It seems like yesterday… the day it started… the apocalypse.
I probably only think that because, well… everything just seems like the same old day. Sure, the first couple of weeks there was a massive change, like as if it truly was the end. But then after those seemingly endless weeks, I somehow became more used to the fact that there were dead people… walking around the streets. In the first week, my mom, Kathy and I stayed locked up in the house, thinking it would be safer, but I knew that in the back of my mind, one or both of us would have to sacrifice ourselves for food. We didn’t live far from a shopping center, so we easily slipped past the dead buggers and began taking supplies from the place. I can’t believe that we actually thought that it would be safe… I can’t believe that our house would be our own death-trap… for mom, at least…
Yes… I lost my mom in my own house and I felt like something inside me died. I know that it wasn’t my will to live, but maybe a sense of trust. My mom was the only person that I trusted in this world, which is now just a giant shit-hole… I lost her in about the second week of all the chaos. I must’ve forgot to lock the back door or something, because when we came back with our food, there was one of those… things in our house. Mom wanted to try and sneak past them, grab our things and go… I knew that something bad was gonna happen, so I offered to do it, instead. I told her to wait outside on the porch and I managed to sneak past it and held my breath, afraid that it might hear me breathing… I was kinda glad that our floors were carpeted. I’d just finished packing two duffle bags, one with food and water, the other with bedding and a couple of tools and little basic items that might become useful in the future. That’s when I heard a scream from outside.
“MOM!” I yelped and ran down the stairs. There she was… on the kitchen floor, with two of those monsters scrambling over her… tearing her apart. I grabbed the most weapon-like thing I could reach; the fire poker. I ran at the one that was closest to me and bashed it with my new ‘weapon’. I turned to grab me and I bashed it in the head a few times, until its head caved in. The second one cracked its’ head in my direction and staggered towards me… this one seemed slower than the first. I took a bash at its already maimed legs, causing it to fall over. It stopped moving and made a gurgling sound. I took a slight step closer and poked it in the face a couple of times.
That’s when it grabbed my ankle. I yelped, as it started to pull my foot closer to its mouth. I began to kick and stab at it, desperately to not lose my foot and to get away. The thing seemed to be clawing at me, as much as I was trying to be rid of it. I eventually got it in the eye with the poker and kicked one of its hands away from my ankle. I broke free of its’ other hand and I jumped up and smashed the fire poker into its head, causing blood to spatter onto my dark grey jeans and to just reach the hem of my green double t-shirt. It groaned the same kind of gurgling groan like it did, when it was… ‘alive’. I ran over to mom and knelt beside her. I grasped her hand in mind and gave it a slight squeeze. “It’s gonna be okay, mom… It’s gonna be okay…” I wept. She looked at me and gave me a slight smile. I knew it wasn’t going to be okay; she was going to die soon… she’d lost too much blood… she might even catch… whatever those things had… those… walkers. “I’m not going to be okay…” Mom coughed, “And you know that… Kayleigh… I know that you’re a strong and very brave girl and I love you very much…” She spluttered and coughed up a little blood, “I’m sorry I won’t be here for you much longer, but just because I’m not physically here, doesn’t mean that I’ll never be there. I’ll always be there, okay?” She told me, as I began to cry uncontrollably. “And not only will I be there for you… but God will be, too.”
“Shit, mom… you’re making me cry even more…” I chuckled half-heartedly. She began to splutter some more.
“Kayleigh… you have to get out… I feel like more are coming and you know how sound attracts more of them… I might even become one of them… and I’m not planning on having my daughter for dinner.” She, too, laughed darkly, “If you need to make a quick getaway, I think the car has enough fuel in it, to at least get you out of this town…” I wiped the tears off of my sticky cheeks, “And don’t forget me… Just… remember that you have my eyes.” She smiled the most genuine smile she could muster in her current state and I beamed back, with the waterworks starting up again. “I know this must be hard, but I won’t make it any easier for you to escape… I can hear them coming. You have to go…!”
“Yes, mom. I love you so much. So much that you wouldn’t believe it… I’ll miss you and I will remember you. Everyday. I love you, mom…” I sniffled.
“I love you, too… my darling, baby girl… I’ll always be there. I love…” She coughed violently, coughing up a large amount of blood. There was that sound again… coming from my mother. I ran upstairs and grabbed the two bags that I packed… for the both of us. I had one with the food and water slung over my shoulder and grabbed the other with sleeping gear, tools and little things. I went into mom’s room and saw the car keys sitting on her bedside cabinet. I grabbed them and got outside as fast I could. I saw walkers everywhere. Some looked at me and trudged their way towards me. I got in the car and threw the bags onto the back seat and locked the doors. I inserted the keys and started the ignition and backed out of the driveway.
I had no idea where I was going… but I just wanted to get away from all of the… dead-ness… I hated it, but I’m not going to end my own life, just because half the world is infected with this disease. I will be exactly as mom described me: I will be strong and I will be brave. I will be those exact things for her. I will push through and fight. I have to be strong-willed about this. I’m not going to surrender to this evil and I won’t cry about it. This will be the day where I finally put my emotions and any feelings aside and focus on the one this that everybody wants – to survive. The strong people don’t want to die. Only the weak will give into just boarding themselves up inside their homes and not leaving, until walkers break down their barricades or that they run out of food and end up dying in starvation… but I think suicide is the more desired option for those who can’t take on the new world that they have to face. Some people just suck at having to open their eyes and having to stop living in la-la land. People need wake up to the world. It’s not the world we used to know… but I guess it’s only reality.
