Brain Dead

Chapter Three

        I exchanged looks with Connor. Did we go back where we came from? Did we keep pushing forward? Jasper got out of the truck and walked over to the back. He looked at us in disbelief. “I- I had no idea.” All of us couldn’t believe our eyes. The moans we had heard earlier had become louder. Looking behind me, I realized the only thing we could do was push forward. A crowd of zombies pushed and shoved past each other toward the car, their faces empty, emotionless and hungry. “JASPER!” I yelled, pointing at the zombies that where slowly making their way over to us. I looked over to where Jasper was, and he was already behind the wheel. Connor pulled me down into a crouch just before Jasper stepped on the gas pedal, jolting us forward. I fell backwards into Connor’s lap, but the two of us froze in shock because of the zombie mob after us and the position we fell in from Jasper’s helpful yet harmful move. I scooted up to the side of the truck and grasped Connor’s shoulder for leverage. He was stable enough and didn’t seem to care about my bony hand digging into his shoulder blades. The tires screeched and pushed Connor and I, slamming into the side of the truck. I was so desperate for something to grab, I held onto his waist tightly and he returned the favor. “AAAAHHH!” We both screamed and the truck took a numerous amounts of sharp turns that sent merchandise and goods from the back flying off the side of the truck, falling to the floor. The car stopped in front of a large building and jolted me into Connor’s chest. We both groaned, feeling nauseous. Jasper slammed the car door and laughed as he saw us laying limp in the back of his truck. “C’mon, follow me, guys.”

 

    We hopelessly crawled out of the truck and followed Jasper into the strange building. The paint on the outside was peeling, and the boarded up windows had rotting pieces of flesh. A stench filled the air, forcing me to lift my shirt over my nose to smell my sweat instead of the rotting flesh smell. “Where’re we going, Jasp?” Connor asked impatiently. “Trust me, ever heard of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’?”

“Yeah,” I added. “It says to not judge a book by it’s cover, not by it’s stench.”

Jasper laughed at my remark. “So what? Same thing.”

He fiddled with a lock that kept the doors sealed shut, and he burst it open. Immediately I felt a blast of cold air brush against my face. I slammed the door shut and let Jasper lock it. It was a supermarket. Shelves where left cleaned out and empty, clothes racks that had no shirts and pants on the hangers. “What is this?” Connor asked in curiosity. “It used to be some old supermarket that they turned into an emergency hideout incase of any sort of breakout, like the current one.” Jasper responded.

“They? They as in who?” I asked.

“They as in Brookland College graduates, people of my own. Friends, enemies, a little bit in between. It was a plan the science students that discovered a zombie outbreak is possible created. Thankfully, I was one of those students.” Jasper glanced at Connor. “It’s a good thing you crashed your car.” He teased, and socked him in his left shoulder. Connor rubbed his shoulder and laughed nervously.

 

    We roamed through the tent areas and picked one of the larger ones. Instead of going back outside we split up to get the desired amount of foods and drinks along with three sleeping bags. Once we got necessities, Jasper began to take control. “Okay, Alex, you acquire new and fresh clothing for us to change into, don’t forget underwear and pajamas, and Connor, you get some weapons and possibly some activated phones. There’re some computer whizzes that’ll help. It may take a while. Now you two go, I have to speak with everyone and get a recap on everything that’s going on. Once we’re done we’ll get some sleep...Shoo!” I rushed to the clothing section and picked things for me first. Simple things like a white tank top and a collared over shirt, along with a pair of leggings. For pajamas I grabbed myself a t-shirt and sweatpants, with some new underwear. For Jasper I grabbed him basic stuff, two white t-shirts ( for pajamas and regular clothes ), shorts and tighty whities. I placed all the clothes in a nearby basket I found laying around and carried it around to search for Connor’s clothes. I grabbed him a nicely made cotton white t-shirt, tighty whities, boxers, sweat pants, jeans and a plaid collared shirt.

 

    Proud, I began to stroll back to the tent when I spotted Connor struggling with heavy machinery weapons, knives and guns, all fitted in a small basket. He looked half asleep, and almost a zombie without being infected. I jogged over and snached the fairly heavy basket. He looked over at me and yawned. “I can- I’ll, um-”

“Connor.” I interrupted. “Here.” I said as I handed him the clothes. “Your pajamas are in there. You take the clothes back, change into them and sleep. I’ll take care of the phone stuff.”

I was tall, but I still had to tilt my chin upward slightly to see his whole face as he smiled softly at my offering. I lugged the basket of weapons along side him while we walked to the tent. As he got ready to sleep, I set aside the weapons and walked to the electronic aisles. I chose through the different types of phones on display. I chose the iBerry, a flat, thin smartphone. I scanned the area for people who could probably help jailbreak the phone and help me activate it. “Connor?” Jasper’s voice called out from a shelf behind mine. I raced over to him. “Alex. Where’s Connor?” I gestured to the direction our tent was in and told him I took over his job. “Oh, well I found a guy that can help.” Behind him a man with a baby face and crooked glasses asked me to bring him to the phones I wanted to activate. He had quick fingers that pressed and tapped the screen so many times I didn't even want to fathom how long it took him to learn what he was currently doing. 

 

He passed me the phone after 20 painfully long minutes and claimed I should head back over to where we were staying in the store and that he’d deliver the other two phones personally.

 

When I got to the tent Connor laid motionless in his sleeping bag, letting out soft snores every few seconds. I quietly snuck a pillow out from my sleeping bag and relaxed outside of the tent fiddling with my new phone.

The electronic whizz, who claimed his name was Jerry, passed me the two other phones after an hour. He gave me three iBerry phone boxes too, with chargers and earphones. I thanked Jerry for his hard work and continued on with the fiddling. This time, I plugged in the earphones to the phone and searched for the most recent Weazel News report that had to do with the zombie apocalypse going on.

“My name is Carol Corello, and welcome to the channel 7 news channel. America, the land of the free, and home of the brave, except when it comes to zombies. That’s right, America. Zombies. Our country is being infected by a deadly disease leaked from a lab in New Mexico that infected thousands of people. Dr. Arnold Linkson was infected with a disease that he created, thinking that he could find a cure for cancer. When Dr. Linkson found that he created something deadly, he flew to Virginia to see his family, in which he infected on accident, and not on purpose. Slowly the disease made its way to Blake Adams High School on the day of the senior’s graduation. The disease that they believed could be contained made it to 5 other states in less than a week. So far New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. 45 more states to go and America is done for. I’m Carol Corello, and you’re watching channel 7 news.”

    I shook my head in disbelief. Zombies where slowly taking over America, and we where just standing and watching.