Alone

Together

We sat in our living room quiet, praying. Praying that it isn't true. I know it isn't, this close to Halloween, it is a sick prank for a laugh. But out of everything a zombie attack, really. We are miles away from it anyway. Were in Texas by the time it reaches us, if it is real, the army would have delt with it in the first place. The news is having a field day, full of liars and fakes. After the prayer we eat. The steak I had is medium rare, the best type. As the blood and taste fill my mouth I fall into heaven. I can see across the table that my parents are nervous, their hands shaking and their head full of sweat. My dad, Lincoln, eats his dinner quickly and virtually sprinted around the house locking every door and window in the house. My mother, Mia, is a bit more calm explaining to my brother what our dad is doing and trying not to panic his terrified, young mind. I'm the only one in our household that is calm and collected. After I finished my dinner I go to my room, log on to my laptop and scroll through all the news and messages from my friends about this supposed 'outbreak'. Are they all that blind! Are they all the media's sheep! I mean how dumb must you be to believe that a virus that turns people into zombies is real. After about 3 hours of watching YouTube videos on anything and everything I decided to call it a night.
The next morning I awoke to heavy breathing echoing throughout my house. I stumbled out of bed and across the landing to the stairs. My brother, Charlie, pushes past me and almost hits me down the stairs. As I grab the railing with all all of my strength, I limp down the stairs one by one. I turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs and walk into the living room, my family holding each other tightly. Clearly the outbreak is real. The panic in thier faces could be seen from the moon, maybe further. The TV flashed images of horror, panic and a general sense of fear: the news stories where true and my arrogance had gotten the best of me. The only advice the news stations and anybody on TV said is to aim for the and avoid getting bitten. My dad cradling my mother and brother in his arms. Both mum and my brother are crying out of I don't know what, probably fear. I stood alone thinking about what we can do; run, stay, hide. I don't know. After what felt like an hour my dad let go of my mum and brother and took me out of the room to collect wood planks from our back yard to block the doors and windows from the outside world. We go to the local Walmart to stock up on food to last us a long tome. Clearly everybody else had the same idea, fucking chaos is what I would call it. Fights were breaking out left, right and center over little things like a tin of beans. Once we had grabbed everything we can carry we hopped into our Ford pickup and drove out of there faster than a bullet. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening on the way to and from the store. it was like any regular day. Time flew by, when we got home it was 12:37 and then what felt like minutes latter it was 5:17 pm and that is when shit got real. We were safe, for a while: hopes and dreams were higher than ever. When I was younger my dad showed me how to fire a pistol, glock 17 was what he had. He said 'if you have to kill, kill but make sure you have a perfect reason'. And I had the perfect reason to that night, my brother, we told him not to, but he did and he paid the price. What did we tell him not to do, open the fucking door when someone or something comes knocking. We all held a weapon in our hands except for Charlie who was to young. My dad had his glock 17 in his hands pointing the gun to every noise that was made outside. My mum held a sharp kitchen knife and stayed very close to dad as he patrolled the house to check for anyone or anything that has entered. As for me I had a machete in one hand and my brother in the other. We sat upstairs and waited for the night to end and the horror to stop. I say this because gunshots filled the street but the screams drowned them out. I recognize everyone of those screams: classmates, friends and neighbor's. I had let go of my brothers hand to check that the windows were intact. I hear very faint footsteps run down the stairs towards the front door. I turn and scream at the top of my voice "Charlie come back!" But it was to late he had already opened the door and let them in. I came sprinting down the stairs almost tripping over my own feet, my parents followed close behind. As hit hit the bottom of the stairs so my brother screams in pain as I see one of 'them' bite into my brothers arm. Is pull my brother away, avoiding another bite. In one swift downward movement I swinged machete into the decomposing body that bit my brother. As the machete and the things head made contact so a volcano of blood erupted from his head, covering me from head to toe.