Other Side

by Rose, Isabella C.

  “Well, shit, now we can’t even snatch the chips. Thanks, Jaime,” Brandi said punching him in the arm. “I got dibs on the Snickers!” she said walking an aisle over.

  “You two are absolutely crazy,” I said to the both of them smiling, walking off to the drinks.

  “You wouldn't have it any other way, chica,” Brandi said with a mouth full of candy.

  Opening the cooler, the AC hit me, and I relished in it. I checked on the truck outside over the aisles. Roth had the pump in the truck. Oh, dang, we needed to turn the pump on. I jogged to the counter where the register was, and started to fiddle with the buttons. Tapping the glass with a thumb up to alert Roth to pump. He waved back, and then flipped me off. What an asshole! I saw Jaime by the sandwich rack, bent down to put some apples in his bag. I walked around the hot-dog griller and met him by the fresh foods. On the aisle with the two dead bodies were the hostess bakery products, and it made me think of the movie Zombieland, where he was always trying to get a Twinkie. We so needed some Twinkies for our trip.

  “Jaime, here hold my bag for a second.” I handed him my bag with the few cold drinks I had gathered. His hand caught mine pulling me back into his arms.

  His hand came up to brush my cheek, cupping my chin to face him. I had never been this close to a guy, and I was short of breath. I might die from a rapid heart attack!

  “Vio, I want to kiss you. Can I kiss you?” His words were husky.

  I had no idea what to do, my brain had flat-lined. My head rapidly shook yes of its own accord. My lids slid closed as his lips touched mine. Soft and gentle lips pressed on mine.

  “Mmmm,” I heard him say.

  We stayed meshed together for some time and he moved his tongue out to touch my lips. I stood stiffly, not knowing what to do.

  “Ewww, get a room you pervert!” Brandi interrupted our kiss with gagging sounds.

  Embarrassed, I pulled back, bringing my hand to my lips.

  Before I pulled away Jaime whispered, “I’ll be thinking of that until the next sweet kiss, Vio.”

  My face felt as if it were in a melting pot of pure lava. Trying to act cool, I turned jumping over Adam and picked up a few Twinkies.

  “Jaime, catch,” I said to him as I was about to toss him a few when behind him, in the dark shadow of the backroom, came another zombie.

  I only saw her because of the gleam of white in her eyes. I dropped the Twinkies, reaching for my gun. Fuck me! My gun was in my bag in Jaimie's hands. He was still watching me, unaware.

  “Jaime, move!” I yelled as I picked up a two-liter bottle of Coke Zero chucking it at the lady zombie, smashing her in the face and really pissing her off, but it gave Jaime enough time to turn.

  Jaime swung around, flinging his body to the side, and shot her in the chest. She stumbled backwards with a hole in her chest hitting the ground.

  “Close one, thanks for saving me,” Jaime told me from the floor, his eyes still on me.

  The zombie lady got back up. I ditched the Twinkies and grabbed my bag, fumbling for my gun. I got my gun out, aimed for her head and pulled the trigger. I hit her in the face. This time though, I walked over, and put a few more bullets in the psycho’s head. It was all over within seconds.

  “Are you two all right?” Brandi asked, coming over to brush my arms.

  “I'm good, sis. No bites here. Jaime?” I asked.

  Jaime had gotten to his feet, and pushed Brandi out of the way. His eyes that I always thought looked like coffee mixed with cream now had a darker hue. It kind of scared me.

  “Jaime?” I asked worried he got bitten.

  His arms grabbed me, and his lips were hot and demanding on mine. He pushed his tongue inside mine, and I mimicked his movements. He tasted of apricots. I wanted more. His hands went to my hair and loosened the ponytail, dragging it down. His fingers caressed my head, and hair. He pulled on my hair bringing my head more directly up deepening the kiss.

  “Well, I sure think you both are fine. God, that’s so gross to see. Hurry up, we need to get moving,” Brandi taunted us, walking out with full bags.

  I didn't care one bit. I had died, and gone to heaven in Jaimie's lips.

