about words
by
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter one-The Beginning of the End
Chapter two-Rescue Mission
Chapter three-Shelter
Chapter four-Four Days Since
Chapter five-Earl the Magician
Chapter six-Save the World
Chapter seven-Family Reunion
Chapter eight-Zane’s Group
Chapter nine-Xavier’s Side
Chapter ten-A New Friend
Chapter eleven-Marina
Chapter twelve-No One Can Hear You Scream
Chapter thirteen-Escape
Chapter fourteen-May’s Search Ends Soon
Chapter fifteen-Alex
Chapter sixteen-No Choice in the Matter
Chapter seventeen-Surprise!
Chapter eighteen-It Isn’t A Battle It’s A War
Chapter nineteen-Rain
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the author
DEDICATION
For my parents and my sister Jenna.
PROLOGUE
In this moment, my normal life is gone. My world is not mine anymore. It’s like I’m living in a video game, the ones me and Gavin always play together. Gavin, he’s looking at me. He’s covered in blood and even he, the most optimistic person, looks broken. He’s looking at me with a sad face. He doesn’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do either.
As much as I would love to take over a millionaire’s mansion I don’t want to go outside. The dead people are banging on the glass doors which we tied shut with rope. We’re just sitting here, in this grocery store waiting for the dead to go away. If they ever do.
I couldn’t imagine this day being like this. I couldn’t even imagine that the boy I like would be sitting next to me asleep on the floor. I couldn’t imagine that I’d be sitting in a room full of strangers except for two familiar faces. I couldn’t imagine that I wouldn’t be sleeping in my bed tonight but on a freezing linoleum floor scared to fall asleep because I have a good reason not to trust these strangers. Worst of all I couldn’t imagine the dead coming to life and them eating and killing everybody.
CHAPTER ONE-THE BEGINNING OF THE END
I wake up and look at the clock, it’s six o’clock in the morning. The sun shines through my window. I get up and go into the kitchen. My black hair is in a messy braid over my shoulder. I am in a blue short-sleeve pajama shirt and matching shorts. I rub my eyes, yawning. I’m exhausted.
My stepfather is sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in front of him. Him and Mom got married a couple months ago. My aunt didn’t like it very much because Mom and Fred only knew each other for year. I didn’t like it either. We didn’t know him well enough to have him live with us but mom didn’t care. I think it was stupid. My real father died in a car accident on my fifth birthday. He was going to the store to buy me a cake but a drunk driver hit him. They both died instantly when they hit each other. I think my mom just wants to get rid of the grief by loving someone else.
“Good Morning,” he says.
“Good morning,” I say.
“So you turned in your homework, right?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Did you talk to Xavier yesterday?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“What about?”
He always wants to bring Xavier up. Xavier is a boy in my class. It was February when he transferred from a Utah high school to my high school. He’s been in my class since then. I have a major crush on him. I’m always thinking about him. He always starts conversations with me and we talked more than a couple times. The teacher always puts us on class assignments together. He has come over to work on them with me. Mom doesn’t embarrass me as much as Fred does when he’s here. I’ve always known that he likes me too. The way he nervously acts around me and the way that he tries to be with me a lot. Even when the teacher doesn’t put us on assignments together. Only yesterday was different.
“He asked me out,” I say.
“He did? What did you say?” He asks.
“I said yes.”
I was thinking about what to do with our relationship. Start out as friends or ask him out myself. I figured he would ask me out some time but I didn’t know. Now what do I do? This hasn’t happened before. He asked me to go to a dance coming up this week. It was Guy’s Choice.
Mom walks in wearing a purple T-shirt and sweats. Her black hair is in a ponytail.
“Hey, Rain. What are you two talking about?” she says while pouring herself a cup of coffee.
“Rain’s date,” Fred teases.
“Thanks a lot,” I say feeling like I needed to add some curse words to it. He always makes fun of me. Mom looks at me a little surprised.
“Xavier asked me to a dance next week at school.” I twiddle my fingers.
“You can go,” She says with a smile.
I’m surprised by her answer. She knows I like Xavier but I didn’t know if she would let me date since I’m only fourteen. I guess she thinks it’s only one dance but who knows what could happen. I’m surprised because when Fred makes comments she really doesn’t say much.
“When are we going to pick Gavin up?” I ask.
“At eight,” Mom says.
“Why are you changing the subject?” Fred asks.
“Fred, come on.” I sit at the table next to mom.
“It’s dad, Rain.” Mom looks at me.
“No, it’s not. I’m not calling him that,” I say.
Mom wants me to call him Dad but I don’t want to. It would be too weird. I haven’t even gotten over my father’s death yet; I can’t call him my dad. He seems like he doesn’t care anyway. What’s the point? It could be out of respect but I don’t have any respect for him. I may sound like your everyday bratty teenager but that’s not it. He gives me a bad feeling and I think he’s hiding something.
“Rain.” Mom gives me her angry look. The one that says ‘You better do what I say.’
“Now!” she demands.
