That last place they were at was a hotel. They went there to scavenge for food; before they entered the city they saw the ‘purge’ signs everywhere. They figured it was safe enough but you can never be too careful, zombies aren’t the only things you need to watch out for. Well now that they’re out of there they have to find somewhere to shelter for the night.

It’s about midday and they still haven’t stopped driving.

“Are we there yet?” Janet wined

“No.” Jac said sternly. This complaining was starting to get on her nerves.

“We might have to be soon.” The Serge said, “We’re almost out of gas. Matt the map.”

Matt was in the marines so was Serge, as you could of guessed by the name, Sergeant MacCleave. They have a lot of respect for the Sergeant, Matt on the other hand not so much at least that’s the way it was for Jac, sure he was tough, but he was a bit arrogant and the fact that he didn’t take her commands seriously, really didn’t make Jac like him very much.

The Sergeant was the head of the group, that was pretty obvious, Matt on the other hand was the soldier not so good at following orders, especially Jac’s, but valuable with a gun and in a fight.

Matt reached his arm over the back seat and fished out the map. “Here” he said handing it to the Serge.

“Jac can you figure out the closet town?”  Serge asked. She took the map and started to unfold it but it was kind of difficult since Ann was practically on her lap, and her arm was stuck in between the seat and the door. Very frustrated Jac gave an aggravated huff.

“No! I don’t have enough room!”

“I can get it.” Ann said timidly. Ann was the shy book nerd of the group. She doesn’t do well in a fight but whenever things need a gently hand she’s your girl. She gingerly unfolded the map and laid half of it over the dash board and the other half on her lap.

Black marks were scratched out across the U.S.: places they’ve been, and places they’d never go.        

“Alright, so where are we?”

“Route 56, right outside of Nebraska.”

“Let’s go to the zoo!” Janet piped up and pointed towards the map. Janet, Ann older half sister, had a bit of a temper and wasn’t always helpful in a fight. But she did know how to complain and talk too much. Unfortunately talking and looking good isn’t very useful foraging for food, or looking for shelter.

“The zoo? Brainy what do you think?” The Serge asked as his eyes found Brainy’s in the rear view mirror. Brainy, if it isn’t obvious by the name, is the brains of the group. Fair in a fight, but no one would put their life in his hands. He could fix or hack into anything that resembled a computer; he was also like a walking encyclopedia. Fifteen and he was like Jac’s younger brother she never had.

“Well I’m sure I could get us in if there’s a backup generator. We’d have to keep an eye out for the animals. But there should be good security so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Yes or no geek.” Matt grumbled.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Yay!” Janet chirped. Jac rolled her eyes, it’s just like her to get her way, she thought.

“Alright how do we get there?” Serge asked and with that they headed for the zoo.