Kellie's Diary (Book 4)

by Jenner, Thomas

  There was one that had some cool drawings, but most of them were about some superhero that I've never heard of. He was telling me about all these powers the hero had, like being extremely fast and strong, and he could read minds.

  Jonathan started talking about how the bookswere in perfect condition, and that if the world hadn't gone to hell he'd have something really valuable. That kind of stuff doesn't make much sense to me, but then he said he would never have sold them anyway– I guess they're rare comics. He said that he had a bunch of comics before the zombies, and he was trying to collect as many as he could.

  I used to think boys would always be stupid, but Jonathan isn't stupid at all. Maybe it's because he's 17? He's a great scouter, he's amazing at finding things in weird places. Remember when he found a box of bullets in a fridge? He doesn't leave anything unchecked. Nobody else would think of looking in an old fridge these days.

  He's been telling stories of how he survived our runs to the younger kids on the train. Even though it's the same story as mine since we're both scouting with Sarah, I usually just keep my mouth shut. I prefer listening than talking, anyway. He's more fun when he tells stories, and everyone seems to like him a lot. He is pretty nice, and...

  Okay fine, Barb! I admit it! I think he's cute!

  You've seen him: he's got those big green eyes, he's a lot taller than me, and his voice already sounds like he's a man. He doesn't have huge muscles, but he's very strong.

  He's got a great smile too. I have no idea what kinds of things he's gone through before getting on the train, but he always seems like he's in a good mood, like nothing bothers him. Either that or he's really good at hiding it.

  He always helps me feel better if I get in an argument with Sarah. I'm not sure if he even likes her, he's pretty good at making fun of her. Yeah, she's like my sister, but then again I get sick of Lydia sometimes too, and I think he gets that. He told me he used to have an older brother, and they'd fight all the time, so he understands how I feel.

  Are you kidding? I'm probably like a sister to him. There's no way. Besides, Amy is closer to his age, so if he likes anyone, I bet it's her. No, I have no idea what type of girl he likes, but I'm not going to just ask him! He'll think I'm weird, then he won't go on runs with us anymore! We need him, he's a really good scouter, and I don't want anyone else on the team.

  I guess I could just keep being his friend. Nothing wrong with that, right? I mean, there aren't many other couples on the train that I know of. Maybe we don't have time for that kind of thing anyway. If we're all just waiting to die, what's the point?

  HE GAVE ME A PRESENT! I don't believe it! Jonathan came back with something behind his back, and he told me to close my eyes. I had no idea what he was doing, but I closed my eyes, and then he put something on my bed next to me. It was a polaroid camera!

  I haven't seen one of those things in a long time! I think I remember my grandpa having one. I was totally surprised by it, and I asked why he gave it to me. He said he thought I might like to have something nice. He said he tested it out, and it works– there's film and batteries already in there. He showed me how to use it, which honestly is pretty simple: aim and click the button. I tested it by taking a picture of Mr. Floppy, and it came out pretty good. The flash works, too!

  I couldn't help it Barb... I gave him a hug. I think I scared him, because it took him a second to hug back. I let him go, and told him that I was sorry, but I just really liked the camera. I was afraid he was mad or something, but he actually was smiling a little. He said that it was okay, and he was glad I liked it.

  He said he found it a few days ago and he knew he wanted to keep it, but wasn't sure what do with it. He decided yesterday that he wanted me to have it.

  Barb, I think I actually like him. A lot. I'm going to try and take a few nice pictures for him to say thank-you, but I don' know of what yet. Maybe I'll find something that looks cool on our next run.

  Chapter 6 – April 13, 1999

  Barb, we're heading to Los Angeles now. This is the first time we've been anywhere near there in a long time, and it's kind of exciting. Remember when we came by here last year, but there were too many zombies? Mark wants to try again, but start a little further away. He thinks we might have better luck this time around.

  I can't wait! Think about how many people there were– which means there are probably TONS of supplies to get! Then again, that means a lot of zombies... oh well, at least I know we can get around them.

  Shoot, I'm really tired right now. I didn't sleep much the last 2 nights. Look Barb, I don't know. Nothing is wrong, I've got enough food, I'm not working too hard, and I don't feel sick.

  Let's go talk on the outside rail for a while, see if I can wake up some more.

  We're not quite to Los Angeles yet, we're going to be stopping in a city east of there, it's called Highland. They tell us it's a small city, but it's still worth stopping in. Mark says we'll be there in a couple hours.

  It's kind of rainy right now– not a lot, but it's really gray outside. At least it isn't hot... actually it's pretty chilly. Works for me, since most of where we are looks like desert. I can sort of see the mountains from here, but the clouds are low and I can't see the top of them. All I know is that they're bright green. They're pretty, it's a nice change from all that snow we saw during winter.

  You know, the mountains actually remind me of some of those pictures of Oregon that I found. I think about it sometimes, but then it basically comes down to... what's the point? It's just me and Lydia now. There's no way the rest of them survived, and we've been safe on this train, so I don't really see any reason to go up there. What, on that small hope that maybe Mom and Dad are there? I can't even think with that.