  He broke away, putting a hand on my shoulder to hold me back. He hunched over, taking deep breaths. “Girl, you’re like poison I want to drink, and die a million times over again just to taste you.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I didn't know what to say. It was the hottest thing anyone had ever said to me, and the kiss was electric. My body pulsed from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. He stood, giving me that dark look, and then went around gathering supplies. I couldn't move. I wanted to move, and I needed to move. My feet were made of stone. I followed Jaime with my eyes. He moved methodically, with purpose. Going from the water case to the canned goods, swiping a whole rack of cans into his bag from the shelf. It seemed like forever. He finished walking to the door.

  His hand on the door, the same hand that had just grabbed my neck, and head turned to me, he said, “It was all my pleasure, Violet. You can thank me later. See you outside.”

  Once he left, I let out a deep breath choking.

  “Holy hell!” I said to no one.

  My very first kiss and first French kiss in less than twenty minutes. I would remember that for however long my life happened to be. No wonder Tiffany was so stuck on him. Ugh. Tiffany, why did I ruin it thinking of her and him together? I picked up my bag, damned if I was leaving without the Twinkies that almost cost us our lives. I swiped the fallen ones and grabbed randomly at items of food. On my way to the door, I grabbed a map of the area, stuffing the map into my pants’ pocket, and hit the door at a run. I surveyed the area; the air was thick with humidity. I searched the trees for any sign of any more zombies. I stopped dead in my tracks.

  Off to the side, hidden in the thick line of trees running along the road, I saw a figure poking out of the trees before it disappeared into the brush. Was that the fat lady? That can’t be her, we left her at the strip mall, a good twenty miles back. With a bullet in her. How could that be her?

  “Vio, let’s go!” Jaime called from the open door of the truck.

  I snapped out of my daze and back into action. Looking back at the spot where I saw the figure, I saw nothing. I must have been imagining seeing her because of post-traumatic stress. I slid into the seat next to Jaime, and slammed the door shut. I handed the map to Jaime.

  Hale turned to us. “Which way, youngen?”

  “Follow the road for about fifteen miles. We should hit the turn-off to the cabin from there,” Jaime told Hale as he smoothed out the map.

  “Any trouble inside the store?” Julia asked.

  I found it odd to hear her voice since she had been the quietest among all of us.

  “Nothing we couldn't handle. I picked up some marshmallows, we should roast some tonight if Jaimie's cabin has a fireplace!” Brandi nudged Connor next to her in the back seat.

  Jaime turned to the backseat. “Nice big fireplace perfect for roasting s’mores.”

  Connor’s tablet lay on his lap with a dark screen. Did the battery die or did he get bored?

  “Really? Can we, mom?” Connor excitedly asked his mother with a look of pure joy.

  What I wouldn't give to be that innocent for a day. I leaned back against the seat, resting my head, going over all the events in the store. I couldn’t help but notice Jaimie's presence next to me, the intensity of his physical being sparking a flame inside me. My first kiss was beyond anything I could have imagined. What was I thinking? I had never imagined my first kiss because I had no time for silly teenage-girl things. Getting out had been my whole world. I was finding this new scary reality disorienting. I didn't know who I was or where I wanted to go in life. I knew only a few things. First, Brandi was more of a sister than I thought. She cared about me. Second, Jaime had cared about me without my knowledge, and wanted me. Third, I wanted him back. Last, I was determined to survive this change to the world, my life, a
nd everything I had ever known.

  “What is that?” Hale asked from the driver’s seat.

  Lifting my head from the seat, I peered out the front window to see what Hale had seen. Up ahead was a roadblock. Two concrete slabs sat in the road, draped over one was the body of a military officer. Obviously dead from the blood oozing out from the wound on the top of his head. Hale had stopped the truck in the road as we investigated the scene. More bodies littered the ground all around, and a military truck had been overturned on its side, and flames seemed to have destroyed the vehicle. A military jeep sat off to one side further back, the door on the passenger side left open. There seemed to be no way around the barricade. Thick forest trees on both sides, and the road block right across the road prevented us from traveling any further.

