A Note

Contrary to popular belief THIS STORY IS NOT OVER! I cannot find my notebook in which I wrote it so I'm freaking out...but it might be a little while before I can publish more of my story.

Chapter Nine

We cruised along quietly, maneuvering around the empty cars on the road. I had put some antibiotics on Cameron’s wound, which had brought down the swelling and dulled the pain, but left the discoloration. Her thigh was now wrapped in gauze. We didn’t speak much. There wasn’t much to say.

We all silently wondered what awaited us up north. There was no way to know if it truly was a safe zone or if just as many flesh eating creatures were there as where we had already been. We had no idea whether our family had made it there alive, or, if they had, whether we would ever see them again once inside the safe zone.

But the thought haunting me most was what would happen to Cameron. What was happening to Cameron. The area on her leg looked like the skin of the zombies; almost like dead flesh but with a slight glow about it. Was she one of them? if she was I would have to axe her. I didn’t think I could do that. I glanced over at her. I wondered what could possibly be going through her mind.

Evan cleared his throat, picking a topic to start a conversation on. “So,” he mumbled. “Only a few miles until we reach our destination.” He was right, it had been three days since the Battle of Holiday Inn. Three days straight of driving. In about twenty minutes we would meet up with mom’s contact up north. Then maybe we could meet up with what was left of our family and find Cameron a doctor.

“Where in Canada exactly is your mother?” Jesse asked. Evan shook his head to show he didn’t know. “Oh…well how are we going to find her, then?”

“From what I’ve heard,” Evan sighed. “This guy we’re meeting is one of mom’s old friends. He’s running some sort of Underground Railroad thing. There are a few villages and he’ll take us to the one mom was sent to.” Jesse nodded.

“That is if they’re still alive,” I grumbled. Evan sent me a worried look over his shoulder, but never the less said he knew they were. Suddenly I felt it crucial to voice my opinion on the subject. “How can you be so sure?” I blurted. “Look at Cameron. For all we know there are no safe zones! We could be the only people left in North America as far as we can tell!” My anger out, I slumped down in my seat and glared out the window.

The area we were passing through what I suspected was once a heavily populated town, but was now nothing more than a feeding ground for monsters. I watched as one tore into the neck of a dead old woman on the ground outside a grocery store.

Her cart was still next to her, full of cat food and soup. I couldn’t help but imagine what she would have been like had the infection not struck. I pictured her bringing the food back to a tabby cat who was probably about as old as she was. She would put a pot of water on the stove to boil. She would set a bowl of food out for the tabby, then sit and watch as it ate. The cat was probably dead now too.

I tried to be as hopeful as my brother but it was impossible. The only living person I had seen in the past five days who wasn’t in this car was dead; and I never even knew her. I missed humanity. I missed my father. I missed my few friends from school. I even missed the kids who would make fun of me from afar at lunch. They were all gone by now. I would never see them again.

This occupied my brain for almost a half hour, until; at last, it was pushed out by a wall fifty feet high. We all looked up at it in awe. It was real. The safe zone was real.

A sign hung where the wall met the road. It read “HONK THREE TIMES FOR ENTRACE”. We did so. For a moment nothing happened, then we saw a crack in the wall emerge. It widened until it was just large enough for a large car to pass through. We drove inside slowly and the door closed once we had entered.

A single large building stood before us. Where there had once been an engraving of “Town Hall” atop the doorway, was a banner on which someone had painted in large red letters: “Transit Office”. We climbed out of the van and walked inside to see a short line of people leading to a desk where a stout man sat with a map. “Next!” He bellowed as a couple walked out the side door.

A mad and who I suspected was his five-year-old daughter stepped forward. “Names here,” they each wrote their names on the piece of paper he pushed toward them. “Any residential family members?” the man at the desk asked. The father shook his head no. The man at the desk typed something on his computer, then turned back to them. “You’ll be taken to area four. Just follow the signs. The two walked out side and drove away. “Next!”

We stepped up to the desk, Evan at the head of us. “Names,” said the man, and pushed the sign in sheet at us, still looking down at the map in his hands. We each wrote our names in a slot on the paper. “Any residential family members?” He looked up at us and Evan nodded. “Their names?”

“Brenda Cartrite,” Evan said as a woman walked in behind us. The stout man’s eyes widened. He looked down quickly at the sign in sheet.

