Tapered

Chapter 2

The cold winter air felt hot on my skin. I didn't know if I had it in me to find Jack and find my mother. Hoping that my mother was safe, I set out to find Jack. The screams of the murderers were approaching quickly. I started hearing cries of my neighbors. I knew the infected were coming in and starting to hunt us. My head was full of yelling and crying. I wanted more than anything to go back and get my mother and leave. I wanted to be up in the mountains with my mother and uncle victor. I wanted to feel safe under a warm quilt. I wanted to be worry free.

I ran up to the gardens to find a man sitting. I cried tears of joy and started running for him. I missed Jack.

The mans face turned from the darkness and into the light. This wasn't jack.

He smiled big at me, a toothless smile. His eyes fell back and he started to mumble something.

"What a lovely girl." He said. He started rocking back and fourth, back and fourth. He started laughing hysterically, his head falling back. His hands gripped his stained dress shirt.

"Lovely. Lovely. Lovely." He repeated. "Lovely." He fell to the dirt laughing.

He went silent and turned his serious face to me.

"Lovely girl want to play?" He stood up slowly. "Lovely girl." I stood in shock, not knowing what to do. I wanted to run so badly, I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn't.

The man then started to run for me, holding his wide smile.

My Jack then appeared. Jack threw a pocket knife into the mans head. The now lifeless body fell, cold and pale.

"Hey you," Jack smiled at me, wiping a sweat from his forehead, "we really have to go."

Jack and I then ran into the darkness, leaving the moans and cries of the others.

"We have to go back" I urged him to go back with me to get my mom. "My mother is back there, Jack. She will die without us. Or worse, she'll turn!" I started crying. "We can't go without her. Please Jack!" He kept pulling me arm, heading away from our home.

"We have to keep moving. She's probably long gone." I couldn't deal with the thought of my mama being gone.

"Can we at least go back and check?" I knew what he was going to say. My mom was gone and there was nothing I could do.

"I'm sorry." He quietly said, "we have each other and that's all."

I didn't have the strongest relationship with my mom, we fought a lot. After my father died, she fell into a depression. She neglected me. She always hid in her room and cried. This all happened when I was only seven so I wasn't sure what was going on. They wanted to take her to the local mental hospital, but she refused. Thank goodness. A part of me aches that she is now part of my past, but I'm relieved that she no longer suffers. Maybe she is with dad. Hopefully she isn't one of the infected.

"We need to find a shelter for the night. Let's go." Jack took my hand and guided me through the dark forest.