[Teen and New Adult Zombie Apocalypse Romance]
"If you would've told me the last day of our peaceful existence would be a boring Tuesday in November, I would've called you an idiot."
High school senior, Casey Whitmore, is about to discover her life...
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"Where's the ambulance?" Dad was pissed. He must've yelled it ten times once he spotted me.
What I was about to tell him could send him into hysterics.
As my feet pounded closer, I noticed he and Suzie were standing beside a group of four strangers. Three men and a woman. Other people who'd lost their patience were leaning against their vehicles, waiting for the traffic to clear.
I sprinted up to Dad and bent over, struggling to catch my breath. Running on full throttle in the cold night air forced a sharp cough to erupt from my lungs. "No ambulance... is coming. Cars... are full... of sick people all the way to the hospital... and both roads are completely blocked."
Another hard cough raked out of me.
"Don't get me sick, too." Suzie backed away from me.
I threw a mean glare at her. "I'm not sick. I ran my butt off to get back here, you little brat. Excuse me for breathing."
Dad set a hand on my shoulder, analyzing the side of my face. "Tell me what happened."
I glanced over at Mom reclined in the back seat. She still looked awful, but no blood was coming out of her eyes or ears. Yet. "Is she... okay?"
"She's still breathing." Suzie lifted a compact mirror up. "Dad showed me how to check if she's breathing with this."
The weight on my shoulders eased for now. Mom was okay.
"Casey?" Dad's tone was heavy with distress as he continued to examine my face. "What happened?"
I shook my head at the memory of the chaos. "Most look sick just like Mom. There are hundreds of people, Dad, and there aren't any doctors or nurses helping. There weren't any police either. People were unconscious on the ground. The ones that weren't sick were arguing and fighting. It's really bad."
"Is that what happened to your face?" Some guy asked from the small group of strangers. He sounded curious and maybe a little concerned.
"Um..." I reached up to my cheek, wincing as my fingertips skimmed over wet, shredded skin. My face was bleeding. How hadn't I noticed that before? "I was able to get inside, but I didn't see any nurses or doctors. There were armed guards in black uniforms with medical masks and guns.
"They were guarding all the patient access doors and elevators. People were screaming and freaking out. The crowd shoved me into an older woman who punched me a few times. Her rings must've cut me. I barely made it out of there before the gunshots went off."
Instead of laughing at the fact that an elderly lady beat me up, they all gaped at me, speechless, like I'd spoken a foreign language.
As if I'd conjured them into existence, a variety of short pops and bellowing booms echoed down the street. More gunshots.
