Not The Last {Rough Draft}

Chapter 12: Happy Birthday To Me

  I woke up with a headache. I shook my head and sat up. There was an orange glow throughout the storage room. The sun must be just setting. I stood up and made my way between the sleeping bodies of Van, Trent, Jeff and Ashley. Where was Nile?

  I walked out of the storage room and into the grocery store. Nile was sitting at the front of the store with a gun in his hand and his head rested on his knees which were pulled into his chest.

  "What's wrong?" I asked. Nile jumped almost a foot in the air and swung around with wide eyes.

  "Don't do that! Ever!" Nile said breathing hard.

  "Right, sorry. I have a bad tendency of being way to quiet when I'm moving," I said, walking over to Nile and sitting by him.

  "That's not a bad characteristic in an apocalypse," Nile said sighing.

  "Yeah I guess not," I said. "So what is wrong?"

  "There's nothing wrong," Nile said returning to his position.

  "Nile I may have only known you for a while but I'm half psychic," I joked. Nile just sighed. Yeah I knew that look. "You miss your family, huh?"

  "How'd you guess?" Nile asked. His voice was questioning but his face didn't change from the saddened look he had.

  "That face is a face that everyone has on their faces in the apocalypse. In the words of the people who created Zombieland "We are all orphans in Zombieland," I said, quoting my favorite movie.

  "Yeah, I guess I miss my sister most. I know that she is gone. At least I know that my parents are still alive," Nile said. The sky started to darken.

  "Yeah I guess," I said. "So how long was I out?" I asked. My side didn't hurt anymore so it had to be longer than a day.

  "Three days? Maybe two? I don't really know how long it's been. Van and Trent haven't waken up either. Ashley and Jeff were exhausted so they have been asleep since last night. I didn't want to wake them," Nile said.

  "Dude have you slept at all?" I asked. Normally I wasn't a person that slept very much. Especially when I was alone.

  "No, I thought someone should keep watch. You know, just in case something bad happens," Nile said. I looked at him and saw that he had exhaustion in his eyes and dark circles.

  "You need some sleep," I said. "I'll keep watch for the night," I said. Nile shook his head.

  "I'm not sleeping until I get some answers. About you and your friends. I want to know who I am with before I decide to trust you all with my life," Nile said. Yeah I guess he had a point. Maybe this kid was smarter than I thought he was.

  "Well okay. Hi I'm Astrix Richards.  I would be a Junior this year. I'm 15 and I'm from Illinois. I have been here for almost a week. I came here looking for my friends that I was separated from three months ago. I now realize that they are dead. My favorite color is blue, my favorite animal is an ocelot, and my favorite shape is a crescent. My birthday is September 26th," I said. "So that summarizes my boring life style,"

  "A crescent, huh? That's different," Nile said.

  "Really that's all you have to say? Nothing else?" I asked.

  "Well other than the fact that you will be 16 in an hour," Nile said. I widened my eyes and looked at my watch. It was 11 o'clock, September 25th. How did I miss that?

  "Well yeah, I guess I missed that fact," I said. I looked through the cracks of one of the boards on the window at the stars. I sighed. My first birthday without Miranda.

  "But, you said you were a junior this year? Aren't you supposed to be turning 17?" Nile asked in confusion.

  "Yeah but I started school earlier than most kids. Apparently I was more advanced than other kids my age," I said repeating what my mom had told me a long time ago.

  "Wow, smart girl. Good thing to be at a time like this," Nile said nudging me with his elbow.

  I rolled my eyes at him and nudged him back. He fell over a little bit and glared at me. I smirked at him.

  "Well my turn I guess. Hello my name is Nile Dalson. I'm 16 and I'm from Portland, Oregon. I have spent the whole apocalypse with my family, who hate me. My favorite weapon is a bow. My favorite color is red and my favorite animal is a jaguar. My birthday is December 30th," Nile said.

  "A bow? I'm really bad with a bow," I mumbled.

  "No, not you the ass kicker!" Nile joked.

  "Yes, me the ass kicker can't even shoot a bow," I said with a quiet laugh.

  "So, you said you got here almost a week ago? What have you been doing the last three months?" Nile asked. It broke my heart when he mentioned those last three months. I wish my life could have started from the day I got here.

  "Well the first few days of the apocalypse I was with my friends. Then an accident happened and we got separated. I'm pretty sure that they are dead. After the accident I was alone for three months. Fighting zombies, traveling here, and trying to stay alive," I said.

  "That had to be hell. I'm sorry about your friends. That's too bad," Nile said. I shrugged. Honestly I was practically over being alone and losing my friends. Okay one of those was a lie.

  Nile and I sat in silence for a while. I wasn't sure how long but the building went pitch black and we just sat looking through the boards and listening to the occasional moan of a zombie.

  "Hey, Astrix?" Nile asked. I snapped out of my trance and looked at him. His eyes reflected some of the light from the moon in the darkness.

  "Yeah?" I asked. My voice was quiet and unnatural.

  "Happy birthday," He said. He stood up and walked to the back of the grocery store. He left his gun so I picked it up and stared at it for a moment before sighing.

  "Yeah, happy birthday to me," I said sadly. Today was going to be a miserable day filled with memories and heartbreak. I felt a tear roll down my face and I sat in silence, waiting for morning to come.