Brain Dead

Chapter Five

        Connor and I exchanged worried expressions. I followed after him back to the basement. Two more gunshots popped in the air. The ladder was sticky and moldy, making my hands oily and slippery. I hopped off after Connor. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight, illuminating the room. Jasper sat, crouched in the corner, sobbing. In a shaking hand he held a gun that he dropped on the floor in shock. His hair was splattered with fresh zombie blood that trickled down to his shirt. Connor ran over, placing a gentle hand on his back, trying to comfort him. I flashed the light on the other side of the room, where three zombies ( or at least what remained of them ) laid on the floor. Their corpses covered in guts and blood that still oozed out of them. I glanced back to Jasper and Connor. I slowly tried to piece up everything. I took a few steps closer to the zombies, focusing on their faces and details. All three had wrecked faces with no facial features I could identify. Instead, I skimmed through their splattered bodies for some sort of sign giving me an idea of who they where. I don’t exactly know what I was expecting, but I still felt determined. One was a man, one a woman, and the third was a kid who couldn’t have been that much younger than me. Somehow they all looked related, with light brown, straight, mossy hair. I was slowly realizing who these people where. It was hard to tell in the dark, and from the condition they where in, but they all had light skin, like Jasper. Their hair was like Jasper’s, the way their body was built was like Jasper’s. These people weren’t just friends of Jasper. They where his family.

I joined Connor to comfort Jasper, who was still crying, and every once in a while he’d murmur something under his breath to himself. I tried to feel sympathy for him, but honestly, I couldn’t. I never met my parents, and could care less about the death of Allegra and my alcoholic stepfather. I knew I wouldn’t do much help just crouching next to Connor and Jasper, so I tried to make myself useful. “I’ll go start the car, you guys can come and meet me whenever.” I said quietly, but loud enough for the two of them to hear. I was about to leave, when the gun caught my eye. Before I left I snuck the gun into a pocket without the two of them noticing.

Jasper’s truck looked like it had been there ever since the beginning of the breakout. It was old and ratty like the city and it’s buildings. The truck matched the scenery almost as well as we did. The three of us where covered in gunk and sweat, dirty, scratched up and stinking like rotten flesh. I crawled into the front seat and rattled the keys as they stuck in the ignition. The car revved to life, no longer a motionless piece of junk.

I relaxed in the car. I threw my head back on the leathery seat, and sighed. The warm air seeped into the car, and although it stank, I began to teach myself to breath through my mouth.

Gravel crunched in my direction. Slowly, my eyes opened, and I glanced out the window. A zombie. Its blank face stared in a different direction, relieving me, until it suddenly turned abruptly at me and snarled. My hands searched the car for a weapon- any weapon- to kill it with as I still kept locked eyes with the zombie. There was nothing to grab. I tightened my hand around the wheel, ready to take off, but then I realized the keys.

Scared, I snatched the keys out of the ignition and held them firmly.

Count to three. I told myself. One....don’t panic, Alex. Two...You’re doing good...Three!

As soon as I thought three, I burst open the door, knocking over the zombie that returned to it’s original standing position. I busted out the key and enraveled the key in its ribs as it shrieked in terror. I turned the key as if I where starting a car, and the yell got louder.