~ 3 ~ New Awakenings

Sofia's eyes felt heavy as she heard laughter. Little children laughing to be specific. "Was the whole thing a dream then?" She thought as she felt her eyes getting lighter, allowing her to open them. The darkened khaki ceiling told her that she wasn't in the hospital, but not her bedroom either. 'Where am I?'

"Oh guys! Sofia is finally up!" She heard Monica yell from right next to her. Sofia looked to see her best friend Monica's smiling face and shiny eyes looking down at her. "Welcome back, Sofia!"

Sofia smiled. "Thanks." Sofia cringed at the raspy tone of her voice. "How long was I out for?"

"Around..." Monica thought to herself for a moment. "A day or two."

Sofia quickly sat up. "WHAT?" Sofia groaned, touching her back in pain.

"Be careful!" Monica worried and gently helped Sofia lie back down. "Don't worry. Nothing much happened while you were sleeping."

Desirae and two younger kids ran into the room. Children? Desirae softly hugged Sofia. "Do you feel okay?" Sofia nodded, the pain subsiding. Desirae smiled and pulled the two kids to her side. "This is Jennifer and Melanie." They waved at Sofia, giggling. Sofia thought for a moment. 'Oh no. Now children are in our care? We can't even take care of ourselves.' Sofia waved slowly in reply.

One girl with long black hair a bit past her waist moved closer to Sofia. "Hi! I'm Jennifer, and this is my younger twin sister, Melanie!" Melanie, with her hair a bit past her shoulders, just smiled at Sofia.

Sofia looked at Desirae confused, and Desirae whispered, "Mute." Sofia's eyes widened. 'How come she's a mute?' Sofia wondered.

Sofia's mother ran into the room. "Sofia?!" She looked around before spotting Sofia, looking at her with teary eyes. Sofia's mother gasped lightly and ran over to Sofia's side before taking Sofia's hand in hers. "My baby girl! Are you alright?" Sofia nodded, holding back her tears. Her mother chuckled lightly in relief as one tear streamed down her cheeks. "Your brother, Max... He was still in the college." Sofia looked down, biting her lips. "He called me saying..." Her mother sobbed softly, trying to get the sentence out her lips. "S-Saying that he loved us." Sofia looked at her mom. Sofia stroked her mother's hair as her mom cried more and more, allowing Sofia to cry with her.

The others watched quietly, allowing a moment of silence for the pair. Once the mother and daughter calmed down, everyone talked for a bit when Sofia suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. She hissed softly, gaining everyone's attention. Desirae walked up to her. "Your back?" Sofia looked at her best friend. Desirae turned Sofia around and softly touched her wound. Sofia groaned in pain. "Bandage please." Melanie gave Desirae a roll of bandages. Desirae quickly unwrapped the bandages Sofia already had and wrapped the new one in.

"What happened to that man?" Desirae stopped and looked at Sofia, confused. She must have been surprised at her friend's sudden question.

"Monica took care of him. He's probably dead now." Sofia looked at Monica, shocked. Monica smiled happily and hugged Sofia.

"Don't worry! I only knocked him out unconsciously. Those zombies took care of the rest." Monica giggled lightly.

There was one more question that made Sofia confused. "How did we get here?"

Desirae smiled at her best friend. "Monica and I carried you to an abandoned house, this one. I was barricading the entrances while Monica called your mom and told her where we were. Then Monica carried you to this room and we waited until your mom came." Sofia looked at her mother, who smiled. "I had to look at a YouTube video on how to take out a bullet from an unconscious person." Monica gagged a bit at the mention. "Yeah, Monica had to step outside."

"When I was out there," Monica chirped, "I heard screaming. The twins were running and screaming from zombies. They thought I was one too. However I told them that I can help them and pulled them inside." Melanie nodded and smiled with pride. "So after Desirae treated you, I was told to keep an eye out on you." Monica stretched her arms. "After a few hours, your mom came home, and we've been waiting for you to wake up ever since. Here we are now."

