We Are The Survivors

by Vanessa Marie

  “Gavin said you could go?” Nya asks.

  How do I convince her?

  “He said it would be dangerous. I want to go besides that.” He didn’t tell me not to go.

  “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Yes! I’m a better liar than I thought. I am so going to be grounded after I get back.

  I have to get out of here. He wouldn’t understand. I’ll be gone before he realizes I went.

  I grab my back-pack leaning up against the door. The bat is sticking out of the top. I leave it next to the door. Xavier will take it along with him to Pahrump. Nya takes a notepad and pen out of the drawer. She writes a note. She grabs Dave’s car keys off the counter. She then goes into the hall coming out with two back-packs. She hands Alex a back-pack. She walks over to the door putting her back-pack’s straps on her shoulders. I read what she wrote:

  We left for the store. We should be back in a little while. Rain is coming with us.

  It doesn’t matter that she wrote it down. If Gavin comes for me, it won’t be the worst thing to happen. I walk out with the others. Nya takes a pistol out of the car. Nya unlocks the gate for us. She locks it behind us. Stepping outside is scary. Are we going to find out we’re the only ones left?

  Nya said to fill our back-packs with as much stuff as we can carry. The weather is cold. The wind is chilling me from the inside out. We get to the parking lot of a store.

  There is a blue van in front of the store. Nya walks ahead of me and pulls on the door handle of the van. The car alarm sounds. She backs away from the car. Zombies come out of nowhere surrounding us. A thousand growls from them turn into one big growl in unison.

  “Get inside!” she yells.

  Alex and I run up to the doors. Nya holds the left door open. When the both of us are inside Nya slams the door shut. She braces her back against the door. The zombies bang against the doors. Pushing Nya forward and opening the door with each bang on the door.

  “Find something to block the doors!” she yells.

  I look around. The car alarm is blaring so loud I can hardly think. There are car keys on the counter. I grab the keys and press the car alarm button. The alarm stops. I put the keys in my pocket. I put my hand on the counter standing on my tippy toes to see behind the register. A hand grabs my shirt collar. A man zombie is growling in my face trying to eat my nose. I scream.

  “Alex! I can’t hold the door Rain needs help!” she shouts.

  I hear him scream. I hear another zombie growling.

  I hear a shot. The zombie’s head snaps back and blood is on the wall behind him. The zombie’s grip loosens on my shirt. His fingers are still holding my shirt. I uncurl his fingers. I stand up straight. I turn around and see Nya with her back against the door holding her pistol.

  “Go check on Alex,” She says while holstering her gun.

  I run to where I heard the scream. I run to the left end of the aisle. I see Alex inside one of the refrigerators where the drinks are. He’s being pulled inside by his arm. I run to him. A woman zombie is inside the door pulling on Alex’s arm.

  “Get him off! Get him off! Help!” Alex screams.

  “Okay.” I grab a metal rod on the floor which is a rack to hold things on the shelves.

  I kneel to the right of Alex. I aim for the zombie’s eye. I pull my arms back and strike the zombie’s eye. Blood squirts on my face getting on my mouth a little. I say what I’m thinking, “Oh my God gross.” I wipe the blood off with my sleeve. I pull the rod out and strike again with more force. Falling to the ground the zombie lets go of Alex’s arm. He hits the ground with a thud the rod is still in his eye.

  “Thanks,” Alex says.

  “Yeah. We need to find something to hold the doors quickly. Nya’s shot was probably heard by hundreds of them.” He gets to his feet.

  We are in the food aisle.

  “You get food. I’m on the door.” I walk to the other aisle.

  “Hurry up, please!” Nya says.

  I see shopping carts next to the doors. I run up to the carts. I take a row of carts, inside one another, lining them up to the door and against the shelves. Nya lets go. The zombies open the doors an inch but that’s all.

