Alive?

by Melissa Woods

  Matt shrugged, panting a little. “I thought I’d go before we leave.”

  Violet felt herself grin despite the sound of hands hammering against the door. Yes, they were trapped, and yes, they were in a bathroom, but they’d been about to fall from exhaustion anyway. At least now they were safe and could catch their breath. But then Violet sniffed, realizing something was wrong.

  Oh no.

  She swiveled to see Joe pulling a large shard of glass out of his arm. He’d fallen on it when they ran inside. Violet’s eyes widened, and she turned to Matt in horror. He glanced at Joe, realizing what was happening. He pointed to the window at the other side of the room. Violet hurried over, wrenching it open and hanging her head outside. It helped, at least a little, but things were starting to get fuzzy. She could hear Matt’s voice behind her.

  “We need to cover that, now.”

  “Well, I wasn’t planning to just let it bleed.”

  The sound of rummaging was loud as Matt went through his bag. After what felt like an eternity, there was a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  “Are you okay?” Matt asked.

  “Is it gone?”

  “Yes.”

  Violet pulled her head inside. Joe’s arm was bandaged, but he was staring at her curiously.

  “Good view out there?” he asked.

  “Great.”

  There was silence for a minute, then Matt sighed. “We need to talk,” he said to Joe.

  “Okay, cool. Is it about Violet being a zombie?”

  Violet felt like the floor had been pulled out from under her. “What? How did you—”

  “You literally came out of the school with blood around your mouth, and then we found out Vince was dead. You freak out and cover your face whenever anyone starts bleeding, and to be honest, you’re kind of pale. And your eyes are really grey. I almost judge the others for not getting it.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” Violet asked, still in shock.

  Joe shrugged. “I don’t know. It didn’t seem that important. So how are we getting out of here?”

  Violet and Matt gazed at each other, mystified.

  “You don’t have any questions?” Violet asked.

  Joe raised an eyebrow. “I just asked one.”

  “No, about me being…you know…half dead.”

  Joe thought for a moment. “Do you have any superpowers?”

  “No.”

  “None?”

  Matt raised an eyebrow. “She was bitten by a zombie, not a radioactive spider. She’s not like…Zombiegirl.”

  Joe’s eyes widened. “That would be such a great movie.”

  Matt grinned. “She’d have the power of the dead.”

  “She could shoot out little gravestones!”

  “And, like, rot people.”

  Violet frowned. “Please focus on what’s actually happening.”

  “Okay, then I have no questions.”

  “Are you going to tell the others?” Violet asked.

  Joe’s tone immediately became gentler. “I’ve known for ages, and I haven’t said anything. I assumed you didn’t want anyone to know. It’s not my place to tell them.”

  Relief washed over Violet. “Thank you.”

  Joe nodded. “But honestly, I don’t think you should worry. We all care about you. It doesn’t matter if you’re dead or not.”

  “I’m not. Only half.”

  “Which half?”

  Violet rolled her eyes, but Joe laughed.

  “Come on,” Matt said, opening the window. “We can climb out and onto the roof outside, make our way along, and then get back in through another window.”

  “Sounds great,” Joe said, getting to his feet. He held out his hands. “Dead ladies first.”

  They made their way along the sloping roof. Violet almost lost her footing more than once, but had so far managed to avoid falling to her death.

  “Are you okay?” Matt asked when she almost slipped for the sixth time.

  “Fantastic,” she replied sarcastically. “Can we go back inside soon?”

  Matt peered in the next window. As he reached to pull it open, a biter appeared from nowhere, hammering her fists against the glass. He jumped back as if electrocuted.

  “Maybe try the next one?” Joe suggested.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  At the next window, there were no signs of the dead. Matt slid it open, and they climbed inside.

  “We still need to get the medicine,” Violet whispered.

  Joe didn’t sound convinced. “Forget the medicine; we need to find the others.”

  Matt agreed. “He’s right. We’re stronger together, and you never know…Sam might already have found it.” He pointed to the door out of the room they were in. “Let’s go.”

  They stepped out into the hallway at the same moment Sam and the other men charged past.