“No!” I cross my arms with a cold expression on my face which hasn’t been my usual demeanor since Fred came into the picture.
I refuse!” I say standing up. “You can’t make me. You barely even know him and you married him. You just don’t want to be alone that’s why you did it!” I crossed a line and I know it. I march off to my room and slam the door. I lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling.
What did I just do? It wasn’t right what I said. It was the truth but still awful. Usually I would have just sat there quietly. I can’t do this to mom. We are supposed to have a great time this year. I can’t do this to Gavin either.
His mom, my aunt May, is sick. She has been for a few weeks. I’m not talking about a cold or flu, it’s much worse. The doctors run tests almost every day and can’t figure out what she has. She is so sick we’re scared she’s going to die. One time the heart monitor that was hooked up to her flat lined and Gavin called hysterical. Mom and I started crying and thought she was gone. Then Gavin said that she woke up and that the heart monitor must have been broken. After several minutes of the both of us screaming at him we were thankful. May pushed him to visit us so he could have a break. Gavin and my Uncle Kevin been taking care of her and the house. He wanted to visit me which he does every year. He was hesitant to come because of her condition. She insisted that he come here, she wants him to be a kid she explained.
Someone knocks on my door. “Go away.” I say loud enough for them to hear me. Mom opens the door. “It’s Xavier, he wants to talk to you,” she says. I grab the phone and cover it with my hand.
“I’m so sorry,” I say.
“It’s okay,” she says with a b
lank expression on her face.
“No, it’s not.” I try not to sound like a little kid with mock sincerity. I actually mean what I’m saying. “I’m sorry, that was the worst thing I could have said, I just… miss dad.”
“I miss him, too. You need more time to adjust to this, that’s all.” She closes the door.
Why is Xavier calling me? I forgot I gave him the house number so that we could set up a time to meet for the dance. I put the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hi, for the dance next week I think we should meet at seven thirty. It starts at eight,” he says.
“Yeah. That sounds good.” I can’t think about that right now. I let him make the decision.
“Great. I figured we could talk before the dance.” He sounds excited.
“Okay.” If mom still lets me go.
The phone starts beeping, someone else is calling. “I have to go. I’m getting a call.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” He hangs up.
I answer the other person. “Hello?”
“Rain!” my cousin shouts through the phone so loud it hurts my ears.
“Hi, are you on the plane?”
“Yeah. Two hours until I’m there!” he says excitedly.
“Awesome,” I say.
“Rain!!!” Mom shouts.
I run out of the room with the phone still in my hand. Mom and Fred are standing in front of the TV. I get closer and I watch it for a few seconds. I think I’m watching a horror movie and then I realize it’s the news. The broadcast is showing footage of people on the Strip attacking other people. Eating people. What the hell is this? Is this really happening? Please tell me this is a joke.
Mom looks at me. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“How should I know?”
“You’re the one who plays video games all the time.” She shrugs.
I know what to call them. I don’t think mom will agree with me though. She doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories or the apocalypse. I go back and forth on whether I should say it or not. The news shows an aerial view of the Strip. You can see a large crowd of people running from the Strip. There are tanks on Freemont Street and soldiers shooting at other people, who I’m guessing are the cannibals. “Zombies,” I say. They look at me like I’m crazy. How could I be? We both just saw people getting eaten.
“That’s ridiculous. This is the real world.” She rolls her eyes.
“Listen to her, Samantha,” Fred says. I’m surprised because he usually doesn’t agree with me.
We stand silent for a while. I don’t know what to do next. The police already know and so does the military, I can’t call for help. Are they? I would think they are because the situation looks really bad. The news puts a list on TV:
Evacuation Sites For Las Vegas
Mirabella Homes
Police Stations
West’s Bulk Food Store
June’s Liquor Store
Wanda’s Furniture Store
Natural Greens Grocery Store
I totally forgot that Gavin is coming. We have to get to the airport soon. I hear the newscaster say that the military is waiting for a few flights to come in and then they will evacuate everyone. Where are they going to take us to? What about aunt May?
A scream interrupts my thoughts. I turn to the window to the left of Fred. My parents turn to face the window too. A woman with long brown hair and brown eyes is standing there. She is wearing a pink T-shirt and pink sweat pants which are covered in blood. She is holding an aluminum baseball bat in her hand.
“Help!” she screams.
I take a step forward and Mom grabs my arm and pulls me back. We all stand in a row in front of the window. She bangs on the window smearing bloody prints on it with her fists. She stops when she realizes we are standing there. “I’m going to open the door,” Fred says.
“No. We don’t know who she is,” Mom says, putting her arm around me. A man stumbles up to the woman slowly. I realize It’s not a human but a zombie. It bites the woman’s neck and she pushes him away from her. The zombie takes a piece of flesh with him. It stumbles back and the woman swings the bat at the zombie. Instead of colliding with the zombie’s head it hits the window.