“Oh my god,” he whispered. “Evan and Emmy Cartrite?” A grin spread across his face. “I’m Charles Monroe. I’m your mother’s friend.” He stood up and hugged us. “Your mother has been so worried about the two of you. She’ll be thrilled to find out you’re okay!” He pulled away from us and looked to Jesse and Cameron. “Are these your friends?” Cameron and I smiled at eachother.

“Yeah,” I said. “Good friends.”

Charles stepped back behind his desk and typed something into his computer. “Your mother is in area two. You can follow the signs to get there. Here’s her address.” He handed Evan a folded up piece of paper and sent us on our way.

Chapter Eight

In the morning we dressed and brought our bags into the lobby to find Jesse and Evan staring wide-eyed at the glass front door. I followed their gaze and saw what looked like the army of orks from Lord of the Rings charging at us from across the highway. All of the zombies in the area had somehow sensed the only living thing within miles and had banded together to destroy them.

“Evan,” Cameron said, glancing back and forth between my brother and the mob of the undead. “We need your help. Please think as hard as you can. What do we do?” Evan shook his head in bewilderment and muttered that he didn’t know what to do.

“But…” I mumbled. “But you’re the idea guy.”

“Well the idea guy is out an idea, Emmy! Sorry to disappoint!” Evan shouted at me. Evan never shouted at me.

“My friend Sam once told me that in a situation like this you should block off all the entrances but one,” said Jesse. “I think it’s supposed to like…concentrate the flow or something.” He paused for a moment. “Of course he had no real experience with zombies and I’m sure he’s been turned into a human shish kebab by now.” He looked awkwardly at the floor.

“It’s not much,” said Cameron, doing all she could not to look back at the door. “But I suppose it’s as close to a plan as we’re going to get. Evan, you stay here while Emmy, Jesse, and I board up the other doors, okay?” He nodded and we all ran off to the entrances.

I had just locked and pushed a chair in front of the last door when I heard a shout from the lobby. The zombies had reached the front.

I sprinted back to my brother and saw the crowd of monsters slamming their fists and skulls against the glass wall and door we had barred closed. Then, suddenly, a loud bang rang through the room and a huge crack shot across the surface of the glass. One more pound and the whole wall shattered into a million pieces.

A giant crowd of zombies poured into the room. Soon all that could be heard were the thuds and swishes of our weapons tearing through dead flesh. They came in waves and we had no trouble cutting down line after line until, at last, there came a huge mob, too many zombies to count. And they were charging forward as fast as zombies can go. We all froze with fear. I shook myself and looked around, trying to find something, anything, I could use as a weapon.

Then I looked up. A huge chandelier hung in the center of the room, swinging slightly as a result of our current war on zombies. I grinned and leapt up onto a bench, then the shelf next to it holding tourist brochures. I kicked them off my platform (honestly who wanted to visit the deepest darkest caves in southern California anyway?) and stood as close to the edge as I could without the shelf toppling over.

“Guys!” I yelled just loud enough to be heard over the gurgling and moaning of the approaching mob, “When I say ‘now’ get as close to the walls as you can as fast as you can get there!” The three of them looked at me as if I had just told them not to worry because a three headed money would come down from the heavens and save us. “Just do it!” They nodded.

I stood on the platform gripping the axe in my hand so hard my knuckles turned white. The crowd reached us, but I kept still until they had all entered the room. I gulped then shouted “NOW!” My friends sprinted to the walls as I leapt into the air from my shelf and slashed the chord holding the light fixture to the ceiling. Down it fell, crushing many of the zombies and trapping the others. Jesse and Evan ran up and hugged me.

“That was incredible!” Jesse gushed. Evan said something to the same effect but I was too busy looking at the girl writing on the floor in pain to hear him. I thanked them and pushed away, then walked over to Cameron. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “You weren’t bitten again, were you?” She shook her head no and clutched her thigh. “Your wound?” She pulled back her pant leg so I could see the bite mark from the night before. It was swelling and had become discolored, but not the way a bruise would look. The skin around where the zombies teeth had pierced her skin looked gray, almost like dead flesh. “Shit,” I whispered, then turned back to the boys. “We have to go now. Get her in the car.”

We all climbed in the va n and took off for Canada.

Give Back!

Okay here we go. I have been spending a lot of my time working on this story (which I love). Now whoever happens to be reading my story gets to give back a little. PLEEEEEASE leave comments on the story! Tell me your favorite chapter, give me compliments, criticisms, and suggestions. I need to hear what you think in order to make this story as good as it can be. Just do me a solid (hehehe Rocket Power) and tell me your opinion.

