Chapter 7
Home
The next morning, I wake up to a blinding light in my eyes. The light disappears and there stands Katie, holding a cell phone and smiling. Reflecting off the phone’s screen is the light. She flashes it in my eyes once more and yells, “Wake up, lovebird!”
“What?”
“Last night- you were dreaming- Hayley and I heard you mumbling… what was his name? Oh, yeah! Zaden.” She says his name with an annoying tone of voice- the one that lets me know she’s making fun of me. I throw a jacket at her halfheartedly and try to compress my smile. Hayley’s eating crackers and laughing on her bed. Katie must have told her the whole story.
“Here. Breakfast.” Katie hands me crackers and a water. “Got it from the vending machines across the street behind this station.”
I eat my lame breakfast and look at Katie. Funny how just last night I wanted to rip her head off and she wanted to feed me to zombies, and now here she is, giving me crackers as a peace offering. How old are we again?
“So, what’s the plan, Stan?” Hayley is looking at me eagerly. Katie turns to me as well.
“Well, today, we begin our journey to California.” They both nod and continue munching crackers.
Meanwhile, I find that I can’t stop thinking about Zaden. I was mad at Katie for scaring him off and mad at him for leaving. Now, I realize I’m only mad at myself. I let myself feel attached to him too quickly. I let my guard down for some guy off the street. Worst of all, I let myself feel hope. I hoped that he would stay and protect us. I hoped he would lead us to safety. Ha, how short-lived that was.
“Pack up. Let’s get moving!” Katie interrupts my thoughts.
We gather the necessities. A backpack which we found by a desk is filled with water bottles, crackers, fruit gummies, and candy. Yes- candy. Katie insisted we pack Skittles, Starburst and especially Hershey chocolate bars from the vending machine. Hey, I’m not complaining. The police station doesn’t have much else. We hit the road with what we’ve got.
After a half hour of walking in silence, Hayley realizes that we’re going the wrong way. She looks at Katie, who has a grim look on her face and no sign of confusion in her eyes. “Where are-”
“Shh.” Katie cuts her off. She knows where we are and why.
We reach my driveway and I look back at the other two. I look at Katie and she silently nods, understanding that I need to do this alone. I turn back and jog up the driveway, which is painfully long. I live in the country, on 20 acres of land. The driveway is over 700 feet long, and is lined with trees on the right side. On the left is the woods that I spent most days exploring as a little kid. I slow down to a stop as my house comes in sight.
I stand there for only a moment. There’s no point in pretending that I have a choice. I need to go inside. I need to know what happened to them. I walk up to my doorstep and my heart stops. A body lays slain on the step, a pool of blood around him. I walk up to it cautiously, tears filling my eyes. I pick up its head carefully… and drop it with a little scream. The head does not match the head of anyone in my family. Relief floods through my body. It’s a zombie. It’s dressed as a mailman. This must have been my family’s first encounter with the apocalypse. I stand, face the door and take a deep breath. I turn the handle. The door is not locked. I prepare myself for what I’m about to see.
I gasp. My home isn’t as destroyed as I had imagined. There are a few overturned chairs, some shattered glass, a broken television… but the only blood is on the front porch, and a dead zombie lays in it. From what I can see, it looks like a few other zombies came through here in search of food, but my family was not here for them. A sliver of hope is growing in me. Had they gotten away? Escaped? Gotten to safety?
I stop myself. I will not let myself be convinced that they are safe until I see it with my own eyes. I will allow myself the idea that they got away, though. It makes me feel stronger, like I have something to live for.
I walk through all of their bedrooms. In every room, I find something to take with me to help me think of them and feel comforted by their presence. I take Nate’s journal from when he was little. He’s 17 now. He used to get mad when I read this journal. I take a giant dice from Gabe’s room. He’s 22. I stole the dice once in retaliation for him taking something of mine. I take a necklace from my mom which has only one charm on it- a pink ribbon. An old coin from my dad completes my collection and I hide away each of the trinkets into my backpack and head out the door.
I hurry down the driveway back to Katie and Hayley. They study my poker face, trying to figure out whether to comfort me or be happy for me. I let myself smile, and the smile becomes contagious.
“No bodies?” Katie asks as she fist bumps me.
“None that belong to anyone in my family.” I assure her.
“Good to hear.” Hayley says, sincerely. She high fives me as I walk past her and we head back toward town.