  “That won’t keep them out long. Gather up food, medicine and water. We get the keys to the van and go out the back.” She disappears behind the aisle Alex is in. I gather up some canned food. I put about ten water bottles in my bag. I walk the store searching for the pharmacy. I should take aspirin, cold and flu stuff, cold medicine. I’ll ask Nya what else.

  I see the counter of the pharmacy. The back door is next to it. I see a man walk in with a shotgun. He is wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans. That’s what I see before ducking behind the shelf. I squat. I can’t see the man’s face. I can’t breathe because of fear.

  I don’t want to get in trouble like we did with the guy at the gun store. I start walking and half ducking down to the other aisle. I kick a can by accident. I walk faster. I kneel where Alex and Nya are. I put my finger up to my mouth to make them be quiet. I motion for them to squat. They do.

  Nya comes up slowly. “What?” she whispers.

  “Someone is here. We need to go,” I say.

  “What if he needs help?” she asks.

  “He has a gun. Should we even take a chance?” I ask her.

  I hear the can roll across the floor. The footsteps sound like he is walking down the aisle. Nya pulls me into the aisle I was just in. Our backs are pressed on the shelf. I look at the front doors. The zombies bang on the glass hungry to eat the stranger and us. The stranger takes the carts away from the door. “I’m going to tell you when to run,” I say.

  The zombies get through the door lunging at the stranger. He shoots one before I say a word. Nya and Alex run. I didn’t need to tell them. I trail behind them. Nya opens the door a crack. Shots are fired rapidly.

  “Oh shit, the keys,” she says.

  I run to the counter. Stopping in my tracks when I don’t see anyone. The stranger is gone and the zombies are dead. How did he take them out so quickly? I grab the keys. I run back.

  “He’s gone. The zombies are dead. Let’s get the medicine now that we have a chance,” I say.

  Nya and Alex hop over the counter. I do the same. “What do I take?” I ask.

  “Painkillers, antibiotics. Whatever seems important take it.” Nya looks through the prescription bags. I’m still looking at the door. That was too quick for one person to kill them. I see a gun barrel in my face. I put my hands up instinctively dropping the keys on the counter by mistake. There is a man standing there pointing a gun at me. Where did he come from?

  “What are you doing?” he asks.

  “Um, getting stuff.” My surrendering hands are shaking.

  He lowers the gun. “Rain, It’s you.”

  My words come out blending together a little. “How do you know my name? Who are you? What do you want? I want to leave. Let me and my friends leave.”

  He shakes his head. “I’ve been trying to find you for months. This is fate.”

  This guy is crazy. I’ve never seen this guy before in my life. I put my palms in front of myself trying to make him stop. “I don’t know you. We’ve never met.”

  Nya comes up to my side pointing her gun at him. “What do you want?” she asks.

  “He didn’t mention my name? He said he would tell you. This may shock you but…,” a zombie lunges toward the guy’s arm making him stop midsentence. Nya shoots it. I lean over the counter. Zombies are coming through the doors. The stranger takes shotgun shells out of his pocket and starts reloading.

  Alex hops over the counter. “Come on let’s go.” He runs out the back door.

  I grab the keys. I step on the counter and jump off. I run to the parking lot with Alex, Nya is behind us. I run into the van’s passengers’ side door. I open the door throwing my back-pack on the floor. Nya gets in with hers still on. Alex gets in with a slam of his door.

  I will be glad to be away from that psych
o in there. What the hell was he talking about? Who was the He that man was talking about?

  I hand Nya the keys. She is shaking violently. She drops the keys on the floor. She feels for them by the pedals. My heart is racing. We will be surrounded if we don’t get out of here. She grabs the keys and tries to start the car. It won’t start. She turns the key over and over. Zombies begin to stumble to the car.

  The stranger hits my window with his palm making us all jump. “Take my car. I’ll explain who I am later.”

  “Nya, we don’t have a choice. We have to. I don’t like it but we have to,” I say.

  “Fine. We have no other options. Go!” She gets out of the car.