  “Run,” Sam yelled, and Violet could see five biters not far behind. They joined the party, barreling down the dark hallway. Following Sam through the maze, they managed to lose their dead pursuers after a few minutes.

  The group stood with their backs against the wall, all trying to catch their breath.

  “Please tell us you have the medicine,” Matt panted. Sam shook his head, causing Joe and Violet to collectively groan. Sam looked apologetic, and then glanced around. They were in a relatively small ward. “We’ll check this one,” Sam said quietly. “If there’s nothing here, then we’ll go back.”

  They agreed, searching the rooms, cupboards, and anywhere else they thought they might find what they were searching for.

  Violet and one of the new guys began to rifle through a large medicine store, while Joe, Matt, and the other man went through some carts. Sam kept watch.

  “What’s your name?” Violet asked the stranger.

  “Luke.”

  “I’m Violet.”

  “I know.”

  Was that rude? It felt rude.

  “How long have you been at the house?” Violet asked.

  “A few weeks.”

  “That’s cool. It’s been about a week for us.”

  “I know.”

  Okay, this guy almost certainly doesn’t like me.

  Still, she persevered with her attempts at conversation. “Are you there with your family?”

  “No, they’re dead.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Don’t be, we weren’t close.”

  Oh well, it’s lucky they’re dead then. Violet wasn’t sure she was going to get on with Luke. She glanced over at Matt; maybe his new friend would be more cheerful? She could just about hear their conversation; the man over there was definitely more chatty.

  “—and that’s how my second sister died. My brother, on the other hand, that was far more gruesome—”

  Joe was listening intently, appearing far more surprised and disgusted than when they’d been talking about Violet eating people not that much earlier. Matt caught her eye, mouth open in disbelief. The man continued, “I mean, I never knew an eye could bleed so much—”

  Violet turned back to the cupboard. Maybe Luke wasn’t so bad after all.

  “The house is great,” she continued. “Robert is really nice.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And everyone has been really friendly.”

  “Sure.”

  Okay, let’s just not talk. That’s fine, too.

  “Yeah, sounds great,” Matt was saying over his shoulder as he made his way to Violet. When he reached her, he whispered, “You’ve got to save me from this guy. All he’s done for the last ten minutes is tell me about the different ways his family and friends died.”

  “How cheerful.”

  “To be honest, it sounds like half of them had a lucky escape, this man has no conversational skills at all. I think he’s grateful to have so many ‘dead friend’ stories, just so he has something to talk about.”

  Violet, aware Luke was only a couple of feet away, made one last att
empt to bring him into the conversation. “Matt, this is Luke.”

  Luke inclined his head but ignored the hand Matt held out. It hung in the air awkwardly. Luke had to have seen it, yet he did nothing.

  Oh my God, Luke, shake his damn hand. It’s just hanging there!

  Matt slowly lowered his hand, clearly aware this was going nowhere. Luke returned to what he was doing, and Matt glanced at Violet with wide eyes, which seemed to say—who are these people?

  Joe appeared, still talking over his shoulder as he walked quickly toward Violet. “Ha-ha, yeah, good one. Can’t wait to hear about it, Tony.” He turned to Matt, the false smile still stretched on his lips. “Matt, Tony wants to tell us about his girlfriend.”

  “Is she dead?” Matt asked dryly.

  “No.”

  Matt sounded surprised. “Really?”

  “No. Of course she is. Apparently, it’s a terrible story.”

  Matt’s shoulders sank. “Great.”

  There was a crashing sound, and Violet spun toward it. Sam had opened the door to a private room, and a biter had lunged out at him. Matt and Joe seemed to perk up at the distraction from Tony’s depressing stories, and ran to help. Violet was close behind. Sam pushed the biter back, and slammed his crowbar into its face. Two more appeared from inside the room, and Violet managed to jump aside just before one grabbed her. Matt forced the thing that used to be a woman into the wall, and Violet plunged her knife into the back of its head.

  I bet that looked so tough!

  I’m basically Lara Croft!

  Focus, Violet.