Love all [four] of you,

Shay

Chapter Seven

We all agreed it would be best if our first stop was to pick up clothing for Cameron and Jesse. Maybe then, once we had all the necessary supplies, we could make a side trip to a near by amusement park or arcade where we could block the monsters out and have some fun. Evan wanted to go to Disney World, but considering the fact that it was on the other side of the country, it didn't seem a likely option.

There was a mall about twenty miles north of my house which seemed the best choice for our purposes. It was in the middle of a highway; one of those places you're only in if you're trying to go somewhere nicer and cleaner than it. The zombies had no doubt emptied the local supply of living people and moved on to another area with a denser population. There was a hotel close to the mall for us to spend some time packing up whatever new weapons or clothing we had gotten.

Our car pulled up into the parking lot after about a twenty minute drive. We could've gotten there faster had Evan not decided the speed limit still mattered, even in a post-apocalyptic world. We climbed out and walked into the mall, then put a pipe we found on the ground through the door handles in case any hungry beasts happened to be passing by. Cameron and I made our way over to a vintage shop on our left as Evan and Jesse walked into the men's department store across the hall.

"Oooh," Cameron purred as she pulled a black wool trench coat from one of the racks. It had a red collar and red buttons down the front and it complimented her snow white skin and black hair beautifully. She pulled it on and turned to me and asked "How do I look?" raising one eyebrow. I laughed and gave her a thumbs up. I grabbed a blue dress with little white polkadots from a shelf and shook my head at it.

"I don't know why people ever stopped dressing like this. Oh my gods!" I gasped and in a matter of seconds I had slipped myself into a pair of high-waisted jean bellbottoms. The pants accentuated my long legs, a fact which Cameron obviously noticed because her eyes ran up them slowly, taking in every inch.

“They—uhm…” she stammered. “They look great.” She looked to her left and picked up a multicolored tank top. She held it out to me. “Try this with it.” I stepped back behind the curtain of the dressing room and pulled it on.

“Damn, I look tall,” I mumbled, looking in the mirror.

“Well,” said Cameron, pulling me out of the small room. “That may have something to do with the six feet you’re packing. Now let me see you.” She scanned my new outfit and nodded. “Absolutely gorgeous.” She turned to a small mirror and pulled her hair into a side ponytail, making her bangs fall across her face. “There we go.” We grabbed a few more outfits off of the racks and stuffed them into the huge bags we had slung over our shoulders.

We looked over to the door and saw around ten zombies banging on it. We had been right about the small number of zombies, these were all that were left, and they looked like they were starving. I pulled the fire axe out of my clothing bag. “Oh,” muttered Cameron. I turned to her questioningly. “Well it’s just…would you mind if I used the axe this one time?” I ran my fingers over the handle, and looked down at the blade. I had developed some sort of emotional attachment to my weapon of choice. It took a lot of strength to hand it over to someone else.

The hedge clippers she gave me felt foreign to my hands, so the battle which followed was incredibly uncomfortable. I pushed the door open and slashed at the nearest zombie. I narrowly missed and spun me in a circle. Frustrated, I sent a hard kick into the zombie’s head and knocked it clean off. “Huh,” I breathed. “That’s a new method.”

I looked over to Cameron and saw that she was having about as much difficulty as I was. I ran over to her and quickly switched our weapons. “We are not doing that again,” I growled, slashing through the head of another zombie. A sharp breath came from behind me and I spun around to see Cameron on the ground, bleeding from a gash on her thigh. She looked up at me, her eyes full of panic.

I knocked one of the monsters away from her and grabbed her by her wrist. We were half way to the car when her leg gave out. She fell to the ground and cried out in pain. The zombies were approaching quickly, so I hoisted Cameron over my shoulder and finally made it back to the van.

Evan and Jesse were there waiting for us, and noticed how shaken we looked. “What’s wrong?” Jesse asked as Evan pulled away from the mall. We didn’t have to answer once he saw Cameron’s leg. His eyes widened and he turned to Evan. “No time to make stops. The plans have changed; we need to go straight to your mom.” When Evan questioned the reasoning behind this decision, Jesse pointed at the cut. Jesse looked at Cameron. “How did you get that? Emmy, how did she get that?” I shrugged.

“Th-The zombie,” Cameron whimpered. “It b-bit me.” She squeezed her eyes shut in pain. “God it burns! Cuts don’t burn. Why the hell does this thing burn?” She looked at me franticly, but all I did was shake my head, wide-eyed. Evan glanced toward the back seat as he moved around an abandoned car.