  I open my door taking my bag with me. The man runs to his car which is parked across from the van. He has a black car. I open the left door for Alex. He slides to the right. I get in. Nya and the stranger get in at the same time. I see the zombies coming out of the store in the rear-view mirror. He speeds off.

  “Who are you?” I ask.

  “It’s a lot to explain. Where are you headed?” he asks.

  “Any clothing store you can find and you better explain now,” I say.

  He puts the sun visor down showing a picture of Fred, a teenage boy and a girl my age and a woman taped to it.

  “This is my father, mother and sister,” he points at the boy, “This is me. My name is Blake.”

  I can’t believe this. On top of what Fred is, he has another family. What the hell? Going by my stepfather’s behavior can I even trust him? This guy appears from thin air claiming to be my stepbrother. Am I supposed to take his word for it?

  “Where is your family now?” I ask.

  “Dead. He killed my mom for insurance money. My sister and I walked in on him murdering her it and he killed my sister. There was nothing I could do about it. He knocked me out. When I came to I called the police and I turned him in. He framed me for doing it while I was unconscious. Where is my father?”

  “Dead. He tried to kill me and my mom. I defended myself.”

  Blake is silent. No surprise that he’s killed people before.

  “How did he get out of prison? How did you find me?” I ask.

  “I turned him in but they didn’t believe me. They thought I did it. I was fourteen at the time. I was in Juvie for years. They let me out for good behavior. I saw online that that he married your mom. I couldn’t let history repeat itself so I messaged him. He told me he could meet me when you and your mom weren’t there. I wanted to get him to confess and clear my name. He told me the address. When the apocalypse hit. I knew I had to go over there, make sure you were okay. No one was there. I stumbled on this place and found you.”

  “Wait, you said you were looking for me for months? Why were you looking for me?”

  “Months? No, I meant days. I got confused is all.” He focuses on the road.

  I don’t know if I want to bring him back to the community. I don’t know if this story is true or made up. He seems okay. Fred seemed that way too though. I’ll pull Nya aside and ask her what to do. I would feel bad if his story is true and I didn’t let him stay.

  In this devastation, what do you do about trusting people?

  I have no choice. He could be the exact opposite of his father. He did save us so how bad could he be? I want to learn about my stepbrother. It would be wrong not to get to know him first. I can’t abandon him because of who his father was. There are plenty of people who wise up enough to realize that their parents are wrong about things. Other than my cousin he could be my only family.

  May and Kevin are in New Jersey. Maybe Blake could help me and Gavin look for them. It might be a lot to ask though of someone you just met.

  Maybe we try letting him stay there for a few days. I want to give my stepbrother a chance. I’m taking him back to the community keeping in mind what Nya says if I talk to her. If my cousin agrees that’s that. He saved our lives today. Giving him a place to stay is a nice way to repay him.

  I wonder how Xavier’s trip is going. I bet he didn’t find any unknown family members. I’ve never been to Pahrump. Xavier will tell me about it when he gets back. I could go back sometime. But probably not soon after I pulled this stunt. “Blake, have you heard of Pahrump?” I ask.

  “Nope.” He focuses on the road.

  “My boyfriend is there with one of our friends.”

  He makes a right turn. A woman runs into the road. She is overweight and has brown hair. Blake stops the car in front of her. She goes up to Nya’s window. Nya rolls the window down.

  “I… was… running… from those things. I… need a ride,” She says in between gasps.

  “Yeah get in.” Nya rolls up her window.

  I slide to the left. The woman gets in the car. She is gasping for air.

  “What happened to the other people? We haven’t seen anyone else on the streets.” I ask.

  “A lot died fast. Others are holding up where they were supposed to be evacuation They fortified the shelters and stayed there.”

  “Have you heard anything about Pahrump?” I ask.

  “Yeah. It’s swarming with zombies. My whole group got eaten there. A horde is right in the middle of town. Some people are there hiding in houses that are set back.”

  “Oh shit. Blake turn around we need to warn our people not to do a supply run,” Nya says.

  He turns around fast. The motion makes us slam into the right side of the car and into each other.