  Then again... Sarah told me about how she found Lydia in the beginning. How she was alive in that store we still can't figure out. Not like Lydia remembers anyway. I guess God was looking out for her.

  Oh shit, Barb! I saw Bagman again! I saw him standing next to one of the buildings as we passed.

  We haven't seen him in a while, thank God. Remember last time a few months ago, when we got cornered by the zombies in that convenience store? Bagman was staring at us, like he was waiting for us to die.

  Wait, he's gone again. What the hell was he doing here? Wait, what do I care? He's just in my head. Right?

  Still, I can't figure it out. I know he's not real, but I still feel like he could rip me apart if he wanted. But he never does. He just stands around wherever he feels like and waits for me to see him. I stare back at him, and if I look away for a second, he disappears. It's like my mind's playing some sick game with me.

  Bagman stopped talking to me a long time ago... which I'm really glad for. I hate how he talked to me. That creepy whisper that sounds like he's choking, calling me every name that exists, telling me how worthless I am...

  I don't even know what to think right now. Maybe I should start getting my stuff together for the run. I'll go see if Jonathan and Sarah are getting ready.

  Okay so it turns out that it's getting too late in the day, so we're going on our run first thing in the morning. I'll probably still get ready, I don't want a slow start.

  Chapter 7– April 14, 1999

  I feel really creeped out, Barb. Highland is so overgrown, way more than what I've seen in other places. A few of the houses were actually caving in from sitting there for so long, and there were a lot of places that had cactus growing in the yards. It felt like I was walking through both a desert and a forest. It was more of a nature walk than a scouting run.

  All of the cities are like this now, but this one seems to be way worse. It's like the town died before the zombies came.

  I heard a few roars from far away when we got off the train. Jonathan used to live in California before the train picked him up, and he says what I heard was mountain lions. I know, just what we needed– it's bad enough there are zombies, but now we have to worry about lions eating us, too. Then again, that one time the bear tri
ed to get on the train was pretty freaky.

  That was the other thing: we found NOTHING. No food, no medical supplies, no weapons, not a damn thing. Sarah thinks the city was probably cleared out already, and because everything was falling apart the way it was, it had been cleaned up for a long time. It's weird though, there have been some towns where we didn't find very much, but there was always something we were able to take home.

  Highland is completely abandoned... at least it looks that way. Jonathan seems to agree with me on that, but Sarah still wants to check everything out.

  Me? I don't know, they're probably right. The truth is, I swear this place is haunted or something. No matter where we went, I kept feeling like someone was watching me. Maybe it was one of those lions spying on us, but it was one of the strangest feelings I've had in a long time.

  There was one house that I felt it a lot stronger. It wasn't that big, but parts of it had fallen in, like the kitchen didn't even have a roof anymore, and it stinked of... something bad, like it was molding and dying. Sarah looked like she was going to puke when she walked in.

  We got in there, and there was a rotting body underneath a bunch of wood and brick. All we could see was the head and some of the shoulder and arm... we weren't sure it was even fully dead, since we've been tricked before. Sarah looked closer, and saw a bullet hole in the side of the head. But there wasn't any blood on the floor. Sarah thinks the rain may have washed it away, since the ceiling is open and it would have fallen right on it. I don't know, something just seems really odd about it. I didn't want to stand there all day figuring it out, so I started looking in the rest of the house.

  There was a long hallway next to the kitchen, and it went into a couple bedrooms. One of them looked like there used to be a devil worshipper living in there. It was almost all black, with used up candles and a big red pentagram painted on the wall.

  Hell no, I didn't look around in there! I got the hell away from that room!

  There wasn't anything special in the other rooms, besides being torn up with broken windows and a bunch of plants growing inside them. One of them had a bird that flew out when I opened the door, and a part of the back wall was gone. It led out to the back yard, and it looked like a freaking jungle back there! There were 2 big trees, and the grass was almost as tall as me! I'm not that tall, I'm about 5'5", but this grass was a serious freak of nature. Plus, for whatever god-knows reason, there was a big boat out there too.

  I heard Jonathan come up behind me and he whistled, saying that he hoped he wouldn't get lost back there. I laughed a little, but then I got freaked again because I heard something moving. I looked at Jonathan, he took out his hunting knife and I got my gun. Jonathan stepped on some of the grass so they'd stay flat and we could find our way back easier.

  It came out of the grass, and it was a really skinny dog. Jonathan said that it was a coyote, and it was probably starving since it was coming out into the open. It kept growling at us, and then it crouched down like it was going to jump. I didn't even have time to think, I just pulled the trigger. It barked at a really high pitch, then fell down. It took a few seconds, but it stopped breathing.

  Sarah ran up behind us asking what happened, and we showed her the coyote. She gave me another one of her dirty looks, and said I shouldn't have fired the gun. What was I supposed to do, just let it attack me? She thinks I should have stabbed it instead. It may have still bit me or Jonathan, and then we'd have to worry about fixing bite wounds. Has she gone stupid? That's what the freaking gun is for, when our life is in danger! Wild animals are dangerous too, it's not just zombies.