“Emmy,” he said. “There’s a first aid kit under your seat. Do what you can to treat that.” I nodded. “We’re going to make as much progress as we can today. That means no stops, are you all good with that?” We said we were and I pulled out the first aid kit. I took a cotton swab and poured some antiseptic on it, then dabbed at the wound. She bit her lip and clutched above the bite mark.

We drove for hours, taking only one break to use the bathrooms. We finally stopped for the night at some hotel around one in the morning. Cameron and I went into the first room we saw, while Evan and Jesse went around checking the other rooms for any lurking creatures. Cameron and I changed into pajamas and sat down on the bed. I looked over her cut and raised my eyebrows. “That’s pretty deep,” I said lowly. “You’re lucky this guy didn’t take a chunk out of your leg.

Cameron chuckled. “Yep, that’s me; lucky.” She sighed. “What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to be a—one of those?” She looked down at the wound on her thigh mournfully. “I don’t think I should…maybe I should stay here. I don’t want to turn into a zombie and ruin any chance you have of reaching your mom.” I let out a heavy breath as I wrapped her cut in gauze. I took her hand in mine and looked into her clear blue eyes, which were now wetting her cheeks with tears.

“You’re going to be just fine,” I whispered. “You’re coming with us to Canada. We are going to find someone to help you if you are turning, which I don’t believe you are. Everything is going to be alright.” She nodded and hugged me. She fell asleep in my arms that night.

Many Appologies

For those who care, because apparently there are a few of you out there, I'm sorry haven't updated my story in a while. My computer screen cracked for no discernible reason so I haven't been able to get on my laptop to type. I do however have another two chapters to add, and will most likely be done with a third by the time I have a working laptop. My hope is to have updated the story by a maximum of two weeks from now.

Thank you for your patience,

Shay Loos

Chapter Six

Days passed with nothing happening but organizing and packing. The scratching at the walls and doors grew louder as time went on. At a few points the zombies almost managed to get inside. We had two broken windows and a missing front door by the time we were ready to leave. We had been forced to board them up with a table we chopped apart using my fire axe.

The day we were going to leave the sounds outside had gone from scratching to full on pounding. The kitchen wall was beginning to crack. The house was in worse shape than ever, which was saying quite a lot.

We stood at the door, covered in bags, ready to charge for the car. I held my axe, Cameron the hedge clippers, Jesse the sledge hammer, and Evan his slugger. Evan looked over to the three of us to check if we were ready. We all nodded silently.

Evan threw the door open and we sprinted over to the car. There was a crunching sound as the zombies’ heads turned toward us. Jesse flung open the trunk and started tossing the bags in. I dropped mine to the ground and gripped the handle of my axe as I watched the zombies charge toward us.

One leapt at me, its mouth open and its arms stretched out. I swung my axe as hard as I could and chopped its head clean off. Three more rushed forward. I made one large sweep across their torsos. I looked down at my feet to find the zombies’ upper bodies pulling themselves toward me. One of the zombies grabbed my leg. His hand was cold and clammy like a corpse, but its grip was firm and wouldn’t let go. I screamed as I felt its icy touch. I jumped back and brought the dull side of the axe down on his head, making black goo pour out of it. Zombies are the most revolting creatures in the world.

I did the same to the other two and threw my bags into the trunk. “Hurry the hell up, Jesse!” I shouted as I drove the blade of my axe into another head. “This may seem like a good time, but I assure you it’s not. Hey I have an idea, you try it and I’ll do your stunningly simple job!”

“Hey,” he spat, glancing over his shoulder. “You pestering me isn’t making me go faster or making you kill more zombies.”

“Maybe not, but it sure is making me feel better. I hate having all these emotions bottled up inside.” I knocked a zombie to the side using the dull edge of my blade. More black gunk poured out of his head. Jesse slammed the trunk closed.

“All done,” he announced. “Let’s get going!” We all jumped in the car; Evan driving, Jesse in the passenger seat, Cameron and I in the back. As Evan sped out of the driveway, a zombie jumped behind the car and was plowed into the ground by the power of our four wheel drive. We zoomed down the street going eighty in a thirty-mile-per-hour speed limit zone. Maybe there was a good side to all of the cops having been eaten my grave crawlers.

Zombies weren’t an issue on our way out of town, and once we hit the highway it was all just open road. Well, open road covered in cars full of dead bodies. “Hey you guys,” said Evan cheerfully. “You ready for a zombie fighting road trip?” We all cheered. Cameron and I glanced at each other.

It was going to be a fun few weeks.