  The woman puts her hand out. “I’m Melissa.”

  I shake her hand. “Are you good at killing zombies?” I ask.

  “Yeah. I think so.” She smirks.

  Good. I hope they didn’t take off. Maybe if I was there I could have talked Xavier out of it. Maybe they didn’t go since I wasn’t there. They could be looking for me. I wish I knew what they did. There could still be time left. I pray that they are at the house.

  We arrive quickly. I open the right door, climbing over Melissa and out of the car. Oakland is by the gate.

  “Hey, I took care of the bodies by the gate. I put them all the way down the street past the gate. I have to get some gas and burn them. Gavin’s pissed that you left without telling him. You have to talk to him.” He holds the bars of the gate.

  “Where is Dave and Xavier? Did they go to Pahrump or what? I ask.

  “Yeah. Why?” he says.

  “Can you go find them, give them help. We found out Pahrump is filled with zombies. You can catch up to them, right?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I’ll leave when the car pulls in. Who is that anyway?” he asks.

  I think about what to say, “A survivor. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.”

  He opens the gate. I walk in the gate first.

  I hope they’re okay. I hope Xavier is okay. I would go with Oakland but I’m sure Gavin won’t let me. It’s scary with him going to the town. I have a knot in my stomach. I’m shaking from concern and worry.

  This is how aunt May and uncle Kevin must feel about Gavin and I if they’re still alive.

  I don’t know what I would do if another person I care about dies. Could I even go on if that happened? I don’t understand how I could.

  CHAPTER FIVE-EARL THE MAGICIAN

  The drive to Pahrump is scenic. We have to go through a mountain pass to reach the town. We’re on a twisty road with houses built on mountains. The mountains are as beautiful as a postcard.

  I asked Dave if he’s ever been up here. He told me when he was my age he came out here with his parents. He said he thought it was nice. He didn’t say anything else about it.

  “Xavier, are you okay?” he asks me when we get through the pass.

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you and Rain together?”

  “Yeah. We talked and I apologized for giving her the silent treatment. It was stupid. I wasn’t mad at her I was angrier at myself.” It’s true. I blame myself for not going with Mom.

  “You’re still a kid, you shouldn’t have gone through tha
t. You didn’t know what to do.” He has a sad expression. I can tell he feels for me.

  “It doesn’t matter that I’m a kid. Even adults shouldn’t see that stuff.” I look out my window.

  Rain keeps popping in my head. I found a note on the counter that said she was going with Nya. She didn’t even tell me about it. Her cousin wouldn’t have allowed it but still she should have told me. Her cousin said maybe she was being reckless. I think she needed to get out of the house. It’s not like her to be reckless. She was always the shy one in class, always the good student. She went for the same reason I’m going with Dave.

  Why did I go with Dave anyway? I should have stayed and waited for her. I’m her boyfriend, why did I leave? I did ask if I should hang behind. Her cousin told me it was my choice so here I am. Maybe I had some fear she wouldn’t come back. I’m running away like I did before.

  “You think I should have stayed at the house?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “You want to go back?”

  I consider it. “It’s just that… do you think I’m running away from the possibility she doesn’t come back?”

  “No, she’ll be fine. We found her walking the street after this. She seems like a tough kid.”

  At this moment, we get into town. We drive through the town with no problems. I point at things that maybe we should check out later. Our main goal is to get food, water and supplies.

  Our first stop is for food and water, medical supplies would be useful, very useful. If one of us gets sick, we’ll need it. Second is generators and gas. The community could be a good place to hold out, more than just shelter, a home.

  If my mom was still alive she would hold up in a place well equipped. It would have everything you would need in this situation.

  She had a decent stockpile, first aid kits, the works. She was prepared for anything. I ran when she didn’t come back, leaving the stockpile to rot.

  I had to leave, zombies were starting to overrun the house. I didn’t mention the house to them because of that mostly. The zombies are probably gone but I didn’t want to put people in danger.