  They were being too noisy. Four more biters appeared at the entrance to the ward. Joe had just managed to kill the last one from the room, and looked up as the others ran toward them. He groaned loudly, pulling out his knife and following Violet and the others further into the ward. Sam and Matt were ahead, but Tony, Luke, and Joe darted into a room to her left. Violet made to follow, but Luke was already trying to close the door! Luckily, Joe wrenched it open and yanked Violet inside before slamming it shut again.

  “Thanks for that,” he said sarcastically to Luke. “Just for next time, we, you know, try not to shut our people outside with the biters.” The door vibrated as the dead tried to force their way inside, but it was holding strong for now.

  “I thought there wasn’t time,” Luke muttered sheepishly.

  “Do you think Sam and Matt are okay?” Violet asked.

  Joe nodded. “I’m sure they are. They were heading for the fire exit. Probably where we should’ve gone actually.” He eyed the door, still rattling. “How are we going to get out of here?” Violet moved over to the window; there was no roof to walk along this time, and they were too high up to jump. She shook her head at Joe.

  “Not this way.”

  Luke sighed, reaching for the door to the private bathroom. “Guess we’re in for a long wait.” He opened the door, and a biter threw itself onto him. It was a tall man with long skeletal arms. Before the others could even react, it sank its teeth into Luke’s cheek, ripping at the skin and tearing off great chunks. Joe pushed Violet behind him, and ran for the man while Tony froze in terror. Joe grabbed the biter from behind, pulling him off Luke. Luke stumbled toward Violet, spraying her with blood as he fell. She tried to stop him landing so hard, holding onto him as he went down. His blood soaked her shirt, and she clamped her hand over her nose and mouth, using the other to try to stop the bleeding.

  Oh no.

  Just don’t breathe, don’t breathe.

  “Help me,” she called to Tony, who still didn’t move. Joe was trying to hold the dead man back. “Help me stop the bleeding,” she ordered. Tony opened and closed his mouth like a fish, still not moving. She heard Joe cry out in triumph as he stabbed the biter through its eye, letting it fall to the ground. Then he appeared at Violet’s side.

  “Go into the bathroom,” he ordered.

  She stumbled to her feet, still not daring to breathe, and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Things were spinning, but she was still in control. For now. She wanted to wash her hands, and hurriedly got a bottle of water out of her bag, pouring it over them clumsily and rubbing roughly with a towel. Her head felt heavy, but as the blood diluted and began to disappear down the drain, things slowly came into focus. Her heart was racing. There were sounds of a struggle from the other room. Something smashed, and she heard a heavy object banging into the wall. Joe cried out. Tony did, too, then the door swung open and Joe fell inside, slamming it behind him.

  “What happened?” Violet asked.

  Joe was out of breath. “Luke turned.”

  “He got Tony?”

  Joe nodded. The two of them were silent for a moment.

  “That’s a shame,” Violet began.

  “Yeah.”

  “Tony seemed really…” She searched for the right word.

  “Useless and morbid?”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything quite as blunt as that.”

  “No?”

  “He had nice hair…”

  “You’re right, he was a real asset.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Joe opened his mouth to speak, but there was more noise from outside the room. Crashes and the sounds of a struggle. Then there was silence. Neither Violet nor Joe dared to move. After a few seconds of nothing, there was a knock at the door. Joe and Violet stared at each other.

  “Who is it?” Joe asked.

  “Who the hell do you think?” came Sam’s voice. Violet opened the door. Sam and Matt, both bloodied, were smiling. The bodies of Luke and Tony were on the floor.

  “So, how’s your day going?” Matt asked.

  Sam, Violet, Joe, and Matt got out of the borrowed car and headed for the gates to the house. It was a couple of hours before sunset.

  “This doesn’t look good.” Violet groaned, picking at her spattered clothes.

  Matt shook his head. “You look fine. Great.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I’m literally covered in blood.”

  “It’s your color.”

  Violet peered over at the gates. Would this even work? Rachel had said she’d be waiting for them, and would make sure Harold wasn’t around, but where was she? They approached the heavy iron bars, and Sam gave them a gentle rattle. There were a few painfully long moments, but then Rachel appeared, her face flooding with relief first, then concern.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, clearly shocked at their bloodstained clothes.