Glass shatters everywhere in front of my feet. The woman steps on the window sill, with her bare feet, and jumps inside landing on her feet. The zombie climbs in the same way. He stumbles towards us. Fred gets a look in his eye like he has a plan. He grabs the bat and hits the woman in the head. It happens so fast I can’t do anything. He then hits Mom and me. We both fall on the ground. My vision is a little blurry and I feel dizzy. I’m on my right side. Mom is lying next to me. The woman covered in blood is on the ground getting eaten next to Mom. I hear wet chomping sounds as the zombie takes out her internal organs and eats them.
Fred is standing over us with the bat in his hand. “I’m sorry, you were right,” she whispers, a tear falls down her cheek.
“I love you,” I whisper with tears in my eyes. The zombie stumbles towards Fred and he pushes it on top of Mom. It bites her neck. She screams. I jump up and grab Fred’s collar. He slaps me and I fall on my right side. The rage I have going through me makes me get up and take the bat out of his grip. I hit him on the head once. The blow makes him fall down. I hit again and again. I stop when he doesn’t move. I hit him six times.
I hit the zombie in the head once really hard, which makes him fall down on his side. I kneel down beside my Mom, glass shards digging in my knees. I grab her hand, closing both of my hands around her hand. Her hazel eyes look so much brighter usually. I have to realize she’s really gone.
When my dad died, my mom was depressed and she wasn’t taking me to school or taking care of me. Aunt May came out and helped us. She pushed Mom to get counseling for the both of us. We went and the doctor told Mom she was in one of the five stages of grief.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Mom was in depression. The doctor gave her medication. From then she got better. I didn’t, I waited by the door for weeks thinking Dad was going to come back. That was denial. After I realized he wasn’t coming back I threw tantrums, anger. I still experience anger, bargaining and depression. I don’t know if I will ever experience acceptance. I don’t know if I will ever except either of their deaths.
I let go of her hand. Her hand drops to the ground.
I go into the bathroom down the hallway. I close the door. I look at my reflection in the mirror. My black hair is messier than it was before and there is blood splatter on my face and clothes. I turn on the sink and wash my hands and face. I wipe them dry with the hand towel on the counter. I back up and slide down the door. I sit on the floor sobbing.
My stepfather killed my mom. I was going to die too. I could have done something. I was on the ground barely conscious, I remind myself. I can’t blame myself. Survivor’s guilt will only make things worse. It’s different when somebody dies differently in the everyday world. You go through the stages slowly because you didn’t see what happened to them. Now it’s like I feel all of them at once.
How am I supposed to get to Gavin now? I have no car, nobody to drive me. I can’t walk to the airport. Maybe I should stay here and pray that more of the monsters don’t come. Does he even know what’s going on? Does May? I need to survive this. I want to. I have to get to my cousin. I let one person die, I won’t let it happen again. I need to survive this. I just don’t know how.
Jessie! She’s my best friend. I could call her and make sure she is okay. If she is, I’ll explain my situation. Her mom might pick me up then I could get to my cousin. I walk into the kitchen and grab the phone off the counter. I dial her number. It rings for a long time. Then someone answers. I hear hyperventilating on the other line.
“Hello?” I ask. The breathing could be coming from Jessie. More likely Belinda, her mom, she hyperventilates like that when she is stressed out.
“Rain.” She whispers.
“Jess, I need you to help me
out. Can you give me a ride?”
“I can’t. My mom is gone. I’m hiding in my room.” Her voice is breaking and she is breathing really fast.
“Jessie, calm down, please.” I don’t want her to make herself sick.
“Where are your parents?”
“They’re gone.” I start crying. “Please, help me. I need help,” I beg her.
She is my only friend. I have no more family or friends to call. She is my best friend. We do everything for each other. Mom told me that true friends help out in bad situations no matter what. Is she going to help me?
“I can’t, I can’t,” she says, “I hear somebody in my house.” She hangs up.
I guess she was never my friend. Could I really blame her though? She lost her mom like I did. She lived miles away from me so she couldn’t just walk to my house. I wonder how many people lost their family today. It has to be a lot.
I have to get moving. I walk into my room and grab my watch. I put it on my wrist. I grab a duffel bag and put a few water bottles and the woman’s bat in it. I change into a T-shirt, jeans and my old black sneakers. I walk out the door. I should be on the ground crying right now. I thought I would be on the floor screaming. I just keep walking. I start crying as my mind replays the events over and over. I don’t pay attention to my surroundings. I just want to get out of the neighborhood. I know this street like the back of my hand.
I get out of the neighborhood ending on a usually not busy road. I didn’t know that I walked that far. I live close to the Strip. I am high enough that I can see it. I hear faraway screaming. I see police and army trucks parked on the roads. The sirens aren’t on and there is no one inside them. Where did they go? There are cars on the road, two lanes to the left are in traffic. I stick to the sidewalk. A black SUV pulls up next to me. The windows are tinted black.
I take a step back from the car. The passenger’s side window rolls down. I stand still. A young man about thirty years old is driving. He has blue eyes and brown hair. There is a woman sitting in the passenger’s seat with black hair. She has her hair in a braid over her shoulder.
We Are The Survivors Page 1
