Craig of the Dead

2. Disscussion Time with Mama Token

"Okay, let's all discuss. We made a lot of progress today! A round of applause for Kyle and Shelly," Some polite claps were made. "For finding Karen and Kevin. And by the way, welcome to the group you two." Karen still had that frightened look on her face, the same frightened look she had worn for the entire day. She kept on curling up in a little ball, as if she wanted someone to hold her, but whenever someone made an attempt to hug or even touch her, she would recoil from the touch and start crying. Her brother Kevin, however, was very fixated on his Hot Pocket. He only glanced up once at the mention of his name.

"Now, let's go around the circle and introduce ourselves and talk about our day." Token said.

"We already know everybody here. You're such a mom." Clyde laughed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, smearing pizza sauce on the already dirt covered cloth.

"Well, it's better than being a crybaby, unlike someone else I know."

"Heyyy--"

"I was joking! Anyway, I'll go first. I'm Token, and I stood guard outside today. I saw two walkers meander by, but only one of them came close to me. I beat him up pretty badly though, so he backed down and went somewhere else."

"Must have not been along too far. I mean, you said he backed down? Like he experienced pain and his brain told him to go somewhere else?" Kyle asked. We still didn't know too much about the disease, virus, whatever it was. Kyle was always the smartest kid in the class, not counting the nerds, so I had appointed him in charge of that kind of stuff. The data and research kinda things. He and Scott Malkinson would team up, making all of these theories and plans. It had proved pretty useful, but we still weren't any closer to finding out a cure or a way to stop the zombies.

"Yeah, must have. Okay, Craig, why don't you go next? You should have started, I mean, you're the leader after all." I flipped him off, but stood up nevertheless.

"I'm not the leader, but yeah. In case any of you don't know, I'm Craig. Karen, you might know my little sister, Tricia Tucker." I paused, waiting for Karen to say something or give a nod, but she just sat there with wide eyes. "Yeah... well I went on a quick supply run today. Those Hot Pockets you guys are enjoying? Complements of me. I also got some water and a couple of Ramen noddle packets. Which Clyde will share." I said, glaring at Clyde, who made a pouty face.

"I checked out the Tweek Bros. coffee house, just to see if anyone was hiding out inside, but nobody was. That was pretty much it. Oh, and as some of you know, I also hosted the combat lesson this morning." I bit my lip, thinking of something else to say. "That's it." I said, sitting back down. It just occurred to me that Token didn't stand up when he gave his little speech, but I had. There was a quick moment of silence, the only sound being the munching of Hot Pockets and the slurping of beef broth.

"Who wants to go next?" Token asked.

"I guess I'll go. So I'm Clyde, and I had a pretty chill day. I went to that training session Craig was talking about, and hung out with Token a bit. I made a quick dash to the store to get more comic books for Scott to read. How are you guys coming along on that?" Clyde said in between huge bites of noodle.

"Pretty good I would say. I finished the one about those four kids, they all ended up dying."

"But," Kyle interjected. "They gave us a good idea. So do you know what always happens in zombie comic books and movies? One of the members gets infected and they either don't tell anybody until it's too late and they infect someone else, or the other members exile them or kill them before it gets any worse."

"Yeah," Scott said. "In every single comic book I've read something like that happens."

"Now, we aren't killing or exiling anyone, but we also can't risk having a walker in our midst. So, we were hoping to turn that upstairs bedroom into a secure holding room. If you get scratched, bit, or start to feel odd, you'll just have to stay up in that room for a couple of days. You'd still get your meals, you can still chat with your friends, and you can still do whatever you want, just in the room."

"That way, we can learn more about the disease and, at the same time, not have to take drastic measures. That's all I worked on today. Like Clyde said, I finished my comic book, so tomorrow I'll start on the next one." Scott finished.

"By the way, he's Scott, who has diabetes,"

"Yeah, it's true."

"And I'm Kyle. Scott just reads and watches other zombie and apocalypse stuff, so we can learn from the characters' mistakes. I also scout, usually with Shelly or Clyde. Today I found Karen and Kevin. I also found two of the goth kids in an alley, but they told me to fuck off, so I left them there. They've probably been waiting for this day to come anyway."

"Okay, well you told them where to find us, right?" I asked. Even creepy goth kids didn't deserve to be eaten by zombies.

"Yeah, of course." Kyle said, finishing off his dinner and leaning back in his chair, running his hands through his red hair, which had gotten even frizzier and longer since I had last seen it. Despite his appearance of being cool and confident, I could tell he was just as scared as the rest of us. I could relate. One day, you can just act however you want. The next, everyone is looking up to you, expecting you to have the answers and not be afraid for some reason or another.

"Shelly, why don't you go?" Token prompted.

"I'm not talking to any of you turds." She said, folding her arms across her chest and spraying spit everywhere. Shelly always drenched everything in spit when she talked, I guess because of her braces. Still, I had braces and I didn't drench people in my spit. Sure, I have been told that I have a nasally and deeper voice than most, but that's not due to my braces. That's just the way my voice sounds.

"Come on, Shelly." I urged. "The rest of us are at least making an effort."

"No, I'm not sharing anything with you guys." She set down her plate and stood up. "I'm gonna go upstairs and write my fan fiction. If any of you turds disturb me, I'll knock your face in!" And with that she stomped upstairs.

"Dang, what ever happened to her?" I asked. Everyone had treated Shelly nicely, but all we got in return were threats and insults.

"Go easy on her. While we were walking around, she opened up to me a little. You know how she would always beat up Stan and take out her anger on him?"

"Yeah," Butters piped up. "I had almost forgotten about that. Stan would sometimes show up to school with bruises from his sister. Cartman would always make fun of him for getting beat up by a girl."

"Well, she didn't forget about that. She said that she thinks about it a lot. How she never was a good sister to Stan, and how she might never see him again."

"That doesn't justify her behavior, though." Said Token, standing up and collecting everyone's plates. Always the Mom.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with Token on this one." I said. "Think about it. Do you know where Ike is?" I asked him. Kyle bit his lip and shifted his eyes from my gaze.

"Well, uh, no. No I don't. I abandoned him. I was supposed to protect my little brother and I don't have clue where he is. I mean, he can't fend for himself, he's just a kid!"

"Right, and Karen. Do you know where Kenny is?" She shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. Kevin didn't look up, working on his third Hot Pocket.

"And I don't know where little Tricia is either. We are all missing someone we love. All the more reason work together. We need each other more than ever now, and keeping tight as a team is the only way we can get to our loved ones." I hadn't realized, but I had stood up and walked all the way to the head of the table, standing tall over everyone, with all their eyes trained on me.

"Man, and I thought I was the one that gave gay little speeches." Kyle said with a laugh. He, however started clapping, and soon everyone else joined in the applause. "Seriously, though, good job. And you wonder why we made you leader."