  She walked up to it and checked it out, saying something about using it for meat. She looked at its back side, and pointed at a bite mark. Then she said maybe it was good that I shot it, because anything could have bitten it earlier.

  I keep telling myself that one of these days she'll trust me, but I guess it's not going to be today.

  Since there was nothing in that house, we kept walking down the street and found another house that wasn't so "fallen apart." I went in first, and there were 3 zombies on the other end of the room. Sarah told me to get out and that we'd skip the house, but I went in anyway. I figured I should put my knife to use, so I stabbed the zombies in their heads.

  Sarah started yelling at me in that quiet voice that kept her from being loud, and said that I was being stupid and reckless by going in and just killing stuff without being cautious. I said they needed to die anyway, otherwise they'd kill someone else that goes into the house.

  I'm not a little girl anymore, I know how to do this. Besides, I don't want Jonathan thinking that I can't handle myself. Who knows, maybe he thought I looked cool... I hope so, anyway.

  Highland probably hasn't had anyone here in years. Sarah's paranoid that it isn't as empty as it looks. Even though the rest of the place looks like a ghost town, that house we were in earlier with the tall grass and the coyote made her worried.

  I guess she was getting the "being watched" feeling too. I was going to say something, but there was no point in it. We had a lot of places to look and I didn't want to waste my time talking to her. I'm still kind of pissed at her anyway.

  We walked around the neighborhood for hours, checking every house. We didn't find a damn thing to bring back to the train. There's a lot more city to check out, and Sarah seems to want to go everywhere, since we came up completely empty handed. That NEVER happens.

  We're going to come back out tomorrow to do some checking in a different part of town.

  Sarah and I just had a talk. She did her usual warning speech every time we go out, but this time she sounded more concerned about it. She said that she felt weird the whole time we were there, and she kept thinking we were being followed. I told her I kind of felt it too, and she asked if I still wanted to go tomorrow.

  She actually ASKED me, instead of telling me to stay behind. There's something wrong with this place. It's not often that Sarah and I have agreed on anything lately, but this just weirds me out. It's like nothing about this place makes any sense. But we need to make sure we cover all our bases and we've looked everywhere we can. We don't ever want to risk running low on supplies.

  The thing is, we've been to a lot of cities already, and we've picked up so much... I wonder if other cities have run out of things, too. Yeah, I know, it's not like there are a whole lot of people around using the stuff, but I know we're not the only ones that are scavenging and keeping a community going. I think we just ended up somewhere that's been picked clean.

  We still can't figure out the creepy feeling, but I'm starting to think it's just us. We'll just have to deal with it and get on with our lives. Our next stop is Los Angeles anyway, so we may as well make the most of this trip.

  Chapter 8 – April 15, 1999

  Those assholes! They killed Sarah! She was just trying to protect Lydia! There was... god, so many people died today. Some got bit, some got killed by the gang.

  We got back from our second run early, probably by mid-day. We didn't find anything AGAIN for the first few hours. I wanted to go back after the first 2 hours, since I was getting tired of finding one empty house after another. I actually stayed outside the last house we were in, I let Jonathan and Sarah deal with it. I was just standing out there by myself, I barely heard anything except those two walking through the house.

  Then when I looked down the street where we came from, I saw him again. Bagman was standing in the middle of the street a few blocks away. Jeez, it's not like I ever need to see him to begin with, but having to see him today really messed with me.

  Anyway, Bagman was standing there, not moving at all. I think the wind stopped blowing, too. Everything just... died. He stared at me, and I think he was smiling. No, I didn't see it, I just knew, it's the same as always. Sometimes you just know. Then he pointed down the street. It was different, he's never done anything like that before. He said something, but I couldn't understand him because of that voice he has. Even though he was
far away, I heard him like he was right next to me. I stopped looking at him and looked at the other houses instead...

  When I looked down the street again, he was still there, pointing! He said something louder this time, but it wasn't very clear, and I still can't figure out exactly what he said.

  I still freaked out. I haven't heard his voice in so long... I can never forget what he sounds like, but hearing it again sounded like the first time. I got cold, even though it was warm outside today.

  Then I felt my shoulder get tapped, and I almost shot my gun, but then I saw it was Jonathan. He had this confused look on his face, and asked what I was doing. When I looked down the street again, Bagman was gone. I told him it was nothing. Nobody else has ever seen Bagman, so I wasn't going to tell him anything.

  Sarah came out and said that she wanted to get back to the train, so we started going back. We weren't very far away and we heard a couple gun shots. We all looked, but didn't see anyone... then Sarah said it was coming from the direction of the train.

  We got closer to the train, but we heard screaming and some angry men yelling. We saw the end of the train, and we had stopped next to some tall bushes, so we hid in them while we got closer.

  We looked through the bush, and we saw a bunch of guys with machine guns pulling people from the train! They were being lined up outside, and the guys were making everyone sit on the ground while they had guns aimed at them!

  They were trying to take over the train! Or kill everyone! Or both!!

  I told Sarah I wanted to go out there and help, but Jonathan said there were too many, that we'd have to try and sneak around them to get back on the train. He was probably right, but I didn't want to sit there all day and watch our community get killed by a gang.