To The Grave

Chapter 57. Marty. Day 387.

I watched the sun rise, as I had every morning since the fall. Randall moved down the ramp, his large gun strapped to his back. I sat still by my sister, removing my hand from her head.

"We should leave." I pushed the words out.

Randall looked up at me from his spot across the highway, "Get bit, Marty. I'm not leaving her."

"I should leave you. Obviously, we don't leave her. Two broom sticks and a fitted sheet. We can carry her anywhere. Anywhere but the middle of the freeway." I shouted at the dumb kid.

He rolled his eyes, moving his gun from across his skinny frame. "It's too dangerous."

Ferris remained quiet from his end of the mattress. "It's more dangerous to sit here and wait for hunters or rotters to find us." I reminded the two of them.

"More dangerous than breaking her neck, then getting caught in the middle of a herd again? What if we have to run? What if she starts having a seizure again?"

I threw my hands up in the air, knowing nothing I said was going to satisfy him. "Then what? She'll die here, she'll die if we move her. I say we just risk it and get somewhere where we won't all die of hypothermia if it starts raining."

"Because we haven't risked enough just to be here, right now." He yelled back, putting out the cigarette butt, and flicking the small stub away from us.

"I'd risk anything if it meant the two of them are alive at the end of the day. I'm leaving, with my sister, with or without you." My arm was extended pointing at my two remaining siblings. I grabbed my gun off the ground, lifting the heavy metal machine to my chest, wrapping the strap around myself.

Ferris stood up, pulling a map out of his backpack, he spread it out, looking at the intersecting lines. "Go stand watch while we figure out where we're going."

I shook my head, walking up the curved ramp. I sat down on the median, avoiding looking at the SUV behind me. I removed the gun, setting it beside me. My hands moved to hit my thighs, pretending I was playing the drums.

My eyes were heavy, fighting off the tiredness that had been aching in them for the past three days. I tried to fight it, playing songs over in my head, trying to focus on the drum line.

I sat on the hardwood floor, my back against the bleachers beside Courtney and Randall. My backpack sat on the ground between my legs. Courtney was asleep, her head pressed against my shoulder, her soft breath warming my skin beneath my flannel. I pulled the hat off my head, hearing a few yells from within the school.

I moved my head against the wall, feeling my chest beginning to collapse under the pressure of today. I held back tears as I listened to the gym doors burst open.

"They're in the school!" A voice screamed, I watched as a large crowd ran into the gym, some of them crying, others yelling. Everyone around began waking up. Courtney lifted her head, looking around, wildly, her hair slapping my face.

I stood up, signaling with my hand for her and Randall to follow me. We climbed down the steep bleachers, making our way towards my family. I stood by my older sister, her seat on the floor, looking uncomfortable.

A loud slam echoed from against one of the heavy metal doors. Another body collided with the door, breaking it open. A gun fired within the building, sending people screaming and running. I fell to the ground, my sister yanking my arm down.

"Marty, what's happening?" She screamed. I covered my head, watching my brother grab my little sister in his arms, running for the doors into the cafeteria. The bullets stopped flying, he screams slowly dying down with it. I stood up looking around at the bloody mess left. Ferris sat beside my parents. I saw my best friend lying on the hardwood. He moved to sit up, his hand touching the girl beside him. I ran to his side, watching as he rolled her over. A loud yelp escaped his throat before he moved his hand to cover his mouth.

I covered my own mouth looking away from the girl. My best friend, moved on the ground, letting the stomach acid up his throat, spilling out onto the floor. I listened as a groan erupted from within the gym. I pulled Randall up, dragging him out the doors my brother and sister had ran through.I closed the door hard behind me, taking off into a sprint through the crowded gym, bags and bodies sat in the broken glass, shattered from the windows.

I looked behind me, seeing the nervous wreck still standing beside the door, his hands stretched out in front of him, shaking and covered in blood.

"Randall!" I screamed, pulling him out of his trance. He looked around, breaking into a run towards me. I turned quickly down a hallway, my leg moving in front of me to kick a limping body down.

I stumbled, turning back, without stopping my run. "Marty, were they dead?"

"I don't know." I forced out between struggling breaths. I turned down a hallway, pushing a door open , into an empty science room. I swung my backpack around onto the table, unzipping compartments, and digging around desperately for my inhaler.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, slightly impressed that it was still there. I called my oldest brother, hearing him answer.

"Slater?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"I'm okay. I've got Nona, we're okay for now. Where is everyone? He asked.

I looked around, recognizing the classroom from the one time I'd been in there. "Stephens room. Science Stephens."

"Okay, oh shit, close your eyes, Nona." He hung up his phone, leaving me silent.

I quickly dialed my mom, hoping she was with my older brother and sister.

It rang, never being picked up. I called Molly, wondering why I didn't call her in the first place. "Where are you?" Her voice was panicked.

"Science Stephens room."

"I haven't been in high school in three years, Marty?" Her sassy attitude came back for a moment.

I sighed, "Are you with Ferris?"

"Yeah?" She groaned over the phone.

"Then he knows where to go, tell him." I shouted, waiting in the room.

I walked down the highway ramp, watching Randall sit beside my sister. His hand was intertwined with her long black hair. He moved his head down, wiping his hand across his face as he whispered something to her. I turned around meeting Ferris.

"I'm good for another few hours, Have Randall go find some cigarettes or something. You can watch her." I grumbled the words, watching my brother stand up, too tired to put up a fight. He walked back down the ramp.

I sat down on the median, staring at the SUV, covered in stray bullet holes and blood. I closed my eyes, her name ringing in my ears.

"Winona!" Randall screamed. I stood up, moving down the ramp, finding my sister sitting up on the mattress. I ran down the rest of the ramp, my feet losing any and all traction on the loose asphalt below me

My knees painfully met the road, pushing the kid beside me away from my sister. I touched my calloused hand to her face, pulling her into a hug.

She sobbed in my arms, mumbling words about 'it wasn't a dream' or something.

I released her from my tight grip, feeling tears spill out of my eyes. "I'm so sorry." The words tumbled out of my mouth. "I'm sorry, Nona, I'm so sorry!"