Becoming Them: A Zombie Novel

Thirty-One

     Where was I? I felt I knew the place, but the buildings were unfamiliar to my eyes. The streets were empty as I made my way past them. A small fox zoomed past me and dove into one of the bins. What was a fox doing here? Where were the zeds? I was truly alone.

     "Megan?" a familiar voice said from behind me. My heart rate rose.

     Twisting around, I could hardly believe it. "Mum?"

     She nodded, opening her arms wide, waiting for me to go to her.

     I ran to her. It seemed like it was taking too long, but I finally ended up in her arms. I closed my eyes and held her so tightly as if she were going to disintegrate right in front of me.

     I noticed her skin was ice-cold. When I opened my eyes, her arm wasn't that healthy peachy colour anymore, it had turned a dirty grey, and brown blood was pouring out of a scratch wound. Dirt and more blood had accumulated in her nails. I pulled away from her, seeing her glassy eyes and blood-stained mouth as she lunged for me, her teeth chattering. She grabbed for me again and made me fall to the floor. I tried to feel for the inside of my pockets. For some reason, I couldn't move.

     I shot awake, attempting to bury my knife into something, but my knife wasn't in my hand. Instead, I realised I was still in the car, a smothering emptiness surrounding me. Ignoring the nightmare, I looked beside me and saw Ava wasn't there like I had expected. But then my eyes caught sight of movement from outside the window on Ava's side.

     Taking the blanket off of me and rubbing my eyes, I opened the door of the car and almost tumbled out from how tired I was.

     The street was still empty, only cars and bits of rubbish littering it. I saw Ava on the other side of the car, on the road, wielding a dagger around and doing some weird war cries. She hadn't noticed me yet.

     I tapped my nails against the top of the car. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

     Ava didn't look at me. She made the dagger slice through the air once more. "Just a little practice before training," she said with a smile, now breathless.

     "Training?"

     "Yeah! You're going to train me, aren't you?"

     "I thought we were just gonna take you back."

     She packed the knife away, then looked at me. She gave me a look I couldn't decipher.

     "What?" I asked when she wouldn't talk.

     "How are you feeling?" she asked.

     "Fine, I guess," I replied.

     A bright smile was back on her face again. "Well then, silly, get ready to teach me some ninja moves!"

     I scoffed. "You're not serious, are you?"

     She rolled her eyes. "You know, if we're going to be going up against Adrian and the lot, I'm gonna want to be prepared."

     Confused, I asked, "What?"

     "Do you turn into a dimwit when you don't get enough sleep?" she asked as she brought her hand up and knocked on my head. "Anything in there?"

    "Hey!" I said as I shook her hand off, laughing. "Stop it!"

     Ava stopped and just stared. "So will you?"

     "You're serious?" I asked cautiously.

     She grabbed my hands, staring at them as she ran her thumbs over my skin before her gaze bore into mine. "I'm sorry, Megan, for what I said yesterday." My grip on her hands tightened slightly. "I never should've said those things, and if it was my mum that had died because of them, I'd be doing the exact same thing."