  “It looks like we will not be going this way to your family cabin, son.” Hale just stated what we all had been thinking.

  “Yes, you are right,” Jaime agreed with Hale still looking out the window.

  “Well, what the hell are we going to do now, genius?” Roth put in his insensitive two cents.

  The urge to slap him came over me. I stopped myself from that train of thought. I would not take to violence. I would be no better than my step-father.

  I had found it odd that we hadn't seen anyone on the road before this point, but now it made sense because no one could get through.

  “We go another way, smart-ass,” Jaime countered Roth.

  “About time you got some balls,” Roth laughed from the back.

  “Do you think anyone is alive up there?” I said.

  Was I the only one thinking about other people’s survival? Or the need to see if there were more weapons we could use?

  “Why don't you go find out, Vio? I bet there are plenty of other guys to steal,” spat Tiffany.

  I had no intention of arguing with her. I actually felt a little sorry for her. She had been with Jaime and lost him. It had to burn seeing him want another girl right in front of her.

  “Tiffany,” Jaime’s voice had a sternness to it I had never heard before, and I wanted to shiver.

  I liked that he took charge, and stood up for me. No one else ever had, not even my mother whom I loved in a way, but also hated. She let my step-father abuse us without a word to stop him.

  “Back by the seven-eleven is a turnoff that will take us another route to the cabin, we will have to go through the town at the base of the mountain. It takes us out of the way, adding about an hour. Unless anyone else has a better idea?” Jaime informed us rolling his finger over the map route.

  “Before we go, we need to check if there are any survivors and weapons we could use,” I said.

  “I know you want to save anyone we can, but, Vio, look at us. We are barely making it, and there’s no more room for another.” Brandi gave me the I'm sorry look I hated.

  I may want to survive, and want to keep these people who are starting to become my family alive, but at the cost of my humanity? No. My step-father had been that kind of person, and I would not be anything like him.

  “And what if you were out there? Would you not want someone to help you if they could? Have we lost all sense of what is right just because we are in the zombie apocalypse? I for one will not sit by and watch another I could have helped die because I was too scared to get off my ass!” I turned to the front and checked my gun. “No one has to go with me.”

  “Vi, I didn't mean it like that,” Brandi whispered.

  “I’ll go with you,” Jaime's hand touched my arm.

  “Are you kidding me? There isn't anyone alive out there! Look at the bodies, dammit. You’re on your own, you want to be the stupid hero,” spat Roth.

  Always an optimist.

  “We check the jeep, and then back here,” I said to Jaime as we hopped out of the truck.

  We stalked back to back, watching the woods and the barricade. The body that hung over the barricade was definitely dead. As we jumped over a bit down from it, I saw the rest of his body was missing on the opposite side of the barricade. The overturned truck had two more bodies with bullet holes and bite marks. No zombies yet. That had me worried. Jaime picked up a rifle from one of the bodies and stuffed it in his bag. We reached the open door to the truck. Another military soldier was slumped over the middle console.

  “Hey,” Jaime said to the guy.

  No movement. I picked up the rifle by his feet, and pushed back fast. Holding the gun up, I poked the body. Nothing. I dared a glance at Jaime. He stepped to the back of the open door and pulled the soldier out. The body flopped out in a heap. The soldier had a gun in his hand, and a gunshot to the back of the head we couldn’t see when he was slumped over. He had killed himself from the look of the wound and gun. Jaime quickly scanned in the jeep.

  “Empty,” he said so quietly I almost didn't hear him if I hadn't been watching his face.

  He climbed into the jeep, shoving stuff in his bag. I watched the woods, and for any movement. I hated to think about it, but the gun in the soldier’s hand we could use. I bent down while I watched my surroundings, and peeled the soldier’s fingers away from the gun. His skin was stiff and cold. As soon as I had the gun free, I stuffed it in my belt and wiped my hands off on my pants. I could still feel the soldier’s dead skin.