  Joe might’ve been about to speak, but Sam interrupted. “Fine. We have the medicine, but the others didn’t make it.”

  Rachel winced, opening the gates. “We need to be fast. Harold will be back any minute. I didn’t think you’d be gone so long.”

  “Sorry about that,” Matt replied sarcastically. Rachel blew past it.

  “I’ve brought you some spare clothes. Get changed over there. I’ll wash yours when everyone is asleep.”

  “What about Luke and Tony?” Violet asked. “Won’t they be missed?”

  Rachel shook her head. “They didn’t have any family here. I’ll tell Robert they went out for supplies before anyone could stop them. He won’t send anyone to check. He’s too afraid.”

  Sam handed her the bag of medicine he’d found while Violet was hiding in the bathroom trying not to eat anyone. Rachel put her hand on his. “Thank you.” She gestured for them to go and change in the privacy of the woods. Violet found a spot behind a large tree, away from Sam and the others. She opened the bag of clothes Rachel had provided. Her stomach dropped. It was a short-sleeved shirt.

  Oh no.

  She couldn’t possibly wear it; everyone would see her bite. She felt her heart begin to race. What could she do? It wasn’t like she could say, No thanks, I’m good, and head back to the house in her bloodied clothes. But putting on the shirt was like attaching a big sign to her head that said ‘zombie’. Minutes ticked by, and she still had no idea how to get out of this.

 
“Violet, you okay?” Matt asked from somewhere not too far away.

  “No,” she hissed.

  “Can I come around?”

  “Yeah.”

  Matt appeared, already changed into a long-sleeved black sweater and a pair of jeans. “What is it?”

  She held up the shirt. He looked a little confused. “You don’t like pink?”

  “The sleeves, Matt.”

  “Wha—oh.” Realization dawned. “Okay.” He took off his sweater, handing it to Violet. “Take this.”

  “What are you going to wear?” she asked, suddenly aware of the fact she’d never seen Matt without a shirt before, and that it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant sight. He was strong; she supposed months spent fighting the dead would probably do that, and tanned from his work outside. She felt her face flush, averting her eyes awkwardly.

  You spend your free time eating people, yet seeing a guy without a shirt makes you uncomfortable?

  “I’ll wear yours.” Matt shrugged, taking the pink shirt and pulling it over his head. It was ridiculously tight.

  “Look okay?” he asked, clearly aware it didn’t.

  “Oh yeah.” Violet tried not to laugh.

  He winked. “See you in a minute.” He headed away. Violet changed hurriedly, pulling on the sweater and tossing her bloodied clothes into the bag. She emerged from the tree line as the guys did, and Rachel eyed Matt’s shirt.

  “Okay…” she began, clearly unsure whether to ask.

  “I like pink,” Matt said simply. “Shall we go?”

  Another week passed, and this time there were no suicide missions or temptations to eat anyone. It was clear everyone played their part in the little community, so Violet and her friends pitched in wherever they could. She knew they all enjoyed helping as much as she did. They’d been working so hard over the past few months to keep themselves safe that doing nothing would’ve felt unnatural. Sam, Joe, and Matt continued to help with the crops. While Rachel didn’t work in the fields, she seemed to be spending an awful lot of time down there. When Sam wasn’t working, he could often be found walking hand in hand with her around the gardens. Violet was happy; she’d never seen him smile as much as he did these days.

  Maggie busied herself around the house, but Violet preferred to work down on the farm with the animals. Toby was there, too. Though he spent time with the other children in the house, it didn’t seem like he could fully go back to being a kid. He wanted to be useful. It was hard work; they milked cows, fed animals, collected eggs, took the horses out, cleaned out the barns and pens, and every other farming job imaginable. She still walked Ben every day. She wasn’t scared anymore, even venturing down to the river, which was deep within the woods. This place felt safe. Noises in the night weren’t something that caused her heart to race, because she knew it was just foxes, or people walking down the hallways. There was laughter here, babies crying, children playing. It was home. She rarely had nightmares anymore. Most of the time, she didn’t dream at all. Everything was perfect.