Sofia's mom clapped her hands, causing everyone to look at her. "Dinner is ready! Come down everyone! Desirae and Monica, help Sofia downstairs please." They nodded as everyone else left. Desirae and Monica placed Sofia's arms on their shoulders and allowed her to use them for support as the teenagers left the room.

The unlit hallways were decorated with end tables that were cleared out, green wallpaper and broken picture frames with no glass on the floor. There were 2 other doors in the hallway along with a trap door on the ceiling that Sofia can assume led to the attic. All door were closed and she wasn't interested in knowing what was through them. The teenagers made their way downstairs where the worn dining table was surround by wooden chairs. Bookshelves were overturned in the living room and couches with scratches were oozing with stuffing. Sofia's mother and the two kids sat at the table with plates of some canned vegetables.

Everyone was done eating within minutes and they talked until it was night. Jennifer and Melanie were playing hide and seek around the house while the rest of the women sat around on the rugged floor of the living room. The twins ran over to them, Jennifer screaming, "There's a bad man in the house!" Everyone stood up as they heard a thud coming from upstairs.

Grabbing her bat from the front door, Monica cautiously walked upstairs. Everyone followed her, each of them with something in their hand. Desirae had a chef knife, Sofia had another bat, and her mom had a mop. Jennifer and Melanie followed in front of Sofia's mother, scared. "Monica, I should be in the front sweetie." Sofia's mom offered.

Monica glanced back at her. "I'm fine, don't worry about me!" She said with enthusiasm. Sofia blinked at the weird conversation.

They arrived at one of the locked bedroom doors. Sofia took a deep breath, wondering what was on the other side of the door. Everyone froze at the sounds of glass shattering and the hitting of wood. Monica narrowed her eyes and raised her bat up, kicking the door up. In the master bedroom was a young male zombie feasting on a dead woman on the floor. He looked at the least 14 years old to 16. Jennifer's eyes went wide as the zombie looked at us, hungry.

"Look away girls." Monica warned. Sofia's mother covered Jennifer and Melanie's eyes as Monica walked towards to dead boy. She charged at him, swinging into the boy's skull. The splatter of blood-stained Monica and the floor. Sofia watched, upset that such a kid could die so young. Mother escorted the twins downstairs to calm them down and Monica went up to Desirae and Sofia, looking tired. Sofia noticed a bandage on Monica's arm.

"Monica, what happened there?" Sofia pointed that her arm. Monica and Desirae looked at it in shock then Monica shook her head to dismiss Sofia's question. She looked at Desirae with a smile.

"Are we leaving soon??" Monica asked Desirae.

"Yeah, Sofia's mom is driving us." Desirae responded. Monica nodded and quickly walked away. Desirae started walking when Sofia grabbed her wrist.

"What happened to Monica?" Sofia asked with anger. She didn't mean to speak that way to Desirae.

Desirae looked at her friend, thinking. "She just got hurt, just like you. Don't worry about it, okay? She'll get better." She smiled lightly at Sofia, trying to reassure her. It didn't work. Sofia still wanted to know how Monica got wounded. Sofia nodded to dismiss the conversation and the pair went downstairs.

There they saw Sofia's mother grabbing her car keys from the counter and looking at them with a huge smile. "You girls ready?" Desirae nodded.

"Where are we going, Mother?" Sofia wondered. She thought that maybe that was a stupid question since this IS a zombie apocalypse.

Her mother laughed lightly as she gave the twins their bookbags. "We're traveling. We can't stay in one place too long. We'll be going to the safest state. Virginia. I know, there are many states that are closer, but in Virginia there is a safe house for disasters! We'll be going there."

Sofia looked at her mother, confused. "Mom, how do you know that?"

"There was gossip going around the office from a coworker from Virginia. He was bragging about Virginia being the best since there was a 'safe house' there. There's nowhere else to go so why not start there?" Sofia nodded and grabbed her bag. They left the house and looked around. It was pitch black except for the streetlights being on and the zombies that roamed the neighborhood. The group made their way to a car Sofia's mother drove there and got inside.

Sofia looked outside the window and watched the zombies slowly making their way to the car. It was too late. The car accelerated away, leaving behind the zombies and the state's capital, St. Paul.