  Jaime came back out of the jeep, and we moved fast to the truck, not wasting another minute. The surrounding woods gave me the creeps thinking about what I thought I saw at the gas station.

  “Like I said, no survivors,” Roth interjected as we got back in the truck.

  He was grating on me. I needed to pull on the calm I used when my step-father belittled me. Roth acted just like him at times. I wouldn't let him get to me, just as I hadn't let my step-father.

  “I helped you survive if you remember correctly,” I retorted.

  Roth rolled his eyes. Before he could spit out another rude retort, Hale spoke.

  “Detour here we come.” Hale made the U-turn, putting us back on the road toward the seven-eleven.

  The sun was on the horizon. Night would fall soon. We had been on the road for hours; my body was cramped from the tight space. I was used to sitting in the library for hours reading. Yet the library had comfy couch chairs I could curl up into, and let my world elapse into the book realm. Sitting up, I stretched my arms above my head, and then reached to my toes, helping my back ache. The touch of a hand on the small of my back rubbed in small circles, helping relieve the tension. From the bent position, I turned to watch Jaimie's face as he massaged my back. That spot in my stomach gave me butterflies when my eyes fell on his moist lips parted a tad. My mind spun on the idea of pulling his mouth to mine with his apricot taste. He was an enigma to me. He had everything yet wanted nothing but me. He never complained or judged. His instinct had been to help before anyone questioned the action. I found I could fall in love with a guy like that. Wait! What? Did I just think I could fall in love with Jaime? I sat up so abruptly I flattened his arm against the seat.

  “You alright?” he asked politely, removing his arm.

  “Oh yes, you just hit a tickle spot,” I lied.

  I sure as hell would not tell him what I had been thinking. I didn't even believe I had thought such a thing.

  “So, how much longer you think?” I asked, trying my best to change the subject without him noticing the high pitch in my voice.

  “Actually, right around the next curve, we should hit the town. I don't know what we will find there.” He let the last word hang.

  I knew what he meant. Would the town be full of zombies like our small town, or would it be unaffected by this outbreak?

  Watching the road ahead in anticipation, I saw the sign that announced the town of Blackbird. Then, I saw the rest of the town and my mouth dropped open, but my hand had already reached for my gun.

  Chapter Seventeen

  We saw that the town of Blackbird had been infected. Hale had slowed the truck down to a stop for us to take in the scene. This made the zombi
e apocalypse hit home. This was happening everywhere. Visual conformation. Zombies roamed the streets; bodies of half-eaten humans scattered the ground. A black Labrador ran across the street barking at one zombie in front of a drugstore. The zombies ignored the dog, which I found strange. Didn't they want all living flesh? I filed that away for examination later. It was as if the infection spread here with no outside help. I saw no military presence.

  “What do we do?” Julia asked.

  “Blast the shit out of them and keep on moving!” Roth replied.

  I had to agree with him that getting through quickly was our best option, but could we survive? Would the zombies attack like the ones at the strip mall? With intent. The thought gave me chills.

  Jaime interrupted my thoughts. “We need a strategy. There are a lot more zombies here to contend with.”

  “Ah, fuck. Let’s just run their dead asses over and be done with this place,” Roth kept pressing.

  As they talked, I had been counting the zombies and obstacles if we made a run for it. What could be a hazard for the tires or the grill on the 4x4 truck? Such a small town would be difficult to navigate because the buildings were close together, and there were possibly few exits if we had to divert from the main road.

  “I can handle them, their zombies. Not that I agree with this youngen, but best we move fast, and that is a straight shot to the other side,” Hale commented.

  “That is the best, straight through. Avoid as many zombies as possible. We want to make it through the town without any crazy zombies chasing us like at the strip mall. We need to be smart about this though,” I told Hale.

  “Yeah, thanks for going with my plan. I'm always right,” Roth said with the annoying snotty disrespect.

  “I never said we were going with your plan. I was stating a fact. I don't like you nor do I want you here, but the fact is you are, and I will do what I think is best for me and everyone else here, not because your narcissistic personality thinks it’s in charge. So shut the fuck up!” I said hotly.