Cold Body, Warm Heart

CHAPTER NINETEEN

IRINA

"stay here." i said to lu and trina before i walked off to go speak to my father.

i looked around for him until i finally saw him, took a deep breath, and walked to him.

he stopped his conversation with two men and started walking towards me. "what are you doing here?"

"what is going on? what is all this?"

"not sure, but it's not good. we've been getting reports. there is sizable packs of skeletons and corpses coming toward us. we don't know why but if they're here to attack, there's nothing we can do about it. there's too many of them, too few of us so we want you to get home, lock down the house, i have the gun there, the one-"

"this?" i said as i lifted the gun and showed him. "yeah, okay. i need to talk to you." i said as i pulled him aside.

"irina, not now-"

"dad, it is important. this is gonna sound.. really crazy but, i think the dead.. are coming back to life."

"that does sound crazy."

"they're changing, dad. the-theyre... i-i dont know. they're somehow curing themselves."

"you think they're curing themselves? how's that?"

"i saw it. it is really happening."

"no, but, you know what is happening, irina? what's happening is that everyday, there are more of them and less of us. they are not 'curing' themselves. we're their food source. they are not becoming vegan, okay? they don't eat broccoli. they eat brains. your mother's, and your boyfriend's included, okay? so i want you to wake up, okay? get yourself home. barricade yourself in the shelter, there is enough stuff there that you can-" what stopped his sentence was him bumping into lu.

i immediately ran over to her and grabbed her arm. "h-hi."

" who are you?"

"this is lu."

"well, i didn't ask you, i asked her. who are you?"

"i'm-im.."

"you're a corpse?"

"she saved my life. she took care of me. i triggered something in her and-and that must've sparked something in all of them-"

my dad held the gun up to lu and pushed her backwards. "and now it's triggered something in me."

he pushed her against a gate. "dad, no! dad!"

"w-we wanna help."

"please, they don't wanna attack us. they wanna help."

"we-we're getting better."

"things don't get better, things get worse. people get bit, then they get infected, then i shoot them in the head."

"no, dad-"

"that's what happened to your mother and that's what's gonna happen to her." he said, about to pull the trigger when trina came behind and pointed her gun at my dads head.

"i really am sorry, mr. apicella," trina said and then turned to irina. "go. get out of here and be safe."

"irina." my father lowly said.

i grabbed lu's arm. "i have to go." and we ran off.