Blake suggested to take her back with us so she could rest and spend the night in a safe place. He did not say much but from the look on his face, I knew he meant that I would have to kill her when the time came. My stomach sank at the thought. Still, it was too dangerous to spend the night there. Mum resisted our efforts to carry her into the car, in an obvious ploy of not wanting to be a burden, “I don’t want to stain the leather seats. Besides, I don’t want to impose on Blake.” She smiled at Blake. “It’s no trouble at all, but if it troubles you, I can easily clean the car tomorrow, ma’am”
Sighing, she relented and we managed to get back to the school although the roads were so dark we hit and ran over quite a number of people that were standing on the road. I hoped that they all were zombies. Blake’s family was shocked to see us but they were not against my mum as much as I had thought that they would be. They just watched me sympathetically, and chatted with my mum who was a little delirious, heavily dosed on morphine to numb her pain.
I stayed by her side the whole night, trying not to fall asleep. Blake was also there as a vigilant eye. We had to sleep at a different part of the school from the others to protect them in case anything happened to us. As my mum had wanted to see the stars, we were on the rooftop with the door locked. She stroked my hair, as she told me stories about the stars and how when people died, they could always be seen in the stars. I felt like a child all over again, dependent and needy as I snuggled her into her arms.
The next morning, she ordered me and Blake to wash the car in front of her, so we did. I was quite reluctant at first, thinking that the time we had left together was too short to be spent on cleaning but she was insistent. We found pails in the schools storage rooms and filled them to the brim. Once I got into it, I found it quite fun. It was both a challenge and satisfying workout to get the dirt out from the wheels and wiping the smooth window shields. Blake also “accidentally” sprayed water on me, which I retorted by swinging the water hose across his back when he was not looking. His eyes glinted, and he gave me a dangerous smile. I tried to avoid him after that, getting help from my mother who was laughing at our exchanges. I took a sponge to my forehead and I poured water over his prized shoes.
We started to clean the inner seats where some blood was spilled and I frowned, worried for my mum. Blake used this opportunity to push me into the car, and as I was falling, I grabbed his shirt, toppling both of us into the car, with him on top. His weight felt strangely comforting and he was so close that I could smell him. His dark eyes stared intently into mine and his smile melted my heart. He lowered his face, his lips almost touching mine when we heard a rude cough from my mother. I blushed like a red tomato as he got up, unable to control his laughter at my reaction. I took a pail full of water and upended it over his head in revenge.
Abruptly, my mum fell over from her chair and we dashed over to help her. She was breathing heavily and we could tell the fever was taking a toll on her. Pain filled my heart as I thought of her impending death. She gripped my hand tightly, seeing my reaction. “Don’t let me be one of them, please. Set your father free too.” Blake’s sister came over to help us carry her to the rooftop where her temporary bed was.
The fever took her two hours later. Blake gave me a chopper to do it before she turned. I was crying so hard my hand was shaking as I pressed the blade on her throat. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Blake squeezed my shoulder. Down I pushed and with the crack of her neck, my heart broke into a million pieces. The shock overwhelmed me as I sat there, trying to accept that I would never see her again. The sight of her, and the blood on my hands made it all the more unbearable. Emotions surged through me, making me feel conflicted. Shock, fear, disbelief and anger at the unfairness of life. Unable to look at the scene any longer, I got up and hugged Blake tightly, crying hysterically into the warmth of his neck.
I could not stop crying for the entire day and night. I was crying not just for her death, but for the fact that my life would never be the same, for the fear that I will never be able to find a place I could call a home, for myself. The tears seemed to be relentless as the more I tried not to grieve, the worse it hurt. After a full day had past, there were no more tears left and I was hollow inside out, numb, unable to feel anything. For the next few days, I just went through the motions of eating, sleeping like everyone. I wanted to find my Dad but at the same time, I just wanted to shut the world out. How long more could we have survived like that? Forever? I did not want to accept that my Dad was a zombie, with no hope of survival, just death and that my life would never go back to normal.
YOU ARE READING
Surviving in Chaos
Romance"I liked small children too but this one was a little odd. Her eyes were bloodshot and the colour of her eyes were dulled as if the life had gone out of them. That wasn’t the worse part of it, as she ran, it was obvious she was unstable on her legs...
